Giro d’Italia

Sorry if I've missed a note somewhere, but it looks like we're back up to 45 transfers for the Giro when I think the Vuelta was 42?  Is that deliberate?

Hi Folks Viviani appears to have scored 0 but is in fourth place i the sprints comp?

Am I missing something?

He lasted all of about 2km if that...

My team for today -

ROGLIC
YATES S.
LOPEZ
ULISSI
BATTAGLIN
CIMOLAI
MADOUAS
LONARDI

Pity they don't have live coverage on Eurosport there is a real battle to get in the break.

Roglic has been on the floor and will be displaying his ass for the remainder of the stage.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6rpZcGW4AA0oL6.png

Looks like the break has finally got away -

214 Conti (UAD) 1:59
52 Carboni (BRD) Y 2:53
16 Peters (ALM) Y 3:07
106 Madouas (GFC) Y 3:20
7 Rojas (MOV) 3:33
71 Antunes (EF1) 3:43
2 Amador (MOV) 4:25
88 Serry (DQT) 4:26
26 Masnada (ANS) 5:21
205 Conci (TFS) Y 5:26
196 Oomen (SUN) Y 5:49
143 Bagioli (NIP) Y 7:29
116 Plaza (ICA) 10:00

It could well be Conti in pink tomorrow.

I hedged - ulissi and roglic if it came back together, Conti and masnada for the break. So I'm all behind the break now!

Well that worked out pretty well

Needs a brighter mind than mine to unpick how happy the big boys will be with today.
I brought in TDG and played it safe with GC contenders to leave a few hanging around until the TT. Like the good Dr. I earned a resounding 7 points in the process!
With 5 minutes plus advantage, today's break could be filling the GC until the final week and some of them won't give their positions up easily. The giro hasn't thrown up a surprise winner for a while. Are we due one?

I picked the wrong sprinters yesterday, went for Ackermann & Demare. Demare was a bad pick as he regularly gets too far back to compete in finishes like that, but making the picks with my heart not my head just now.

Poor team for today only Roglic & Yates likely to do anything. I did consider bringing Nibali in but decided not to use another transfer.

GC sorted now, just podium lower steps to figure out

Gone all in on the sprinters for two days which leaves me with only 17 transfers left after a pretty awful first week. I'm consoling myself by reflecting that it's the standard of the opposition which is causing my relative decline, but who am I kidding.  

My team for today -

VIVIANI
EWAN
CONTI
ACKERMANN
DEMARE
CIMOLAI
MOSCHETTI
LONARDI

Did consider bringing Mareczko in for Conti but I'm not convinced Mareczko can score sufficient points to justify a transfer.

Glad it's not just me Steve, I had a dreadful first week. I should have saved transfers, only 16 left and my team looks like Minardi's with Rojas instead of Lonardi.

I've still got 27 transfers left.

Hopefully that will allow me to win out in the long run, the last few stages have been awful for me.

One change for today, Nizzolo in for the injured Moschetti.

VIVIANI
EWAN
CONTI
ACKERMANN
DEMARE
CIMOLAI
NIZZOLO
LONARDI

I did consider bringing Roglic in for Ackermann but I am hoping Bora has some effective pain killers.

Which makes it super hard to call. This could end up being a really interesting stage. The climb near the end, whilst short, is really steep, and cobbled. I'd love to see some late attacks go over that one.

I've just had a look at 6 transfers I could make that would set me up nicely. Then I would just make a few changes to grab in some KOM chasers and GC men and call it a day. I might limit it to 3 or 4 for tomorrow though just to be on the safe side.

Ewan and Viviani DNS tomorrow imagine Ackermann will do the same.

My team for today -

ROGLIC
NIBALI
DE GENDT
MASNADA
DEMARE
CICCONE
CARTHY
VERVAEKE

Mix of break and GC

Demare my outside pick to win the stage.