south perth rouleurs

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road race tipping comp

time - name
6:37:32 - jonny
6:37:56 - chris
6:38:36 - peter
6:38:36 - rob
6:38:36 - paul

so with a double for italy and spain coming in 6th best, no-one really picked well in the road race. so jonny was the only one to pick three countries in the top ten. the rest of us stuffed something up along the way.

so alessandro ballan is the new world champion. after a great classics season, he probably deserves it too.

time trial results

time - name
0:53:12 - chris
0:53:18 - jonny
0:53:22 - peter
0:53:58 - paul
0:53:58 - bec

on a weighted average it looks like chris came out on top of the time trial tipping comp but only barely in front of jonny.

the winner and new world champion (bert grabsch) was not picked by anyone. actually the top three did not get a mention in any one's tips. i think people really didn't know what to do after cancellara pulled out.

world championships - varese, italy

so the world championships start this week at varese in italy. we will be running two tipping contests similar to the olympics comps.

the first will be the men's time trial which takes place on thursday 25th sept over 43.70 kms. in this competition, you must tip in order the riders that you think will take gold, silver and bronze.

the second race will be the men's road race which will be held on sunday 28th sept covering 15 laps of a 17.35km circuit for a total of 260.25 kms. in this competition, you must tip the countries that will take out the gold, silver and bronze. and remember a country can take out two medals.

in each case, the tipping comp winner will be determined by a weighted average of their tip relative to the riders actual finishing position. in the case of the road race, the first rider for that country will determine that tips time. so get your tip into the address listed on the right. entry will be free as we are just playing for glory.

stage 21 - the finale

matti breschel of team csc-saxo bank topped a rough sprint in madrid to close out the 63rd vuelta. breschel finished ahead of alexandre usov of ag2r and davide viganò of quick step.

contador of finished safely in the peloton to put his name on a short list of riders who have won all three grand tours. he topped the classification after three weeks of racing by 46 seconds over teammate leipheimer and 4:12 over sastre to take his third grand tour to win after the tour de france in 2007 and the giro d'italia this may.

in the tipping comp, damnchickens held on to the top spot with team escalon only 35 sec behind and team rapido rounding out the podium.

in the sprinters competitions, the same three teams took the podium.

the mountain comp was taken out by team creditless onthedole, with team escalon only 3 points behind and damnchickens taking the minor placing.

this stage marks the end of the grand tours this year, but this week also contains the world championships so i will run a men's time trial and road race tipping comp, so stay tuned.

stage 20

levi leipheimer stomped his way to a second time trial win in the vuelta and looks set as the favourite to beat for next week's world champs. He bettered his astana teammate and overall race leader, alberto contador, by 31 seconds at the end of a 17.1-kilometre climb up alto de navacerrada, but still trails the spaniard on the overall classification by 46 seconds. valvaerde was the day's biggest winner jumping to fifth overall after a stunning time trial.

on the tipping front, pretty much everyone who put a tip in picked leiphiemer. with still only 20 sec between the top two places, it will come down to who picks the better sprinter. with no more categorised climbs, it looks like team creditless onthedole has wrapped up the mountain points competition.

stage 19

david arroyo gave caisse d'epargne its second stage win in a row, and as has been so often the case, a breakaway succeeded again in the 19th stage. arroyo outsprinted his final break companion, vasili kiryienka of team tinkoff, who had done most of the lead work the last five kilometres. nick nuyens of cofidis finished third as he led the peloton over the line 11 seconds later.

not a big change on the tipping front expect becstars slipped down the leaderboard after not putting in a tip for the stage. only a few sprint and mountain points eventuated from the stage so no real change there. again, no-one picked the stage winner.

stage 18

imanol erviti of caisse d'epargne made his first professional victory a big one in las rozas, crossing the finish line only centimetres ahead of credit agricole's nicolas roche. the two were part of a successful breakaway group, which had gotten away early and held a lead of up to eight minutes. there was no change in the top of the overall rankings.


in the tipping comp, no change to gc, sprints or mountain points.

the next stage will be decisive as it contains two cat 1 climbs before the final time trial. will the contenders let the escape go and save their legs or will they attack each other on the climbs to try to take that podium spot.

stage 17

a quickstep rider won the stage today but it was not boonen. he was taking it easy at the back of the group as he is leaving tonight to prepare for the world champs. instead it was wouter weylandt who took the win ahead of matti breschel of csc-saxo bank and alexandre usov of ag2r. in other words none of the big sprinters contested the sprint.

on the tipping front, boonen lost the two top teams a few seconds, but no real change to anything. looks like it may come down to the time trial in a few days time, but before that we have another flat-ish day ahead.

stage 16

tornado tom won ahead of italian pozzato and german/australian heinrich haussler in stage 16 to zamora, a stage marked by low speeds as the riders took a rolling rest day. contador, easily kept the leader's maillot oro. he leads the race by 1:17 over team astana teammate leipheimer with five days remaining.

