Ninja de la Vuelta

[Armchair cyclist]

The red jersey is for the race leader, but the black mask is metaphorically to be worn by the rider who is highest placed in GC with no stage top 10. After the Tour de France, the rule is tweaked such that no matter how well a rider's team does in the Team Time Trial (stage 1) is irrelevant to his ninja-ness.

So who will make the silent intervention into the upper ranks?

My entry: Dani Navarro

 

[NairoQ]

Putting my hopes on Nieve!

 

[Pricey_sky]

Putting my hopes on Nieve!

Depending on how well Froome does he could be spending lots of time on the front in front of the cameras when the road goes uphill.

Navarro is an excellent shout. I'm going for the Trek pair of Zubeldia or Schleck

 

[rote_laterne]

As one of the obvious picks is already taken by the thread opener, I go with Romain Sicard.

 

[del1962]

Maxime Monforte

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Arroyo since Monfort is already picked

 

[NairoQ]

11. ESP NIEVE ITURRALDE Mikel

Everything as planned so far.

 

[NairoQ]

1. NIEVE ITURRALDE Mikel
2. LANDA MEANA Mikel
3. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
4. BRAMBILLA Gianluca
5. SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel
6. CARDOSO MARTINS André Fernando S.
7. SICARD Romain
8. NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel
9. DE CLERCQ Bart
10. ROSSETTO Stéphane

Being high ranked in this stage of the race isn't necessarily good, as it increases the likelihood of making a mistake and becoming 10th somewhere. Right now the differences are small, and there are still many contenders.

 

[Arredondo]

Darwin Atapuma

 

[PremierAndrew]

Dumoulin would have been my pick before this Vuelta started

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Nieve has ruled himself out: the ninja top 10 are
12 SICARD Romain
13 BRAMBILLA Gianluca @ 00:00:01
14 JEANDESBOZ Fabrice @ 00:00:48
16 DE CLERCQ Bart @ 00:03:09
17 CARDOSO Andre Fernando Santos Martins @ 00:03:38
18 ROSSETTO Stéphane @ 00:04:08
19 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel @ 00:04:26
20 ELISSONDE Kenny @ 00:04:53
21 NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel @ 00:05:23
23 ARROYO DURAN David @ 00:09:15

Looking good so far for Rote Laterne's selection, although by the traditional terms of ninja-ness, Sicard was probably too visible in the break today.

 

[snccdcno]

Brambilla out with a 9th place today, Jeandesboz leads just ahead of Bart De Clercq who tried to break free by going in the breakaway today but to no avail.

 

[shalgo]

Jeandesboz and De Clercq continue to mark each other, finishing on the same time today. If they both foolishly manage to snag a top ten finish on a stage, then Elissonde is the next best positioned.

 

[del1962]

So De Clercq takes it?

 

[SemirS]

.

 

[Hakkie2]

Current standings:

1 Talansky
2 Formolo
3 Pardilla
4 Peraud
5 Meintjes

Cannondale 1-2

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Konig would be the Ninja leader, and Bennett would also be ahead of Meintjes. I was persuaded during the first edition of this little distraction that team time trials should not count (although I think Kennaugh's Red jersey would have to).

I thought that Mike Tichondrius had sort of taken this over, so I didn't get around to inviting predictions on this.

 

[Hakkie2]

Re:

Konig would be the Ninja leader, and Bennett would also be ahead of Meintjes. I was persuaded during the first edition of this little distraction that team time trials should not count (although I think Kennaugh's Red jersey would have to).

I thought that Mike Tichondrius had sort of taken this over, so I didn't get around to inviting predictions on this.

aah ok. I removed the top-10 after the TTT from the competition.

 

[MikeTichondrius]

Re:

Konig would be the Ninja leader, and Bennett would also be ahead of Meintjes. I was persuaded during the first edition of this little distraction that team time trials should not count (although I think Kennaugh's Red jersey would have to).

I thought that Mike Tichondrius had sort of taken this over, so I didn't get around to inviting predictions on this.

Heh, I'd gladly run it, but was away from all kinds of civilization during week one of the Vuelta (actually in Spain itself at one point, heh). So no showrunning this time.

 

[Hakkie2]

New standings on the day Zubeldia lost ninja-status:

1 Formolo
2 Pardilla
(Kennaugh?)
3 Peraud
4 Molard
5 Monfort

Monfort going strong this year, podiumed the Giro and now top-5!

 

[Brullnux]

JCP wins