VDS teams revealed
by Frinking on Feb 28, 2011 7:25 AM EST
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VDS is on. Nobody listened to my well meant advices. 51 Farrar players? Really. Shame on you American people. But what if I didn't do the trick. What was your playing strategy? I was planning on a 80% Rabo team but couldn't give me 100% for that task. So instead I went for the winning 25 and I created: The Kings of Eritrea!
Why Eritrea? Because cycling is the biggest sport in Eritrea! How cool is that? You have to honour that. And after the disgraceful treatment Daniel Teklehaimanot got at Garmin my Captain was born.
With the winning streak at Rabo and me being Dutch it was clear as 1+1=2, that was all the math in this post, I promise, Langeveld, Boom, Gesink where a lock in my team.
After that I just build my team around them. Tyler Farrar my top heavy guy because he loves to race.. And score points.. And well.. Haven't you read the Cav/Farrar vs Aladin story? see link
10-12 categry. Menchov! Ondervalued the guy. Winning the Vuelta is going to do massive things with his points. Marcato is somebody who finishes everywhere at the second place. Point he will get and Brajko.. Leader of RSH at the Tour. Hope he get his points. A little gamble. Not very likely to improve a lot. But we'll see what happens..
3 sprinters after that. The one and only sprint of LepparD-trek. Bennati. That guy is serious overrated, also by me, but when Lepardi-treko keep confidence in him he we'll be fine. R. Feuillu, finally can sore at GT's and Bole.
Van Garderen, Belleti, Oss and Taaramäe. Young guys who could easily outscore their total points of last year.
1 and 2 points. Poels of course! He's Dutch, riding in the wrong team but I forgive him, Michael Matthews.. Rabo! LS Haedo, he's better than JJ Haedo en Felline. Upcomin talent.
1 points. Kittel! Riding at Skill could score points in minor tours, Ulissi talented Lampre climber and Vivani.. D'uuuh..
TEKLAHAIMANOT!
So.. What about you?
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I figured there was value in the middle
My most expensive rider was Gesink.
I gambled a bit on riders who under-performed last year or who should improve: EBH, Kolobnev, Breschel, Haussler. Some young talent: Bling, Sagan, Degenkolb. Some under-priced: Chava, VDB, Roche.
And some I liked. I originally had Ricco, which conflicted with me, but scrapped him happily. Tondó is there now.
I am aiming for top 600.
Drongo can't help it, high hopes are natural to some
Me, I’m content with my lot – the Lanterne Rouge actually wins a red lava lamp, right? I surprised myself a bit. It turns out I’ve got a soft spot for world champions, so Thor’s my big spend for the season. After that I just searched every post and comment for riders that Frinking has mentioned and added them to my team until I reached the limit. Oddly enough, very few Dutch riders turned up by following this method.
For this is cycling where suffering and success travel inseparably together - Jen See (poet)
by omnevelnihil on Feb 28, 2011 8:05 AM EST up reply actions
Strategy? We were supposed to use strategy?
My team captain is Mark Cavendish, because after last year’s difficulties he’s bound to come roaring back and take every sprint in sight—not to mention the yellow jersey and a repeat victory at MSR. Go, Cav!
Great guys who had shitty seasons last year: Barbie, EBH, Chavanel. This year, they’ll live up to their potential. Throw Greg Van Avermaet into this category—the guy’s looking a lot better this year than he has for awhile.
You all laugh at me for my inability to DS the dread Spanish stage races. Two riders who had serious Vuelta results last year: Frank Schleck and Peter Velits. Frank could also pay off in the Ardennes and Tour, of course; Velits in other stage races. I usually load up with sprinters and classics guys, so this was a deliberate attempt to beef up the roster in stage races without committing to some expensive potential GT winner who wasn’t going to do anything else.
Moving up: I really like gambling on new(ish) riders who could potentially pay off big—nothing is more satisfying than when they do. Sep Vanmarcke, Tejay Van Garderen, Ben Swift, Jack Bobridge, Michael Matthews (besides, with a nickname like Bling he was a shoe-in), Peter Stetina, Cam Meyer. There has been some argument over whether Degenkolb is a better pick than Phinney—fuck it, I took both.
Dutch hegemony, baby! Lars Boom, Theo Bos, Martijn Maaskant. Tree and Forest are still on their way up. I had a feeling Maaskant was going to have a great year after a few disappointing seasons. He’s already scored 100 points.
You never know: Gerald Ciolek, Johan Vansummeren. He’s been around so long it’s amazing that Ciolek just turned 24 in September. Let’s see how he does on QS. Summie was top 10 in Roubaix twice out of the past 3 years, and he’s—I believe I may have pointed this out before—Impressively Tall.
Tough guys: Hayden Roulston, Dominique Rollin. Because sometimes it rains, and somebody has to put their head down and power through.
Obligatory Good Hair Pick: Stefan Denifl.
Only God Can Judge Me Pick: Thomas Dekker.
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
So J-Rod doesn't count?
For this is cycling where suffering and success travel inseparably together - Jen See (poet)
by omnevelnihil on Feb 28, 2011 8:11 AM EST up reply actions
This isn't Team Red Shorts anymore, you know.
We go for family-friendly nicknames like “Barbie” and “Bling.”
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
Dom Rollin as a tough guy...is it because he shaves his legs?
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
I'm going with your version.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
EBH scored 800 points
Pretty good for a shitty season.
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
I have Mollema this year...it's new territory for me...and Basso I think is also undervalued...
Albertina has convinced me that Anton is worth the points and Majope likewise with Barbie. Other than that, most of you could guess the rest of my team. Stuey is of course the skip, but Cance and Bling will be the stars.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
I went for (mostly) young guys who I think will step it up
Combined with a few people moving to different teams for more captaincy or who had crap seasons last year.
