Fantasy Giro Stage 16: Intxausti Least Exhausted After Rest-Day

I’d like to start off by saying goodbye to a former Giro winner, as Denis Menchov announced his retirement yesterday.  He’s been around long enough to have a ton of skeletons in his closet and it looks like I'm not the only one who thinks so.

 

It all seems a bit sudden doesn’t it?  There was "chatter" that a former Grand-Tour winner was about to get busted for Biological Passport irregularities, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.  So let’s not dwell on the fact that he was obviously juiced-up to the gills and remember the Silent Assassin’s finest moment when he stood on the top step of the Giro podium in 2009. 

 

So, stage 16 today and it mostly didn’t rain, which I’m sure everyone is pleased about.  It still looked a bit chilly out though. 

 

Once the break was mostly mopped up, it seemed like everyone was up for some fast riding to keep warm.  Plenty of guys tried to get away on the final climb and when the trio of Benat Intxausti, Tanel Kangert and Przemyslaw Niemiec got away is seemed like most of the letters of the alphabet were represented.  Intxausti got the win and earned a few points for the Bile Beans in the process.

 

Enough points in fact to be top dog for the day. 

Rank		Team	Directeur	Score
1		Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	275
2		Evil Chan Bots	Evil Dr Chan	239
3		Rouleurs	tdm911	219
4		Get Jacked	robert thompson	191
5		Cat 2 Grupetto	Sherwood	183
6		Zero Resistance	Christopher Rowley	182
7		Amgen	Bradley Dean	179
8		MDR	Matt Reeve	178
9		Camembert Electrique	Mark	160
10		Mungo Cycling	Mungo	149
11		Team Doodle	RobbieT	146
12		Return of Reflex	Karlos	125
13		Dudes Riding Using Great Substances	Drew Stephenson	123
14		Synergy	Adrian Leggett	118
15		Smugblokes	Mark Philo	91
16		Fulgas	Vincent Lavallee	86
17		Charmers	Craigatron	82
18		Cofeedis	Tom Fee	80
19		hitfbsuckers	Warwick Anderson	79
20		Cornerstone Clydesdales	James Patterson	74
21		Sit up and beg	Denspeck	56
22		Kiwi Nation (no actual kiwis)	Eddy	21

Cat 2 Groupetto move into the overall lead.  There's fuck all in it between them and Amgen though.

 

Rank		Team	Directeur	Score
1		Cat 2 Grupetto	Sherwood	3232
2		Amgen	Bradley Dean	3229
3		Zero Resistance	Christopher Rowley	3209
4		Rouleurs	tdm911	3168
5		MDR	Matt Reeve	3166
6		Mungo Cycling	Mungo	3071
7		Return of Reflex	Karlos	3068
8		Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	2803
9		Cofeedis	Tom Fee	2796
10		hitfbsuckers	Warwick Anderson	2659
11		Get Jacked	robert thompson	2603
12		Smugblokes	Mark Philo	2591
13		Camembert Electrique	Mark	2413
14		Synergy	Adrian Leggett	2226
15		Dudes Riding Using Great Substances	Drew Stephenson	2225
16		Fulgas	Vincent Lavallee	2199
17		Evil Chan Bots	Evil Dr Chan	2147
18		Team Doodle	RobbieT	1985
19		Charmers	Craigatron	1848
20		Sit up and beg	Denspeck	1808
21		Cornerstone Clydesdales	James Patterson	1732
22		Kiwi Nation (no actual kiwis)	Eddy	1280

Stage 17 is mostly pretty flat, but then there’s that hill near the end.  If he can make it over that lump with the leaders, it should be another stage for Cav.