on the tipping front, no big changes but team escalon moved within 10 sec of overhauling gc leader damnchickens. those two teams are clearly ahead but the next four teams are close enough to fight it out for that final podium spot. however, it only takes one bad tip and it is all down the drain. a stage win by team fuerte y suerte vaulted them up the sprint point standings.

stage 15

another long break proved to be successful, and david garcia of xacobeo galicia took advantage of the situation. the original large group had disintegrated near the end, and he broke off from the remains of the group with three kilometres to go, to take the solo win by 17 seconds ahead of nick nuyens and juan manual garate. behind them - way behind them - the astana-led peloton took its time, having an easy ride on a sunny day, and came in 14 minutes later with contador still in the overall lead.

on the tipping front this translated to no change to gc, sprint or mountain points. these stages will always provide a good opportunity for a breakaway. if you are down on gc, go for the outsider that may make it. if you tipped right today you could have made up 14 mins. if you tipped wrong, you would have ended up in the pack with the leaders anyway.

stage 14

spaniard alberto contador put a golden mark on this vuelta with a counter-attack of ezequiel mosquera's strong effort to arrive solo and win stage 14 atop the puerto de san isidro. he added further time into his overall classification lead with both sastre and valverde dropped in the final four kilometres. leipheimer climbed well to stick in second spot and help further solidify his second on gc position.

in the tipping stakes, team rapido came away with the stage win after most of the tipsters used up their contador in the previous stage. team becstars lost the most today dropping 15 min and falling down the leaderboard. a few mountain and sprint points were gained, but not enough to affect the overall.

stage 13

well the hardest climb of the vuelta today with a 12.6 km run up an average of 10% containing pitches of 23%. contador again showed that he is one of the best climbers in the business with a scorching effort that left everyone behind in the last 3.5 kms. valverde didn't have such a bad run coming in second but sastre lost over a minute to contador. on the overall, this put contador into first place with leipheimer second ans sastre third.

on the tipping comp front, four tipsters picked contador so no real changes on gc. becstars slipped down a bit on sprinters points but overall the leaders started to pull well away.

stage 12

although it looked like a fairly standard stage on paper, the weather played a major part and split the field dramatically. the biggest winner of the day was bettini who jumped clear for the win on a difficult finish. the biggest loser of the day was valverde who freaked out on the descent and lost over 3 min to the leaders so effectively is out of the running. when the astana and euskaltel teams saw him drop back they smashed him on the 50km run into town.

on the tipping front, no real changes to the order, but a few people picked up some extra time. the biggest winner was team creditless onthedole who tipped well enough to pick up a swag of mountain points and jumped clearly into the lead.

rest day tomorrow before heading back to the hills.

stage 11

oscar freire??? is he still in this race. obviously as he took boonan for the stage win today. no change on the overall, but a few more stages for the sprinters before we hit the hills again.

on the tipping front, damnchickens has jumped away on both gc and sprint points thanks to mr boonan. no real change anywhere else, but some good opportunities to get some more points with some sprinters.

stage 10

a win by sébastien hinault took a lot of people by surprise. especially since most of the big sprinters were still in the mix at the end. the other big surprise was yesterday's winner van avermaet coming in third and looks to be a sprinter to watch as robbie leaves silence-lotto. no change to the overall.

on the tipping front, the biggest slip of the day was when team escalon tipped daniel bennati. usually a good pick in these situations, but he apparently pulled out overnight and therefore his tip goes down as a default rider (as per the rules). overall it wasn't a very big slip and only lost 27 sec to damnchickens. the only major move was on the mountain points as creditless onthedole was the only tipster to get points and jumped to take an equal lead.

stage 09

these stages are harder to pick than a broken nose as they contain enough hills to shake it up, but without the mountain top finish, the gc leaders are not always going to go hard. as such a breakaway stayed away and line honours went to greg van avermaet of silence-lotto. however, the leaders jersey now falls to egoi martinez as he gained enough time to squeeze in front of levi.

on the tipping front, there was no change. everyone got the same time and a lot of tipsters wasted their valverde pick. it was such a relaxed peleton that even if you didn't pick and got the default rider, you still got the same time as everyone else. no sprint points or mountain points for anyone.

a much flatter stage tomorrow with only one climb early on. so can you pick the breakaway, or will the sprinters teams pull them back and go for glory?

stage 08

france's david moncoutié of team cofidis pulled the early break and stayed away before the main contenders caught him. a bit of a shake up in the pack and it is now clear that contador, leiphiemer, valverde and sastre are the only guys that can really win this tour. levi jumps back into the leaders jersey but not by much.

on the tipping front, no-one picked moncoutie (obviously) and the seconds gained/lost by the leaders made a difference. damnchickens managed to stay in front on both gc and sprint points, but only by a slim margin. team escalon jumped ahead in the mountians points.

