Sunday 6th May. Herning-Herning, 206km.

Entry deadline 12:25pm CET EDIT: I'm off to bed, and several people haven't posted their entries yet. For stage 2 only, we'll be generous and stay open for entries after the stage start, until anything major happens that I think affects the result significantly. After a break goes, you'll probably still be free to chose 3 guys not in the break. But if any major sprinter crashes out, no more entries. In fairness to everyone else, anyone who's already posted can make a change too any time until I close it. We'll be strict on the deadline from Stage 3 on.

YOU CAN STILL ENTER, EVEN IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST STAGE.

SMALL RULE CHANGE: Since we have more players than I anticipated, from Stage 2 onward I'm increasing the bonus points slightly to 1st=24, 2nd=12, 3rd=6

A pan-flat stage, maybe the brisk NW wind is a factor.

Sprinters that you might consider:

Cav, Farrar, Belletti, Hushovd, Bos, Bennati, Demare, Goss, Chicchi, Renshaw, Haedo(s), Guardini, Modolo, Ferrari

Stage 1 Results

Phinney, Thomas, Rasmussen.

All popular picks, so the bonus points were spread thinly today.

Congratulations to several DS's who were smart enough pick the whole podium. Our joint leaders:

frans verbiage, Popup Rolen, sminer, PrinceBuster, amybc, "sparta

Spreadsheet with detailed results

Screenshot

Rules

For each stage, pick three riders. The order of your picks does not matter.

The first three riders on the stage score. The basic score is stage winner 4 points, second place 2 points, third 1 point.

In addition there are bonus points awarded. Stage winner bonus is 24 points, second place bonus 12 points, third place bonus 6 points. The bonus points are split equally among all the DS's who picked that rider.

The entry deadline is the official start time of the stage. Now, people may want to be sneaky and change their picks before the stage starts when they see what other people's picks look like. That's fine, it's a normal part of the game and quite acceptable - but we'll allow strictly one change. You can change all three riders if you want, but it has to be in one new post. If you want to make a change, post it as a reply to your original post.

If you miss making an entry for a stage, no problem, you're still in the competition - you just score zero for that stage. Also, there's no limit to how early you can make picks, so if you're going on vacation, feel free to enter ahead of time for as many stages as you want.