The bonus stage is till a big conundrum for me (specially since that's what made the difference last year), but I still have 112 hours to decide. For those who make it the first stage, are you missing out on 'retaining yellow' and 'retaining green' points as these won't be awarded?
Lenh191: Probably best to trade in the likes of Froome after the first week just beofre the Pyrenees mountain stages.
Agent Orange, to me, there are too many unknowns or reasons or risks to pick the first stage as your bonus stage. For example, who are the in form sprinters?, there is more likely to be crash during first stage than the last stage, guaranteed versus unguaranteed yellow and green jersey points and finally, many sprinters fail to get over the mountains leaving a more predictable selection to chose from for the run into Paris I was one of the teams you ran over last year - Patience on the bonus stage can pay off
Jodie, my thoughts exactly, if only I can make it work with the transfers without putting all my eggs in the one basket. Alternatively stages 6 and 7 are looking pretty good as well; I do prefer a sprint stage as the bonus stage.
SBS Team: Griepel, Goss, Sagan, Cavendish, Bouhanni, Kittel, T Martin, Degenkolb, Gerrans & Impey Sky Final Stage 6m left - Looks weak to me? Nibali not listed as a competitor at SBS..
Len, I agree with the comments of Jodie and Agent Orange as to looking to stage 6 or 7 as the bonus stage. I agree with set and forget strategy of Sky for the team. You are on the right lines with your team - if everyone else would look away please I reckon Sky's EBH needs to be in your initial team. He will work for the team in the mountains but I reckon they will let him have some fun before the serious stuff starts. allez, allez
Must admit haven't paid too much attention but I'll write something up about each squad here as a bit of late mail either tonight or tomorrow. Remember Rabobank which were Blanco briefly are now Belkin! Not confusing at all. Now up to 10 people in the SBS comp so shall be a good battle. Nibali isn't doing the Tour. With picking later stages (after week one) for sprinters, apart from the Paris stage, you'll always run more of a risk of the breakaway staying away. Unless you go for the TT.
I am not sure how many of you will also attempt my favourite competition, Velogames, but this year is particularly difficult. There are very few 'cheaper' riders to fill up your team that enable you to fit in a sufficient number of 'guns'. So allow some time to find the right fit for your team. I might have competed in 10 or 12 versions of this game over the last few years and I have never felt so uncertain with the price of the riders and budget
Your right (again) Jodie, with Froome, Cav and Sagan 62% of the budget for nine riders is gone! I look like selecting a team with at least two riders I had never heard of before, but they appeal because they each only cost 4 units. I really hope next time I look there are a few more options in the all rounders below 10 unit category.
Hornsy wrote: Which team has the best program? Depending on who your favourites are: Sky, Astana, Katusha, Movistar, OPQS, BMC. Rabobank (Belkin) suck(ed) so no one rates their program. Anyway.... Jodie - yeah, velogames is certainly a challenge this year. A LOT of top riders and very hard to know who to pick. Will be a case of picking which favourites you think will survive really and a lot of dark horse selections. Chels - EBH is a good selection but a bit too expensive for my tastes. Certainly should be up there in any sprint that Sagan is, so you'd think he should score points on some stages, just not sure how many he will though, nor how much of a free reign he will get!