stage 07

alessandro ballan joined a breakaway early on and stayed till the end to claim a stage and the overall leaders jersey. the big boys all came out to play a bit late on the stage and lost a few minutes to ballan, but more importantly a few seconds to each other to show who is really in charge. the smart money is on contador.

in the tipping, no stage winners as ballan is usually a classics champ so not really used to seeing him smash it on the high mountians. damnchickens has increased the overall lead, but the next couple are well within striking distance especially as we are still in the mountains.

in the sprinters comp, damnchickens added a few more to the lead while the mountains had a shake up with becstars taking a joint lead with damnchickens.

stage 06

so bettini sprints through to take a stage win. unfortunately no one picked him and those that picked pure sprinters like boonen and zabel suffered on gc. chavanel had a good race to take early points and bonuses to leap into first overall, but didn't go that well in the tipping comp as he did not finish in the top 15 and therefore didn't gather that many sprint points.

overall, damnchickens now leaps into the lead over team escalon in both gc and sprinters points, but it is early days and you can lose buckets of time with a bad tip in the mountains.

team creditless onthedole is obviously aiming for the mountains jersey so picked a pure climber who gained one point in today's stage. this now puts him one point ahead of the competition and into the lead.

a rest day tomorrow then three days in the mountains.

stage 05

so levi comes away with a win in the time trial and takes over the overall lead in the vuelta. the surprise of the time trial was chavanel who came in second and now sits second overall. a biggers surprise was how much time schumacher lost in his pet event.


on the tipping front, three of us tipped levi to grab the stage win. team escalon picked his third stage winner and as such jumped ahead on gc and sprinters points. i am coming a close second with team irlande rounding out the top three in both categories. still no change to the mountains competition.

i have also added a "withdrawals" section on the right so you know who has left the vuelta and don't tip them.

stage 04

so bennati, inspired by the golden jersey, pulls out a stage win ahead of boonen. with the time trial tomorrow, even he admits that he won't be wearing the leaders jersey afterwards.

four tipsters picked mr bennati for the stage win, and the win pushed team escalon back into the lead on gc and sprint points. also, with two stage wins, team escalon is also leading that competition. no change to mountain points, but that will change on saturday as we hit the real hills.

stage 03

well tornado tom took a big snort and sprinted to victory over the field. i read the profile and it said that there was a hill at the end that would sort out the sprinters, but i guess you can't deny them the win when they have the chance.

on the tipping front, team irlande came away with the stage win and with it picked up the lead in the gc and sprint points. we now have a mountain points joint leaders with three teams picking bettini who grabbed a couple on the early climb.

stage 02

valverde for a stage win on the flat??? similar to the tour de france, alejandro has come away with the first real stage.

team escalon picked him so comes away with the first stage win as well as the lead in both the gc and sprint title.

stage 01

team time trial 7.7kms

who would have thought that liquigas would take out a team time trial. most people picked astana or gerolsteiner so overall no-one really gained much time.

la vuelta a espana tipping comp

so the third grand tour is about to start this weekend and i thought i would run another tipping comp. same rules as the tour de france comp so you pick a new rider every day but you can't pick the same rider within the one week (between rest days).

i have decided to make this a free comp but restrict it to only two teams per person max.

the first stage is a team time trial so all you have to pick is the team that you think will win. hopefully by then they have finalised all the riders in the start list so we can start tipping individuals on the next stage.

so get your team names into me asap and then make sure your tips are in before 7pm each night starting this saturday.

1st 30/08 Sat
Granada - Granada (Parque Tec. Ciencias de la Salud) (T.T.T.)
7.7 km

2nd 31/08 Sun Granada - Jaén
167.3 km

3rd 01/09 Mon Jaén - Córdoba
168.6 km

4th 02/09 Tue Córdoba - Puertollano
170.3 km

5th 03/09 Wed Ciudad Real - Ciudad Real (I.T.T.)
42.5 km

6th 04/09 Thu Ciudad Real - Toledo
150.1 km

05/09 Fri REPOS

7th 06/09 Sat Barbastro - Andorra (Naturlandia - La Rabassa)
223.2 km

8th 07/09 Sun Andorra (Escaldes - Engordany) - Salardú / Naut Aran / Pla de Beret
151.0 km

