Romandie 22

I dropped Rubio by mistake instead of Dylan Teuns for the final TT.  I ended up second by 2 points, so lost me the race.  I don't even know how I did it, as I had planned to drop him on one of the last two stages all along.  Doh!

You should be happy with that if you were away.  My holiday was a disaster in terms of the game.  I went to Spain and did all my transfers for the final stage of Itzulia/Basque a stage early by mistake and lost a stack of points.  Mrs was hassling me to go out, so I rushed it.  Also did something silly in one of the classics (forget what).  Dropped a load of places in the overall.

Schoolboy errors are the reason I'm unlikely to ever win the overall.  I don't have the excuse of missing the start of a stage race or two this year, and I'm definitely having a go at it.

I put too much faith in G at the end. If he can't manage that Queens stage then he's finished as a team leader. It was a tough stage... but not quite up there compared to the very hardest climbing on the WT. 

Good race though..really good. It was a shame Izagirre got taken out... that parcours was perfect for him. 

Yeah, love that race.  Also like Itzulia.  A bit like some Belgian stage races (which are no longer in this game as not world tour) these races give different riders chances and aren't as predictable.

I didn't drop G until the TT which was pretty costly in the end.  Maybe G will have a wake-up in time for the Tour.  I can't help feeling like he'd be better targetting the classics and doing more TT specific training too.

I think this applies to a lot of riders who  need to accept that GT contention isn't the only measure of ability. Mollema is a great example of a rider who blossomed once he accepted he wasn't going to win a GT and concentrated on big one day races, stage wins and possibly a mountain jersey. I think riders like G, Dumoulin and Pinot could make their lives a lot less stressful if they forgot about GC on the Grand Tours and showed their ability in shorter bursts! 

G is riding really well, fantastic anyway.... but as a super domestique. He's actually been one of the best riders in the peleton of late but just not in the way that he once was. If cycling is a team game then he should be one of the first on the team sheet, but not as leader. 
 

Tony Martin is a good example, he was fantastic as a tractor domestique for Jumbo, just as good at that as he was at time trialling before it. 

Agreed. He's got  the yellow jersey in the bank and realistically there are better riders now to win Grand Tours. I've never understood why he's not been interested in races like LBL or Lombardia, which he seems ideally suited for. As a super domestique in a Grand Tour there is always scope for a stage win which would add gloss to an already  impressive palmares. 

That speaks volumes for where he is right now. Taking G out for an uphill TT... jeez...

I went with Plapp over G for first stage which was the wrong choice. However I then resisted bringing him in which worked out ok. Did well in the purist for once, mainly due to Hermans, but fell from first to third in final stage! 

I went with a risky Izagirre on the Queens stage. I have no idea how he only managed 18 pts as last man standing on a stage like that... it wasn't even a particularly big group.

You were really unlucky with Izagirre there.  I nearly did the same.  I don't think he realised the KOM jersey was still up for grabs and decided not to bother going for the points.

I have even less idea.

So I did precisely nothing!  No transfers for me today!

The undercard for GC must surely attack that last climb. None of them want to be going into the TT with a time deficit on Dennis. Seems to be that a re run of yesterday with Ineos teeing up Hayter is a popular opinion... I'm not sure... Hayter might win but it will only be because it happens rather than the plan. I think we we'll see the likes of O'Connor and Thomas attack on the first half of that last climb. 

Dr Winston wrote:

The undercard for GC must surely attack that last climb. 

Or they just wait for the summit finish tomorrow.

Uphill TT, not so Dennis friendly?

Maybe not... but they shouldn't give him too much. He's played a blinder by looking for the odd bonus seconds all week, just like Roglic. Thomas looking v strong as well despite playing super domestique again these past two days.

He was penalised 20 seconds for taking a late bidon on stage 1. Looking at the game it looks like stage 1 hasn't been scored correctly because of this. The official website has him as being in 24th place on GC at the end of stage 1, rather than the 4th he was scored as. It maybe too late to correct it but I do want my 'top anorak' badge back for spotting this! 

I am against moving times after race start.  You do get breakaways at km 0 sometimes.

Also, although I have been leaving tranafers later than before, many of us at work have to take a punt when we have the opportunity to do so.

Yeah, I had Hayter down as a possible DNS, but fortunately kept him.

I think he was wise to take his time after a crash.  No GC ambitions, the jersey gone, and taking a bit of time to understand how your body is makes a lot of sense.

Whatever the deadline 10 mins before start, an hour before start or two hours before start, it is a level playing field for all.

Occasionally for races where you see the neutralised start, you can tell who is keen to be in the break, they are right up the front, and more obviously those that won't go for it (sitting at the back of the peloton).  I suspect though that is a more theoretical problem than a significant one,

I agree that changing results retrospectively could become a massive pain in the neck. I think leaving the window open after the race start wouldn't be a good idea for the same reason Sniffer highlighted. The game will always be flawed but at least it gives me something to moan about!

Daniel Norton wrote:

Does anyone know why Thomas is down in 24th place when he has only dropped 4 seconds since the prologue?

He picked up a 20s time penalty for taking a bottle inside the 20km cutoff yesterday.

Just been scratching my head at the same thing. 

This season is doing my flaming head in!

If you can't pick your team based on widely available public information (i.e. Thomas was still in 3rd this morning on procycling stats and I didn't see a report that he was penalised) then the game becomes more about luck than strategy.  No way can I dedicate enough time to knowing things that aren't widely known.

Grrrr!

Yep, brought him in for th GC points yesterday and today!

I feel your pain.  I had read a comment saying he had taken a bidon at 19km somewhere, but with nothing appearing on the normal sources I kind of assumed it was deemed OK.

Daniel Norton wrote:

Does anyone know why Thomas is down in 24th place when he has only dropped 4 seconds since the prologue?

Illegal feed inside final 20kms, he was given a 20 sec time penalty.