Tour De France 2014 Stage 9: Gerardmer - Mulhouse
- Thread starter monty1104
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- #30
Assuming alot of people got some shut eye last night. It was a little bit bizarre last night, it seemed like the peloton let the break go then all of a sudden the break was way too far off and they just gave up chasing, i really dont think it was a pre meditated decision from Astana, i reckon they did it on the fly, no harm no foul sort of thing but it was weird overall, i though Europcar were going hard for the stage then all of a sudden they backed off thinking Rolland could challenge for the yellow. Or maybe they were all freaking out about tonight, cant blame them for that.
The GC contenders basically called a truce. With all of the climbs coming relatively early in the stage and a 60km run to the finish - mostly downhill or relatively flat - they knew that there weren't going to be any big time gaps opening up, so why bother?
Rolland is an interesting character. Keeps going off in breakaways - when they fail, he loses time, when they succeed, he gets back most of the time he lost on the failed escapes. His dodgy breakaway with Quintana on the Stelvio descent almost saw him gain enough time to take a podium position on the Giro. He's not a good enough rider to actually compete with the big GC boys, but his breakaways make him an interesting contender.
Rolland is an interesting character. Keeps going off in breakaways - when they fail, he loses time, when they succeed, he gets back most of the time he lost on the failed escapes. His dodgy breakaway with Quintana on the Stelvio descent almost saw him gain enough time to take a podium position on the Giro. He's not a good enough rider to actually compete with the big GC boys, but his breakaways make him an interesting contender.
This stage is going to kill my Fantasy team.
it's a tough few stages to pick a fantasy team for, needle in a haystack styles, do you go hunting for a stage victory by choosing some random, or pick most likely contenders who won't want to lose time.
Really not sure who to bring in for the next couple of stages, or if it's even worth it, might be better to just save the transfers to be able to load up for the next sprint stage which is Sunday.
- Moderator
- #33
I scored a few points last night just by having GC guys who will limit losses as well as a few pinch hitting mountaineers, i doubt many would have backed Martin to take the stage. Contador, Nibali, Talansky (depending if he has recovered) etc will be in the top 10 across the line and will net you some points. For me trying to pick a stage winner is waste. I have 3 trades left for this period and will use 1 or 2 to bring back some sprinters (always keeping Sagan for some cheap intermediate sprint points). Then i'll trade in a murderers row of TT specialists for my bonus stage, 20, hoping i can clean sweep the top 5 there.
I have 5 left and am considering bringing in Porte, just not sure if he's got form, or who to take out for him.
Decisions, decisions.
Pinot's strava for last night's stage: http://www.strava.com/activities/165417254
- Moderator
- #35
Ive got Porte, Nibali, Contador, Rolland and a bunch of no names who can climb a bit.
Tonight seems like the kind of stage Porte will want to destroy, seems like he feels he has a point to prove. It might be detrimental to him in the long run though.
