The Course
We start on the coast at Martinsicuro and finish in Fano. A place where I’ve had my car break down. For symmetry purposes, it’s nice to see that it’s Ancona, another place where I’ve had to wait around for my car to be repaired, where the race changes as the riders head back into the hills and where a different ‘break’ will go.
There’s no big climbs of note but the rest of the stage is as up and down as Wannabe’s scoring in this Giro. Most of them are packed into the second 3rd of the stage. Enough to make it a horrible day to bring a break back only for your sprinter to be too knackered to do anything.
The Favourites
It’s a long list. Overall the route favours punchy riders with a sprint. The finale is on flat roads so unless you come home alone, you’ll need a fast finish to win. Then again this game isn’t about picking the winner. It’s about scoring points and this is a stage where someone could score a huge amount if they take a gamble and step away from any favourites as far as number of times picked is concerned.
With a flat start, it will make it a fast run into the hills as I imagine half the field are thinking about getting into the break. In fact I doubt we’ll get a group away until we’ve turned away from the coast. Then the rises and twisty roads will make it difficult to mark the attackers. If no one with top ten GC ambitions tries and succeeds in making the selection, the break will sail away and fight for the stage. If that is the case, it might be a large and unwieldy group and teammates and tactics are likely to come into it.
In other words it’s a lottery. You take Piccolo but he starts riding for Valgren. You think you’re looking good with Conci but it’s Quinten who makes the second move that sticks. Pick Bagioli and pound to a penny it’s Ghebreigzabhier that raises his arms first. All in all I imagine the top two picks will be Ala and Narvaez. Maybe with a sprinkling of Shack and Zana.
Fwiw, I think it’s about time Velasco showed off his Nats jersey.
The Rules
In this game, only the race results matter. You're not committed to keeping the same riders throughout the series, you make fresh picks before every race. Our overall competition is just the sum of individual race scores. You're eligible for the overall even if you miss some races.
Pick 4 riders for the upcoming race. The order of your picks doesn't matter. All of your riders can score.
Riders score points down to 10th place. Less popular riders score more points than heavily-picked favourites. See below for scoring details.
The strict entry deadline is the official start time of the race, the neutralized roll-out or Départ Fictif. Be warned - if your post is timestamped one minute late your entry won't count! So do remember that there's no disadvantage to getting an entry in early, even the day before, because you may always change your picks up until the deadline. Feel free to rethink your picks when it emerges which riders are more or less popular with other players. If you make changes, post your revised 4 picks in a reply to your original post.
The Scoring
The last 3 races will be secret entry between the top contenders… To avoid defensive picking.
When we say top contenders we leave the number open because who knows how many will be within striking distance...
We will notify you by email if we need you to do a secret entry.
The Results
Head over to the spreadsheet to check how you fared. Any issues, please email us on... LeeVus@alone.com
