One of the shorter stages at 168k but plenty of climbing. They start by finishing off Tonale, 8.9k and a chance for a break of strong climbers to form quickly. It finishes with the Menador, 7.9k at 9.9% and then 8k to the finish with a short descent, a short rise and then a longer descent.

The Favourites

It looks to be a good breakaway day but that assumes a break goes on the first climb and that is not a given. As we’ve seen/seeing today, teams are willing to send a guy that needs marking up the road and if they don’t get enough time, they might not last. So what looked like a slam dunk for a Ciccone or Yates, it might just be the GC riders fighting for not just time on each other but the win as well.

Of course if you don’t trust me (and who would) have a look at the startlist and make your own minds up.

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