Bairstow In
After their absolute hammering in the second Ashes test, England have called up Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow for the third test that starts on July 29. Gary Ballance is the man to make way after enduring a difficult year so far.
Bairstow has been in superb form so far this season and has scored five centuries in the Championship as well as a breathtaking one day innings for England to help win the recent series against New Zealand. His inclusion will mean a shuffle in the batting order, he will come in and bat at number five, with Bell and Root each moving up a position to three and four respectively.
England will need to regroup this week and take stock, as a performance anywhere near the level of the second test will see the Ashes all but gone for another two years. They have shown in that first test that they are capable of matching the Aussies, whether they can do it again when Australia have their tails up and are full of confidence remains to be seen.
Team Sky Release Froome Data
Team Sky have released the race performance data of Chris Froome's incredible performance at La Pierre-Saint-Martin where he blew away his rivals with over 6km to go to give himself a commanding lead in the general classification. Sky principal Dave Brailsford hopes that in doing this it will convince the sceptics that have been getting increasingly noisy.
I think this is a great thing that Team Sky have done, but whether or not it will keep the doubters at bay is doubtful, as the information can be interpreted in a number of ways and unless the context is clear it can be misleading.
Stage 17 has a couple of interesting climbs and a tricky technical decent to finish. The breakaway will go early here as long as there in nobody of any danger, the peloton will let it get a long way clear. I think this is another day where the break has a great chance of sticking and therefore I am going for a rider I think will be in it and if so, has a great chance of winning. Joaquin Rodriguez has already won two stages of this years Tour and will hoping to make it a hat trick today. At 12/1 I think he has a decent enough chance.
Bath 15:40
Adham just failed to make it two wins from three starts at Chepstow earlier this month but he was comfortably clear Silver Wings who was back in third and should be able to confirm his superiority here. The other two horses in the race don't look up to it, so although the price is on the skinny side, Adham appears to take all the beating here.
Today's Selections
Joaquin Rodriguez to win TDF stage 17 - 1 point @ 12/1
Bath 15:40 Adham - 3 points win @ 11/10