Re: Welcome to the Giro 2008 « Reply #45 on May 30, 2008, 11:57am »
Yeah, I had a few email exchanges in German with Greipel (a cousin of a cousin back home) and egged him on that he deserved a stage win now for pulling big fat baby Cavendish over every hill in Italyin the last 2 1/2 weeks. That was crucial - from now on Cavendish will only slip down in points loosing a few places in the points competition...
Bettini was on track in the breakaway to bank home his stage win for the Latinos until this stupid German Voigt did it again. This guy has issues. He likes to spoil the party for other Germans. Remember how he chased down Jan Ullrich in the TdF after Ullrich attacked and dumped Armstrong? He got a lot of nuts for that from German fans back then and he will get a lot of nuts from me this time. A Bettini win would have been the first nail in the coffin for the Eye Wheelers. Now Bettini draws in point with Cavendish but is listed as 3rd rather than combined 2nd. I have to look that up in the rule book if it turns out to be the deciding factor - surley they both must be 2nd with equal points? I hope Bettini gets into another breakaway to get an intermediate sprint to shed this annoying British leech that refuses to give up in the mountains.
Another unfortunate thing for the Latinos happened on stage 18: Two guys from the breakaway moved up in the GC and pushed Kloeden even further down the table to 15th. But I must insist that Kloeden will be the man that delivers the victory to the Latinos on the very last day in the time trial. The Eye Wheelers have no answer to that. And Zabel is history now and will start to slip in the points table too.
Regarding calls for an auditor: Feel free. Everything is there on the results web-page. Have fun. If the result is very close it might be a good idea because I enter results manually and mistakes can happen. Only the stage points and the jersey point of each stage has to be reviewed (and you can forget Bennati and Sella - they were leading from start to finish). And Stage 21 for the GC, KOM and Sprint Points.
Re: Welcome to the Giro 2008 « Reply #46 on May 31, 2008, 9:54am »
I see the scoreboard has not been updated for a couple of stages. I did warn you Eyes that Prudi would be up to something. He is desperately searching for loopholes and subclauses to penalise your team so that the Greasy Latinos can sneak to victory.
I thought this Giro was done and dusted but it's all on again thanks to riders with nicknames. First Di Luca "The Killer" goes on the attack with his team-mate Salvodelli "The Falcon" and then Ricco "The Cobra" nearly rips the pink jersey from Contador's back. If Contador is to hang on he desperately needs to acquire a nickname quickly. How about Alberto "Operation Puerto" Contador? But he still might need another pull from Emanuelle "Shooting up in the cellar" Sella.
Glad I left that lightweight loser Gilberto "The Lamb" Simoni on my subs bench. All talk - unlike Ricco who walks the talk.
Will Ricco and Eyes Wheelers snatch the jersey from Contador and Greasy Latinos tomorrow? What dirty tactics will they be deploying? Has Howie organised the sabotage of Sella? Let's hear your plans for the grand finale...
Re: Welcome to the Giro 2008 « Reply #47 on Jun 1, 2008, 3:41pm »
Sorry about the delay in stage points update - something went wrong with the upload to the server. Its all there now.
What an amazing thrilling race - viva il Giro d'Italia ! Watching the past Giris and TdF's on DVD for the last five years I must say that the Giro was the better race in the last five years. Riders in the Giro seem to take more risks, the overall changes much more because they put in so many mountain top finishes + TT's. Almost every stage saw big changes in GC and Points. I hope the Giro will grow more and levels with the TdF to give pathetic Prudhomme a kick in the guts. I think its great that they invited Astana last minute - that upgraded the Giro a lot.
