slcbob

^ or maybe not.

dstrong 

Woot!

slcbob

Did you circle today in red when you picked Bernal?

dstrong 

It's like he knew I needed points and didn't really give a darn about the seconds he made up!

Honestly, the stars of my line-up are a complete surprise to me...Cort? Trentin? The cost-to-points ratio for those two picks are spectacular! It'll be interesting to see if Egan burned all his matches today.

slcbob

Bizarro Vuelta. Damare scoring stage placing points on today's mountain stage, albeit not many. I guess he had a clear run at them with Cav and Ewan out of the picture.

USAZorro

He distinguished himself from Caleb - who seems unbeatable when the road is table flat, but whose mass appears to double on each uphill.

2cam16

Jay Vine. What a guy!

GrainBrain

Bardet and I have gone from GC to stage hunting! Finally got a stage win to lift me from the doldrums Jay Vine showing the potent potential of adrenaline and anger.

Proud to again not pick Cort after constantly singing his praises.

GrainBrain

Not a terrible 6 point pick, better then Hugh going back home to binge on bangers and mash, playing snooker. Landa I believe is on the dead to me list. Maybe he'll show up this week.

I'm regretting not picking a strong sprinter for the Vuelta ​​​​​

diphthong

nice win for majka. it had been too long.

diphthong

a very late rest day recap...

with so many big name riders out (valverde, carapaz, carthy, philipsen, etc), seems like nearly every team in contention for the podium
is missing at least one potential big points rider. all except for dstrong and team No bueno just rolling along.

we've got six teams in serious contention for a podium spot. they've all got roglic. only one team has bernal. a few have mas or lopez.
a few have jakobsen. will there be a last week resurrection or are we pretty set and dialed in at this point? remains to be seen.

slcbob

Whether by bad luck or bad choices, or both, yes, we've all got some baggage holding us back.

I do hope that anything interesting in this last week occurs from Lazarusian magnificence out of those who have been slogging along and finally find their way. Much preferable to further departures.

Landa will surprise us all, myself included, when he comes back from the grave. He's always good in the third week, right? When he makes it there.

slcbob

P.S. I appear to be squandering all my good juju over in the Benelux tour. That bodes poorly for Mikel. But that can turn around quickly. The smart money probably says it will.

diphthong

agreed. and yah, you're killing it in molto benelux land.

USAZorro

Mikel

2cam16

That was one heck of a performance by Primoz, Bernal, and the "Durango Kid".

dstrong 

Roglic: What took you so long?

slcbob

Me crushing it in the fantasy Benelux tour is somehow not quite managing to take the edge off my Spain team pedaling squares then sitting up. I'm dropping back through the pack like, and partly because of, Guillaume Martin. Unlike Landa, I will stick around in the league to take my punishment at the end.

I briefly eyed Haig and thought seriously about Yates when picking the team, but other than that wasn't seriously looking at anyone who is scoring well. The remaining duo from the Movistar trio were never on my short list. Kudos to those of you doing kudo-worthy things, by design or luck.

diphthong

mas is the new and improved mollema.

part of me enjoys/appreciates the new(ish) consistently (counter)attack when in the lead stylings. part of me hates it knowing more will eventually be involved. not now but maybe in a decade?

slcbob

Landa is the new & improved Menchov, too.

Movistar had their trident and so did Ineos. Movistar can still muster some action with the remaining bident. Our Adam could only listen on the radio while Egan slashed and poked with the Ineos unident. The attacks are good to see.

it is something to watch TJV so in control in such a non- Ineos / Sky / Blue Train mountain train suffocating mode.

dstrong 

Dayum! Another stage win for team No Bueno! This is getting embarrassing, given how little thought I put into my rider selection. Blind pig and all that I suppose.

slcbob

slcbob

In my pre-race fantasizing and Velogames team picking, I glanced briefly at Jack Haig but then discounted him because he would be working for Landa. I did briefly consider the possibility that Landa would make an early exit but, no, be charitable and optimistic, and him fresh off a strong showing, I put that thought away and offered him an olive branch to come back across the River Styx.

I also steered clear of the Movistar trident because I expected the wheels to come off that train in some spectacular fashion.

Wrong on both accounts. At least until today, sort of. Valverde's crash was bad luck, Mas has been terrific, and it took until stage 20 for Miguel Angel Lopez to throw the wobbler. So all in, still some fine racing from the big white M, yet again they have not failed to impress on the drama side of things.

Checking just now, ooga-booga , I see you didn't pick him but I know you've been watching your boy.

2cam16

So much drama with Lopez. WTH?

dstrong 

I went out for my own ride this morning (at likely half the average speed of the peloton and a whopping 1,200' of elevation) and got back in time to watch the last 20k. Bernal? Lopez??? WTH? I'm going to have to go back and look at highlights to get a better feel for what happened. Great ride from Champoussin, who's name I didn't hear called until his last attack... nor had ever heard of!