My two big-pointers are young guys who are already good but should improve even more. Andy Schleck because I think he’s on for a better classics season and a more serious placing at Suisse and stands a good chance of winning the tour and upping his total there. Gesink too, because I drank Chris’ Dutch Hegemony cool-aid. And I think Gesink will have a good GT this year plus be stronger in the spring classics.
Haussler, Breschel, and EBH because they should have better seasons this year and improve to the great point-value ratios we have been expecting. I was hesitant about Breschel, but I just love Matti.
A few mid-pointers in the 6-8 range (Martens, Tejay Vangarderen, Sep, Sacha Modolo, Fedrigo) who i think have the capabilities to step it up a notch. Whether they do is an ineresting sub-plot to watching the season.
Few 4-point sprinters to keep those points turning over: Steegmans, Gavazzi, Cioleck, Blythe.
The rest are young guns I think will take it up a level this year: CA Sorenson, Rollin, Sutherland (not young, but still), Agnoli, Matthews, Gallopin, Thomas Bonnin, Philip Deignan, Dowset, Andrea Guarini, Talansky.
My fruit bowl is full of sex wax--gavia
Fedrigo? How do you see that?
And was thinking of Andy myself. But his lack in interest in courses outside the Tour was enough to skip him
The way I see it...
… He probably needed a change in atmosphere to prompt him to get out of the rut he’s been in on races he does well in. Plus sometimes changing a team can do wonders for how a rider prepares – and I think this is the case in going from BBox/Europcar to FDJ.
And I wish Andy would do the Canadian races this year…
My fruit bowl is full of sex wax--gavia
by Douglas Ansel on Feb 28, 2011 11:31 PM EST up reply actions
Fedrigo seems to do most of his training by feel...I think he added power training just in the last year.
I wouldn’t expect him to jump too much…P-N is one of his major goals though.
by Vlaanderen90 on Mar 1, 2011 12:06 AM EST up reply actions
the key there
would be to take mostly non-french french speakers. That could work out – farrar, gilbert, cadel, hesjedal – there must be tons. Then Voeckler as capitaine – could be a great team.
Stuey would make that team...and Gerrans.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
i should try this next year
if you don’t speak french, or if you are french, you’re not on the team. Would eliminate a lot of difficult decisions.
It's a whacky plan, but it could work..
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
come to think of it,
That still means
Farrar, Cadel, Hesjedal, Stuey and Gerrans are all ok.
Even Gilbert probably doesn’t say them right, if you ask a Parisian.
I saw the other day
that Coppel’s home town took down the “Allez Jerome” posters that were hoisted last year?
moo
Should have paid his parking tickets. ;-)
The skills really do go away if not practiced, and I don't mean to brag but I was getting very mediocre. - Tejay Van Garderen
It's not about winning, it's about whether you can live with yourself.
Oh dear. I had to fire Barbie when I took a close look at Pozzato’s scoring record. I still feel a little nauseous.
I balanced my karma a little by taking Piccolo Principe. Just because I don’t know what he’s doing with his life, doesn’t mean he doesn’t.
When Leukemans tipped Langeveld for big things this spring, I promoted Leukemans from rider to DS to make room. It’s ok for DS’s to be dopers, right?
There is a roadside "crab shack" on the north side of town.
I was driving by with my wife one day and she asked me who are the “Blue Crab Bikers” were, then she said now I see, the sign was partially obscured. It says Blue Crab – Bikers Welcome, but it was too late, I already wanted to be a “Blue Crab Biker”.
The riders on my team are all kids, kids I’d be proud to have on my lawn. All the rest of you kids, “Get off my lawn dammit”.
My GC guys are Gesink, Kreuziger, Van Garderen and Coppel. They are capably backed up by Spilak, Mollema, Kiserlovski and Dan Martin. I’m starting to like my guys already. ;-)
Then there is the “on any given day” racers. Guys like EBH, Sagan, Goss, (hopefully the real) Sep, Oss, De Gendt, Phinney, Insausti and Fairly. Even if they don’t win these will be in the mix on lots of racing days enhancing my viewing pleasure, and honestly that’s what it is all about.
The rest of the team is fast guys who can and will score points even if it is in SSRs. Modolo, Ciolek, Kristoff, Hermans, Matthews, Bouhanni, Guardini and Viviani. These guys are here to score bonus points, eight guys, 25 points and no doughnuts.
The long term plan is for my franchise to keep as many of these guys on the team as possible while always looking out for more kids to hang out on my lawn. Blue Crab Racing, a force for the future. :D
The skills really do go away if not practiced, and I don't mean to brag but I was getting very mediocre. - Tejay Van Garderen
I regret not picking Dan Martin for my team...
I like him, but alas left him off the team. I agree with you though…pick guys you actually like, cause then it’s fun if they perform…
by JustJoshinYa on Feb 28, 2011 9:18 AM EST up reply actions
Maybe I should put together a cobbled classics squad with that moniker.
The skills really do go away if not practiced, and I don't mean to brag but I was getting very mediocre. - Tejay Van Garderen
My man crush with Fabulous continues this year...
I just can’t quit him – it’s a serious problem. Last year I had a bunch of sprinty guys and did okay (52nd I think). This year, I kinda switched to more GT guys (relatively speaking). Will see how that pans out. My guys include some value picks (besides Cancellara):
Basso (2nd most expensive for me, but will take advantage of Andy shift fails)
Kreuziger (gonna score me some points!)
Igor Anton (keep it on two wheels dude)
Jurgen VDB (I can’t believe I am cheering for a rider from Lotto)
Nicholas Roche (Same as above, insert AG2R – and his BEST friend, John Gadret made my team too)
Vander Flecha (Love him; Already working out ok for me)
Sagan (I picked both Sagan boys – brothers gotta look out for each other, you know)
Martijn Maaskant (gonna have a big year, right?)
