5 point bonus for team members

TERatcliffe26 wrote:

Correct me if im wrong, but wasn't last years 10 points based on last in the GC, not on each stage, therefore was easier to predict. Now its more luck than judgement

Yup but I'm talking about situations when a new rider took over the overall lanterne rouge slot after he'd had a crash or whatever the day before, and taken it gently and come in last on the stage the next day.

That will still happen at times, and if you've picked such a rider when it does, that's judgment, not luck

drheaton wrote:

It's also useful as a barometer of potential breakaway performance.

I picked up a Sanchez during the Tour of Catalunya who got last place one day and was in the breakaway the next.

Mark my words and come back to berate me if i'm wrong tomorrow

Jeremy Roy, Tour de Romandie, he's a known break guy and has good climbing legs. So unless he is ill, he'll be in the break tomorrow.

But yeah, its slightly more difficult now its not based on GC, which makes it harder and its down to luck, out of the three guys today, it could have been any one of them that their timing chip rolled over the line last

Gkam84 wrote:

5 points is fair, because if you think about it, Its far easier to pick a couple of riders from each team, so 4 stars with a chance of winning and 4 team mates of them.

Last place home is purely luck, your not going to pick a rider just because you think they will come home last, if your playing that tactics then your never going to get big points. Look at me lately, most of the classic's i had 2nd last home, not because i picked a rider to come in last, just luck, then i got 10 points in LBL

You lucky bugger! I've had the penultimate one a couple of times but never the last. I don't know why we bother having it now as there's nothing tactical in it like team members.

Gkam84 wrote:

Last place home is purely luck, your not going to pick a rider just because you think they will come home last, if your playing that tactics then your never going to get big points. Look at me lately, most of the classic's i had 2nd last home, not because i picked a rider to come in last, just luck, then i got 10 points in LBL

It's luck in one-day races, but not necessarily in stage races. There were a couple of times last year (when we had the old lanterne rouge system) that you knew that a rider who had suffered a bad crash but was determined to ride on was going to have an absolute mare the following day. I know I picked up 10 points a couple of teams through that.

Tactically, you could argue that selecting such a rider (for a potential 10 points) has a greater chance of success than selecting a domestique to make up the numbers simply because his team mate has a chance of winning the stage.

With the scoring now on last man on the stage, there might be more of those tactical switches going on in the Grand Tours.