Tour of Flanders

This will be me then.
Fabian Cancellara (RSN)
Tom Boonen (OPQ)
Peter Sagan (LIQ)
Bjorn Leukemans (VCD)
Johan Vansummeren (GRM)
Christopher Sutton (SKY)
Sep Vanmarcke (GRM)
Xavier Florencio (KAT)
Stijn Vandenbergh (OPQ)
Hoping for a stable internet connection to follow race

I did make a last minute change that i've been toying with all week, because i had 5 mins left till deadline and its not going to cost me anything in my tactics, still have my 6 transfers for P-R

I took out Urtasun and brought in Westra

In other news, the gap is now 4.18

Fabian Cancellara (RSN)
Filippo Pozzato (FAR)
Sylvain Chavanel (OPQ)
Tom Boonen (OPQ)
Sep Vanmarcke (GRM)
Xavier Florencio (KAT)
Manuel Belletti (ALM)
Bernhard Eisel (SKY)
Kris Boeckmans (VCD)

Hopefully the break loses a few riders before the halfway point.

I have noone in the break! got the wrong saxo bank guy again

my team

Pozatto
Sagan
Boonen
Ballan

Devolder
Vanmarcke
Pichot
Maxim Iglinsky
Morkov

Hernia is brisk popped to the front of the pack and thus creates a hernia. A dozen or so riders have beaten a hole with the rest.

Omega and the shack have missed the break garmin hae farrar in it!!!!!!

Yeah, 2,22 on my ticker app thing, the official app for the classics

BUT the down side, there are 15 of them, so no points if they all get to half way

Just as i typed that, the gap is now 3.50

i can't change mine even if the game does allow, so on the basis of not wanting to break a great losing streak.

Peter Sagan (LIQ)
Fabian Cancellara (RSN)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
Tom Boonen (OPQ)
Steve Chainel (FDJ)
Andreas Klier (GRM)
Baden Cooke (GRE)
Aleksandr Kuschynski (KAT)
Dominique Rollin (FDJ)

But never was i so certain there will be a form book upset.

Yeah, I noticed the transfer deadline yesterday but thought it would get changed and didn't want to risk leaving transfers to the last minute. Seems there is a decent gap at the moment, if they let them go to half distance..

Yeah, so people like me can wait to see if a decent break forms and switch out some riders

As it stands, i have made 0 changes but with 30 mins left till deadline, i have changes ready

Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Tom Boonen (OPQ)
Peter Sagan (LIQ)
Giovanni Visconti (MOV)
Johan Vansummeren (GRM)
Kris Boeckmans (VCD)
Valentin Iglinksiy (AST)
Pablo Urtasun (EUS)
Stijn Vandenbergh (OPQ)

Is there a reason why the game seems to say you can make changes now but the race has started?

Boonen
Cancellara
Degenkolb
Freire
Devolder
Vangenechten
Dockx
Vanmarcke
Hulsmans

for me...

Fabian Cancellara (RSN) AR Value: 37.7
Filippo Pozzato (FAR)AR Value: 20.0
Oscar Freire (KAT)AR Value: 22.2
Tom Boonen (OPQ) AR Value: 27.8
Luca Paolini (KAT) DS Value: 10.5
Kris Boeckmans (VCD) DS Value: 3.1
Sep Vanmarcke (GRM) DS Value: 8.4
Stijn Devolder (VCD) DS Value: 14.8
Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ) DS Value 4.7

Watch 2008 Ronde van Vlaanderen last night, Devolders 1st win, confirmed why I picked him, Friere & Pozzato

And the odd one out in my team is Matthieu Ladagnous, I had him in for Gent - Wevelgem and intend to transfer out for RVV, but I got my numbers wrong and had to transfer out Baden Cooke instead

My team:
Boonen
Sagan
Freire
Cancellara
(my idea of a 1234)
VanMarcke(course and distance)
Sutton(covers EBH win plus.....you never know?)
Westra(current form)
Wynants and Boeckmans(Belgians)

My team for Ronde Van Vlaanderen:

Fabian Cancellara (RSN) AR Value: 37.7
Filippo Pozzato (FAR)AR Value: 20.0
Matti Breschel (RAB)AR Value: 23.4
Tom Boonen (OPQ) AR Value: 27.8

Luca Paolini (KAT) DS Value: 10.5
Kris Boeckmans (VCD) DS Value: 3.1
Sep Vanmarcke (GRM) DS Value: 8.4
Lieuwe Westra (VCD) DS Value: 8.4
Niki Terpstra (OPQ) DS Value: 7.4

I know, one of them broke a hip

Cheers Gkam

Those old farts strewn all over the Koppenberg last year haha....

