Have to say congrats to ivaneurope on picking Combaud, I had honestly never heard of him before now. I feel a little ashamed to have matched his point total with my very unimaginative 6th and 12th place picks.
S1- 10Km TT with a short hill in the end.
S2- hilly stage that should finish in a sprint/breakaway terrain.
S3- hilly stage for a reduced sprint/late attack.
S4- hilly stage for the climbers, spanish murito finish.
S5- flat stage.
Classic Spanish route, rompe-piernas terrain, suited for Spanish riders I'd say as they're used to it. First European stage-race of the season and the Valenciana attracted a quality startlist. Let's see them:
Packing startlist, to say the least. Seems like every single rider likes to race in spain in February, there is no escaping. There are riders for literally everything, and luckily there are stages for many types of riders aswell. Here I do predict a wide range of picks, although I expect GC riders to be the vast majority.
Deadline is 6/2 at 13:00 CET. Send in 2 riders until that time by PM, remember those 2 riders can't be selected again this season. I will send a PM roughy 48 hours before the dealine, and you can choose any rider in the startlist, the list above is just an indicator. Reminder that signups are open all season long.
Edited by Yellow Jersey on 04-02-2019 14:46
Valverde being a pick for a 2.HC race may be a risk indeed, as he may have the chance to gather more points in other races, there will be quite some pressure for him to perform. Rui Costa and Higuita also with 2 picks, the later having shown great form in Mallorca. Dylan Teuns, Pello Bilbao, Omar Fraile and Enrico Gasparotto also making the list, and Aquarius going for the spanish sprint double of Aberasturi and Lobato, interesting pick, both have strong sprint and a good hilly ability so they are up for stage wins.
S1- Pan-flat sprint stage.
S2- Hilly, reduced group sprint likely.
S3- Hilltop finish, punchy sprint likely.
S4- Hilly roller-coaster, small group sprint.
S5- Mountaintop finish, Green Mountain.
S6- Flat stage, with some bumps though but 99% sure sprint.
First race here in the middle east, the startlist looking less fancy with many of the GC riders starting their season in Colombia and other opting for an European start. That translates also to the puncheurs and sprinters area, but there is still a good enough startlist to see some fireworks, let's see who will likely be the protagonists: Climbers: Weening, O'Connor, Gesbert, Polanc, Rui Costa, Frank, Bizkarra, Jesus Herrada, Atapuma, Pozzovivo Puncheurs: van Avermaet, Gasparotto, Slagter, Lutsenko, Battaglin, Haas Sprinters: Gibbons. Nizzolo, Cort Nielsen, Greipel, Kristoff, Bonifazio, Venturini, Bouhanni, Colbrelli, Jones, Grosu, Coquard, Planckaert Others: Ballerini, Terpstra, Naesen, Rossetto, Javier Moreno, Birtton, McNulty, Capiot
A good one as I said, quite an unpredicable race in fact, Lutsenko won the race last year despite being far from the best climber, he showed tremendous legs on the queen stage, so form is definitely a big factor here, can make or break a rider's race.
Deadline is 16/2 at 09:00 CET. Send in 2 riders until that time by PM, remember those 2 riders can't be selected again this season. I will send a PM roughy 48 hours before the dealine, and you can choose any rider in the startlist, the list above is just an indicator. Reminder that signups are open all season long.
The deadline is 3 days before the race starts as I will have very limited net time next week, so make sure you check the starlist link before you send in your picks as there might be changes that I wont be able to alert. Sprinters headline the race, but there are several climbers and puncheurs that have good conditions to fight for the win. The race suits a puncheur who can time-trial very well and can climb too, there aren't that many present in this year's edition so the fight for the win will certainly be very exciting.
Deadline is 17/2 at 09:00 CET together with the Vuelta a Andaluzia. Send in 2 riders until that time by PM, remember those 2 riders can't be selected again this season. I will send a PM roughy 48 hours before the dealine, and you can choose any rider in the startlist, the list above is just an indicator. Reminder that signups are open all season long.
S1- Murito hilltop finish.
S2- Slow drag to the line, small group sprint.