Ok this is a rather simple preview but it will at least look at all the teams, their riders, which shouldn't change, and who they are riding for. I won't necessarily say who is better than whom, but if you wish to ask about any rider, feel free. AG2R LA MONDIALE The French teams are really starting to develop talent now and it will be interesting to see what AG2R do. Jean-Christophe Peraud will be their leader and should do well on all terrain. Gadret, is a good climber too though may be on the downward spiral, same for Riblon and Dupont. Romain Bardet though has oodles of talent uphill which we may get a chance to see if he's not working for Peraud. Otherwise Ex-Cofidis rider Dumoulin will inevitably get in a break and is always up there in some of the sprints. <img alt='[/img]<img alt='[/img]<img alt='[/img]<img alt='[/img]ASTANA PRO TEAM After leaving Radioshack for more opportunity the Dane Jacob Fuglsung will lead Astana at the tour and will be hoping to show the talent he has to place well in the GC. He will have Brajkovic for support who is a good all-rounder who could place well himself and Kessiakoff can climb and do well in the TTs (so too Brajkovic). Gavazzi and Gasparatto will be their designated sprinters, but only from a selective bunch. BELKIN PROCYCLING TEAM New sponsor but question remains whether they will show anything new themselves. Having no sprinter may work, it means they will concentrate on a good overall performance from their leader in Buake Mollema, with Robert Gesink in the wings after a disappointing Giro, who should be there to help and likely target a stage win. Nordhaug is a decent climber too whilst the rest will be domestiques, Boom and Vanmarcke are classics specialists, so watch out for them on the bumpy stages BMC RACING TEAM There are parallels here to last year's Sky team - who will be the leader? The former winner and this year's Giro podium getter in Evans or the upcoming star in Van Garderen who finished above Cadel last year in 5th? Both will be keen to have a good result and you can't discount either so it will be hard to find an answer until the road gives us one. The team is made up of lot of support except for Gilbert, who will be given a free role to try and chase victories on any of the puncheur stages. CANNONDALE There hasn't been a rider quite like Peter Sagan for a long time and it's become less of a joke when people start labelling him as the next Eddy Mercx. Just this year he's shown he can win bunch sprints, be up there in the classics and get over mountains if he wants too. He will be a formidable opponent for the traditional sprinters in for stage wins and the Green jersey. There's not a lot else on the team so it will be all focused on him but Moreno Moser is another exciting talent and he can win the same stages as Sagan if given the chance. COFIDIS Cofidis have revamped their squad for this year's tour, trying to get a rider to break into the the Top 10 GC. Coppel has joined and has always been highly touted and he will be complimented by Rein Taaramae who is another good talent who needs to start developing. Both riders need consistency but Cofidis also have a darkhorse in Dani Navarro, an ex-teammate of Contador who has been climbing well and can place high himself. Expect to see more of this team this year. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI Sanchez may not be here but Euskaltel have a strong side with plenty of riders who may figure on the main stages - presuming they stay upright of course. Anton and Nieve will be co-leaders and both can figure either in the GC or winning mountain stages. Another rider who is also capable is the young Ion Izaguirre, who has shown he can climb and even time-trial but is relatively untested. The French Basqueman in Romain Sicard is also another rider who could deliver on his climbing talent. FDJ FDJ will be trying to focus on two main leaders this year in the hope of doing well across the whole Tour. Nacer Bouhanni, the boisterous French sprinter will lead them for the first week and on any stage with a chance for a sprint finish whilst last year's revelation in Thibault Pinot will head their main GC ambitions and hopes in the mountains. He has a good support team in young climbers Jeannesson and Geniez so should do well. There is of course Jeremy Roy who is an attacking rider who may focus on the Polka Dots, so it's a well rounded team. GARMIN - SHARP Garmin this year has many options and will look to animate the race. Ryder Hysedal, last year's Giro winner will try and fight for the overall as their team leader but they also have Dan Martin and Andrew Talansky who are equally good climbers themselves, and Talansky is a future contender himself. Danielson may also have the opportunity to win a mountain stage and Navardauskas is proving himself to be quite a puncheur. Also on their team is the next big thing in Aussie cycling, Rohan Dennis, who has shown himself to be more than component at WT level at this year's Dauphine. KATUSHA TEAM Joaquin Rodriguez may have his best chance at a TDF title with all the climbing involved in this year's Tour but he does face stern competition. He will get the full backing of his team though and his main help will be from faithful lieutenant, Dani Moreno, who should place well himself as well as Russian climbers Trofimov and Brutt. Katusha will also have one of the most improved sprinter of the year at the race is Kristoff who will look to battle it out with the main Green Jersey contenders on all of the flat stages. LAMPRE - MERIDA A bit under the radar this year, Lampre none-the-less still have a decent team to compete across the whole Tour. Cunego will again be their Tour leader and hope for a high placing overall. He'll be joined by Niemiec who did a good Giro this year and Serpa. For the sprints they