Giro 2014

The only doubt that plagues me about the Giro is whether Joaquim was in any kind of shape to come close and maybe even beat Quintana... I wish he'd had been able to continue to add drama to the Giro...

On the slippery slope enrique. Instead of planning my moves, I'm just going to go back to playing by instinct now.

I didn't trade before stage 3. Game currently says I have 6 trades for stage 4 - I only expected 4.

Are we getting 3 trades for some stages?
Or do maybe we get 2 trades every day, even if it is a rest day?

Only 16 pts off the lead after 2 stages

What a start - Dan Martin in my team - Not so good

Will we get 2 extra transfers for the first rest day?

My purist team:

Quintana
Rodriguez
Evans
Viviani
Kittel
Arredondo
Malacarne
Chicchi
Van Baarle

Until this morning I had Matthews instead of Viviani, after that I dropped Matthews/Malacarne/Chicchi for Zoidl, Cunego and Castaldo. In the end I figured one top sprinter was a better bet than three middling GC prospects and figured Viviani was the better pick.

Also, 180 credits is way too generous when it comes to picking a purist team. I should not be able to pick the top three GC guys AND the top two sprinters in one team.

My team :

Quintana
Rodriguez
Kittel
Pozzovivo
Niemiec
Aru
Bongiorno
Ponzi
Henao

I suspect you'll come 4th arsene

I think I've found my final team now!!

Here is my Purist team

Nairo Alexander Quintana (MOV)
Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT)
Marcel Kittel (GSH)
Sonny Colbrelli (BAR)
Ben Swift (SKY)
Julian David Arredondo (TFR)
Diego Rosa (AND)
Fabio Andres Duarte (COL)
Francesco Chicchi (NRI)

I think the 180 budget has actually made it harder for me to pick. In the end i've gone for only one 30+ with 5 in the 20s and the rest in the 10's for my purist team.

I suppose there's an embarassment of riches in the 20's which has made the game a bit harder to read.

It's gonna be interesting

And no riders over thirty in my impure team. Though I have 25. left for my first xfer.

I tried to pick my top four riders, and had no money left for anyone decent, so j rod is now back on the bus on my purist team. And ive gone for medium priced riders with potential.
Its hard to spot who the gc riders are in some big teams..
180 is not as easy as it might be.
With 150, id pick the top four gc riders, and spend 134.5 and then need 4 riders for 3.0 and 1 for 3.5.
not much fun.

I tried to pick my top four riders, and had no money left for anyone decent, so j rod is now back on the bus on my purist team. And ive gone for medium priced riders with potential.
Its hard to spot who the gc riders are in some big teams..
180 is not as easy as it might be.
With 150, id pick the top four gc riders, and spend 134.5 and then need 4 riders for 3.0 and 1 for 3.5.
not much fun.

Ha! I didn't even notice the budget when picked my squad. Shows how much attention I pay.

Let's give it a bash at 180. My instincts would say 150, but happy to try it out. I remember at the Tour last year we could actually have done with a bit bigger budget; we were hamstrung by the paucity of 3.0 riders. I agree that the real test of this approach will come when we hit the mountain stages and the GC contenders start getting firmed up.

Blimey. Why don't we just let them set the budgets, and then get on with it. Sometimes we might think its too high, sometimes too low, but its always the same for everyone.

I for one am looking forward to working out how to adjust tactics accordingly. I'm sure the Dauphine or Tour de Suisse will be back down to 140-odd.

Good move Dave - mix it up a bit!