Leonardo Duque (placing baby – placings)
Romain Feillu (Probably already peaked knowing my luck)
Sylvain Chavanel (with the cracked skull last year, he still did pretty well – so I hired him again)
Sandy Casar (I love his style)
Johnny Hoogerland (crazy legs)
Steve Morabito (just like the guy)
Benjamin King (The ‘merican – VA Tech HOKIE – it’s like the law to support your own)
Egoi Martinez De Esteban (bleeding carrot pick)
Simon Gerrans (breakout year?)
David Lopez Garcia (seemed a good 2 pointer to me to score some points)
Brent Bookwalter (like him)
Johan Vansummeren (gotta have a good year, right?)
Danny Pate (always liked him – probably a donut this year though)
Juraj Sagan (keep your brother warm and happy)
Kevin Seeldraeyers (belgian’s rule)
JustJoshinYa’s Peloton of Pain is shooting for improvement over last year, so top 50 is the goal. I’m nervous.
VDS deadline is over,
sandbagging is no longer necessary. Wait, you’re serious?
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I'm gonna wish I took Farrar probably
But I took Cav instead. HTC has a way of making things happen, and if Cav and teammates can get done what he wants to accomplish this year, he will be worth it. I like that Cav didn’t win much before the VDS season started.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
yep - that could bode well (that and he didn't go to the dentist) - course, doesn't look like he missed a meal either.
by JustJoshinYa on Feb 28, 2011 9:19 AM EST up reply actions
That's fuel for later in the season.
Don’t want to be eating your muscle mass right now.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
Looks like he strapped on some spare tanks.
by JustJoshinYa on Feb 28, 2011 9:21 AM EST up reply actions
We know what happens when he jettisons those tanks.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I think Goss came out firing on all cyclinders to get the early wins for HTC.
Now he and Renshaw will help Cav and get what they can.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
"cyclinders" was an interesting mistake
Kinda works…
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
Main focus for Goss is the Classics.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
I'm kind of hoping that he'll get to step in to the Greipel role
and clean up in the SSRs
I'm counting on him doing that too, although I also took Leigh Howard as insurance...
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Outsprinted by Bos is not a good sign for you coming hegemony in 2011..
And well. he lost his golden pedal.. (I’m going to repeat that till you all believe this)
When he stops taking 5 or 6 sprints in the TdF
then you can talk about a missing golden pedal. (I remember that story btw, good one)
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
Besides, Bos outsprinted him in a much bigger race at the beginning of last year
and Cav—even in a slow-starting season—outscored him 1541: 220.
It says a lot about Cavendish’s dedication to his VDS record that he raced fewer days in 2010 than he did in 2009, had 12 fewer wins, didn’t win a Monument…and still came in only 147 points fewer than ’09.
He’s going to do us proud, sminer.
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
i started with
Gilbert, cuz i love the way he races, the races he races, and i got to see him up close at MSR after the race one year and i just like the guy.
Then i hired a ton of 12 pointers at first, before gradually firing most of them for one reason or another. I had menchov, goss, haussler, anton, freire and someone else, i forget. Wound up keeping only haussler, freire and anton.
Had Sagan for a long time but he got cut in a coup de folie towards the end – gesink is responsible. I should have sat on this a few days rather than submitting.
Then i started looking and looking – i really couldn’t find that many riders i wanted to hire – i looked up ryder hesjedal’s results. Now man! I fell in love – like with Gilbert. That dude did great in the ardennes classics and monte paschi and and then came down and had a really high finish in the tour – and had a great finish on the tourmalet! I mean, if i could be a pro rider, that is the kind of rider i’d like to be. So i seriously doubt it was a brilliant move vds wise – but there ya go, i suck anyway.
Wound up with roche and vdb – i donno, again not brilliant picks but i like em. Sep vanmarcke is another pick i’m happy with. Then the lower point guys i just don’t know at all, so it was just a guessing game.
My only regret i think is sagan – i saw him at 10 points and remember how strong and impressive he looked last year and immediately took him. He stayed as a constant on my team until i went nuts and signed gesink and ….
now i remember
Breschel was my other 12 pt guy and someone i was sure i wanted. When he had further knee problems i dropped him and chaos ensued.
Last year I went with a structure.
A certain number of slots for each type of rider, so that I had leaders for different types of race.
This year, apart from one leader each for GC, sprints, hilly classics and cobbles, I went after likely return. I looked for objective reasons why riders were going to outscore last year. Some free passes were issued, and black balls applied, though.
I took the general view that there was no point in hiring the most expensive riders, as they were less likely to increase their value. I’m unsure if this was sensible, though, or whether I’m going to miss the big (if not any bigger than the previous year) points they bring in. I avoided riders that seemed to have been priced above their 2010 score for popularity etc. I have an irrational dislike for youngsters, otherwise I might have had Porte and Fuglsang on. Not intersted.
The following never left the roster from the first draft: Greipel, Scarponi, Marcato. Greipel was a natural choice because I’d been pleading his cause on here already, Scarponi just clearly seemed like the best value GC rider, and Marcato needed recognition for his incredibly solid, winless 2010 season.
Other choices:
Anton: Popular choice, looked like a Vuelta winner, but crash capped his score, and therefore his price.
Menchov: Top quality dude, GT winner, not expensive.
Freire: Quite consistent, versatile, and not done yet-see 2010 season.
Cunego: Major dip last year, unlikely to be in terminal decline.
Sagan: Surprisingly didn’t seem to be priced up, and likely to have more opportunity in his second year.