9th 08/09 Mon Vielha / Mijaran - Sabiñánigo
200.8 km

10th 09/09 Tue Sabiñánigo - Zaragoza
151.3 km

11th 10/09 Wed Calahorra - Burgos
178.0 km

12th 11/09 Thu Burgos - Suances
186.4 km

12/09 Fri REPOS

13th 13/09 Sun San Vicente de la B. - Alto de L’Angliru
209.5 km

14th 14/09 Sun Oviedo - E. E. Fuentes de Invierno
158.4 km

15th 15/09 Mon Cudillero - Ponferrada
202.0 km

16th 16/09 Tue Ponferrada - Zamora
186.3 km

17th 17/09 Wed Zamora - Valladolid
148.2 km

18th 18/09 Thu Valladolid - Las Rozas
167.4 km

19th 19/09 Fri Las Rozas - Segovia
145.5 km

20th 20/09 Sat La Granja de S. I. - Alto de Navacerrada (I.T.T.)
17.1 km

21th 21/09 Sun S. Sebastián de los Reyes - Madrid
102.2 km

olympic time trial results

so the big swiss time trial machine comes away from the olympics with a gold and bronze medal. and larsson??? larsson who??? a lot of people (myself included) tipped schumacher after such an outstanding tour de france. what we should have been doing is watching his effort in the road race and realising that china is a bit too hot and humid for a german.

no one tipster picked their final three from all within the top 5 finishers. in other words, everyone picked at least one dog. it therefore became more important the order that you picked. my tips had the lowest cumulative time, but because i tipped cancellara for the bronze, the weighting given to each time sent mine plummeting down the standings.

so at the end of the day our medals went to the following.
gold - stan
silver - ryan
bronze - stu

i will post the final standings on the sidebar.

Rank Name NOC Final Time Avg. Speed
1 CANCELLARA Fabian Switzerland 1:02:11 45.633
2 LARSSON Gustav Sweden 1:02:45 45.229
3 LEIPHEIMER Levi United States 1:03:21 44.797
4 CONTADOR Alberto Spain 1:03:30 44.698
5 EVANS Cadel Australia 1:03:35 44.634
6 SANCHEZ Samuel Spain 1:04:37 43.917
7 TUFT Svein Canada 1:04:39 43.892
8 ROGERS Michael Australia 1:04:47 43.809
9 CLEMENT Stef Netherlands 1:04:59 43.668
10 GESINK Robert Netherlands 1:05:03 43.629
11 CUMMINGS Stephen Great Britain 1:05:08 43.573
12 ZABRISKIE David United States 1:05:18 43.462
13 SCHUMACHER Stefan Germany 1:05:25 43.379
14 GRABSCH Bert Germany 1:05:26 43.37
15 NIBALI Vincenzo Italy 1:05:36 43.262
16 HESJEDAL Ryder Canada 1:05:42 43.192
17 TAARAMAE Rein Estonia 1:05:47 43.138
18 KARPETS Vladimir Russian Fed. 1:05:52 43.082
19 SOERENSEN Chris Anker Denmark 1:05:55 43.049
20 MENSHOV Denis Russian Fed. 1:06:11 42.885
21 KIRYIENKA Vasil Belarus 1:06:12 42.868
22 BRUSEGHIN Marzio Italy 1:06:21 42.773
23 KIRCHEN Kim Luxembourg 1:06:30 42.68
24 MIZUROV Andrey Kazakhstan 1:06:32 42.654
25 BOTERO Santiago Colombia 1:06:35 42.618
26 MONFORT Maxime Belgium 1:07:13 42.224
27 BODROGI Laszlo Hungary 1:07:27 42.07
28 SPILAK Simon Slovenia 1:07:35 41.994
29 JURCO Matej Slovakia 1:07:53 41.807
30 MEDICI Matias Argentina 1:07:53 41.806
31 GEORGE David South Africa 1:07:55 41.784
32 GRIVKO Andriy Ukraine 1:08:01 41.722
33 VANDBORG Brian Bach Denmark 1:08:10 41.631
34 NIEMIEC Przemyslaw Poland 1:08:43 41.295
35 ASKARI Hossein Iran 1:08:46 41.266
36 BELOHVOSCIKS Raivis Latvia 1:08:55 41.18
37 KOSTYUK Denys Ukraine 1:09:04 41.09
38 KVASINA Matija Croatia 1:09:06 41.066
39 BEPPU Fumiyuki Japan 1:11:05 39.923

olympic time trial tipping

men's race starts at 1:30.
give me your top three riders in order and we will see who comes out on top.