have Ferrari, who will likely spend most of his time fighting for position with Bouhanni, both have quite the rep there! LOTTO - BELISOL TEAM The main focus for Lotto will be keeping up their world-class standard of delivering Andre Greipel to the line in the sprints. One of the few men who can challenge Cav in a straight up sprint he has a good chance at the Green jersey and a good team at his disposal. They will also have Van Den Broeck, who finished a respectable 4th last year in the Tour but he will have a lot of competition this year and only has De Clerq to help him on the steep stuff. MOVISTAR TEAM One of the hardest teams to figure out because they are also one of the most formidable. They have three riders that could be leaders and challenge in the overall and in stature and reputation they would be in order: Valverde, Costa and Quintana. However, in talent and potential here you would reverse the order so it will be interesting to see just who the dominant rider here is and we may not know till the Alpe stages. There's plenty of support too and they will even bring Rojas is a more than capable sprinter who can get over the hills. OMEGA PHARMA - QUICKSTEP CYCLING TEAM Cavendish's new team and the focus is most definitely all on him this year and OPQS will try and bring their own top sprint-train to deliver him to the line and as many victories as possible. They aren't completely one-dimensional though as Velits will likely try and see how well he can do going uphill with the climbers, they have Chavanel who is always a favourite on any of the punchy climbs and Polish sensation Kwiatkowski who has shown massive climbing ability this year and he has a top TT engine too. Of course, there is also Tony Martin, the best TTer in the race so it's a good squad. ORICA GREENEDGE Matt Goss will again be their leader and he will try to win from the sprints again and is an outside chance at the Green Jersey but his form will need to be top notch. They also have plenty of riders such as Albasini, Gerrans and Clarke who have shown they can do well and bumpy stages so will target non-sprinter stages with them. Then there is Cameron Meyer who is emerging as a GC prospect so will be interesting to see how he does. RADIOSHACK LEOPARD It's an interesting team and we'll see just where Andy Schleck is at after seeing him be in all sorts this season. He has Monfort with him who is usually a top20 GC rider as well as Zubledia and Kloeden. More interesting in my opinion is the talents of Gallopin and Bakelants who are fast men who can get over climbs, ala Sagan, with Gallopin showing a lot of talent last year at Le Tour before falling sick. SKY PROCYCLING It's all about Chris Froome for Sky, and understandably so, since he's the favourite. He has plenty of climbing support with Richie Porte who should do well on GC himself, as well as Kiryienka, Lopez and Siutsou; even Thomas who's now emerging as a climber. Boasson Hagen will help on the early slopes too but in the early stages should get free reign to chase some bunch finishes, particularly the ones where the strong sprinters have been dropped. SOJASUN With their biggest talents leaving last year for Cofidis and FDJ, Sojasun is looking even weaker which means you'll only likely see them in breaks, breaks and more breaks. Brice Feillu is the climbing brother of sprinter Romain Feillu. Julien Simon is a good puncheur who could figure on lumpy stages and their part-time sprinter will likely be Jonathan Hivert. TEAM ARGOS - SHIMANO Another team all-in for the sprints and rather than focus on one leader, Argos has a two-headed attack in Kittel and Degenkolb. Kittel should be the number one here, and basically any major finish with all the other contenders should see him duke it out for the win. Degenkolb though is more than competitive himself as a backup option if needed but where he will shine is on any stage with climbs where Kittel is unable to keep up. He will keep Sagan honest on those sorts of stages. Not a lot else on the team though Gescke has shown potential to climb. TEAM EUROPCAR The main focus of this team will again be the duo of Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland. Voeckler of course will always mix himself in the race though unlikely to repeat his 2011 heroics. Rolland though has gradually improved and with a course that suits him he should be able to improve on his eighth overall last year. Expect the rest of the teams to get into the breaks, with Veilleux showing some decent form at the moment. TEAM SAXO - TINKOFF Alberto Contador is the biggest threat to Froome's maiden Tour victory and he's got a stacked team to help him. Rogers, Roche and Kreuziger are all climbers/all-rounders who could lead in their own right and will be very valuable, as will Bertie's loyal friends. Bennati is a solid sprinter who has been around a long time and will get his own chances to compete on the sprint stages albeit without much support. VACANSOLEIL - DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM Not normally a team with a contender Vacansoleil find themselves with two this year. Thomas De Gendt showed his ability last year at the Giro winning the Stelvio stage and coming 3rd. Wout Poels, after a horrific accident at last year's Tour has bounced back and has even been in some decent form. Otherwise, the team is filled with a lot of opportunists like Flecha and Hoogerland.
Thanks p_l, much appreciated With regard to the trades, I can see that it is 8 per third, but nothing about how other than a vague reference to weeks. Can I get to round 7 and make 7 trades, or is it one per week? If it is one per week, having a team full of sprinters will be pretty terrible by week 8, so I assume you would have to start dumping them before stage 6, thus making stage 6 less awesome as the double point stage??