Paolini: Quality, and going from a pro-conti to a (strong) pro team.
Van Den Broeck: Likely to continue his steady rise, the wins should come soon.
Feillu: Seemed to have a light program last year, and Vacansoleil are now Protour.
Leipheimer: Has seen a few GT podiums in the past, and is a candidate for newly vacated leaders spot at Radioshack.
Skipping some for 4 and 2…
Van Dijk: Scored little in VDS, but heaps in CQ, and haven’t his team gone up a division?
That’s it, other than that I picked my one pointers such that I really should be able to avoid doughnuts this year. I considered their selection to be pretty important.
Can’t remember now who I almost picked… I think Tondo was one…
only two I'd dispute...
Van den Broeck – because his team for TdF is now a three-headed monster, and a lot of his points came from that one race.
I felt Roche was the better choice – rides a long season scoring in a lot of races; and team support can only improve from last year.
Feillu – step up to riding with the big boys may be a negative. If he were riding mostly SSRs, I think he’d clean up, but I think VAC will put him in at least 2 GTs (they have little else) and he will struggle to score against elite opposition.
VdB may not need too much team support
he seems good at hanging on in the heads-of-state group, and using their super-domestiques.
yeah, he may well do it – seems really well organized, determined, highly motivated.
I wish him well, but I worry that 5th in TdF is his level in a year when absolutely everything goes right. Scoring in 1wk races is probably the key for him this year.
I kind of wanted to pick him
But I just can’t like him. Didnt like the disrespectful way he talked about Cadel. I hope Cadel gives him a climbing leson this year.
Roche:
Too popular. As far as VBD’s Tour goes, I have no doubt he’ll have as much support as the team can manage. He showed enough last year to entitle him to it. Feillu: he’s sort of versatile as well. I have a penchant for lightweight sprinters. I wasn’t totally objective.
Hope straw dog is right about Roche
Because I took him for the same reason. I went for a couple of COF and EUC guys because they are so keen to get points and het a world tour license. At the moment I am trying to cope with all my regrets. Firing Offredo just before submitting. Leaving off Ballan when I think he is in good shape and determined this season. I convinced my son to take Basso and am kicking myself I didn’t take him. I think he will take the same kind of points as Cadel took last year. My great hopes for lots of points Cadel – I am keeping the faith for the Tour and I think he will ride the Vuelta to win as well- Sagan and Fuglsang. But the way the points are this year, I think the winner will be the one who picked the right riders in the 6-10 point category.
You can't argue with Roche's GT progression
122nd – 13th – 22nd – 15th/7th same year. Never DNF-ed.
Also – Ardennes last year 33rd / 29th / 21st, not far from the points.
Continued steady progression can get him 2 x GT top-10s and scoring in the Ardennes.
If he stays healthy and rides the same long season, I see 1000 points this year, probably with zero wins.
Roche just worried me that he coldn't make the step up to 1000+ points and make his selection really worthwhile
'When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning' - Dr. Reiner Knizia
by bought with blood on Feb 28, 2011 10:30 AM EST up reply actions
I like that in the tour last year (tour, right?) he found a spot to fight for time.
One small rise in the road where no one thought anything would happen and he attacked to take some time. I like that.
by JustJoshinYa on Feb 28, 2011 10:36 AM EST up reply actions
Levi did seem good value this year
when there’s a good chance that he’ll be the RS leader on at least one GT
There is an unintended side effect of playing VDS.
There are some riders I actually want to see lose. OK, not break-a-leg lose, just not do better than last year. These are the ones I fired the last minute, and it would be painful to see them have a great season.
I won’t name any names to avoid bringing them bad luck…
I steered clear of all big name sprinters (except Peter), which has a major positive side effect – I can enjoy watching sprints without constantly looking for my guy boxed in 20 places back.
See, I do just the opposite: load enough sprinters on your team, and one of them's bound to place.
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
either way works....
but I just love the Chris Sutton days, even when I wasn’t smart enough to pick him!
Why did I miss Sutton?
Argh!
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
to be honest,
it wasn’t really obvious that EBH would be leadout man for Sutton.
It will be highly competitive in elite sprints this year, so the only pure sprinters i took were young SSR sprinters – Viviani, Guardini, Matthews. I’m happy with that decision, I just see Sutton as taking away from the big popular names that I don’t have.
I tried that last year. Had Greipel, Farrar, Dean, Hunter, and a couple others. Worked okay - Farrar was aces...
This year, I picked a couple “placers” on the cheap and decided to see what some of the GT guys can do instead.
by JustJoshinYa on Feb 28, 2011 10:38 AM EST up reply actions
Well at the start It was all
Pozzato and Barbie and Breschel and Anton and Ricco. And then the Bad Blood ruined the Great White Hope, and the Wonky knee worried me out of the Model Citizen. Once I started Cleaning House I just couldn’t stop. A team composed of mostly 12-16 pointers with no 18+ riders suddenly devolved. The Idea I had of liking GT guys who Would/Should/Could ride Two GT’s turned into a team consuming monster.
J-Rod-24 points and he could return 2000 which would make him a good buy
Gesink-Rides all year and now sounds like riding the tour-vuelta double. Just a couple hundred from paying off last year and it wasn’t a spectacular year for him. now that he’s the man he shoul crank out 1500+
Scarponi-Leader on Lampre Targeting the Giro should be rested and ready to ride the Vuelta
Kreuziger-slipped in at the last minute when I read his calendar for the year. Giro-Vuelta.
Anton- Always there with two GT’s in his plans I would have paid 20 for him.
Menchov- A gamble but I believe Zom the Magician will see the light and bring the boy to his big show.
So all the big boys are Stage Racers no cobbly guys here.