Men
Wave 1
13:30:00 39 Matias Medici (Argentina)
13:31:30 38 Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)
13:33:00 37 Hossein Askari (Iran)
13:34:30 36 Svein Tuft (Canada)
13:36:00 35 Matija Kvasina (Croatia)
13:37:30 34 David George (South Africa)
13:39:00 33 Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus)
13:40:30 32 Matej Jurco (Slovakia)
13:42:00 31 Denys Kostyuk (Ukraine)
13:43:30 30 Steve Cummings (Great Britain)
13:45:00 29 Brian Vandborg (Denmark)
13:46:30 28 Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia)
13:48:00 27 Robert Gesink (Netherlands)
Wave 2
14:30:00 26 Simon Spilak (Slovenia)
14:31:30 25 Rein Taaramae (Estonia)
14:33:00 24 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine)
14:34:30 23 Ryder Hesjedal (Canada)
14:36:00 22 Andrey Mizourov (Kazakhstan)
14:37:30 21 Przemyslaw Niemec (Poland)
14:39:00 20 Maxime Monfort (Belgium)
14:40:30 19 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
14:42:00 18 David Zabriskie (USA)
14:43:30 17 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary)
14:45:00 16 Chris Anker Sorensen (Denmark)
14:46:30 15 Bert Grabsch (Germany)
14:48:00 14 Denis Menchov (Russia)
Wave 3
15:30:00 13 Samuel Sánchez (Spain)
15:31:30 12 Santiago Botero (Colombia)
15:33:00 11 Marzio Bruseghin (Italy)
15:34:30 10 Michael Rogers (Australia)
15:36:00 9 Vladimir Karpets (Russia)
15:37:30 8 Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg)
15:39:00 7 Gustav Erik Larsson (Sweden)
15:40:30 6 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
15:42:00 5 Stef Clement (Netherlands)
15:43:30 4 Alberto Contador (Spain)
15:45:00 3 Cadel Evans (Australia)
15:46:30 2 Stefan Schumacher (Germany)
15:48:00 1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)

olympic results

so spain did take out the gold medal, but not the way that anyone thought. with valverde, sastre and contador in the field, who would have had any money on sammy sanchez. that last 10 kms would have to be the best racing i have seen i quite a while. and can you believe cancellara's big move at the end.

as for the aussies, they were looking so good with gerrans early on, then cadel showed some aggression, then there was a chance that rogers could get up at the end.

but back to the tipping. there were a lot of people that picked spain for the gold, but in the end, it was more about the order you picked the top three than whether you picked the gold medalist. there were many picks that involved spain, lux, aus or italy, but the order that you picked them determined how successful you were.

so, at the end of the day, it was my lovely wife kicking my arse in a tipping contest that she has no real knowledge about. not only that, but she kicked all of you with a pick of spain, aus, italy to claim the gold medal.

silver went to lisa who picked spain, lux, aus.

with bronze going to james with italy, spain, usa.

the tips that seemed to drag you down the standings were countries like germany. if you really wanted to screw up your tip, you would pick the czech republic.

i will organise prizes shortly.

olympic games tipping comp - free

with the olympic games starting this weekend and the road race being contested on saturday, i thought it would be good to have a bit of a tip on what countries will take out the three medal positions.

this comp will be free to enter and i will organise some type of gold, silver & bronze prize for the top three finishers.

basically all you have to pick is the order of the countries that will take out the medal positions. i.e. spain (gold), australia (silver), spain (bronze). you don't need to pick the rider and as the example points out, one country can win more than one medal. the top places in the comp will be based on a weighted average of the top finishing positions of the countries you picked.

so send an e-mail to the address listed on the right and entries must be in before the race starts (11:00am saturday 9th).

the race

the race will be contested over 245.19 kms and is relatively flat for the first 80 km. it then rises 230 m over the next 10 km as the course approaches the circuit at 90 km. the circuit is a 24 km loop which is ridden seven times and is basically up one side of a mountain and down the other with no real flat sections.

the circuit initially rises nearly 520 metres over 9.9 kms for an average grade of 5.2%. the circuit ascent is followed by a short roller then an 13.1 kms descent to the valley bottom. the descent supposedly heads straight into the prevailing wind in that area, providing little relief to the riders. the finish follows the last circuit descent and appears to have a slight rise to the line.