Lenh, this is what they say on the transfers: Your team will receive a total of 24 transfers during the 2013 Tour de France (29th June - 21st July 2013). Transfers will be allocated as follows: <table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2' border='0' class='genericTable] <tr class='extTableHeader] <th width='15%' align='center]Transfers</th> <th width='40%' align='center]Date</th> <th width='35%' align='center]Stages</th> <tr class='extPrimaryRowCol] <td style='text-align: center;]8 <td style='text-align: center;]02:01 AEST on 29th June 2013 <td style='text-align: center;]Stage 1 - Stage 7 <tr class='extAlternateRowCol] <td style='text-align: center;]8 <td style='text-align: center;]08:01 06th July 2013 AEST <td style='text-align: center;]Stage 8 - Stage 14 <tr class='extPrimaryRowCol] <td style='text-align: center;]8 <td style='text-align: center;]08:01 14th July 2013 AEST <td style='text-align: center;]Stage 15 - Stage 21 It's pretty much that you have 8 transfers for each section. What we try and do, to maximise our trades, is pick as many riders who will score throughout the first week as possible because ideally you dont want to have used any, so then just before round 8, you use up all your remaining allotment, and have a completely different side ready for the mountains but also with plenty of other trades in hand. If that makes sense. There is a small window, of about 14 hours, from when Stage 7 (last stage in the first week) is locked out (at 6pm AEST) and when the next week's trades kick in for Stage 8 (at 8am AEST the next day). Just remember too guys that the deadline for the SBS comp is tonight at 2am AEST, or at midnight for us Westerners
Actually this year is definitely going to be tough and you really do need to plan out when you plan to use your trades. For instance that second week is basically Mountains, Mountains, Sprint, Time Trial, Sprint, Sprint, Sprint - so even then you can't call full hog on the mountains goats. If you're going to be really aggressive and go for the win, I think you're going to have to trade in your mountain goats after Stage 7, then once stage 9 is complete, go back to the sprinters and then once the third week starts get your mountain goats back in. Balancing will be key though and the team that can best manage that will win.
port_leschenault wrote: [span style='font-size: 10px;] There is a small window, of about 14 hours, from when Stage 7 (last stage in the first week) is locked out (at 6pm AEST) and when the next week's trades kick in for Stage 8 (at 8am AEST the next day). Well that makes me feel a bit better about it. I was trying to think of a strategy for how to use my trades given there are only the two mountain stages before going back to sprints. I was thinking I was going to have to sacrifice on stage 7 somewhat, but this window of opportunity helps with that a bit. Thanks for that p_l.
port_leschenault wrote: Ok this is a rather simple preview ....[span style='font-size: 10px;]. Simple my ass. Great writeup P_L. Front page worthy I reckon. Maybe a little late to get a few more people involved though.
port_leschenault wrote: Lenh, this is what they say on the transfers: Your team will receive a total of 24 transfers during the 2013 Tour de France (29th June - 21st July 2013). Transfers will be allocated as follows: <table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='2' border='0' class='genericTable] <tr class='extTableHeader] <th width='15%' align='center]Transfers</th> <th width='40%' align='center]Date</th> <th width='35%' align='center]Stages</th> <tr class='extPrimaryRowCol] <td style='text-align: center;]8 <td style='text-align: center;]02:01 AEST on 29th June 2013 <td style='text-align: center;]Stage 1 - Stage 7 <tr class='extAlternateRowCol] <td style='text-align: center;]8 <td style='text-align: center;]08:01 06th July 2013 AEST <td style='text-align: center;]Stage 8 - Stage 14 <tr class='extPrimaryRowCol] <td style='text-align: center;]8 <td style='text-align: center;]08:01 14th July 2013 AEST <td style='text-align: center;]Stage 15 - Stage 21 It's pretty much that you have 8 transfers for each section. What we try and do, to maximise our trades, is pick as many riders who will score throughout the first week as possible because ideally you dont want to have used any, so then just before round 8, you use up all your remaining allotment, and have a completely different side ready for the mountains but also with plenty of other trades in hand. If that makes sense. There is a small window, of about 14 hours, from when Stage 7 (last stage in the first week) is locked out (at 6pm AEST) and when the next week's trades kick in for Stage 8 (at 8am AEST the next day). Just remember too guys that the deadline for the SBS comp is tonight at 2am AEST, or at midnight for us Westerners tyvm
Slightly off (fantasy) topic, but worth a mention anyway. 2 hour historical TdF doco on SBS tonight ... for those in need of a last bit of inspiration!