189k and another big day of climbing. Around 5000 metres all leading up to Blockhaus. It’s listed as 13.6k at 8.4% but it’s more like 26k with a little descent and that brings the average down.

The Favourites

First really big GC day. Etna isn’t hard enough but today is. Then again, it still needs someone to try something to get it going. Trek will be hoping Lopez can stay in Pink so they’ll be happy to see a break with nobody dangerous in it take the stage.

If it’s not for the break, we’ll get to see how the favourites are fairing. Not sure what the wind will be like but hoping it’s not a headwind. Doom, Nibs and Foss all lost their chance on Etna, you’d imagine a couple more will fall by the wayside tomorrow. I imagine we’ll end up with a mixture of break picks and Shell and SPY at the top with a smattering of Wilco, Bardet, Landa and Almeida picks. If it is a break, we should see yesterday’s guys try again in Mollema, Bouwman, Doom and Ciccone plus the usual suspects. With today a difficult day, picking breakaway riders for this stage will need to wait till it’s over. I had been thinking of Harm having recovered and like Tejada but as they’re both up front as I type, I’ll have to see if they eventually sit up first.

The Rules

In this game, only the race results matter. You're not committed to keeping the same riders throughout the series, you make fresh picks before every race. Our overall competition is just the sum of individual race scores. You're eligible for the overall even if you miss some races.

Pick 4 riders for the upcoming race. The order of your picks doesn't matter. All of your riders can score.

Riders score points down to 10th place. Less popular riders score more points than heavily-picked favourites. See below for scoring details.

The strict entry deadline is the official start time of the race, the neutralized roll-out or Départ Fictif. Be warned - if your post is timestamped one minute late your entry won't count! So do remember that there's no disadvantage to getting an entry in early, even the day before, because you may always change your picks up until the deadline. Feel free to rethink your picks when it emerges which riders are more or less popular with other players. If you make changes, post your revised 4 picks in a reply to your original post.

The Scoring