ah well i'll have to check when i'm back home - some do it all machine from costco so
i kinda knew but hoped better
fooled myself after a while into thinking it was all that but it sure isn't

It has been echappist, McNulty and myself sharing the classics & GT thread hosting duties but like we learned with classics season, perhaps it's time for a changing of the guard. Do you want to be the MvDP of the Giro?

Which stages?

God help us all!

6 & 7. I'm hoping that I keep progressing from this temporary mono sideline. I've been down for a few weeks and have only been able to do some very easy spins (under orders to rest). I'm finally starting to feel good again and the energy is recovering. I had arranged to rent some road bikes and we were going to climb Mt Baldy (stage 6), but we will see. I don't want to jump right back in and get sick again so I'm trying to be a good patient. It sucks because I was right on lifetime good form prior to the wheels falling off with sickness. Curious to see how this effects my output once I have the energy and all clear to resume. I only have a few months to regain form for the National TT championships that was to be my first big target this year.

Cavendish is that you?

I'm a better tester than Cav ;)

Hope he gets better. I see his is starting to race again. I fear he may have put himself so far in the hole that he might never get out. That is the last thing I want to do so if I need to rest for longer than I'd like I will if the doc says.

I hope you both come back strong.

Back in the tri days, we used to ride the stages ahead of TdCali. Needless to say, they rolled us up, sometimes early sometimes late depending upon the beers the night before. What a blast. One of my favorite cycling adventures.

I think the Giro is going to be loco, per usual. Can't wait.

I can not wait for the Giro. You are right; its going to be crazy. Has all the makings of being the premier GT this year.

Did anyone catch yesterday's Tom D interview? He said he isn't going too well this year and is behind form compared to the last two years. I hope that is a bluff because he is a class rider.

I just watched LBL from the DVR. it was cool. I'd like to see this route last a few years. I also think this was a brutal classics season and I saw a lot of tired riders in the peleton. lastly, it was great to see Flugelhorn get a win. he was one of the key players these last few weeks.

thanks to echappist, Spackler, McNut, Trail, Turd, etc, etc, et al. this is the best thread on ST and I am already looking forward to the 2020 thread.

Thanks everyone for a fun classics season, definitely improves the viewing experience when you’ve got some picks on the line!

Glad I was able to give you a run for your money, after a surprise win last year I'm happy to take the runner up position. Can't wait for Classics 2020 ;)

Thanks :) You did quite well, and certainly much better than anyone else has done previously (I never broke 40 points previously)

Next year we should start the thread earlier to hammer out all the rules. Felt slightly rushed this year

I also need to brush up my excel skills and start parsing things, rather than doing a point tally

Have fun watching Romandie and Giro, everyone!

Not sure where you guys are all from but you should try to get to Montreal for the GP in September. Great venue for spectating.

Would love to see that. This years trip to North America is for the Tour of California. Maybe next year we will head back to Montreal. Went during the Jazz Festival a decade ago and loved the town. Very beautiful.

Indeed; Montreal has quite a bit of Old-World charm to it. Even better would be to spectate in Quebec City as well. That said, both races tend to be a bit boring...

Thanks! Happy to break the highest score per round twice haha.

I agree, I don't think there were any issues with the 3 podium picks and 2 wildcards but the flyer needs some work. Especially if the odds are going to be worse than 30:1, there should be points if the flyer makes it into the top 5, potentially more points if he ends up on the podium or wins. A 30:1 can make it into top 5 or maybe podium (Lambrecht or Bettiol for instance), but if we're going to have to pick someone that's 40:1 or 50:1 then they probably won't even make top 5, let alone win. So then there's no real point in picking flyers anymore either..

A suggested format: go with the posted odds and we each have say 6 picks and 6 dollars or quid or shillingi or ducat or bitcoin. You get the gist.....you don't get to load up on one, that way it is still picking the podium etc but we are rewarded for astute picks of longer odds racers. Maybe there's room for putting it all one one guy or 2 on one, etc but if this gets complicated or too Velogamesesque, then it becomes too much about winnings and not enough about banter. I'm much better at the bs.....I mean banter. I don't want to spend too much time on research, keep it fun.

If a minor or mid week race has no odds posted, we just use the existing system or just banter about who we like for that one.

Maybe we can try it on Giro stages. I think there are odds for each stage.

Food for thought from Mr. Vegas.

sounds like a good plan; possibly could get more engagement as well through the stages

i'm a bit short on time administering it, but would love to banter about it

It's a tough balance between rewarding astute picks vs making things too complicated. Right now, pretty much a dummy could always pick the top 5 riders based on odds, and then pick the best rider who qualifies for a flyer. Do that every single race and you'll probably score decently. But that format is easy to score and manage.

Maybe a compromise is that we just do 4 picks. You can pick anyone you want, but the points you get is directly based on their odds and divided by their finish place in the top 5.

So if you take
MVDP at 2/1
LFF at 3/1
Sagan at 5/1
Gilbert at 12/1

And the top 5 ends up being
1. MVDP
2. Rowe
3. Mohoric
4. Gilbert
5. Sagan

Then your points become
MVDP = 2 points (2 divided by 1)
Gilbert = 3 points (12 divided by 4)
Sagan = 1 point (5 divided by 5)
6 points total

But lets say you picked
Rowe at 28/1
Degenkolb at 35/1
LFF at 3/1
Fugulsang at 14/1

Then your points become
Rowe = 14 points (28 divided by 2)
14 points total

This way you can get rewarded by not simply picking all the favorites, even if only one of your picks makes the top 5. If you pick a 120/1 flyer and they end up 5th, that's still 24 points!

What I'm scared of next year is that everyone is simply going to pick MVDP to win every race he enters...it will be kind of boring to banter about. But if he's an overwhelming favorite based on odds, a lot less people will pick him and everyone will be forced to get creative.

Can someone please get the official thread going??? Bernal out. Roglic looks like a world beater. Where’s TD at? Nibali lurks in the shadows.

Much to be discussed.

thanks for the reminder; thread started

the start list and the parcours of the first few stage will make for some exciting racing

Does BWR count as a classic? If so, it's Trek's best result this season.