Ballan- At 6 he was a no-brainer for me. I love the guy and think he can return to form
Bole – loved the way he won two stages at the Giro last year he has been on this years team ever since.
Bos- should be even better this year(I think he will be rabos sprint leader this year)
Chava- couldn’t resist him I think he is much better than last years points
Inxausti- sucked in by pre VDS chatting hoping he has a big year
Hoogerland-12 points last year and could just return to form
Oss- The kid was a brute last year and should continue to improve
Gerrans- If he returns to form he will be great.
Ciolek-Only 24 of the Moo train of super suckage, should get some results.
Boivin- A Canadian who got bronze beside phinney.
Degenkolb- Could grow into a monster this year (Oh and last year I didn’t pick Sagan so I’m not doing that again, i ThinK)
Matthews- The TDU sold me on this kid. See parentheses above.
Devenyns- Oved the way this kid was coming along last year, could have a big year.
Ben King- Said that “Cycling was an act of Worship” for him and he got on my team
Chicci-Could very well be better than last year.
Kashechkin-looked good coming back from suspension last year, could be this years Vino!
Betancourt-got his name off the 2010 mock list
Monsalve- same as betancourt
Guardini- same as the two above, they wrote that he just plain wins, won more than degenkolb last year, hope he gets a couple of SSSR’s to win
Vandousselaere- Picked him off the mock list hoping a young Belgian on a Belgian team does something on a cobbled road somewhere sometime.
So a lot of points sunk in GT’s if all my guys hit in the Giro/Tour and then dominate the Vuelta I could do some serious damage, the rest of the team is just held together with spit, celo tape, and a lot of hope.
And well I got 50 points out of the opening weekend, not bad for this team!
'When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning' - Dr. Reiner Knizia
by bought with blood on Feb 28, 2011 10:19 AM EST reply actions
Betancourt had 2 DNFs this weekend
Don’t think cobbled classics are in his future.
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
No he's a little colombian climber
I just don’t think soap and water have enough riders to fill out the specifics for all the kinds of races they could get invited to.
I guess its just a lesson in pack foddering for him to learn.
'When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning' - Dr. Reiner Knizia
by bought with blood on Feb 28, 2011 10:29 AM EST up reply actions
I noticed on the cyclingnews forums...
…everyone was talking about the guys because he was top of the roster.
Which, so far as I could see, was alphabetical.
J-Rod and Scarponi both seemed good value
for riders that will be pretty fresh at both the Tour and Giro
Team similarity
I wonder if Ted does any statistics on who has the most/least similar teams. I did some random clicking on team names, and 17 identical riders was the highest I found, and 7 the lowest (i.e. a team had no more than 7 identical to any other). But I am sure it goes lower than that.
And only one of 14 teams
who picked Przemyslaw Niemiec. I thought about him, but the words Biological Passport kept ringing in my ears
yeah I looked at him
but I think he will be very busy with domestique duties this year,
especially if Scarponi does Vuelta
that must have been the deal for giving him his protour shot
If he doesn’t score and is a 2012 1-pointer, might be interesting
succes
My strategy of selecting mostly French riders doing well in non-VDS races paid off in weekend 1 with Crevaison placing 8 of top 20 in the Boucles du Sud – Souvenir Francis Delpech.
c’est magnifique.
Well I definitely regret dropping some guys last minute but I guess it is still early...
I tried to go a little more classics oriented this year after getting near shut out last year.
My most important rider, long term project and team namesake is Rob Goris of Verandas Willems. I don’t care how big Fabian’s thighs are…Rob’s are bigger. They are the biggest in the whole damn peloton. And just a few years ago, he was playing hockey so that makes him even better. He was Belgian amatuer champion last year so be scared…
“Guest Stars” on the Rob Goris Show include…
Tom Boonen – I have Tommeke love…I couldn’t have him not on my team.
Boasson Hagen – Hopefully he can actually produce in the classics this year…
Barbie Haussler – I don’t know if anybody has heard about this kid but he has some talent…
The Stage Racing Trio featuring…
Der Panzerwagen…the only man capable at the moment of being anywhere near Fabian in a TT, Tony Martin..I’m predicting a scary good year for him.
and the Spanish duo of Igor Anton and Xavi Tondo…2 GT podiums should be nice.
The Others…
Gustav Erik Larsson- TT his way to a G.C. win or 2 in SS races
Romain Feillu- I need a sprinter and always does well in the fall
Danilo Hondo- Even though he races just about ever day of his life it seems like, he should get a lot of points in the classics
Vladimir “Flying” Mullet Karpets- Should win Romandie and get a tenth overall in a G.T.
Niki Terpstra- Various accounts about how strong he is but just needs a little tactical help…Currently my leading scorer
Sylvain Chavanel- He will be back to his pre-‘10 form this year
Cedric Pineau- Sui Juris and I will be making an insane amount of points off of this guy…I can’t believe only two people chose one of the most consistent French racers.
Niko Eeckhout- Does this have to be explained? Shouldn’t he be on everyone’s team? I don’t care if he scores nothing…it’s RAMBO for fuck sakes
Daniel Oss- He will score points and he and Sagan will drink Prosecco until they can’t anymore and they will still score points.
Dries Devenyns- Should have a breakout year
Thibaut Pinot & Egor Silin & Wout Poels- Three very young climbers…and three guys that will be making a name for themselves when the road turns upward.
Aidis Kruopis- Had a good year at Palmans-Cras last year…Those new Belgian races on the calendar? Yeah, he will be winning at least 1 of them. Has a tremendous sprint. And nobody will be getting his points except me!!
Michael Matthews- I regret choosing him…So many other guys I now wish that I would have chosen over him (Degenkolb, Boivin, anybody on Bretagne-Schuller, and about 50 other people I had on a list).
