Sky leave Froome for doubt? Giro d'Italia 2018

[Kevin S]

The sun is shining (for now), and sports seasons are finding their stride with the Classics in full swing, and Nadal twatting everyone around the clay of Monte Carlo as per.

So it's nearly here. We all love the Giro. Gorgeous scenery, unpredictable conditions, hotly contested opening week stages, the history and the glory.

But there's a couple of dampeners on this one. The parade through Jerusalem and Israel has created a big backlash. And there's Chris Froome who, the last time he entered a Grand Tour, was found to have too much inhaler in his blood. The case rumbles on so his planned entry here could get very messy indeed.

But Monte Zoncolan is back, and last year's delicate balance between time trial and mountain Kms was excellent. The climbers were too tentative, too wary of each other, to put Dumoulin in difficulty. Pinot is looking even better this time. So, many of the signs point to a great race.

[ad hoc]

The Apartheid sponsored giro can go fuck itself

[Antepli Ejderha]

The Apartheid sponsored giro can go fuck itself

This. Will they be shooting journalists this year?

[delicatemoth]

Teams are being announced.

Strong team for Groupama-FDJ with two GC contenders in Pinot and Reichenbach -

Thibaut Pinot (FRA), William Bonnet (FRA), Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA), Steve Morabito (SUI), Georg Preidler (AUT), Sébastien Reichenbach (SUI), Anthony Roux (FRA), Jérémy Roy (FRA).

Bardiani obviously pick their best, some good riders here and they'll be hoping to win a stage -

Simone Andreetta, Enrico Barbin, Giulio Ciccone, Andrea Guardini, Mirco Maestri, Manuel Senni, Paolo Simion, Alessandro Tonelli

Androni, same but a bit older and not as good -

Davide Ballerini, Manuel Belletti, Mattia Cattaneo, Marco Frapporti, Francesco Gavazzi, Fausto Masnada, Rodolfo Andres Torres, Andrea Vendrame

Team Evil are as tiresomely, grindingly strong as usual, and haven't even brought Kenny Elissonde, who could have livened them up -

Chris Froome, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Sergio Henao, Wout Poels, Philip Deignan, David de la Cruz, Salvatore Puccio

[Kevin S]

Kruijswijk misses the Giro for only the second time this decade. It's a chance for Gesink and Bennett to aim for top ten placing(s). These two are often able to stay with or near the favourites even without support from other team mates - the rest of the squad is big on horsepower rather than climbing skillz.

[Kevin S]

Mitchelton-Scott
Sam Bewley (NZL, 30)
Esteban Chaves (COL, 28)
Jack Haig (AUS, 24)
Chris Juul-Jensen (DEN, 28)
Roman Kreuziger (CZE, 31)
Mikel Nieve (SPA, 33)
Svein Tuft (CAN, 40)
Simon Yates (GBR, 25)

This is a team with the GC in mind.

[delicatemoth]

Very pleased to see they've rescued the excellent Nieve from Sky.

Lotto-Soudal will stage hunt and maybe go for jerseys with Debusschere and Wellens -

Sander Armée, Lars Bak, Victor Campenaerts, Jens Debusschere, Frederik Frison, Adam Hansen, Tosh Van der Sande, Tim Wellens

Team Sunweb are here for defending champion Dumoulin and his bid for two in a row -

Roy Curvers (NED), Laurens ten Dam (NED), Tom Dumoulin (NED), Chad Haga (USA), Chris Hamilton (AUS), Lennard Hofstede (NED), Sam Oomen (NED), Louis Vervaeke (BEL)

Bora-Hansgrohe bring GC wildcards (Formolo, Konrad) and a very good sprinter in Bennett -

Cesare Benedetti, Sam Bennett, Davide Formolo, Felix Grossschartner, Patrick Konrad, Christoph Pfingsten, Andreas Schillinger, Rudiger Selig

[Kevin S]

I'm quite pleased that there's going to be a big showdown of the top, top sprinters in Le Tour this year - even though that means in the Giro there's no Gaviria, no Kittel, no Ewan, no Cav, no Groenewegen, no Greipel, no Kristoff.

Because that means all the teams who have an Italian sprinter are bringing them, and boy is there going to be some intense competition between them for home stage wins.

I think we could end up with Viviani (Quick-Step), Mareczko (Wilier), Modolo (EF-Drapac), Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida), Guardini (Bardiani) and Sbaragli (Israel CA). And maybe one or two others I've overlooked.

Trek don't appear to have Nizzolo in their draft squad but he has been seemingly struggling for form and possibly fitness - a few top tens and several DNFs this year.

[longeared]

The rather handy clash with the Tour de Yorkshire next weekend means I don't have to watch the Israel nonsense. I see that there's nightly free-to-air highlights on Quest again, this year at the convenient time of 7pm.

Dimension Data announced their squad this morning led by Meintjes. That suggests this will be his GC target for the year and they'll be focusing on Cav at the Tour. Wonder if he'll manage to try an attack somewhere.

[Kevin S]

Gawpus, I've applied for the Fantasy competition and sent the OTF code to Toro.

(Likewise, I won't be tuning in for the first three stages in Israel.)

[Gawpus]

Thanks for giving Toro a shout, you're in Kev. Wasn't sure what the general consensus was, but I'll be skipping the first few stages too.

[Kevin S]

[Kevin S]

That Lotto Fix All name:

[Incandenza]

Gawpus, I've applied for the Fantasy competition and sent the OTF code to Toro.

(Likewise, I won't be tuning in for the first three stages in Israel.)

Was I the only one playing for the Spring Classics, then? I finished in the top 50 in the Rest of the World competition IIRC.

[Gawpus]

Top 50 eh? Pretty good going. Can't speak for anyone else, but I'm a grand tours only kind of player for the most part. Toro looks to have joined us for the Giro now. Which is nice.

Oh, and if anyone else fancies playing too then let me know & I'll fish the joining details back out.

[delicatemoth]

Sioutsou breaks something (possibly a vertebra) on his recon ride, and is out of the Giro before it starts. Froome and Lopez also crashed on their recon, not sure how badly hurt they are.

[ursus arctos]

Gawpus, could you please post or send me the details? Even if it is too late for the Giro

[ursus arctos]

Dumoulin wins by two seconds over Denis and Capanaerts, 33 seconds over Pinot, 37! over Froome, 50 over Aru and 56 over Lopez.

[Incandenza]

Gawpus, could you please post or send me the details? Even if it is too late for the Giro

https://www.onetouchfootball.com/sho...=1#post1397688

[ursus arctos]

Grazie mille

[Gawpus]

Thanks for compensating for my lazy posting there Inca. UA - you're in the OTF league. It's not too late for the Giro either, you can join any time, and I think everyone's skipping the first few stages until it's back in Italy as well.

[Kevin S]

Ah, I did pick a team; I meant I wouldn't watch any of these three stages. But perhaps I should've held off. I won't do any transfers until S4 then.

[ursus arctos]

Thanks, Gawpus

It will take me until then to figure out the interface.

[Incandenza]

Ah, I did pick a team; I meant I wouldn't watch any of these three stages. But perhaps I should've held off. I won't do any transfers until S4 then.

Same, I picked a team as well. I like your suggestion about no transfers, I'll follow that as well.

[delicatemoth]

Never thought I'd see the day when Pozzovivo beat Froome in a Grand Tour ITT. That was a good stage, which is just as well as the next two stages look deeply uninspired. You'd have thought they'd try and come up with something really good to justify all the hassle.