It looks like the Cobra spit all its venom at his competitiors and I expect his bike to be full of green slime after the TT because that's the only place left in a TT where he can spit it at. I hope Contador is wise enough to not overtake him because this guy is unpredictable. He might loose it and bring both of them down in a final tackle. Expect more winching and wining from Ricco after the TT. What is the guy thinking? At the beginning he brags: "I don't need any friends in the peleton." Then he spits at Sella, Rodriguez, even his own team and cries: "Everyone is against me." Would be a shame if he wins with such an attitude. I think even the Italians like Contador more than their own Ricco with such an attitude.
Anyway, what's happening in our own little Giro? Destiny threw a number of challanges towards the Latinos in the last three stages. Voigt denied Bettini his stage win and then sick Anderas Kloeden left the race 1/2 a stage before the final TT. The Eye Wheelers don't have Kloeden so this was a serious possible match-loosing loss for the Latinos.
But as soon Sella heard of the loss of Kloeden he jumped away from the the star riders once again and not only regained the lost points but extended the lead and - most importantly - showed big mouth Ricco who the best rider of our competition is.
Still, Kloeden can't score in the TT anymore and Sella will slip a few places in GC after the TT. But for the Eye Wheelers to win Ricco must win the Giro d'Italia to gain another 200 points in GC. But Sella must slip at least one place in GC (which is very likely) to loose another 20 points and only then the Eye Wheelers would win by 6 points. Then we have to revisited that Cavendish/Bettini situation. If they would be counted on equal placing that would gain Bettini and the Latinos another 10 points which would bring them the victory by 4 points.
Ricco can also regain 50 points on Sella in the Points Competition by regaining his 2nd place. To do so he must finish not lower than 8th in the TT and Sell must finish lower than 15th. But this is not really relevant - the only thing that counts now is: If Ricco wins the Giro the Eye Wheelers very likely will win the Dirsportif Competition which, of course, would be heart breaking for the Latinos after leading the competition for, I think, 18 of 20 stages.
Whoever wins - it was a great competition and game.
My tip for the final GC is:
1. Contador 2. Brushegin 3. Pellizotti 4. Ricco 5. Menchov 6. di Luca 7. van den Broeck 8. Sella 9. Simoni 10. Pozzovio
Re: Welcome to the Giro 2008 « Reply #48 on Jun 2, 2008, 9:31am »
Greetings from Milano. We are in the hot tub with the AC Milan cheerleaders (a little treat I promised the riders) awaiting the official results - but it looks clear now that Bicygreasy Latinos have oiled their way victory over Eyes Wheelers. Eyes had a good team but not much on the subs bench. Howie's Horses look like they are on the podium for the first time. Not sure how Howie managed that with his leftfield selections from Slipstream.
Most of Team Transfusion performed superbly: Contador and Ricco in the top 2, Bettini always sniffing and Bennati beautiful. Even though Bennati has an unusual blood group which it's hard to find supplies for, he justifies the expense. Wish I could say the same for Petrov who is sulking because he is on drinks duties and not allowed in the hot tub with the cheerleaders. He doesn't know it yet but his contract will not be renewed.
Time to give out a few awards:
Biggest bungle of the Giro: mutschi leaving out Ricco Most inspired selection: mutschi's annoying little Sella Biggest flop of a team: Sassonian - from Vuelta hero to Giro zero Biggest flop of a rider: Many candidates (Leipheimer, Kloden, McEwan, Karpets, Rebellin...)
So well done mutschi, you struck gold with Sella. But nobody has done the Giro and Tour double for years so I'm glad you've peaked too early for the big one. Team Transfusion now goes back to the laboratory as we seek perfection for Le Grand Boucle. See you in July.
Re: Welcome to the Giro 2008 « Reply #49 on Jun 2, 2008, 4:04pm »
Many thanks to Milsi for entertaining us and maybe one day he stop playing games and writes his novel. Or write a novel about playing games. Or cycling. His comments were faultless except calling the beautiful "Latinos" greasy. But that's just envy, I guess.
