diphthong

hay there, it's time for the first grand tour of the year. if you haven't been thoroughly humiliated by this point in the year, now's the time!

Velogames Fantasy Cycling | Fantasy Giro d'Italia 2016

league name: bike forums
league code: 01205422

entry deadline is 13:30 cest on this friday. good luck!

Gehena

Looks like fun, giving it a shot. Took Nibali cause i'd be stupid not to, but really counting on Valverde and Chavez to bring me happiness. Viviani for sprints and Cancellara for tt. I think this will work pretty damn well. Really hoping Landa doesn't do well, for the sake of my team. If he's on point, i'm screwed.

slcbob

I'm glad to see you have been on the ball, ooga-booga.

I don't think I've been on this forum since the whoopin' dished out in the Vuelta, and I can't even remember if I gave or took that whoopin'.

I hope there's a little more trash talking this year here! Ha ha. I just joined up as The Stark of Messina. In keeping with that GOThronesy motif, I'm entirely prepared for a good portion of my roster to meet their fate in the plot twists and turns to come, far earlier than one would hope. It seems to work out that way more often than not.

Wow, Gehena, both Valverde and Nibali? Those are some expensive eggs in just a few baskets. It can't leave much budget for the rest of the team.

Good luck all!

Gehena

With Dumoulin going for gold later this year, he likely won't contend GC, leaving him to TT. I prefer Spartacus in those odds, plus Fabian is cheaper. That leaves Landa, Valverde and Nibali fighting for GC. Nib should take the mountains, leaving the easier stages for Valverde. Thinking about switching out Viviani for Ewen or Greipel. Bar the sprints, i think have all my bases covered quite nicely. Of course, i did have take Chavez instead of Majka :'(

slcbob

I'm sure it will play out exactly like that, Gehena!

Side bets?

I hope our regular pals show up for all the highly predictable outcomes. I'm rolling the dice with no Nibali or Landa. Hero or goat. Fight for pink.

eddiepliers 

I'm in as well!

diphthong

8 participants?! that's it?! you're weak and worthless! now drop and give me 20!

slcbob

Unleash the Fury!

dstrong 

In, with my usual assortment of picks based on nothing other than I know their names!

68venable

I'm hoping for a top ten finish.

68venable

So far, so good on the top ten finish. Still a long road ahead.

Gallo

sorry thought I joined already

going for a top 25

in this leauge

slcbob

I am staying out of the wind for the moment, looking forward to moving forcefully to the front of the pack in the third week.

diphthong

second guessing my decision to eschew another climber
in favor of a 2nd sprinter-greipel-as my wild card.
was hoping kittel/greipel would both be finishing in the
top 3 or 4 on all the flat stages. greipel seems to
be a few wheels behind so far. brambilla was the one
rider i wanted but just couldn't fit in. he was my 2nd
wild card choice. hoping it doesn't come back to hamper
my chances for giro fantasy domination...

Gallo

not sure betting against nibali was wise on my part

losing Peraud early is not going to bear well down the stretch

slcbob

I predicted the strong possibility of the Dumoulin - Kittel - Dumoulin pink shuffle and chose against them both anyway.

I really need to do some soul searching. Or have a little faith until my grand plan comes together in later stages. It's always at least one or the other, often both!

68venable

Today helped me a bit. Still in the top 10!

Gehena

Was sad that i couldn't take Majka, but it looks like Chavez turned to be a better pick! Also glad i left Viviani for Griepel. With Landa not in form, Dumoulin seems to be my only threat for GC, hope that'll change over the course of the coming weeks. Cancellara does his best fatherly impression by not showing up and leaving me utterly disappointed.

diphthong

greipel woke up.

diphthong

with kittel abandoning, all the chips are now on brambilla. s***.

slcbob

Just as I was about to get all smug and trash talky about Kittel abandoning and screwing so many of you, the now dead-to-me Viviani missed the time cut and will not be competing for red.

Damn. Back to quietly hoping for a miracle.

slcbob

And again, Joker: the Jungian thing, the duality of life.

Just as I was feeling down about Uran Uran not being as hungry as the wolf in the time trial, and Zukarin going full Rassmussen, I get a little boost from not having Landa on board.

How does that make you feel?

diphthong

my feelings that landa was going to be more mercurial than some of the other "contenders" were justified.


then there were only five (for me): hesjedal, visconti, chaves, majka, roche.


out of my four abandons: greipel, kittel, cancellara & dumoulin-at least they kicked in a combined 1,850 points.


now it's time for the mountain boys to be or not to be. six of the remaining nine stages are brutal. crashes, fatigue,
likely horrible weather at some point and team support (or lack thereof) will all be telling. will be interesting to see
if any of these mountain stages will be truncated by weather considerations and who is in the driver's seat (and who isn't)
with any last-minute route changes.


a little more than frightened that jungels and brambilla are gonna rip up the mountains for team etixx and tag-team
the rest of the contenders. yikes.


sprinters are (generally) flakes. that is all.

Gallo

astana and moviestar have good support the race of truth should shake the standings up tomorrow not the typical tt

slcbob

ooga-booga, it's good you got such a jump on us all, because the 4 guys you have left don't have to pull quite so hard to stay in front.

I'm slowly "movin' on up" but am not going to go the full George Jefferson this Grand Tour.