Shadco 

Comfortably bringing up the rear. Looks like I have a lot of wheel sucking in my future.

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GrainBrain

Oh boy there's four of us Sans Túfts here. I'm very pleased to see Vingegaard perform well! He was the only one to put Pog under pressure last year.
​​​​​

slcbob

That pesky interloper.

Who is that guy/gal?

slcbob

It turns out, not long.

I was counting on cursed Ganna carrying it for a few days.

I almost didn't pick WVA. How could he exaggerate his knee problem? That choir boy. And to what end? I hope I remain glad I didn't listen to his lies, damned lies.

Oh well. It's a long way to Paris. Plenty of time for Max Walscheid to dig deep and make me proud I flipped Jakobsen out for him in the last wholesale roster change, grabbing Pog, etc.

I will be watching curiously to see how many assist points Nathan van Hooydoink (sp?) doinks up over the course of the race, for his 4 point investment. Which I pondered but did not make.

diphthong

furst horrible prediction of this gc (in this thread)...jakobsen double-dips and qs goes 3 for 3 on stage three.

slcbob

Not if Max Walscheid has anything to say about it!

But I don't think he does.

slcbob

OK. Slightly more seriously now...

My prediction is that Jakobsen might wear green tomorrow after another good leadout from just a farmer's son and Morkov, but he won't see it again. Stage 4 is punchier and 5 is cobblier. If WVA loses it today, he claims it back promptly and wears it in Paris.

GrainBrain

This is the point (early on) that I look at the stage results then dig into PCS. Pedersen for 8 points was quite the deal. No fun going by numbers though! I'm looking forward to a resurgent Sagan!

USAZorro

Wout has put a massive target on his back for Mssr Karma to pay him a visit.

diphthong

them stage hunter transfers be available as of noww. catch as catch can or needs to. been a super quiet week so far with crashes/abandons but expecting stage 5 to up the ante.

slcbob

In our little league, GrainBrain has elbowed me out of the way unceremoniously and is now hot on the heels of the interloper.

3 of the top 4 teams are Pog-less. I have to have faith that I'll come back.

It's not until 8th place where we see someone without WVA. Not just someone, but our host ooga-booga , who has amassed a tidier tally of non-Wout points than any of the rest of us. Unfortunately for him, Wout is still in it.

Take that, Karma!

Famous last words?

slcbob

It seems the stage hunter thing is befuddling George as well as me. Oh well, I'm sure he'll sort it out. Not sure about me.

USAZorro

There's 17 stages left. I always take that view - which is why I de-selected Wout after hearing him waffle about his knee. I had no doubt he'd do well early on, but I don't see it lasting through the end.

Shadco 

I swapped out vermaarke for vermersch for stage 5.

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slcbob

Indeed, the race is young. I do see it lasting. But I also see pink elephants and I'm not sure what is real.

I dropped Jakobsen and sold my soul to squeeze Pogacar in for exactly that long view to which you allude. I almost dumped MVDP, too. Sort of hoped he was going to come alive today. Or maybe tomorrow. Or maybe some of those punchier stages ahead. Him and the pink elephant.

diphthong

had wva all the way until just before the start. was gonna rock 3 sprinter/classics guys with the sagan/mvdp/wout ghidorah tribute but it left me woefully exposed in the mtns.
came down to wout and quinn simmons vs jakobsen and bardet in the final analysis. was projecting wout to finish with approx 2600 points and maybe 400 for simmons.
was thinking approx 3000 points as well between jakobsen/bardet but w/o the smoke and mirrors jv/wout will he/won't he/knee bs. also blew off yatesie for consideration for pre-tour
news/gossip. prob shoulda gone with the wout/sagan/mvdp trifecta but bardet looked great in the giro and thinking he could finish 3rd or 4th and jakobsen may seriously push wout/sagan for the green
jersey. wout is burning the candle at both ends and remains to be seen if he can get away with it until the end of the race. he's young and talented enuff so probably.

da cobbles loom...how many crash outs/abandons tomorrow?

GrainBrain

I'm afraid the Danes have come here to make their mark on this year's tour! That pesky interloper always seems to have one rider that I knock my head and say "well of course!" -- I betchya Pedersen takes it tomorrow -- as long as Rowe doesn't try remounting in the middle of a sector!

USAZorro

Who anticipated the 13-16 combo and subsequent near-crash with the team car? Wout's head appears to be somewhere else mid-stage.

GrainBrain

I've figured out who the interloper is - it's non other then Tadej himself! He saw my thoughts of weakness on the cobbles and said "You talkin' to me? Here's your 1:40!"

So much class he didn't even put himself down for his team. What an incredible performance today and bravo for your choice of both him and Powless!

slcbob

So is keka Slovenian for tuft?

diphthong

first week recap after stage seven mañana.

dstrong 

Between WVA and MVDP, I chose the rider with the most initials. All because of some talk about a sore knee for WVA. Sheesh. Feeling good about going with Vinagaard over Roglic but jeez...Roglic put on a show today with a bum shoulder and everything...we'll see. A brief glimpse of hope as Mohoric accelerated away from the pack in the closing Ks today but was then quickly reeled back in.

So far, it's been a pretty entertaining week. My biggest regret? Not going with MC Nielsen after he was so good to me last year.

diphthong

well, we're a third of the way through and, surprisingly, we've had very few abandons and seemingly few crashes...at least less than expected.
there's still plenty of time for a moto, unconscious team car driver or pesky and nimble hay bale to wipe out a rider or two. race transitions from some of the flatter stages of the first week to the higher mountains. consequently, some of the fantasy squads have come to life and back into podium contention.
only three of the squad leaders have opted to go "stage hunter" so far with two nibbling and one team undergoing a nearly complete makeover.
expecting this to be more widespread with abandons/crashes/expectations increasing in the second week.

team the bounty just takes the top spot, barely, over Banesto Portugal Team with a huge stage seven showing. team RotzundWasser, with an even
bigger stage seven showing, climbs into the game. it's starting to get interesting...

slcbob

I have high hopes for Mollema from a break. Is today too soon?

Rolland, too. Though he may still be licking his wounds from the Danish schooling he got.

The Mole predicts WVA. Really? We shall see.

slcbob

Sorry, Bauke. My bad.