Le Tour VDS: Here We Go!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:09 PM EDT
in FSA Directeur Sportif
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Sorry for the wait, but there is actually a fair amount of work to get things set up. Thanks to all who offered to help; in the end it would probably take more time to pass over the info than to do it myself.
First, some bad news... five teams were eliminated from the competition. Four teams went over the spending limit, and a fifth team only had nine riders. Because we did things quickly, we didn't leave time to reconcile problem teams (which is why I tried to post a lot of warnings about double-checking); consequently, it's too late to resubmit. To those five, I wish we'd had more time, and hope you'll come back for next year's competitions.
Onto the fun stuff. Some numbers from the 125 entries...
- Most popular: Mark Cavendish (chosen by 63 teams), Andy Schleck (61), Alberto Contador (60), Tyler Farrar (41), Lance Armstrong (39).
- Curiously unpopular: Andreas Kloden (1), Christian VandeVelde (7), Linus Gerdemann (3), Michael Rogers (4).
- Smart money: Fabian Cancellara (17), Thor Hushovd (18), Bradley Wiggins (29!), and of course Lance.
- D'oh! Damiano Cunego (1), Danilo DiLuca (2), Denis Menchov (10, including me), Robert Gesink (13).
Next, the early leaderboard. Remember, this means almost nothing, as it only reflects stage points, which pale in comparison to the number of points awarded after the final stage. Still, it doesn't hurt to be listed here.
- Team Spandex Time Suck, 580 points
- SF-Rando, 576
- Little Giants de Tour, 575
- Bikenik, 571
- Garuda32, 560
- Toursauce, 514
- Les Chasses Patate, 480
- Equipe Biere Lao, 475
- Hoary Marmots, 470
- Is it cyclocross season yet?, 460
For the full list, Go HERE. Lastly, the stars of the VDS peloton:
- Mark Cavendish, 237 pts
- Fabian Cancellara, 197
- Thomas Voeckler, 80
- Alberto Contador, 76
- Thor Hushovd/Tyler Farrar, 70
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How humiliating.
Husband: 34th
Son: 64th
Me: 99th
Bah VDS!
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
Bah she-bears!
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
Hey, wtf?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I submitted a team, and legally, I still have the spreadsheet saved! I HAVE BEEN WRONGFULLY ROBBED OF MY DIGNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Hm
What’s the team name? What was the file name?
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions
some teams
may appear to be missing because the spreadsheet can’t read the team name.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions
which
is easily fixed
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Ok probably the problem, long team name
Team Contador:Kicking Lance’s Ass SInce 2009. You can just shorten that to Team Contador if you find it,
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Hm
so Phil has Cavendish then? Wow, that’s some sleuthing! Congratulations on outsmarting some 50% of the field…
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't have a soul, I pick peope I despise if they are very good
and you juts wait for the mountains Ursula!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Mountains eh?
You: Bert, Moncoutie, Evans, Trophy Mom
Me: Bert, Moncoutie, Kreuziger, Rui Costa
Bring it on wheelsucker.
Evans beats Kreuziger any day
Rui Costa is one of those guys there to help Bert gain experience, Trophy Mom will bring the Russian funk!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Umm TTT over, a minute and half behind Kreuz
he WILL make that up!!!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Yeah I'm shaking my head over that one.
With my luck though Cattle will take a 30 minute lead on stage 7.
I have Evans and Moncoutie too! and, um...
Wiggins! I’m so going to kick butt in the moun—
Aw, forget it.
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
The problem
is that it’s the wrong file format. I’ll fix it and you’ll show up in tomorrow’s standings.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Lol.
He have al the reason. My team sucks heavy:
Nicolas Vogondy
Thomas Voeckler
David Le Lay
Geoffroy Lequatre
David Moncoutie
Peter Velits
Igor Anton Hernandez
Bert Grabsch
Rigoberto Uran
Sylvain Chavanel
Uuh dunno.
Moncoutie can ride top 10 and of course the COM classification.
Uran top 20.
For the rest 15 stage wins
Er...COM classification?
Cheese of the Month?
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
Well at least you have Tommy V.
but yeah that team does..umm..suck a lot. Did you only spend like 50 points?
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
I gave your team
a new name, since you didn’t put one down. Let’s see if you can figure it out!!
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions
nailed it!
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh yeah, that must be it....wow the lantern rouge is looking good for you
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Well I'm still hopefull for yellow OK?
if not I get Green with 100 other people.
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
Oh I have those to
I have sprinters(well Cav), GC guys(c’mon Cadel I was counting on your typical 2nd) and a ton of stage hunters. Moncoutie for Polka!
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
NEW NAME!
Look for something else tomorrow Frinking. I decided “Gesink’s Wrist” isn’t funny.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Megabeth's PdC selected team
It Takes A (Well Lubricated) Village is currently in 79th Place. And she has Fabian so the collective wisdom of the village is not doing so well.
We did the best we could with what you pulled from the hat.
Blame Lady Luck.
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
Hmmm No team for me either
The Bikery does not appear on the list. Oh well i guess
Contact me offline
we’ll see if we can fix it. Podiumcafe@yahoo
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks for the update
Amazing that so few people have Cav and Bert.
I aimed my team at scoring an average of 25 points per point spend. That would give 2500 points.
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way.": Alberto Contador, shortly after waking up from brain surgery.
wait...
you thought about your team?
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Yep, I'm totally neurotic when it comes to these things
Made a spreadsheet with all tour riders and their VDS scoring during the previous 2 tours. Than I ran some regression analysis, did some root-squaring, and poured it all into a pivot table. I let the mix iterate for a few days and team Après nous le déluge was born.
