Agger

Really? The best African team is in division 3... So far our team has been lacking consistency. They played well in the 1st period against Latvia and dominated the first half of the 2nd period against USA. Had they managed to equalize, the match against USA would be way different, but the 4-2 knocked them out. The work in box play needs to be much better, while power play was pretty decent. We should be able to beat Italy and maybe Slovakia, but in general I'm pretty happy that we're hosting the Worlds next year meaning that we can't be relegated.

Just saw this situation: How the heck is he only given 2 matches off? It should at least be the rest of the worlds!

Well. If everyone is negative, let me lift the spirit! Go Macron!

The big question is whether the teams with slightly lighter sprinters (especially Quick-Step) will try shaking people like Greipel and Ewan on San Pantaleo. It's a decent hill (3,3 km avg. 5,6%) with percentages up to 12. I doubt they will be able to do big damage to them, but it will be interesting. I think I would go with pretty much the same as you. Maybe Nizzolo for 5th.

[hide] Preliminary Round May 5th - May 16th, 2017 16 Nations, 2 Groups, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th from each Group qualify to Quarterfinals. Group A Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 May 5th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Sweden 2 Russia May 5th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne United States 3 Germany May 6th 2017, h. 12:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Latvia 2 Denmark May 6th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Slovakia 3 Italy May 6th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Germany 4 Sweden May 7th 2017, h. 12:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Italy 4 Russia May 7th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne United States 2 Denmark May 7th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Latvia 3 Slovakia May 8th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Germany 3 Russia May 8th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne United States 1 Sweden May 9th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Italy 1 Latvia May 9th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Slovakia 1 Denmark May 10th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne United States 3 Italy May 10th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Slovakia 3 Germany May 11th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Russia 2 Denmark May 11th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Sweden 3 Latvia May 12th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Sweden 4 Italy May 12th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Denmark 2 Germany May 13th 2017, h. 12:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Latvia 2 United States May 13th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Russia 3 Slovakia May 13th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Italy 3 Germany May 14th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Slovakia 1 United States May 14th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Denmark 3 Sweden May 15th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Denmark 2 Italy May 15th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Russia 4 Latvia May 16th 2017, h. 12:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Sweden 2 Slovakia May 16th 2017, h. 16:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Russia 2 United States May 16th 2017, h. 20:15, Lanxess Arena, Cologne Germany 2 Latvia Group B Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 May 5th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Finland 4 Belarus May 5th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Czech Republic 3 Canada May 6th 2017, h. 12:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Switzerland 3 Slovenia May 6th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Belarus 3 Czech Republic May 6th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Norway 2 France May 7th 2017, h. 12:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Slovenia 3 Canada May 7th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Finland 3 France May 7th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Norway 2 Switzerland May 8th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Belarus 5 Canada May 8th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Finland 3 Czech Republic May 9th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Slovenia 2 Norway May 9th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Switzerland 2 France May 10th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Switzerland 3 Belarus May 10th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Finland 3 Slovenia May 11th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Czech Republic 2 Norway May 11th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Canada 4 France May 12th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Czech Republic 3 Slovenia May 12th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris France 2 Belarus May 13th 2017, h. 12:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Norway 2 Finland May 13th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Slovenia 2 Belarus May 13th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Canada 2 Switzerland May 14th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris France 3 Czech Republic May 14th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Switzerland 2 Finland May 15th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Canada 4 Norway May 15th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris France 2 Slovenia May 16th 2017, h. 12:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Belarus 3 Norway May 16th 2017, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Czech Republic 2 Switzerland May 16th 2017, h. 20:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Canada 3 Finland [/hide]

*****: Quintana ****: Nibali, Kruijswijk ***: Yates, Thomas, Pinot **: Zakarin, Dumoulin, Landa, Mollema *: van Garderen, Formolo, Pozzovivo, Jungels, Rui Costa

It sure is a wonderful song. Sadly they've become more mainstream and slightly less interesting with their newer music I cant really think of anything in the same style as Volbeat, but I'm absolutely considering some Danish rock bands for future contests

Personally I've never voted for famous singers because they're famous. There are tons of famous singers/bands that would most likely never get any points from me. From what I remember, Volbeat is the only famous band that we've sent as well. Otherwise it's been artists only known in Denmark (Mew has a bit of fame outside Denmark, but nowhere near the same) But when people selecting artists for the countries with lots of famous songs have close to the same taste as myself, it's hard not to like their music. About languages: There's no doubt that it's easier for most people to like a song in a language that you understand, but I don't think people actually prioritize songs in english (or other languages that they understand). I must admit that some languages sound better to me than others, especially when sung (I don't want to mention any), therefore meaning a bit in the complete selection of who I vote for.

@uk12points Just checked through my votes and found a mistake. My 7 points were for Ireland, not Italy. Italy was my 2nd reserve. That was also what I sent you. Sorry for not seeing it before now, but I've been terribly busy.

That's surely something to fear. I believe most of the descends will either be for the breakaway (8, 12, 17,18, 19) or at situations where the descend would already be used by the experts (11, 15 (may also be a breakaway), 16 (the same) and 20 (the same as well)). The only one that I fear will have a big pack is Chieti. Don't get me wrong, I'm also against it, but I doubt that we'll see much different races due to these points. These riders respect the descends and if not, they'll get it from their team mates or DS's. It's a terrible idea to give incentive to go for it, but I believe these riders are smart enough to not go for it.

Yeah, read that one as well. Seems absolutely stupid, though I'm hearing some say that it'll most likely not change much.

And Chad Young died friday after a crash last sunday.

Yet another cyclist has lost his life as Linas Rumsas, son of Raimondas Rumsas, was found dead in his home. He was only 21.

Oh. And a Brighton themed song that I'm missing

Finally had the chance to watch the contest now (last week was terribly busy preparing for the annual boat race at the University and saturday was all about cleaning the park afterwards)! Thanks a lot to , , , , , , , , and of course I must admit that I expected some more with a slightly more mainstream song that I usually select. Don't you worry. The next song from Denmark will be more in line with what I usually select (unless some other Dane joins the jury, of course ) As usual great selections by @Wanderer and @Werloc. Both songs immediately joined my spotify playlist. I felt absolutely sure that Rag'n'Bone man would get my 12 points when I saw that he was selected, but Gjan made it past him As the president, I know what's going on in there

25. Turning 26 in september

Sadly it's a terrible week for me. Kolding is pretty close and I would love to go see a bit of badminton, but I don't have any time this week.

I feel absolutely terrible seeing Fuglsang. I'm really impressed that he could focus enough to get a 15th place.

Macron is social-liberal.

The government numbers are those counted yet. She will most likely lose when votes from major cities are done.

I'm having a hard time seeing any of the losing candidates support Le Pen and the same about their voters. Some of Dupont-Aignan's and Asselineau's voters may support her (and maybe some few Fillon-supporters), but unless Macron barely gets any votes from people supporting the other candidates, I'm having a very hard time seeing Le Pen winning.

Norway JANOVE - Et hjerte som sloss (a heart that fights)

Well, it seems like they're trying to make the race an alternative warm up for the Giro to make it more interesting. Nibali is a massive favourite, but guys like Zoidl, Roson, Hirt and Hansen will be interesting to see.

The latest massive hit from the humanistic students at Aarhus University (Humbug is a union of students from humanities dedicated to parties and the annual boat race at the Univesity). I'm the one standing by the island at .2.08

Just read that it was a puncture.