TDF 2014 Stage 13 - Nibali Wins, Porte Pops

After all that rain up in Northern France, the sun finally came out today in the Alps, to fry what's left of the peloton.

The high temperatures and high mountains took their toll on a few riders, most notably Richie Porte, who cracked worse than Humpty-Dumpty and lost nearly 9 minutes.

That gives Nibali one less rider to worry about. Not that he should be worried.  Another stage win for him today and he increased his lead over Valverde, who is now up to second.

Back in the day, when I first started picking Fantasy Tour teams, it used to be my golden rule that you should never pick a French rider - because they were shit.  Well, I'm slightly glad to say that things have changed a little since then, with some quality riders coming through.  The Bile Beans contain 3 Frenchies this year and they are all working out pretty well for me.  The Bardet/Pinot double was particularly handy today and earned me top points for the stage.

TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	1	347
Evil Yorkshire Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	2	310
Expensive Bike Pumps due to Inflation	Vinny PL	3	304
Olliepops	OJ	4	285
Mungo Cycling	Mungo	5	265
Earligold	Ed Rawlings	6	252
Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	7	200
Rouleurs	tdm911	8	173
KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	9	166
Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	10	160
Smugblokes	Mr Smug	11	146
Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	12	145
Three Little Pigs	Isabel Harrison	13	87
ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	14	87
Huntington Pharmacy	Late night meds from	15	75
Charmers	Craigatron	16	67
The Hopalongs	Dave	17	66
Drews Riders, Useless Generally Speaking	Drew Stephenson	18	61
School of Hardknotts	Jonathan Wilcox	19	57
Miffy`sMountain Goats	Helen S	20	54
Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	21	53
A True Underdog Story	Patches O`Houlihan	22	49
2.35.24	Den	23	48
Stans Finest	Mark	24	35
The Doom of Froome	Warwick Anderson	25	19

Olliepops continue to lead the overall, but the Bile Beans are knocking on the door of the top 3.  I'm hoping another day in the mountains will see me overtake Haxby Pharma.

TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
Olliepops	OJ	1	3981
Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	3254
Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	3	3058
Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	4	2976
Evil Yorkshire Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	5	2742
KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	6	2669
Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	7	2429
Expensive Bike Pumps due to Inflation	Vinny PL	8	2412
ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	9	2380
The Doom of Froome	Warwick Anderson	10	2291
Drews Riders, Useless Generally Speaking	Drew Stephenson	11	2197
Rouleurs	tdm911	12	2171
Three Little Pigs	Isabel Harrison	13	2110
Earligold	Ed Rawlings	14	2101
Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	15	2090
Huntington Pharmacy	Late night meds from	16	1981
2.35.24	Den	17	1975
Stans Finest	Mark	18	1908
Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	19	1704
Smugblokes	Mr Smug	20	1639
Charmers	Craigatron	21	1542
The Hopalongs	Dave	22	1277
Miffy`sMountain Goats	Helen S	23	1087
School of Hardknotts	Jonathan Wilcox	24	908
A True Underdog Story	Patches O`Houlihan	25	359

And for all you KOMers, it looks like the Rouleurs are off to a good start.

TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
Rouleurs	tdm911	1	1740
Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	1602
Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	3	1555
ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	4	1357
Dropped Propulsive Pedalling	Vincent	5	1298
KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	6	1178
Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	7	1129
Alive the Hills are	Mark	8	900

We stay in the mountains for Stage 14.  I predict a break, then all the GC guys will race up the last hill to try and catch what's left of them before the top of the last climb.