USAZorro

I reflexively presumed that it was not Remco's decision to withdraw. Apparently this was incorrect. Carry on.

Still sucks to not be able to watch a Grand Tour.

diphthong

**rest day recap!** well...the remco/ganna departures (with more surely to follow) has thrown things into a tizzy and forced our hands into doing the stage hunter sidebar game.
in both the classic game and the stage hunter game, the top three are the same.

1. team Xuxo Team
2. team Keka 76
3. team Breakaway Warriors

team Xuxo Team is currently 284th out of 19,349. not too shabby. in the classic game, three out of sixteen teams didn't have remco aboard and all three were 1000+ points
below the leaderboard. these next few stages look to be interesting. best of luck to all.

GrainBrain

Props to Tim's Campy crew and the Skujins' pick, 600pts and about to rack up a few more from the looks of it. Here I was feeling clever with Rubio yesterday...

diphthong

last rest day recap! still the same three squads in the lead, with some shuffling, heading into the last slate of stages.

1. team Keka 76-Team Poetovio/sLOVEnia
2. Xuxo Team-Fabio Xuxo
3. team Breakaway Warriors-Marcel Lopes

Team Poetovio/sLOVEnia is currently ranked 95th out of 19349 so there's that. not too shabby headed into the last few stages. mega-congrats!
decent amount of teams still in contention for a podium place. By my reckoning, approx ocho.

stages 16, 18, 19 and 20 look to real gigglefests. sprinkle in the realized, giro weather and you've got the perfect makings of 115 riders finishing.

will be real. will be brutal. will be real brutal.

slcbob

Keka 76 is truly crushing it. My one shred of pride was that, until a stage or two ago, I was clinging to a lead in the season-to-date stage race GC. But no more. That has been inexorably slipping this whole Giro, going the way of Jack Haig's GC ambitions and Jay Vine's Christmas card from Portugal.

My resolution: picking low cost riders for assist points is failing to dare greatly and should only be a strategy employed by cold and timid souls who shall never truly taste the triumph of high achievement.

Rock on, stoic interloper. And the others who are mixing it up well.

I must strive more valiantly in the next race. Thanks for the schooling!

slcbob

Kudos to Primoz and Keka76. Well triumphed.

There's another stage race starting this coming weekend. Don't miss the boat. Relentless mediocrity is my middle name.

diphthong

that was an interesting first gt of the year.

in the classic game:

team Keka 76/Team Poetovio/sLOVEnia takes the checkered flag with team Sogni d'Oro/Grain Brain coming on strong to place with team Xuxo Team/Fabio Xuxo showing.

in the stage hunter game:

team Keka 76/Team Poetovio/sLOVEnia double up the domination while team the bounty/canam73 occupies the slot a step down and team Shad's Mess/Shad nabs third.

wild and woolly to be sure. more hijinks dead ahead. hope ta see y'all for that little soirée in july.

slcbob

That was Hugh's last chance. Carthy is dead to me.

I've had a warm spot for Almeida in the past and, as long as his cost in VeloBucks doesn't go through the roof, he'll be one of the usual suspects going forward. There is my true regret. And the weaselly assist points strategy instead of daring to go into the breach.

Milan and Gee, wow.

GrainBrain

Great run, but I'm constantly reflecting on my enthusiasm for Geraint that never materialized in my fantasy team - chalk it up to weakness and fear. Not like I would've chosen any decent 6 point riders besides Rubio. I'm glad to have been apart of the Kamna experiment. Proud to see my four pointers show themselves - Zoccarato with a what if and Petilli who really could've pulled in a GC result I think. Glad to support Barta.

Don't give up on Hugh, though maybe we'll see him in the snooker championships in the future.