Tour de France - Stage 9

Martin
Fuglsang

Kwia.

Froome and Nieve in about 10-12.

Porte out of it. Not good for my purists.

1. Dan Martin (IRL) GST - 168.5km in 4h43'03"

2. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) AST at same times

3. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) OPQ at 20"

4. Daniel Moreno (ESP) KAT at 20"

5. Joaquim Rodriguez (ESP) KAT 20"

6. Cadel Evans (AUS) BMC at 20"

7. Wouter Poels (NED) VCD at 20"

8. Bauke Mollema (NED) BEL at 20"

9. Daniel Navarro (ESP) COF at 20"

10. Maxime Monfort (BEL) RTL at 20"

Valverde 11th

Froome 14th

Nieve 16th.

Quintana 19th.

Lowish scores today. Might climb a fraction but not much. Got 6 transfers for Tuesday at least. Roaduk team did ok but Pinot and Niemiec won't be back.

One of those days where I really shouldn't have bothered making any transfers (I'd traded Kwiatkowski & Random DS out for Nieve & Ten Dam).

Still, rest day coming - I've got the whole day to agonise over Cav vs. Sagan for stage 10.

I took out Kwiatkowski for Rolland, I think they will have around the same points. I took in Kreuziger for Rogers, so a few more points.

I was really hoping for Clarke to push on though

swapped moreno with porte

Well, it's not going to be a Sky fest. Pretty open tour with Froome still having a decent advantage but 2 or 3 tough stages to some. If they gang up on him big time could be like the Vuelta.

Over the two stages I got the basics right. This tour is between Froome and Valverde. Rolland will probably get the polka dots and Nieve is the only cheap climber worth having. It won't translate into a massive fantasy gain but at least I'm reading the race ok.

Movistar are in a great position now. Quintana can attack and Sky have to chase but Valverde is more of an overall threat. That being said, it'll be interesting to see what happens if Quintana (a half decent TTer) puts an chunk of time into Valverde on either TT.

Took out Dan Martin

[sad face]

Mollema definitely in there. A crash or bad day can change anything. He's in my roaduk team and as he's cheap I'll keep him in there. Thanks for reminding me that he can TT a bit.

I think Fulgsang will lose too much time in the high mountains but could be top 10. His team are dropping like flies though; 3 out already. What's Mont Ventoux going to do to the peloton if it's hot? Not much shade up there.

sky still doping today? just askin'

No disasters for me, but the 2 I brought in scored about the same as the 2 I dropped, so could've saved a couple of transfers. Still, 7 consecutive days of green arrows puts me up to 52nd overall - considering I was outside the top 200 in the Giro thats a considerable improvement...

Stuck now - keep Froome for the TT or sub him out and back in again?

Anyhow - as I learnt to my cost last year, rest days are primetime for doping eliminations, so I won't be doing anything til tomorrow morning...

if i'd have kept martin and save the transfer i'd have been top ten with 5 free changes. c'est la vie

FFS cannot be said in its actual form on here

mmmm, I have not quoted here, but my Froome comment. I think what I meant was that it should never have happened in the first place, and that sky should have been a leading train from the start, like the Super Compex boys used to do. But this was said without having watched what had transpired before, and I hadn't seen the Sky devistation just prior. I guess he had no choice to go with Valverde. I do think he is tactic naive, but Brailsford isn't, I suppose they knew what might happen but didn't know the weakness in the team. I assumed Froome was calling the shots badly, so probably a call made by me in the heat of the moment, and fuelled By the Eurosport commentators.

BTW it is not the proper place for this, but I am adrenaline fuelled, because I got hit head on by a drunk driver tonight,at 8pm while cycling to shops.He completely cut the corner at a junction. Police involved, can of Budweiser in the drinks holder. I am ok I think, the closing distance was 15-20 MPH. I had no where to go, and all I could think of in the slow motion phase was "how bad is this going to hurt." He left the scene of the accident on foot after witnesses pulled him out of the car as he tried to drive away. I have some hurts, road rash, no head contact, but how I got out of the situation I just don't know. I made sure in the short time I had that the contact was going to be dead head on. He didn't break after he hit and was pushing me up the road, I managed to shiimy round then he hit me a glancing blow to the hip. Bike ended up somersaulting 180 degrees as I hit the deck. The Specialised is surprisingly lightly damaged. Twist to the rear mech , but the wheels still in dead alignmet.
Sorry for the war and peace, and any spelling errors.

Oh I forgot, decided to stay true to the purist ideal with my team what will be will be. only 6 riders left, and Taaramie next I venture.

Bloody hell, i'm glad you walked away from that, let's hope the witnesses can identify him if he can be traced.

Porte trying to get back on by himself now. Up to 52" down so making a great effort. Movistar will have seen him now and they've responded.

Lots of orange jerseys by the roadside. Can Euskaltel do something today?