Giro Stage 18

16th on the stage with the 10 points for the correct J-Rod to come(although I'm figuring everyone will have him barring straight J-Rod for Cav swaps).

J-Rod only been given 4 points...It should be 14....Looks like Jackson Rodrigueez has been given 10 of his points.......

1-2-3 for me today. Eases the pain of taking out Guardini and Possovivo before yesterday's stage

I'm happy with that result. Guardini & Cav are two of the most popular sprinters, so I wouldn't have made up any ground if I took this stage seriously. Bring on Milan B-).

Whoopy doo. I brought in guardini, cav and soupe today for basso txurreta and by useless outsider garate. Got to be happy with that. Now need pozzovivo in tomorrow I think.

Yeah, dissapointed in Modolo, not the amazing day I'd hoped for but enough to keep me in contention. May have been better off picking Cav and Ferrari but it's still nice to pick the winner.

OFFICIAL TOP TEN - STAGE 18

1 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling
3 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
4 Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Barracuda
5 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
6 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha Team
8 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
9 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
10 Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team

Not sure if there are any and they're likely to fall after the first big climb on which he'll probably be dropped.

If Rodriguez gets dropped and doesn't finish top 6 over the next two days then he might win but J-Rod looks to be in too good form for that to happen.

Wouldn't be surprised if Cav packs it in now, not point killing himself for nothing.

Aren't there TV sprints over the next two road stages?

Cav can just get those maybe?

1. Guardini,
2. Cavendish,
3. Ferrari,
4. Hunter,
5. Haedo

Nearly went for Ferrari over Ventoso but thought he might try it with it being a year since Tondo died yesterday.

Nice to see Hunter up there too (although he's not in my team).

Yeah! yes yes yes yes yes!

My colleagues all think I'm nuts but I have a massive smile on my face, I only brought in Guardini for the mountains!

What a day!

Oh dear, not the day to drop Guardini... I feel like an idiot.

It was a fantastic effort by Team Sky to bring back the break, those points could be very valuable come Sunday. I hope they've got something left for the finale today, though.

Looks like Cav will get full points at the intermediate sprint. Today, much like yesterday, isn't going to plan. Hopefully between Rodriguez and one of my sprinters I'll get more points than Cav but as it stands, I'm not hopeful.

Hey, that was supposed to come out in colour.

TEAM:
Cav (SKY)
Hesjedal (GRM)
J-Rod (KAT)
Benat Intxausti (MOV)
Golas (OQP)
Rabottini (FAR)
Rubiano (AND)
Geoffrey Soupe (FDJ)
Alexander Kristoff (KAT)

Will take Cav and Kristoff out for Basso and Pozzovivo and maybe Intxausti for Uran but not sure on this yet.

Just thought I'd share thi, straight of Gadret's Wikipedia page:

Quote:

On Stage 15 of the 2010 Tour de France Gadret caused controversy when he refused to give his wheel to his team leader, Nicolas Roche, following a puncture on the final climb of the day and then began attacking the group ahead of Roche.[7]

He has won a race against a horse.[8]

In:Cav,Hunter,Guardini
Out:Cunego,Henao,Tiralongo

Team:
Cav
Hesjedal
J-Rod
Hunter
Golas
Rabottini
Rubiano
Pozzovivo
Guardini

Original plan drop Basso for Cav and bring in Scarponi tomorrow, however, Basso & Uran's performance along with the not so good performances by Intxausti, Tiralongo and others, changed my plans, so with 4 transfers in hand

Alexander Kristoff in for Paolo Tiralongo
Andrea Guardini in for Allessandro De Marchi
Matteo Rabottini in for Andrey Amador
Roberto Ferrari in for Benat Intxausti

Giving me

Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT)
Ryder Hesjedal (GRM)
Roberto Ferrari (AND)
Ivan Basso (LIQ)
Stefano Pirazzi (COG)
Matteo Rabottini (FAR)
Andrea Guardini (FAR)
Domenico Pozzovivo (COG)
Alexander Kristoff (KAT)

Tomorrow Ferrari & Kristoff out, for Uran + ?

Guardini stays as he is getting reliable at being last man home in the mountains.

I will take a hit today of 25 compared to the teams around me if Cav wins today. If a small breakaway succeeds no lost and will have the 5 or the 6 best performing big stage climbers for Friday & Saturday + a couple of breakaway guys

Ivan Basso (LIQ)
Mark Cavendish (SKY)
Rigoberto Uran (SKY)
Sacha Modolo (COG)
Andrey Amador (MOV)
Aleksandr Kuschynski (KAT)
Jan Barta (APP)
Paolo Tiralongo (AST)
Matteo Rabottini (FAR)
Seriously hoping that cav doesn't bollix things up today. Tean set for the hills aand I can dump cav and modolo. Here's hoping. Can't get any worse than I've done so far!!

Rodriguez
Basso
Ventoso
Modolo

Pozzovivo
Tiralongo
Rabottini
Txurruka
Guardini

Plan is to use my three transfers to remove Ventoso, Modolo and probably Tiralongo.

My team for today as i'm away to enjoy this 27 degrees again wont be on at all today till the sun goes down

Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT)
Mark Cavendish (SKY)
Roberto Ferrari (AND)
Sergio Luis Henao (SKY)
Stefano Pirazzi (COG)
Miguel Angel Rubiano (AND)
Paolo Tiralongo (AST)
Diego Ulissi (LAM)
Alexander Kristoff (KAT)

Have four transfers to use, planning on using three today, three tomorrow to leave me with a full mountains team for Friday and Saturday. Hoping I can get by without making any changes for Saturday so I can use four for the TT.

Dropping:
Rujano (from a great height), Henao and Golas

Recruiting:
Ventoso, Modolo and Guardini

Yep, I'm not bringing in Cav and I haven't got any Sky riders left..

Plan is to have enough credits to get four good star climbers in and just make do with whatever DSs I can afford. I should be able to afford Rodriguez, Basso, Hesjedal and Uran but that leaves me with 2.5 credits for my last DS so I might swap Uran for someone cheaper and pick up a DS that might actually get me some points.