the riders

below is the provisional start list in order of country

Hichem Chabane (Algeria)
Alejandro Borrajo (Argentina)
Juan José Haedo (Argentina)
Matias Medici (Argentina)
Cadel Evans (Australia)
Simon Gerrans (Australia)
Matthew Lloyd (Australia)
Stuart O'Grady (Australia)
Michael Rogers (Australia)
Christian Pfannberger (Austria)
Thomas Rohregger (Austria)
Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus)
Alexandre Usov (Belarus)
Andrei Kunitski (Belarus)
Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus)
Mario Aerts (Belgium)
Christophe Brandt (Belgium)
Maxime Monfort (Belgium)
Jurgen Van den Broeck (Belgium)
Johan Van Summeren (Belgium)
Murilo Fischer (Brazil)
Luciano Pagliarini (Brazil)
Michael Barry (Canada)
Ryder Hesjedal (Canada)
Svein Tuft (Canada)
Patricio Almonacid (Chile)
Gonzalo Garrido (Chile)
Liang Zhang (China)
Santiago Botero (Colombia)
José Serpa (Colombia)
Rigoberto Uran (Colombia)
Henri Raabe (Costa Rica)
Matej Kvasina (Croatia)
Vladimir Miholjevic (Croatia)
Radislav Rogina (Croatia)
Petr Bencik (Czech Republic)
Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic)
Chris Anker Sørensen (Denmark)
Nicki Sørensen (Denmark)
Brian Vandborg (Denmark)
Tanel Kangert (Estonia)
Rein Taaramae (Estonia)
Cyril Dessel (France)
Pierrick Fédrigo (France)
Rémi Pauriol (France)
Jérôme Pineau (France)
Pierre Rolland (France)
Gerald Ciolek (Germany)
Bert Grabsch (Germany)
Stefan Schumacher (Germany)
Jens Voigt (Germany)
Fabian Wegmann (Germany)
Jonathan Bellis (Great Britain)
Steve Cummings (Great Britain)
Ben Swift (Great Britain)
Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)
Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary)
Peter Kusztor (Hungary)
Hossein Askari (Iran)
Ghader Mizbani (Iran)
Mehdi Sohrabai (Iran)
Philip Deignan (Ireland)
Nicolas Roche (Ireland)
Paolo Bettini (Italy)
Marzio Bruseghin (Italy)
Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
Franco Pellizotti (Italy)
Davide Rebellin (Italy)
Sung Baek Park (Korea)
Ignatas Konovalovas (Lithuania)
Dainius Kairelis (Lithuania)
Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg)
Andy Schleck (Luxembourg)
Fränk Schleck (Luxembourg)
Moisés Aldape Chavez (Mexico)
Erik Hoffmann (Namibia)
Stef Clement (Netherlands)
Robert Gesink (Netherlands)
Karsten Kroon (Netherlands)
Laurens Ten Dam (Netherlands)
Niki Terpstra (Netherlands)
Julian Dean (New Zealand)
Timothy Gudsell (New Zealand)
Glen Chadwick (New Zealand)
Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Norway)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
Gabriel Rasch (Norway)
Tomasz Marczynski (Poland)
Janez Morajko (Poland)
Przemyslaw Niemec (Poland)
Andre Cardoso (Portugal)
Nuno Ribeiro (Portugal)
Vladimir Efimkin (Russian Federation)
Serguei Ivanov (Russian Federation)
Vladimir Karpets (Russian Federation)
Denis Menchov (Russian Federation)
Nebojsa Jovanovic (Serbia)
Ivan Stevic (Serbia)
Roman Bronis (Slovakia)
Matej Jurco (Slovakia)
Jan Valach (Slovakia)
Borut Bozic (Slovenia)
Jure Golcer (Slovenia)
Simon Spilak (Slovenia)
Tadej Valjavec (Slovenia)
John-Lee Augustyn (South Africa)
David George (South Africa)
Robert Hunter (South Africa)
Alberto Contador (Spain)
Oscar Freire (Spain)
Samuel Sánchez (Spain)
Carlos Sastre (Spain)
Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
Gustav Erik Larsson (Sweden)
Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden)
Thomas Lövkvist (Sweden)
Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
George Hincapie (United States Of America)
Levi Leipheimer (United States Of America)
Jason McCartney (United States Of America)
Christian Vande Velde (United States Of America)
David Zabriskie (United States Of America)
Sergey Lagutin (Uzbekistan)
Jackson Rodriguez (Venezuela)
José Rujano (Venezuela)

winners are grinners

general classification
1st chris' team 01 - $36.00 + euro optics sunglasses + ride subscription
2nd team liquistep - $12.60
3rd missing links - $7.20

sprinters classification
1st chris' team 01 - $27.00 + bicycling australia subscription
2nd cadel divas - $10.80
3rd team baumbaum - $6.00

mountains classification
1st o'grady tough nuts - $27.00 + ride subscription
2nd creditless onthedole - $10.80
3rd team baumbaum - $6.00

stage wins
cadel divas - stages 9 & 12 - $5.49
o'grady tough nuts - stages 5, 14 & 20 - $7.32
creditless onthedole - stage 10 - $1.83
team decepto - stage 12 - $1.83
chris' team 01 - stages 2, 5 & 13 - $7.32
chris' team 02 - stage 17 - $1.83
flaminkestrels - stages 17 & 20 - $3.66
yellowfever - stage 1 - $3.66
missing links - stage 13 - $1.83
team irlande - stage 10 - $1.83

team owner totals
chris norris - $72.15 + euro optics sunglasses + ride sub + bicycling australia sub
ryan fynn - $50.61 + ride sub
jonny keyes - $12.63
paul owen & rob ramsden - $12.60
russell lagdon - $12.00
richard taylor - $9.03
darren matthews - $3.66
kim thomson - $3.66
stan blanks - $1.83
declan coughlan - $1.83

so, out of the huge prize pool, chris takes the lion's share. and the elephants share, and the giraffe's and part of the hyena's too. basically he claimed well over $250 worth of cash and prizes for his $20 investment.

ryan came in second with close to $100 of cash and prizes, so after that, there wasn't really much left for everyone else.

thanks for playing again this year, and a huge thanks to ride magazine, bicycling australia and euro optics for providing the extra prizes.