5 Frenchies will make me proud. Dumoulin already paid half of his dues!
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way.": Alberto Contador, shortly after waking up from brain surgery.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/nerd%20alert/mbrock9/nerd/NerdAlert.gif
Vamos Alberto!!!(Contador not Ricco)
we already know you and I are the bestest members of the cafe.
The love of all things George proves it.
What the hell...
… members of the Year Long were allowed to participate in the Tour Only? Serves me right for going on vacation grump grump
Respect the Shit List; it respects you.
I tried contacting
but all I got in return were your coordinates.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions
OK ESN:0-7490292
Just checking in – all is well.
ESN:0-7490292
Latitude:43.7329
Longitude:-110.7983
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:06/27/2009 19:46:50 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.7329,-110.7983&ll=43.7329,-110.7983&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Respect the Shit List; it respects you.
Tour only team sucking by three points more than the year long team.
Our time will come….
Adrenalina Italiana!
Now, now. Don't count all the teams doing better than you are.
Count the ones who lie crushed and bleeding under your heel.
There. Feel better?
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
A little. What a wonderful perspective you have on things.
Can the Black Unicorn damage the hopes of other people’s VDS teams…?
Adrenalina Italiana!
Sure
but those above you are actually running on more than hopes…they have points.
"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten
Yearlong game, teams lying crushed underfoot and bleeding, 0
Any other suggestions
Sorry. As I was just saying to my Div 2 guys
somebody has to be on the bottom.
Among his many talents, Mark Cavendish can make it rain in Southern California--Chris Jones, ESPN Magazine
the team tab
is missing data near the bottom… (team still shows up in the rankings on the summary tab but the detail is missing on tab 2. something odd in the macro?)
I can see I screwed up on the DS and PdC Nick bit
that’s why they are all at the bottom of the page and heading onto the distance. When we changed from teams of 25 to teams of 10, not everything that should have been changed was. New version of spreadsheet on its way to Chris now.
Oh for f***s sake
How can Sui suck so badly already? It usually takes him a while to reach these levels of sucking. What? At the sound of the starting gun he dropped like a rock to the bottom of the field? It must have looked worse than Conta bonking in Paris-Nice for chrissakes.
@()*#@!@!
I was counting your extreme laziness, what with having to scroll all the way to the end to find me.
Well, I could break into the top 100...
When they hit the mountains and the sprinters start croaking.
um, helloooo
British sprinter?! Didn’t come to mind??
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Sprinters... ugh.
I just find the whole notion kind of reprehensible.
Closest thing I have to a sprinter is Kim Kirchen.
I'm only getting credit for Cav's points
which is problematic since I have four other guys (Hushovd, Farrar, Ciolek, and Ignatiev) that have contributed something.
Danny Pate and Leonardo Duque
It’s not exactly the most balanced of teams
by AbdujaparovFan on Jul 8, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions
I was mostly just targeting today's stage
Too bad Voeckler had to screw everything up
by AbdujaparovFan on Jul 8, 2009 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Er
sounds like a bad spreadsheet. I’ll look into it.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 8, 2009 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks
My apologies if I messed something up when submitting
by AbdujaparovFan on Jul 8, 2009 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Guess I was one of the "couldn't count" group
Just looked at my spreadsheet again and for some reason I had Cav down as a 20 instead of a 25. Oh well, hopefully my year-long team will crush all.
Jens Voigt doesn’t know where you live, but he knows exactly where you will die.
Yikes!
94th.
But this is what you get for a team called Astanot where you also don’t have Cav (I decided not to duplicate anyone from my yearlong). Still, their successes, limited though they may be, are so very satisfying.
Willj seems to have been spending too much time riding up mountains and not enough on his team picks
He’s got one more point than Sui
wow 4th from last
Luckily Sui Juris is a bigger moron than me (at this stage).
My secret strategy of ensuring at least most of my riders were actually participating in the Tour de France seems to have failed.
Sui – if we are tied at the end I challenge you to a tie breaking cycle on the hill behind my house ;)
sometimes life is a false flat
Followed two hours later
by the slightly altered " inebriated and not really bothering with the cycling – peeing on the hill behind Willj’s house" -challenge
Distance is the most common one
but I think “not soiling themselves” may be a more realistic one in that case.
Will better hope Sui's not the Spaniard mentioned earlier in the Dutch press.
Respect the Shit List; it respects you.
sounds as likely to happen as this TdF-related
“contest” that MapMyRide.com is holding. Grand Prize: A Four Day Trip from Trek Travel to See Lance at the Final Stage In Paris*
*Airfare not included.
(seriously)
Don't knock it... those rooms at
l’Hotel Merde du Marmotte don’t come cheap! They’re, what? 17€? 21€? a piece
Respect the Shit List; it respects you.
Translation
If you’re already standing on the Champs-Elysees Sunday the 27th, an intern from Trek will let you know when you should turn your head and look.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 9, 2009 2:23 AM EDT up reply actions
Beginner's luck I guess
It’s the first time I play such a game, I can’t believe I’m in position seven… wow…
Yep
luck. Don’t get used to it.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 9, 2009 2:24 AM EDT up reply actions
Chris, you cheated me this year
I had a team that should rightfully have been in the lead after Stage 1, just as I did 2 years ago after the prologue. I have been unfairly robbed, and I want the glory of being in first after Stage 1. Or at least the humiliation of having not been in first after it despite that being the intended goal of my team.
email me!
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 9, 2009 2:25 AM EDT up reply actions
My team is there
You just didn’t total up per stage and tell us who the leaders were after each stage. That’s not fair. I wanted my one moment of glory.
Chris you gave my team to someone else!
that is most extraordinary~~~~
it’s under my name in the summary, but not in the teams sheet?
email me!
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on Columbia, Roll on!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 9, 2009 2:24 AM EDT up reply actions
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