ooga-booga

ask marc soler...just kidding. poor bastard had to wait a few stages ago and lost a potential stage win. soler has some talent and i can see him leaving movistar.
i think he'd be better at the week-long affairs like the dauphine, tour de suisse, etc vs the gt's tho but who knows what he's truly capable of if he becomes one of the
protected riders on a team not named ineos, jumbo visma or ef education?

i think the breakaway rider in the lead, dropping back to help his highly-placed gc teammate, is more of a morale boost than anything. it's a friendly face to help the gc guy regain some rhythm, catch their breath, settle them down and slowly pick up the pace vs the frenetic slow/fast attacks/consolidations that got them into difficulty. i look at it as limiting losses/damage control. obviously, if a gc contender totally blows/crashes hard, then it's open season. these guys train together through all sorts of conditions in all sorts of weather. the teammates (and directors) have a pretty good idea of whether a guy can fight through a rough patch or not. all the teams have different objectives as well. clearly, they all want to win...but is it more prestigious for the team sponsor(s)-in this case jumbo visma-to have a gt winner or two+ stage wins? or just have their company displayed/mentioned prominently and consistently with breakaways and maybe the kom jersey? jumbo-visma looks to be all in on the gt's with roglic, kruisjin and dumou (and covering the classics with wout) but not every team has that budget.

expect to see more of these intrateam contortions with jv and ineos scooping up all the proven gc guys for the gt's. movistar has consistently played it passive-aggressive the last few
years with carapaz, quintana, landa, valverde, etc. it usually doesn't work out...at least it hasn't for movistar. 2 gc wins in the last 6-7 years is better than nothing but i think that's far less than
what they were expecting and they caught lightning in a bottle with carapaz.

ooga-booga

nice to see tgh in the mix the last two stages. i'll take those points. stage seventeen...gotta go with bennett again.

one4smoke

OB(SR), you are slowly inching up toward that number one spot.

slcbob

This could be a very interesting stage. Forecast 15-25mph winds. Game on, flatlanders.

I will not doom anyone by picking them. Though if I commit to no one on my team winning, it may mean someone does. Bizarro Vuelta.

ooga-booga

stage eighteen is another brutal stage. stage nineteen...give me bennett again. stage twenty looks like a classics-styled fun one. fuglsang, valverde and gilbert jump out
but i'm sure there are a handful of other contenders like tgh, stybar and teuns. were it five years ago...i'd include haussler in the mix.

slcbob

Were it five years ago, you'd include Talansky in the mix and live to regret it.

Zviedrs6020

That feeling when you have one on your roster with 0 points ... Meintjes in my case.
Anyone having the same situation?

dstrong 

Well...almost...2 points for Kruijswijk...and he's out of the race.

Quintana is my best performing rider...by a long shot...Gilbert is doing me nicely also for the 8 credits he cost me.

ooga-booga

ugh probably.

ooga-booga

umm yah. meintjes pitching a no-hitter for/against me as well. otherwise, the rest of the team is playing nicely.

ooga-booga

good call, slcbob. no one knows blustery better than you. bizarro, yet entertaining, and we still have a few wild rides left.

SpinClassSara

My Fantasy team finished dead last a few days ago. I was SO embarrassed I didn't know what to say.

ooga-booga

stage eighteen...gonna be a lotta trash in the park after this mountain picnic. pogacar ftw.

ooga-booga

you're likely still ahead of the pack fodder (myself included) here. roll on!

GrainBrain

Looks like Str8jakett and I will be racing for third. My Majka fears are materializing and the third week has proved decisive. Oh woe is me that I traded off Roglic and Gilbert How awesome was DQS though on those flats, and cunning Quintana! Props to moviestar for helping Roglic chase back two minutes again.

Just happy to see Lawson once again finishing in the top ten, a silver lining to EFs troubles and a surprise savior to my fantasy team!

I'm thinking 18 will have a French connection, LaTour or Bouchard?

slcbob

My team only has people on it. Meintjes is dead to me.

Admirable back hand! That would have hurt if I didn't admire and deserve it so much. Ha ha.

DFL is admirable and something to be celebrated! Maglia nera, lantern rouge, certainly something in espanish that escapes me, too. There's even a UCI rule that prohibits prizes for last place because it used to be formally celebrated at times. So own it, @SpinClassSara. Rock it out. Shout it to the world.

When you finish second-to-last, that's when you need to skulk away. And don't even think about coming around here searching for sympathy.

GrainBrain

SpinClassSara

DFL is admirable and something to be celebrated! Maglia nera, lantern rouge, certainly something in espanish that escapes me, too. There's even a UCI rule that prohibits prizes for last place because it used to be formally celebrated at times. So own it, @SpinClassSara. Rock it out. Shout it to the world.

When you finish second-to-last, that's when you need to skulk away. And don't even think about coming around here searching for sympathy. [/QUOTE]

Ummmm ... you know that I'm not actually riding, right? That I chose riders to make up my team? I'm not sure why I would be proud of that, nor deserving of sympathy. It's my own fault for not being more obsessed with cyclists, I guess. I have no idw\ea how everyone has so much knowledge of the sport !!!

But thank you, you're very kind to answer me!!!

ooga-booga

sweet sweet sweet higuita victory. good for him.

wut. there’s been a meintjes sighting!? he finished 7th?!?! nfw?!?! shut the front door! the goose eggs he’s been supplying just got cooked up for breakfast. well, some of them anywhoo.

roglic...dude is like a limpet...despite everyone’s best attacks, they can’t dislodge him. lopez has attacked himself off the podium.

one4smoke

I know the bounty has to be hearing the music...

Daa-dum. daa-dum. daa-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum daaaaaaaa...

ooga-booga

yah only 23 points away after being approx 1000 away for most of the contest...

unless gilbert wins stage 19 and lopez (significantly) wins stage 20 and either roglic or valverde drop off the map for whatever reason,
i'm destined to finish second or lower. canam73 and i both have pogacar and bennett so that's a wash. bennett's in potential contention
stages 19 and 21. if roglic and valverde stay on the podium, that's 900 or so points at the end. really happy to have closed the gap
but too many crazy things hafta occur to make a change at the top. i'll be happy just to podium and finish ahead of slcbob again.

so with that in mind...gilbert for stage nineteen!

canam73

Now that I'm 1 point down I'll come out of hiding.

This is getting pretty exciting.

ooga-booga

i feel like lopez pulling on the red jersey...just before the big tt stage...

ooga-booga

dqs with four stage wins...shoulda been five with the opening ttt. not too shabby for a "classics" team.

canam73

Valverde and Roglic could crash each other out sprinting for the line in 20?