final tipping results

general classification

1. 3 days 15:47:21 - Chris Team 01
2. 3 days 15:49:18 - Team Liquistep +0:01:57
3. 3 days 15:50:22 - Missing Links +0:03:01

so in the final shake up, both team missing links and team creditless onthedole were totally even down to the last second. as stated in the rules, it then went to the team that tipped the most number of stage wins. both scored one win each. it then went to the finishing position of each tip over the course of the entire tour. it was very close for most of the tour, but in the final week, team missing links tipped better finishing positions and therefore takes third place overall.

points classification

1. 302 pts - Chris Team 01
2. 269 pts - Cadel Divas
3. 247 pts - Team BaumBaum


pretty straight forward result here. after a strong start by yellow fever, chris' team o1 took over the reigns and never looked back.












mountains classification

1. 105 pts - O’Grady Tough Nuts
2. 84 pts - CreditLess OnTheDole
3. 67 pts - Team BaumBaum


this classification is probably one of the hardest to win and most tipsters actually just luck it.

breakdown of prizes to follow

stage 21

so quikstep get a stage win to cap off a fairly ordinary tour. big gert steegmans is off to the new tinkoff team next year and will face a tougher tour if he is up against boonen for the sprints. sastre stayed upright and held onto the yellow jersey while the rest of the peleton joined in the procession. voigt had a tough last lap as his seat totally broke off his bike.

so cadel has to wait till next year to have another crack at the overall win but he put up a fine effort till the end. a stronger team may need to be on order.

so our tipping comp has also rounded out and there was not much change to any of the jerseys in the last stage. i will blog another post to confirm the final results as the third place on gc has had to go to a countback.

stage 20

i can't believe that schumacher had enough in the tank to smash the rest of the field again. he did so many attacks and breakaways during the tour that i was convinced that he was toast.

however, he proved me wrong, but at least my tip didn't crash and burn. so cadel will have to wait for another year. maybe he will never win it and be destined to always be the runner-up. and what a great investment popovich was. maybe silence-lotto couldn't provide the type of "support" that he got at discovery. there are rumours that the new tinkoff team, katusha, has cadel in their sights. i think that every olympic year the tour should be a national based thing like they did years ago. i think australia could field a strong team and it would be funny to watch the Italian's self destruct when they have all nine riders as designated leaders.

so, onto our tipping comp. well chris' team tipped well and managed to cement his lead by picking up a few more seconds tipping millar. team liquistep has second tied up as they are a fair chunk of time ahead of third. this is where it gets interesting. third place is tied between missing links and creditless onthedole. after 20 stages they are totally even. hopefully they tip different riders tonight to make my job easier.

the sprinters comp has been tied up by chris as well, but second through fourth can still potentially change on the last stage. the mountains has been decided for a while now and o'grady tough nuts has it sewn up.

there is still money available for the final stage win and you could win yourself a whole dollar!!!. so stay tuned and tip well. lisa you need to change your tip as cavendish is still out.

stage 19

who would have thought that the break would stay away, and even more so that chavanel would win a stage. i lost faith in him when he lost me 20 min in the tipping comp way back in the first week. good on him. the only reason he went well is because i didn't tip him.

unlike robbie. the old man just doesn't have it anymore. if you watch the aerial shot of the sprints you will see him stop pedalling when someone comes close to cutting him off. not like the old robbie who used to headbutt people out of the way.

so it all comes down to the time trial tonight. i will keep my filthy tips away from cadel to make sure i don't jinx him.

so just like the tour, it all comes down to the final time trial. currently chris' team is only 1' 27" ahead of team liquistep and they have both tipped different riders in the time trial. there may be a shake up on the last day. the sprinters jersey tipping may still change as there is points available on these last two stages, but the mountains has been pretty much wrapped up by o'grady tough nuts.

stage 18

so a breakaway stayed away. everyone played it safe today in the tour and in our tipping comp. no real change in either. it really comes down to the sprint for 6th or so place where your guy may just be able to earn you a few extra points.

another flattish stage before the all important time trial. will the pure sprinters get up tomorrow or will all the teams be too tired to chase?

stage 17

well carlos took off from pretty much the bottom of the climb and that was it for the stage. everyone else was then racing for second. the csc team has done a outstanding job of controlling the race and it is good to see them dominating, even if it is at the expense of cadel.

so with a couple of "transitional" stages before the time trial, it may be a chance for some of our tipsters to take a punt and tip a breakaway rider that stays away. stranger things have happened and it may allow then to knock chris' team from his perch.

the top five of our tipsters have not changed since stage 14 as they are playing it safe and tipping the favourites. chris' team also has a commanding lead in the points classification and o'grady tough nuts seems to have the mountains sewn up.

stage 16

cyril dessel, was not tipped by anyone. i have no idea why not. did you see the young south african guy go over the edge??? good way for him to get some sponsors airtime. oh, and if anyone wants a barloworld sponsored bike, it is about halfway down a mountain side.

so, like i said, the kiss of death. one of the main players to lose time was the guy i tipped, denis menchov. and he lost time on the descent. how bad is that. i definitely cannot tip cadel now. tomorrow i may tip sastre just to try to win cadel a bit more time.

on the tipping front, not a great change except yellwfever tipped poorly last night and lost 20min to fall way down the standings. minor changes in the sprinters points and surprisingly enough, no-one received any mountain points.

