Forum's Scorum's Mini League

Jonas Lorenzen continues out in the lead of the Forum's Scorum's Giro D'italia but there are some big GC names mobilising behind as we approach a couple of flat stages.....although to be fair Jonas is a big GC name himself now and ony 27pts away from leading the entire game!!
Wig_Billy leads the purists....surprise,surprise

Out in California a straight shootout between robacairns and simon F seems to be developing as their teams hold the top 4 spots but I reckon the ITT will be the key to the race.

In the Forum's Scorum's Overall we saw Wig_Billy earn his 10k badge during stage 3 of the TOC....impressive stuff from our long term leader.....here's the top 10 and the position changes since the beginning of the Giro.

1 (=)Veelers Wheel Wig_Billy 10261
2 (=)purefantasy Alan Tullett 9362
3 (+1)Ratcliffe26 TERatcliffe26 9335
4 (+3)Pharmacie Roulant Jonas Lorenzen 9327
5 (-2)The Pigeons chrisdstripes 9273
6 (=)Mostly Hopeless drheaton 9179
7 (-2)Queens Park Riders ray silvester 9141
8 (+1)Team Sky Blue NeilG83 9101
9 (-1)skidders skeletons stevemarks 9006
10(NE)dum spiro lacesso simon F 8951

Wig_Billy is just a point away from a NINE HUNDRED lead!!

And our top 3 purists with their overall Forum's Scorum's position:

30 Veelers Wheel (Purist) Wig_Billy 7526
35 The Pigeons (Purist) chrisdstripes 6852
36 Team Sky Blue (Purist) NeilG83 6768

That's the same order as pre-Giro....just that the lead has gone from 467 to 674!!

Wig_Billy is just a point away from a NINE HUNDRED lead!!

And now he has it!!

TERatcliffe has passed Alan Tullett for the Forum's Scorum's Overall 2nd position during Giro Stage 13 and the Cali stage 5 ITT.

Big stages in both races as the Giro goes over 2000m for the first time and the Tour of California faces the devilish Mt Diablo!!

Woo-Hoo

Just overtaken the good Doctor(drheaton) for 6th in the overall Forum's Scorum's league.

Jonas Lorenzen is looking increasingly strong in the Forum's Scorum's Maglia Rosa after a bad stage for his previous closest rival NeilG83 dropping 80pts and 2 places.....JAndrewHill is now in second more than 100pts back.Some consolation for NeilG83 is that he now leads the purist division.

An ITT and queen stage at the Forum's Scorum's Tour Of California has opened up the GC timegaps and dropped the purists but robacairns still leads simon F going into the final flat stage.NeilG83 leads this purist division and is starting to gain a reputation as a bit of a purist specialist.

The Top 7(Wig_Billy,TERatcliffe26,Alan Tullett,Jonas Lorenzen,chrisdstripes,ray silvester and drheaton)have all broken through the 10K badge in the Forum's Scorum's overall competition.

No dramas for robacairns in San Francisco securing the Forum's Scorum's Tour of California to add to his earlier Tirreno-Adriatico triumph.......in fact he was 6 pts away from a clean sweep but NeilG83 ended up with the purist jersey.

A massive season high 285pts for silas chime saw him rise 13 places in the Forum's Scorum's Giro D'Italia to 11th but that hardly registered on the serene progress of long term Maglia Rosa Jonas Lorenzen......purist is led by specialist NeilG83.

Jonas' giro form has seen him jump to 3rd in the Forum's Scorum's overall rankings pushing Alan Tullett out of the podium spaces whilst drheaton retook 6th from me(ray silvester)as we went over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Damn

slipped another place in the Overall.....Time to get Dauphine planning I guess?

Jonas Lorenzen goes into the uphill ITT and the Forum's Scorum's Maglia Rosa is his to lose....it would take more than one successful gamble to catch him and that may well be too much for anyone to get in this most unpredictable grand tour.A compact purist group of 6(Wig_Billy,letsgoup,northstar,NeilG83,chiv30 and drheaton in that order)seperated by just 82pts

Just 103pts seperate 5th and 9th in the Forum's Scorum's overall so I expect some jostling for those minor top 10 GC spots.....it looks like a tough ask for any of those to bridge the gap to the 3 who are fighting for the second and third steps on the podium,if we assume that Wig_Billy(who is doing a simiar job in the purist) is too far up the road in first to get caught.

Uphill ITT today and those words always get me checking Col D'Eze results.....and today that research is making me regret No Scarponi(although not enough to take a penalty!!).

1)Jonas has got to be happy about today's cancellation bringing him one step closer to Forum's Scorum's Giro honours.....104pts is a hell of a lot to make up in 2 stages unless snd place man JAndrewHill has 2-3 more transfers than him.

2)Can Wig_Billy hold on to the purist Maglia Rosa with only 6 men(DiLuca his third man down joining Gavazzi and Sir Brad)......sounds like chiv30 has been hit even worse so for me northstar may be in a good position having lost only Battaglin whilst letsgoup have only lost Wiggins but are 'Cav-Less'.

