Tour de France

[Rupert]

@keffa
I had a look at your team and saw you still had 5 trades to use or lose over the next 2 stages.
Do you mind if I make a few suggestions? My apologies in advance if I am being offensive.

If I were you I would swap out Valverde and Matthews for Kittel and Cavendish. That would give you a good chance at points for stage 6 with all of Kittel, Cav, Greipel and Sagan. Of course, one of the lesser sprinters may win but these are the big 4.

It would leave you with no money in the bank and with the 3 trades left to use before stage 7. I would then use these trades after stage 6 to swap out Kittel, Cav and Greipel for Froome and Quintana and one of the 8.0m or less GC contenders or climbers.

That would give you 3 good candidates for stage 7 and set you up nicely for all the mountain stages that are coming. It would also give you an advantage for the next set of 8 trades: most teams will have to use up several just to get GC/climbers in to their teams.

Again, my apologies if I am out of order.

 

[Fitzroy Guerrilla]

I'm ranked 19th now. Missing Van Avermaet is costly for me.

 

[keffa]

@keffa
I had a look at your team and saw you still had 5 trades to use or lose over the next 2 stages.
Do you mind if I make a few suggestions? My apologies in advance if I am being offensive.

If I were you I would swap out Valverde and Matthews for Kittel and Cavendish. That would give you a good chance at points for stage 6 with all of Kittel, Cav, Greipel and Sagan. Of course, one of the lesser sprinters may win but these are the big 4.

It would leave you with no money in the bank and with the 3 trades left to use before stage 7. I would then use these trades after stage 6 to swap out Kittel, Cav and Greipel for Froome and Quintana and one of the 8.0m or less GC contenders or climbers.

That would give you 3 good candidates for stage 7 and set you up nicely for all the mountain stages that are coming. It would also give you an advantage for the next set of 8 trades: most teams will have to use up several just to get GC/climbers in to their teams.

Again, my apologies if I am out of order.

Not out of order at all mate, I need all the help I can get in this game! I did have Kittell and Cavendish before yesterday's stage. Will follow your trades for sure

 

[Fitzroy Guerrilla]

I'm back up to 17th.

I have one trade left this week. I might turn Kittel into Quintana. I think tonight's stage probably suits a breakaway or a someone other than one of the big names to win, but hard to know. Potentially, someone like Rolland, Aru even Pinot could be decent but seems hard to predict, so maybe the safest option for the trade is to go for a major competitor.

Got an eye on Kreuziger over the next week or so as a cheaper option who could get some points. Guess others like Van Den Broeck and Hesedjal who have gone ok in the past are worth watching too.

Not sure that I'm all that keen on Contador, Porte or Van Garderen this year but can't rule them out.

 

[Fitzroy Guerrilla]

Looks like the mobile site is fully updated with scores. Our league is in fourth place.

 

[Grater]

I've moved up instead of down and I don't have Van Avermaet which is surprising.

110 now, 1316 points.

What is grating on me is the fact I would be #1 if I used stage 1 as my bonus stage. Thus I'd be a good chance at a weekly prize.

 

[doddy2731]

You boys are looking good, hopefully we can all hold it together and give thid OA league a nudge too.

I too only have one transfer remaining, undure what to do just yet.

 

[Grater]

I have 2 left which is good.
Then obviously will use 4 tomorrow leaving me 4 for next week. Then use free trades on the amnesty if that's what it means.

 

[Grater]

Today is a good chance for the break. Valverde says people might ride conservatively. So I'm tempted to bring in 2 riders in the hope they join the break or bring in GC guys and hope they make top 20.

 

[Rupert]

Good going to all. Although our league is 4th the top 2 leagues can be discounted as they have no bonus stages left. Our main competition looks to be the leagues sitting at 3rd and 5th: Colt Tower and 1987.

I'm slowly advancing - up to 83rd.
I am unsure about my last trade in this block of 8. It will probably be Quintana but I agree with @Fitzroy Guerrilla and @Grater that it looks pretty good for a break-away - but who?
I don't like picking a rider specifically for a break-away as it is such a throw of the dice. I prefer to pick someone assured of a top-10 placing. At least you get some points.
Then again, if a (supposed) GC contender is far enough back on time they might be worth the gamble. I'll have to check the standings.

A thought for the next block of 8 trades: stage 10 looks to be good for a break-away, stage 11 is a sprint stage, then there's a mountain stage and an ITT. It might be worthwhile to forget about scoring on stage 10 and load up on sprinters in the trade amnesty. They can then immediately be offloaded for climbers.
Just a thought.

 

[keffa]

Wow great going by our league. And some great individual efforts too. Sounds like @Fitzroy Guerrilla might have found his calling!

Can anyone explain to me exactly how the bonus stage works? I picked stage 17 which I think goes skyward. Is it about having the stage winner in your team at the bonus stage, or is it about having as many top 10 finishes as possible? Or both?

 

[Grater]

Transfer Amnesty is on the rest day, so on Monday. That's the only day you can make the trades. So you'll need to do half/half. half sprinters, half climbers

 

[Rupert]

Wow great going by our league. And some great individual efforts too. Sounds like @Fitzroy Guerrilla might have found his calling!

Can anyone explain to me exactly how the bonus stage works? I picked stage 17 which I think goes skyward. Is it about having the stage winner in your team at the bonus stage, or is it about having as many top 10 finishes as possible? Or both?

Your bonus stage doubles whatever points you score on that stage.

 

[Fitzroy Guerrilla]

Is it just me or are the ads this year not as good as in past years?

 

[doddy2731]

So with my last transfer I'm thinking Greipel>Froome/Valverde.

This would make my team look like this:

Cavendish, Kittel, Sagan
Froome/Valverde, Kristoff, Groenewegen
Richeze, Laporte, Tsgabu

Thoughts??

 

[Rupert]

So with my last transfer I'm thinking Greipel>Froome/Valverde.

This would make my team look like this:

Cavendish, Kittel, Sagan
Froome/Valverde, Kristoff, Groenewegen
Richeze, Laporte, Tsgabu

Thoughts??

It's a toss up. Froome is probably the favourite because:
a. He's the overall favourite
b. Froome/Sky usually target the first real mountain stage
c. Contador is still recovering from his crashes and everybody thinks that Quintana is just shadowing Froome for now.
Valverde is still claiming that he is riding in support of Quintana, so is it worth bringing him in?

I went with Quintana in the hope that he'll attack. Not likely from what the commentators are saying.

 

[doddy2731]

So we have a reset on our transfers tomorrow, is that how I'm understanding it?
It will be bloody welcomed I tell ya!

 

[Rupert]

So we have a reset on our transfers tomorrow, is that how I'm understanding it?
It will be bloody welcomed I tell ya!

Yep. We get another 8 to use or lose over the next 7 stages.
But I'm not going crazy with them as after stages 8 + 9 we get the trade amnesty.
So I'll probably save most of the 8 for the sprint stage 11 and the ITT stage 13.

 

[doddy2731]

Yep. We get another 8 to use or lose over the next 7 stages.
But I'm not going crazy with them as after stages 8 + 9 we get the trade amnesty.
So I'll probably save most of the 8 for the sprint stage 11 and the ITT stage 13.

Cool, i'll need to use a few to build a usefull team for the hills, my team as it sits is not great.

 

[Grater]

With the trade amnesty coming up I'm trying to work out what the best balance is.

I can make 5 trades, and thus keep Sagan/Cavendish/Froome/Rolland in and then just take a few out on the trade amnesty day for the rest of the week, with 3 trades remaining in the bank, or I can make less trades or make more. It's hard to find the right balance.