Giro 2014 Stage 3 - Kittel too Swift for Swift

Marcel Kittel won again in Dublin on Sunday, ahead of Ben Swift and Elia Viviani.

If the Big German keeps winning like this, he's going to make my already marginal Blog very repetitive.  There was some good news from the day though, as 2nd and 3rd on the stage were in my team.  

League Standings - Stage 3

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	1	342
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	2	279
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	3	234
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	4	232
	Charmers	Craigatron	5	209
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	6	160
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	7	145
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	8	144
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	9	120
	Rouleurs	tdm911	10	104
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	11	89
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	12	65
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	13	51
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	14	41
	Ollysaurus	OJ	15	35

So as we cast our eyes over the current league standings, we see the Blogging Bell-End Vestan Pance climbing up to second place behind Pretty in Pink.

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	1	605
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	2	584
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	3	576
	Charmers	Craigatron	4	468
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	5	432
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	6	306
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	7	295
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	8	261
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	9	259
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	10	235
	Rouleurs	tdm911	11	210
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	12	161
	Ollysaurus	OJ	13	160
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	14	147
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	15	123

It's a rest day today.  The official explanation for the break in the action is to allow all the Giro circus to transfer back to Italy.  But I think we know the real reason that everyone wanted a day off after the finish in Dublin.

Tomorrow the Giro will be back in Italia, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a certain German cross the line first again.

Giro 2014 Stage 2 - Marcel More-So

For the Giro's second stage in Ireland, the Emerald Isle once again proved that it can rival anywhere in Europe when it comes to putting on a good rain shower - although I'm sure Yorkshire will put them to shame when the Tour rolls through in July.

Considering how wet it was, there weren't as many crashes as you might expect from the early days of a grand Tour and things looked to have dried out a little by the finish.  There was a reason Marcel Kittel cost 16 points - he's quick and he won today by a fair distance.

So today's antics favoured the Kittel pickers.  And if you managed to get another guy into the Pink Jersey, like Mungo did with Micheal Matthews, then you were probably pretty happy.

Tour De Pance

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	1	344
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	2	326
	Charmers	Craigatron	3	259
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	4	242
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	5	198
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	6	170
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	7	162
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	8	139
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	9	135
	Ollysaurus	OJ	10	125
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	11	120
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	12	116
	Rouleurs	tdm911	13	106
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	14	96
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	15	34

They be off from Armagh to Dublin tomorrow, I predict another bunch sprint and some more rain.

2014 Giro TTT - Dan Martin Down

It's only Friday, but the 2014 Giro has kicked off already. And pretty much as soon as they were off, Dan Martin was off. He was a popular pick amongst managers, so I think I speak for many of us when I say Fuck, Fuck Fuck! I imagine Dan isn't best pleased either.

Having slightly better luck on the wet streets of Belfast were Orica Greenedge, who set the fastest time and put birthday boy Svein Tuft into the Papaly approved Pink Jersey.  

So good news for anyone that picked Tufty, as I'm sure all his mates call him.

Over to the scores for the day, which will be pretty irrelevant come the end of the race. However an early lead is good for temporary bragging rights, so time for the smug blokes to live up to their name.

Tour De Pance

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	1	59
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	2	57
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	3	54
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	4	53
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	5	52
	Charmers	Craigatron	6	47
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	7	43
	Ollysaurus	OJ	8	38
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	9	38
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	10	37
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	11	36
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	12	32
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	13	22
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	14	16
	Rouleurs	tdm911	15	12

Tomorrow should be a stage for the sprinters. All eyes will be on Marcel Kittel, but there are plenty of other quality fast-men in the race who could pull off the win.

Giro Soon to Blast off in Belfast

As I write this, the start of the Giro D'Italia is less than a week away and Velogames are already open for entries. So don't delay, pick a team today!  Let's see if the code from the Classics still works - no it doesn't. So here's a new one for you all.

League Owner: Vestan Pance

League Name: Tour De Pance

League Code: 06215727

Being the celebrity that I am, people often stop me in the street asking about the best way to pick a Fantasy Tour team. As a celebrity though, I have little time for the concerns of the mundane "little people", so I usually just tell them to fuck off. Luckily for them, someone out there has put together a YouTube video to explain it all - we'll I imagine it explains it all, I only made it through the first 5 minutes.

I think we know each other well enough by now that I can share my picking strategy. So here it is. I don't like to reveal to much before the start of a race, but here's a few teasers.

So there you have it. See you in Belfast on Saturday?