Some nice recon pics here

http://www.steephill.tv/2012/tour-of-flanders/photos/page-01/

Well thats the DS, the star rider is Pozatto, so basically have gone Pozatto and Devolder over Cancellara and someone who would be extremely cheap and probs wouldn't score. As there were 2 other DS's i wanted in my team as well, that would have meant having a rider i wouldn't normally choose if i had fabian. Was also constrained slightly by only having 4 transfers

Is it Devolder?

We shall see, its a calculated risk, the guy ive gone for could easily win, and everyone will have gone Canc. could work for me, could work against me.

Based on form etc, 7 or 8 could score and the other is a break kinda guy

Well, I've gone for Canc and I think 8/9 could score, but we'll see tomorrow who can walk the walk.

Ive decided im taking the risk, gives me a nice all round balanced team in my opinion

Well, every rider is a risk until they finish the race and get some points for us!!

Degenkolb could do well. He might have learnt to stay nearer the front to make sure he's not the wrong side of a split. He's young after all and still learning. He's a better sprtinter than Canc after all.

Freire might do well as well so I could just transfer DSs and leave my stars alone. But I feel not having Canc would be a mistake as I still wouldn't have enough points to have all the DSs I would like, although I might play around with that option until I make my final decision. I might even leave it to the last few minutes as I seem to make my best decisions when the clock has nearly run out.

Well yeh i have a team with fabian in and a team without. Yes im gonna stick with ballan as i think he will top 10, with my 2 other star riders being sagan and boonen.

The problem is that the star rider in my team without fabian could definaltley top 5, but the DS is a risk. im torn between a rock and a hard place.

I think im still gonna go for the risk....

except im gonna go a more risky route in my replacement of degenkolb, it will be a rider costing less than degenkolb, but a more expensive DS that has previous at Ronde

You're not going to have Cancellara! You're praying his bike is going to fall to pieces! Of course he can't sprint that well but I don't expect that big a group to be left at the end. Degenkolb might be worth a shot in P-R as it's the hills that cause him some problems I think. Are you going to stick with Ballan? BMC just haven't done anything this year until Evans has come back with a win straight away. Too many stars spoils the team!

I think I know which expensive DS you might be interested in and I have thought of a team without Canc and some more expensive DSs but I think it's just too big a risk! I had Duque in GW but he did nothing. I've just gone off expensive DSs and tend to avoid them now. There just aren't enough points to make them worthwhile.

Can anyone see beyond Sagan and Degenkolb for the TDF?
I'd also go for Westra as a cheapish DS

Is this a GKam style wind-up? Degenkolb couldn't make the split in GW (I had him and he's my one definite star transfer). Sagan I'm inclined to keep as he continues to do extraordinarily well and he just can't stop himself from winning even if this means annoying his teammates (Nibali in the TDFrance) and he will be the leader. Westra is a good rider but 8.something is not even cheapish with the current amount of points we have. Also, others in his team will be protected; Leukemans, who has a good, solid record in this race. Westra had his fun in the 3 days of de Panne. I expect him to just be a support rider, but I could be proved wrong. There are other riders at a similar price who are definite team leaders that I'll be picking ahead of him but he could spring a surprise.

Like most of us I'll probably play safe and keep Boonen and bring in Cancellara for Degenkolb. I'm going to stick with Sagan but I haven't decided if I'm going to keep Freire, who has no record to speak of in this race but has been going well, or bring in someone else with a better history of doing well, (I won't say who, we can all read the history). If I kept him I could have an extra transfer for my DSs but I'm not sure if it's worth bringing in any more than the 2 I already want, (both definite team leaders).

For me it's Boonen's to lose, he could do what Gilbert did last year and win 3 on the trot. Cancellara has a better chance in P-R which is an even greater war of attrition as long as his bike holds up! The other possibility is that Sagan and Cancellara work together to drop Boonen, who will beat both in a sprint, and then Sagan wins from Canc. Unless there are crashes or mechanical problems I can't see any other rider winning it apart from ones I'm probably going to put in my team and prefer not to mention.

Once again, Surely a slog between Tommeke and Spartacus.

I can't see anyone else picking this one up.

Except for a crap DS from Saur Sojasun