Le Tour

Condor Andy wrote:

Bardet has said his only goal now is the KOM jersey. I just used my last sub, De Gendt out for Bardet. More points in the mountains the on the final stage methinks. Should have done it yesterday.

To have picked Bardet yesterday (a few did) was an excellent gamble.  I had budgeted an extra transfer, but ended up not using it as I could not see where to use it.  I was looking at Bardet, Quintana, Wellens and Porte, but it just seemed a gamble.  It seems clearer today.

Obviously Quintana would have been alright too!

jollygoodvelo wrote:

What an incredible stage.

Never mind the French broken hearts - I wanted to see Simon Yates get his hat-trick!

If there is officially a 'no-result' tonight and last night's timings stand, do we get today's transfers back?  Is there a precedent?

Still can’t see any timings so I assume if they can’t do it then surely they just rewind.  They can’t guess the gaps and being as it’s quite tight what on earth can they do?

PCS had a race finish listed but have now withdrawn it.

The latest thinking is for timings to stand but no race places and no stage winner....they just need some timings now. 

Condor Andy wrote:

No stage winners or most aggresive rider, but GC times will be taken from the top of the Col de l'Iseran.

So we'll score the climbs as normal, including the Iseran, and the sprint, then the jerseys on top of that. No stage score, no aggresive rider or last rider, and no assist points.

Such a dramatic stage again....fantastic....

Strange but true....I have some friends who tell me cycling is boring....I even had it said to me driving home from a 0-0 draw at a Blackburn Rovers game once...true.

Dr Winston wrote:

Wow....never seen this before. Race finished as at the top of the last climb completed. Dear god....gonna be some really angry folk tonight.

If they keep the results the same as the provisional ones, I will be angry.

Uran and Landa passed the summit in the same group as Thomas but they have Uran 2:30 back and Landa nowhere.

11waterloo wrote:

Aside from the general chaos (wouldn’t be the TdF without some nonsense), the ‘Pinot Problem’ rears it’s head (if only it was as simple as Noir vs Grigio this evening!) Do we use a transfer we weren’t expecting tomorrow or just suck it up? 

Wishing I hadn’t wasted one on Nibali for the Tourmalet now.......

GiantOuchMyShin wrote:

It sounds like the stage is going to be shortened tomorrow owing to the landslide

https://twitter.com/inrng/status/1154827619805872128?s=20

https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1154830880885657601?s=20

 

 

Yes, only one climb to cope with tomorrow.

What a sad way to finish the race. Although Stage 21 is pretty sad in its own way.

Pretty much no chance to make a big difference now.

Dr Winston wrote:

Shame about the Simon Yates pick. Bernal would have carried on driving for the line with Yates in tow along for the ride....and mug Bernal for the stage finish. Picking Bardet and Yates as ny break away picks would have been good going...

Nonetheless...has anybody got a profile for tomorrow?....is the KOM competition all by dead now or not?

yep damn shame, was the only one in top 5 with Yates! Don't think I could catch first but podium was on the cards...

40 points on final climb only points on offer. Bardet would need to be up,. a few who can catch him:

1 BARDET Romain AG2R La Mondiale 86
2 WELLENS Tim Lotto Soudal 74
3 CARUSO Damiano Bahrain Merida 67
4 YATES Simon Mitchelton-Scott 59
5 BERNAL Egan Team INEOS 58
6 QUINTANA Nairo Movistar Team 58

Dr Winston wrote:

I quite liked the idea of that final stage....a simple race up a single mountain. Not sure i’d Want it every year but it did have a certain appeal at stage 20.

There are often stages like that in La Vuelta but they have about 150km before the final mountain, eg. Stage 19 last year.

The Giro quite often too.

The shortness of today's stage made it quite TV friendly but it lacked a  bit of action from the main teams. Movistar could probably have won it if they put Soler on the front for a while rather than him attacking and the same with Quintana & then Landa at the end.

The chance of a stage win for Valverde with zero risk to GC positions was thrown away.

MinardiM189 wrote:

All my transfers didn't really help in the last week.

Lets see what my last 5 can do.

EWAN
BERNAL
GROENEWEGEN
KRUIJSWIJK
VIVIANI
STUYVEN
IRVITI
BONIFAZIO

It was a strange week for you with so many transfers left over. It was all about guessing right with the one off picks....Nibali, Bardet and co....always risky and, as we know, in the long run doomed to fail....even Yates conspired to let us down.

Dr Winston wrote:

I was the same with Trentin when he was good for four stages in a row...i saw it the night before then had to rush my transfers in the morning and messed up.

Great ride from Greipel...nice to go out with a decent finish if this turns out to be his last GT.

Trentin and Stuyven have been excellent throughout as well...

Stuyven is always consistent in the sprints, that is why I picked him for the final stage over Colbrelli and EBH.

Trentin had a great race and made a wise decision to not challenge for intermediate sprints quite early, that gave him freedom to get in breaks which Colbrelli and Matthews never got. Sagan & Bora will not allow anyone near him in the points competition to get away, and unfortunately Sagan didn't look interested in winning from the break himself after winning stage5.

ASO should change the green jersey format. Maybe 75, 60, 40, 25 for flat stages, making Sagan work harder to collect points in intermediate stages.

I have a sad feeling that MWS coming last on the final stage may cost me a top3 position.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Overall I have to be pleased with my TdF

4th in Standard

28th in Purist

1st Forum Scorum

Now less than 400 points behind Mountain Renegade in overall standard

within 150 of Dr Winston in the purist

and opening a decent gap in Forum Scorum overall.

Many congratulations to the top 3 in TdF standard, you all played a brilliant finish. I thought I was in with a good chance after Stage 16 but got blown out of it by better players.

You’ve had a great run since the spring when everybody you picked turned to dust, or crashed, or didn’t start...playing the best game in the league for three months now....nice.

I’m happy enough with my 14th....more than half the race played without any even reasonable internet connection on my hols makes it tricky, tried last year at the same place on my hols and only managed 250th...I was expecting worse. 

Sniffer wrote:

To have picked Bardet yesterday (a few did) was an excellent gamble.  I had budgeted an extra transfer, but ended up not using it as I could not see where to use it.  I was looking at Bardet, Quintana, Wellens and Porte, but it just seemed a gamble.  It seems clearer today.

Obviously Quintana would have been alright too!

Looks like your extra transfer will be useful picking a replacement for Pinot.

So, so unlucky for Pinot.

triccky100 wrote:

yep damn shame, was the only one in top 5 with Yates! Don't think I could catch first but podium was on the cards...

40 points on final climb only points on offer. Bardet would need to be up,. a few who can catch him:

1 BARDET Romain AG2R La Mondiale 86
2 WELLENS Tim Lotto Soudal 74
3 CARUSO Damiano Bahrain Merida 67
4 YATES Simon Mitchelton-Scott 59
5 BERNAL Egan Team INEOS 58
6 QUINTANA Nairo Movistar Team 58

Would my Buchmann/Uran combination have scored more than your Yates/Bardet ?

I think my chance of winning disappeared with the 'neutralisation' of the stage. I probably had 3 top 10 finishers as opposed to 1 for the competition leader.