Rafaa Chtioui- I was so happy when he finally got a chance with A&S last year and after a year of settling in, he should be winning a race or two (non-VDS of course, just to piss me off)
Nikolas Maes-Impressed me in Qatar…I really hope I don’t regret him
and….Elia Viviani- No less that 300 points. Guarenteed.
Even if he is a "domestique", he was top 15 last year in two GT's and was 4th in Romandie
He is cheap, by GC standards, so if he gets a little breathing room then he can do better than expected.
by Vlaanderen90 on Feb 28, 2011 11:15 AM EST up reply actions
Devenyns is the guy I wanted to have on my team
but I always came back to the question “but where is he going to score big points?” so I dropped him. Which obviously means he will win at least one semi-classic or minor stagerace this year.
I really wanted Visconti
But 12 was quite expensive, even with a Giro invite. Hopefully, he’ll prove me wrong.
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
You have a couple of less obvious choices there.
I’d like to have had more. Wout Poels looks like a good pick, for one.
I won't be sorting these guys very well but it goes something like this.
J Rod, Kreuziger, Anton and Gesink will keep me happy in the tours.
Niemiec, Kashechkin, older guys who will score in stage races. Intxausti, Taaramäe and Uran Uran have talent and upside and might help out as well. I kind of wish I had taken Mollema instead of Uran but who knows. Ulissi and Kwiatkowski are 1 point kids who go uphill well although Kwiatkowski is probably a couple of years away from scoring points.
Sagan, Boasson Hagen, Haussler, Hoogerland, Matthews, Navardauskas and Vandewalle for a win any time. And Sep V because of all the hype. I’m both surprised and pleased that so few picked him.
And then 3 fast Australians – Bobridge, Howard and Meyer – plus Vivianni. Oh… and Tratnik and Degankolb for young hardass boys. Degankolb, the new Wunderkind. Make it so.
Sadly not on my team: Tony Martin.
by sebastiandeluded on Feb 28, 2011 11:18 AM EST reply actions
Mine too
I think I bumped him for Hermans in the end. Was that smart? Probably not.
I like tinkering with the boys.
- majope
I looked at him too for a long while
but thought that the deal he probably got for a protour ride
was to work his ass off as a domestique and be grateful
whether he gets chances probably depends on how long a season Scarponi decideds to ride – but I think he will ride a lot, because it’s Scarponi’s first chance at a lot races Androni didn’t get to last year
Niemiec
I read somewhere – sorry, don’t ask me where – that Lampre hired him to chase after KOMs and stages. That makes sense to me.
by sebastiandeluded on Feb 28, 2011 8:26 PM EST up reply actions
Stormbringers.
At first I explained the VDS game to Lagutin! He said that I have to much free time on my hand. Silly!
But I forgave him anyway and of course he is on my team. Then I choose other 24 riders, and suddenly realized that they all VacansOleil. All eggs in one basket is not good concept, so the long and tortures process of replacements begun. Cav, was an easy choice, then a few young and promising Australians. Then Barbie and Sagan of course. Then Balan, Ryder, TeJay and VDB. And so on, and so on.
But how Seeldrayers and Stybar did sneak in, I did not remember! Too many drinks that night?
"I love bike races warm up, warm down, cobbles mountains or flats."
perezbike
.
by holmovka on Feb 28, 2011 11:59 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Argh
He should have alerted me to add him or his team mates to the rider pool! (Assuming he wished to put himself or anyone from Rabo CT on his VDS team…)
Sure, they can't be selected anymore
… by regular Joes. But I’m willing to help out any Virtual DS who wishes to replace one of his riders by himself :)
(I entered the three highest ranking riders of the team on CQr)
Oh, I knew it was really him
but what I didn’t realise was that no Rabo CT riders were available in the game. Sorry you weren’t able to select yourself, Jetse!
Sadly, no.
He was living for Europe in the beginning of a January and I didn’t have much time to work on Him.
But it is always next season.
"I love bike races warm up, warm down, cobbles mountains or flats."
perezbike
.
In order of cost
Fabian Cancellara (24, 103 teams): I don’t think you can go wrong with Spartacus. He’s a model of stability and he will bring points all year long. He should be well placed in all cobbled races, he will win a couple of TT along the way and he will probably be the TT WC.
Cadel Evans (22, 125 teams): I think if everything goes well and he stays up on his bike he can be pretty high at the Tour (especially if Contador is not there). Some Ardennes races as well. The lighter racing schedule bothers me a little, but we’ll see how it goes. I really hope he rides the Vuelta as it would be a nice bonus.
Robert Gesink (18, 237 teams): He’s improving every year and he was impressive last year. He’ll bring good points at the Tour, especially if he improved his TT. Lots of points in the classics too.
Igor Anton Hernandez (12, 202 teams): A potentiel Vuelta winner at 12 points? Deal, especially since my team was horrible at the Vuelta last year. It was a choice between him and Menchov, but I’m not sure how many races Geox will do this year so I went with the Basque.
Oscar Freire (12, 83 teams): It was a long hard battle between him and Brajkovic to have the honor to be a member of my team. Despite the bigger price tag (and the obligation to cut somewhere else), I feel Freire has more chances to give steady results, but it was a tough choice.
Peter Sagan (10, 247 teams): He’s the most popular VDS rider, and I’m one of the many people who took him. If I’m wrong with him, a lot of other people will be.
Nicholas Roche (8, 174 teams): Not the most spectacular rider, but one who brings points steadily.
Lars Boom (6, 158 teams): Because of the coming Dutch Hegemony, and because I needed more depth in the classics.
Bauke Mollema (6, 51 teams): Also because of the coming Dutch Hegemony
Adam Blythe (4, 35 teams): He did well last year in the last part of the season. I hope he continues along that way.
