PG - Tour De France Stage 1

Can Sonny Brest the line first and turn a Green jersey into Yellow?

The Course

Everyone is saying this is for the puncheurs. Up and down all day with the added bonus of a nervy peloton and every team wanting their shot at the first Yellow jersey. Assuming they don't mess up the chase, for those in with a chance, the final climb of Côte de la Fosse aux Loups at 3 km will decide the winner. Steeper at the start than the finish, you'll still need to pack a good sprint to stand a chance.

The Favourites

MvdP heads the bookies list. On the second line are new dad Ala and Wout. This is one of those stages where you wouldn't bet against a GC type being there at the end but nor would you rule out a punchy sprinter. It's going to depend on how hard the first 500 metres are ridden on the final climb and peoples positioning. Caleb at the front could see him drift down and then come back on the false flat. Pog with Kisses, Rui, Formolo and McNulty on the front going hammer and tongs and the fast to fastish guys stand no chance. It wouldn't be a first TdF stage without crashes and punctures in the last 10km either. All in all not as easy to predict as you maybe led to believe. I wouldn't even rule out someone from the break surviving a la Taco but the race for positioning will make it tough. So throw some darts or draw lots. Stage 1 is wide open.

Here's the startlist for your perusal.

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