S3- Hilly 16Km ITT.
S4- Mountainous, final summit 13Km away from the finish line.
S5- Hilly stage with a flat run-in to the final.
At the same time racing is in the Algarve, in more familiar spanish roads the climbers prefered Andaluzia to test out their legs. The race is very hard, there is no stage we can point out that will finish in a bunch sprint, and some stages are made for serious gaps. Climbers: Bizkarra, G.Martin, I.Izaguirre, Fuglsang, Bilbao, Kruiswijk, Kuss, A.Yates, S.Yates, Chaves, Nieve, Haig Puncheurs: Mohoric, Teuns, LL.Sanchez, Cattaneo, Wellens, Vanendert Sprinters: Belletti, van Poppel, Trentin TTists: Others: I.Cortina, P.Rolland, Britton, Vlasov, Pardilla
The deadline is 3 days before the race starts as I will have very limited net time next week, so make sure you check the starlist link before you send in your picks as there might be changes that I wont be able to alert. At the time this preview was written the Movistar squad has not yet named the squad, but there is something noteworthy, that Astana and Mitchelton-Scott both have absolute beast squads that have no comparison, and the win should come from one of their riders certainly. Puncheurs also have a big representation, sprinters don't have comparison with the Algarve's but there are some good names, ironically there is no premier time-trialist present which opens the door in that hard test against the clock. Racing should be exciting and the big names here present really stand out.
Deadline is 17/2 at 09:00 CET together with the Volta ao Algarve. Send in 2 riders until that time by PM, remember those 2 riders can't be selected again this season. I will send a PM roughy 48 hours before the dealine, and you can choose any rider in the startlist, the list above is just an indicator. Reminder that signups are open all season long.
These are the riders picked from what's been raced so far. I can't show the picks made for the following races for obvious reasons But in the rider selection file you can get your picks in there and organize them well, I find it will help massively as the season goes on
I'll send my picks as soon as Vuelta a Murcia ends, as I've got some potential choices racing there and want to make sure they finish it safe and sound before Algarve and Andalucia.
Everyone is free to change the picks as long as it's before the dealine btw, but yes like you Im sure there are plenty Still the PM's are about to drop in
Busy period in LD with 3 races having a deadline in 24 hours, Oman is the first and the climbers have without surprise taken much of the spotlight. Pozzovivo is considered the big favourite for the win and collects 6 picks here, defending champion Lutsenko equals him though, with Tamijo being the one manager to have both of them, a possible master move. Despite a slow start to the season 4 managers have chosen Ben O'Connor, one of the top climbers present, with Jesus Herrada having 3 more managers betting in him, seeing his 4th place last year and current great form, and Rui Costa having 2 picks as also one of the pre-race favourites.
Lot of spread from there on, we have some sprinters in the list, Colbrelli, Cort Nielsen, Gibbons and Grosu, all of them have solid climbing skills but are a bit of a risk. Nathan Haas had a massive performance last year and he's also on the list, Slagter is the other puncheur present. Garosio is a solid climber but his domestique duties might hinder his potential.
But there is even more with some second-tier climbers chosen, Polanc, Frank and Atapuma, all of whom can have a pretty good result and a possible strong reward for a small price. Also surpringly Bart de Clerq is in the picks, his first pro race since his serious injury back in the winter of 2017.
These are the riders picked from what's been raced so far. I can't show the picks made for the following races for obvious reasons But in the rider selection file you can get your picks in there and organize them well, I find it will help massively as the season goes on
Might need the S in front of Dumoulin in the tracking sheet, just to be safe.
These are the riders picked from what's been raced so far. I can't show the picks made for the following races for obvious reasons But in the rider selection file you can get your picks in there and organize them well, I find it will help massively as the season goes on
Might need the S in front of Dumoulin in the tracking sheet, just to be safe.
Well, I can prolong Andaluzia until the 20th cause of that issue, that will ultimately lead to the picks being revealed after the race finishes as I won't be able to post until the 25th.. I can do so, IF they dont announce their squad until tonight.
I will say something tonight to confirm, situation is a bummer.