2nd rest day

so how have you been going on the general classification???

good, bad, a roller coaster ride???

the attached graph will show you your position in the leaderboard.

sprinters and mountain points to follow.

stage 15

well it looks like cadel has lost the yellow jersey, but another aussie has taken a stage win. well done to simon gerrans. is this the end for cadel, or a tactical move to get the other teams to defend the position??? is he getting tired??? can he attack in the next few stages??? i guess we will have to wait and see.

another rest day tomorrow so you can start tipping anyone again.

as for our tipping comp, no-one tipped the breakaway succeeding (surprise). but not a whole lot of change except for those that pick the little prince, cunego, and the change was a fall down the leaderboard.

stage 14

poor old cavendish couldn't get over the hills so friere takes his win to solidify his position in the green jersey. with the first day in the alps tomorrow and a mountain top finish before a rest day, will the outsiders try to go for the stage win or will the contenders attack cadel. or, will cadel attack to extend his lead???

on the home front, chris is still atop the leaderboard on both gc and sprint points. a bad pick by team baumbaum saw them slip down to 7th after losing about 5 min.

o’grady tough nuts also picked up a stage win with friere. no change in the mountain points, but that should all change tomorrow.

stage 13

cavendish again???
four stages in one tour is pretty good. maybe too good...
and robbie came so close to getting this one as well.

chris' team 01 and missing links both tipped him so they picked up a stage win. this is chris' third so he is tipping pretty good. maybe too good...

the win and the bonus seconds were enough to propel his team to the top of the leaderboard, but less than a minute separate the top three.

stage 12

so the sprinters got to play today and cavendish pulls out his third stage win of the tour. are we looking at the same again tomorrow as we have another flat stage, or will everyone be tired and want to let the break go.

two teams tipped cavendish, but as the group all came in together, no-one really lost any time.

team baumbaum is still atop the overall standings and chris' team 01 has a commanding lead in the green jersey comp. the mountains jersey is on hold for another few days until we head into the alps.

so you can either play it safe and go for a sprinter, or dig deep into the lucky dip and try to pick which french rider will go for 4hrs of television coverage off the front of the main pack.

newsflash

saunier duval out of tour.

italian rider riccardo riccò of saunier duval has tested positive for blood booster erythropoietin (epo).

with the tipping contest we do not retroactively award times, points or stage wins. we had this problem last year with vino and it was decided that if you know that someone is doping, then you better tip them before they get caught.

and i didn't even tip him this stage, so how could have i given him the kiss of death.

stage 11

so the breakaway stayed away and with 12 riders in there you would think that we would have tipped at least one of them. a 15 min advantage over the rest of the field would have been a good bonus for any tipster. unfortunately (or fortunately) no-one tipped anyone in the break.

so no change to our overall standings either.

first rest day - prize pool

so the first rest day is here and the peleton has started to sort itself out. some of the favourites are no longer favourites (valverde), some of the dark horses have reared their heads (cobo, ricco) and some of the guys in the top ten are a surprise to everyone (vandevelde).

it is good to see cadel in yellow, but don't be counting any chickens just yet.

also, those tipsters that have had some bad luck on gc, don't count yourselves out. oscar pererio lost 20+ minutes in the pyrenees in 2006 so when he and voigt got away on a later flat stage, no-one chased him. he gained 30 minutes that day and went on to win overall (rather belated thanks to floyd). you just have to be lucky to tip those guys. in other words, if you are behind (like me) don't tip the favourites, tip the crazy outsider who will go for stage glory.

so, what am i playing for? you may ask.
money overall. not lots of it as we only have 18 tipsters this year.
however, we do have some extra bonus prizes thanks to our marketing director, lorraine.
this is breakdown of prizes this year -

general classification (yellow jersey)
1st - $36.00 + 1 pair euro optics sunnies ($90.00 value) + 1 ride magazine subscription ($43.95)
2nd - $12.60
3rd - $7.20

sprinters (green jersey)
1st - $27.00 + 1 ride magazine subscription ($43.95 value)
2nd - $10.80
3rd - $6.00

mountains (polka dot jersey)
1st - $27.00 + 1 bicycling australia subscription ($55.00 value)
2nd - $10.80
3rd - $6.00

stage winners
$36.60 (split between all winners, if there are 6 stages picked then each stage is worth $6.10, that amount is then split between the teams that picked that winner)
in other words, we don't know ho much each stage is worth till the end of the tour.

total prize pool of $413

thanks to euro optics, ride magazine and bicycling australia for donating these extra prizes.