William Bonnet (4, 11 teams): Made a good impression at RVV without a big supporting team. I think he’ll bring good results in smaller French races.
Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (4, 47 teams): Because Albertina brainwashed me about him.
Dries Devenyns (2, 64 teams): My secret weapon. Surprised he cost so little this year (was expecting 4), I think he’ll be a surprise.
John Gadret (2, 191 teams): Can be a smaller GC leader (and around 15-20 in a Grand Tour). Won’t bring a lot of points, but will certainly bring some. And by having Roche in my team, it’s a chance for interesting polemica.
Leigh Howard (2, 26 teams): HTC is a good team and I needed a 2 point guy (and I didn’t want to take Degenkolb like everybody else).
Gorka Izagirre Insausti (2, 12 teams): Euskaltel is so good at producing good young cheap climbers.
Michael Matthews (2, 231 teams): A U23 WC is an easy pick especially since he was so good in Australia.
Artem Ovechkin (2, 13 teams): If the hockey player A. Ovechkin is having a sub-par year, it means the cyclist will have a good year, right?
Dominique Rollin (2, 109 teams): He’ll be able to race more for himself this year, and I think he’ll have a better season.
Cyril Gautier (1, 13 teams): A good young rider for the small French races.
Andrea Guardini (1, 149 teams): Because I need Italian sprinters.
Cameron Meyer (1, 176): Because I need someone on Garmin to have protection from Evil Sideburns.
Dominik Nerz (1, 2 teams): He looked good in a breakaway last year in the Québec ProTour race.
Kevin Seeldraeyers (1, 71 teams):A cheap gamble at 1 point; if he regains his form from a few years ago he’ll be worth it.
Elia Viviani (1, 147 teams): Because I need Italian sprinters (again)
This team will be awfully bad at the Giro, but I should get nice points everywhere else.
I guess it's my turn
Here’s my team, Team Thunder Snow – http://podiumcafevds.com/teams.php?y=2011&uid=101
I skipped the expensive riders. So many riders were so cheap that I thought the extra risk was worth it.
Grand Tour GC Squad (ignoring my 1 and 2 pointers)
- Gesink
- Anton
- Velits
- Tondo
- Dan Martin perhaps
- VDB
- Coppel hopefully
- Mollema hopefully
1 week stage racers
- All of the above riders
- Peraud
- Machado
- Chavanel
- Talansky?
- EBH
Classics team, not expected too much from them results wise (although I think they can hit their points)
- EBH
- Haussler
- Sagan
- Boom
- Chavanel
- Oss
The only riders I am questionable about are Velits and Martin. I’m quite happy with the rest. I really wish I had found room for Romain Feillu. I probably should have picked him over Boom, but I decided to cheer for Rabobank this year and without Breschel around I needed him. I also wanted Visconti, but as I said above, 12 is a steep price.
I think the Giro, Italian one day races (although I have Betancourt, Sagan, Guardini and Viviani), and the cobbled monuments are where I’ll do the worst. I think I’m in great shape for the Ardennes, Tour, Vuelta and short stage races.
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
Team A-B-C-D Vitamin
Cancellara and Jens! are, of course, the most important building blocks of this team. I couldn’t imagine myself not selecting these two. I’m flabbergasted by the fact that Jens! found his way to only 109 teams. Anywhere else people know him as Jens Voigt. Here, he’s Jens! and still he’s only on 1 in 6 teams.
GC guys are the ones who can also score in classics as well as in smaller stage-races (Gesink, SamSan, Igor Anton, Basso (yep, just won a single day race!)). Needless to say, I’m a little worried about the risk of having both Gesink and Igor Anton on my team, but I almost submitted a roster with F. Schleck instead of SamSan. I decided I don’t need VDS to make races that exciting to watch.
Together with Spartacus, Freire and Ballan are the team captains for the spring. I refuse to believe Ballan will have another crappy year. From there it’s just a small step to picking him up for measly 6 points.
Mollema is the only other 6-pointer. Yeah, I succumbed to the whole hegemony-hype (four other Rabos on the team). But this guy I’m really excited about and would love to see him stirr things up in the mountains.
4-pointers: Chavanel, Jens!, Benat Intxausti, Bos. I just need these guys to add another 100 points or so to their 2010 tallies. I’m pretty sure they will (Jens! is, of course, free to decide not to).
I wasn’t too original with some of my 2-pointers: Matthews, Degenkolb, Koldo Fernandez. But I also added some guys who, luckily, turned out not to be so popular: Peraud, Sicard, Kashechkin and Poels. I’ve spent 1 point on Brutt (yay! added him instead of Monsalve just minutes before submitting), Cam Meyer, Seeldraeyers, and a couple of young and fast Italians: Ulissi, Viviani, Guardini. I’m especially excited about Ulissi since I share him with only 23 other teams.
Well, that’s it. It’s great to be back at the cafe, and it feels so good looking over the VDS calendar with all those racing days to come. Should be fun.
Carbo-Hydrat protein
A-B-C-D Vitamin
Holy Schleck that would have been a heart attack team if you'd have Scheleckted Frank on your team with anton and gesink. Good call!
I hope Anton stays upright this year and wins the Vuelta – I think he’s doing the Giro too and could do well with it being climby…
by JustJoshinYa on Feb 28, 2011 1:51 PM EST up reply actions
Wasn't really interested in spreading my team out for GC, classics or sprinty types.
Just wanted guys who would give me points.
——————-
These guys need no explanation because about 1/5 of you have at least one of them on your team. I need them to do well, but if they suck, so do you. Isn’t parody great?
