Evans wins stage, Dantuma pulls ahead in overall

Standings (+stage points – points from overall lead)

129(+33,-126) Joost Dantuma (UK)
126(+25,-129) Simon White (France)
116(+37,-139) Paul Evans (France)
61 (+7,-194) Francis Lee (France)
52 (+26,-203) Keir Mitchell (UK)

Nothing particularly exciting in the stage today, just a rainy day with a sprint finish. Fabian Wegmann tried to go it alone and win in his native Germany, but got eaten by the peloton quite a way before the finish.

The Fellas Tour has been much more exciting. Another impressive win by Paul Evans in the stage helped having two sprinters in positions 1 and 2. An especially astute tactic given that they are the two on-form sprinters with 2 stage wins each so far. Joost Dantuma gets a special mention for most top ten finishers in his team : McEwen, Cooke, Hushovd and Boonen, which helped him to cruise to first in the overall rankings.

Franco has found a schmokin’ partner at the back. Keir must have heard that Franco was rolling – Lee certainly didn’t pedal that fast today. Mitchell on the other hand banked an impressive 26 points, with Flecha and Eisel in the top 10 and in his top 4. He’s now within 9 points of Franco and waiting for him to pass back the little fella…

See the attached Excel for a reproduction of part of Joost’s Excel from 2 years ago as I remember it. I’m not going as far as automatic points calculations, but it could allow Shannon into the race with us if his team is forthcoming. Usual rules : you start at the back and work your way up if you can. Likely that the Shannon is already driving the Audi or Beamer at the back of the course, shouting encouragement to Keir and waiting his turn…

-Simon

4 Comments

  1. Joost Dantuma

    9/7/2005 at 11:45 am

    its impressive that the overall leader in the game is on 255 points!

    mountains soon boys!

  2. Simon Shannon

    11/7/2005 at 11:48 am

    I feel left out……….

    Franco I aint in the tour proper, but if Paul lends me his chopper, I’m sure I could keep up for a couple of fellas before you hit the alps!

  3. Bob Campion

    11/7/2005 at 10:57 am

    We’re still waiting for your spreadsheet fella….

  4. Francis Lee

    11/7/2005 at 12:02 pm

    i’m sure you could coast up alpes d’huez, especially riding on paul’s chopper!