Congratulation to the Eye Wheelers for putting up such a tremendous team - well done. After the test run in the Vuelta, Ian learned very quickly and left three of the "Originals" behind him. The Eye Wheelers will be a hot favorite for the Tour de France. Choosing many English-speaking riders was the downfall for the Eye Wheelers. Unlike the TdF, the Giro and the Vuelta are often dominated by strong local riders. Anyway, well done Ian and we look forward to see your team for the TdF.
The Horses made the podium this time - improving in every game. Well done, Howie. Like always it was the number of sprinters that kept Howie from winnning. In the TdF and Vuelta he didn't have enough - it seems this time around he had too many (6). And, as Milsi already has pointed out, this sweet patrionism towards NZ and anglican teams is touching but you can't win like that. But, Howie gets more and more dangerous and will be a strong favorite for the TdF. Choosing Cavendish also shows that he is willing to take some risks and get some dark horses in, unlike Milsi who didn't had one surprise rider in his team.
Team Transfusion had the most boring team and I had my doubts seeing three Astana riders in the team. The DS substitution tactics were discussed in detail so we don't have to go there again. But, to be fair, Team Transfusion had its share of bad luck, loosing Zabriski early, Petrov and Leipheimer hugely underperforming, then loosing Kloeden due to sickness - things didn't go that smoothly for the team and they must be buring with anger for the injustice and will show their true value at the TdF, I am sure of that.
The "Slaves to the Cadance" will win the price for the best team name. They looked strong in the first half of the race and had a strong dark horse with Salvodelli. But Salvodelli was consumed by his master. A bit of bad luck there too - loosing four riders to crashes. Again, patriotic choices of anglican riders didn't help and I don't understand his obsession with Magnus Backstedt he shares with three other teams. Apart from Paris - Roubaix a lifetime ago - when did Magnus ever win something? Especially in a grand tour? Or did I miss something? Anyway, it was good to have The Slaves back after missing the Vuelta and I am sure they will improve in the TdF.
Next team in the ranking was the first non-Hawkes Bay team from Christchurch who will win the price for the most interesting name: "Sodastream". That sounds like a name from the future - 2050 or so. Congratulation for beating the rest of New Zealand outside Hawkes Bay, Matthew. The Team had a great run in the Maglia Rosa with Visconti. Many good dark horses but a bit of bad luck with crashes. Hope to see you in the Tour.
The price for the most interesting team goes to Brendon Vesty's cyclebv (What does "bv" stand for?). While Milsi had maybe not enough dark horses it looks like Brendon had too many. But his selection showed that he has deep inside into pro cycling - unfortunately good rides like Serpa, Gasparatto, McGee and others, who looked promising, didn't deliver this time. Hope to see you with another interesting team at the TdF.
It looks like as if The Sassonian's, the Vuelta game winner, thought every game would be as easy to win as the Vuelta where Adrian hit the Jack Pot and won effortless. The Sassonians weren't actually that bad as a team at the end but the DS, spoiled by an easy win last time, didn't had the guts to fight, missed important substitutions for his team and gave away two or three places. I don't see any podium for The Sassonians in the TdF if that attitude doesn't change. Lets hope the DS gets soome counselling and comes back with the same will to win he had at the Vuelta.
This brings me to the end to my review (apologies and thank you's to the other teams from 9th to 13th). Just a few humble words about the winning "Latinos". They were simply magnificent. It was good we left angry brat Ricco at home - the game would have been very boring with the Latinos winning with a 1000 points margin. I am sure, most of you will ask - why Sella? How on earth can DS mutschi pick an almost unknown rider out of 200 and this rider wins the most points ? Well, that's the secret of brilliant Directeur Sportifing. See you at the Tour de France. Thanks for playing.
![[Home]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/home.gif)
![[Help]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/help.gif)
![[Search]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/search.gif)
![[Login]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/login.gif)
![[Register]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/register.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Reply]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/reply.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Author
![[avatar]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/avatars/boyandpc.gif)
![[Quote]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif)
Logged