3)Will the 5th-9th placed guys in Forum's Scorum's Overall get any tighter together(83pts the gap now)or perhaps even bridge the 167pt gap to 2nd-4th group.

4)Will Wig_Billy fail a doping control?

Man this league is strong.......192pts scored on stage 20 and STILL dropped a place in the Giro!!

Strongest of all and barring disaster Jonas Lorenzen will win the Forum's Scorum's Giro D'Italia today....a magnificent performance in such a wet and wild event after taking Pink w-a-a-ay back on stage 8.Meanwhile A Cavendish win would be more than enough to wrap up the purist division for northstar as his nearest competitors don't have him.

Alan Tullett moved into the podium spot in the Forum's Scorum's Overall rankings previously held by Jonas Lorenzen whose defensive posture in the Giro may be causing him an overall GC problem(unless he was just prepared to suffer a bit in stage 20 for lots of sprinters today?),whilst myself(6th)and stevemarks(8th)swapped places

Jonas Lorenzen finished safely in the bunch on stage 21 to win the Forum's Scorum's Giro D'Italia......surely this eclipses his Volta A Catalunya win earlier this season.An alarming show of speed by chiv30 saw him fly into second place from being off the podium but the time gap to Jonas was just t-o-o big to make up....TERatcliffe was relegated to the third step(a good performance though).

northstar took the purist division as expected when it became clear that he was the only one of the contenders with 'Cav-Power'.....a selection I advised against pre-Giro(Doh!!).

There was no change in the top 10 Forum's Scorum's Overall and the much hoped for 'Giro-Slump' never materialised for Wig_Billy who holds commanding leads in both competitions but we shouldn't feel so bad.......he leads the ENTIRE game by 400 standard and 300 purist!!

To keep good old enrique happy nickobec holds the lead in the non-premium a.k.a The Forum's Scorum's Squeakers League with enrique 1700 points behind in 10th!!!! Still....he insists he knows his cycling?

2 surprising winners(for me anyway) in Veilleux and Viviani of the first 2 stages have seen quite a low scoring Forum's Scorum's Criterium Du Dauphine abd its the Good Doctor(drheaton)who leads the charge from the young neo-pro backflipbedlem.A new name to us FS'ers is Julie Danson and she's made herself known by leading the purists and having her 2 teams in 3rd and 4th.

The Forum's Scorum's overall has seen Jonas Lorenzen climb into a podium place and drheaton gain 4th spot(both at Alan Tullett's expense).NeilG83 has climbed 3 spots to 6th whilst I have gone the other way on an inexorable slide out to 9th

Tempted to just have riders whose surnames begin with V today!!

5 stages of the Forum's Scorum's Dauphine gone and drheaton is still out in front with a 32pt lead over backflipbedlem whose hunger for badges since going premium knows no bounds!! Julie Danson continues her good form and still leads the purist section mirroring the surprise yellow jersey's for Veilleux and Dennis.......Nata1ia leads the Squeakers(non-premium) showing enrique that once again it's not all about the banking of transfers in the premium game overpowering standard players(he's 15th amongst squeakers!!).

The Forum Scorum's Overall classification has seen Alan Tullett fall off the planet.....going from 2nd place just before Giro stage 13t to a lowly 11th with many pundits saying his non-entry into the Criterium Du Dauphine is an act of solidarity with AG2R who miss the race thanks to Sylvan Georges positive dope test? Oh yeah.....that teeny weeny speck in the distance id Wig_Billy who has a whopping 912pt lead in standard and 820pt lead in standard.
nickobec heads the Squeakers(enrique back in the top 10!!)

nata1ia took the yellow/blue jersey from drheaton on a dramatic Forum's Scorum's Dauphine stage 7 thanks to a 'Non-Sanchez' 162pts....can she hold on in stage8 to get her name on the honours board for the first time? huntdeano leads the purists with Julie danson the only feasible challenger...either way it looks like another new name in the winner's circle.

That name Juile Danson pops up again after the Tour Du Suisse prologue....second this time behind leader JulesW(with his purist team too!!).

Congratulations to nata1ia who got her first win of the season taking the Forum's Scorum's Criterium Du Dauphine by 75pts.....a dark horse for LeTour perhaps?huntdeano took the purist section by 25pts from Jonas Lorenzen who would be my pick to go well in the 'Grand Boucle'.Those new names now grace the honours board.
nata1ia is a standard player so enrique....up your game!!

JulesW(albeit his purist team) managed just 5pts in stage 2 of the Forum's Scorum's Tour Du Suisse and fell from grace leaving Julie Danson to take over the lead.....i'd watch out for robacairns who flew up the rankings yesterday? obutterwick heads the purist division and he has RuiCosta who i fancy for today's stage.

robacairns has broken into the Forum's Scorum's overall top 10 at the expense of chrisdstripes whose pigeons have well and truly flown the coup after being in a podium position for ages.

Plenty of Overall GC contenders are swamping the top of the Forum's Scorum's Tour Du Suisse leaderboard!!

And you say 'Big Guns' but Wig_Billy's last event win was purist section in the Tour of Basque country......you took the purist in the Giro Del trentino since then so don't be so coy!!