All VDS-teams are in. The first VDS-races are almost upon us. Time to reveal your cards and show the world which 1-pointers you enlisted to bring you glory. What precious gems did you find amid the long list of domestiques, hopefuls, young guns, gnarled veterans, and obscure Balkan cyclists? Who will be this years Moncoutie?

Let’s see if we can agree on the top-10 list of 1-pointers nobody should have ignored.

I put all my money on the gem even partly overlooked by the VDS management team. I proudly present to you: Mauro Finetto, 23 years old. The guy had a killer October month last year with top-10 finishes in the Giro del Lazio (8), Coppa Sabatini (4) and the Giro di Lombardia (6). He even found time to come in twelfth in the Giro dell'Emilia. That’s 360 VDS-points in just two weeks. Can you imagine what this 1-pointer is gonna do for me in a whole season?

Another 1-pointer I considered was Graeme Brown. Discounted from 10 points in the VDS08 to 1 in the VDS09. Didn’t score in the VDS08 races but did score 70 points in the races that are part of the tour in VDS09. I figured he might do a little better this year. But then Freire got injured and I assumed Brown would be riding more high-profile races the next couple of weeks in which he would certainly score no points at all.

A third nominee for the 1-pointer of the year award is Lars Boom. If he can repeat his National Championship double he’ll be worth the point for sure. He might even win something else this year although he will only start racing in a couple of months. But chances are he won’t win the NC’s and spends the year learning to be a road cyclist.

And what about Nikolai Trussov of Team Katusha? The happy Russian podiumed in the renowned Ster Elektrotour and scored 130 VDS-points not yet part of the calendar in 2008.

And then there is good old Mikhaylo Khalilov of Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce. Winning the Copa Sabatini would be good for 150 VDS-points this year. He did it last year.

So what other needles where out there in the large 1-pointer haystack?