Boonen – 180
Gesink – 237
EBH – 180
Anton – 202
Bennati – 103
Chavanel – 240
Oss – 100
Matthews – 231
Degenkolb – 125
Viviani – 147
Koldo – 196
These guys need to bring it:
Tony Martin – Barring injury is going to be as good as last year. Chances he goes up because Fabian is focused on non time trial things this year.
Cunego – Pleasantly surprised not every team owns him. Has to get his finishing kick back.
Van Avaermaet – My Matti Breschel replacement. He’ll play in this and that race, and maybe that.
Tondo – Very risky and last guy placed on the roster. Wanted a Spanish stage racer – spent the extra 4 points over guys like Uran for the leadership position.
Nuyens: Don’t pull a 2010 Maaskant.
Gavazzi – Bit of a sprint, and can climb a bit. I’m a fan.
Caruso – Sprinter? I don’t know. Made a note some time last season to pick him.
Dark Horses / I have hopes :
Felline – Bit of a sprint and can climb a bit
Kittel – Seems beastly, but is he? If he is, will he get a chance to show it?
Everyone else is filler with upside ( Masciarelli, Seedraeyers, Blanco Rod. Herrada Lopez, Santos Oliveira)
Guys I still wish I had a spot for:
Kreuz – Less focus on one week long races, and a giro that doesn’t suit him?
Levi – Seemed cheap for a couple stage race placings. Hopefully age catches up to him (now that he’s not on my team).
Peraud – One year in, maybe, just maybe he won’t repeat. Probably will. Last guy off the team.
Sagan – Didn’t really even consider him. But now I see the light.
Roche – Unimpressed by his one day racing, Otherwise I would have been all over him.
Breschel – Going to be a player in the WC.
just pixels with personality
I never considered him either, and maybe I'm more the fool for that.
However 10 points for a beast in his freshman year, maybe asking a bit much. if he pulls down 1000 points I will be happy for him and if he pulls in 1500 points I will be sad I didn’t put him on my team. but really the only 10 pointer I wanted was Cunego so for me to be sad Sagan will have to outperform Cunego.
'When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning' - Dr. Reiner Knizia
by bought with blood on Feb 28, 2011 1:41 PM EST up reply actions
I kept going back and forth between Kloden and Levi
Hoping Kloden will do better in the bigger races than Levi.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
So am I...and until I checked last night I didn't realise I'd left him off my team! I'm gutted...
It may mean though that there’s no jinx. I’ll be cheering for him anyway.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Team A Tope, A Tope, A Tope
It’s usually best to not have a strategy, cause we all know strategies fail, but mine was:
Lots of: 1. Spanish, 2. Mid-pointers 3. Guys who could realistically score 1000pts (which I see 8 on my team).
So I didn’t buy high.
1. Sammy Sanchez – 20 (75 teams). Sam, it’s his year, few took him.
2. Tom Boonen – 20 (180). He was on, then off, math, and Breschels injury brought him back. But, I love how Tom rides so… it’ll be fun.
3. LuLu Sanchez – 16 (68) Cause everyone was going to take Gesink.
4. Ryder Hesjedal – 14 (135) I’m Canadian… and the guy only gets better
5. Igor Anton – 12 (202) I was worried everyone would grab him
6. Oscar Friere – 12 (83) Final year? Go out on top Oscar.
7. Heinrich Haussler – 12 (235) Back with a vengeance, too bad everyone thought so.
8. Peter Sagan – 10 (247) The last of my 1000+ hopefuls. Again, a popular pick I see.
9. Carlos Sastre – 6 (87) Thought he’d be overlooked, consistent for 500pts+
10. Theo Bos – 4 (171) It’s a mistake not having Boom… but…math…
11. Sylvain Chavanel – 4 (240) obviously… too bad however.
-———————————————————————————————-
2 pointers (Hope to get ~200pts+ from these guys on average) Boeckmans, Gadret, Guitierrez, Matthews, Renshaw, Rollin.
-———————————————————————————————-
1 pointers (Hope to get ~100pts+ from these guys) David Blanco, Andrea Guardini, Valentin Iglinksy, Francesco Masciarelli, Laurens Ten Dam, Oscar Pujol, Zdenek Stybar.
Hey… Francesco…. it’s up to you to show me why I hired you and fired Sutton on Thursday. Dammit.
Tommeke's always a good bet for the classics
I keep hoping that he’ll be luckier than he has been the past two years. And Oscar seemed good value, especially considering that this year’s Worlds course could suit him pretty well.
That was my thinking.
I was back and forth for days on a Flecha + Boom combo of 16 pts vs a Freire + Bos combo for 16 pts. I figured Flecha was going to score in the Omloop and that would hurt, but as opposed to Freire, I don’t see Flecha breaking the 1000pt barrier.
… although back-to-back good seasons for Freire is almost an impossible hope.
The lower priced riders always give you more fun in VDS
OK you need the big point scorers if you want to win, but getting a couple of hundred from a one-point guy is in some ways a lot more satisfying (OK, I say that as never having come near winning). And a couple of my picks have already paid off:
6 pointers-
Marcus Burghardt – This guy was knocked out of the Tour while in yellow, and he’s still just 28 so there is a lot of potential if he doesn’t end up towing Cadel to the last hill.
Levi Leipheimer - Who else is left at RS to ride for the GC.
Rigoberto Uran Uran – I had him last year too.
4-pointers -
Adam Blythe – I read an interview with Lotto domestique Olivier Kaisen where he spoke proudly about his work in getting Adam back to the front of races after mechanicals. 4 points is pretty good for a protected rider, and if Greipel doesn’t click then he could also be the designated sprinter by the end of the season
Gerald Ciolek – he was so good a couple of years ago that it’s worth a gamble. Maybe QS can get him firing again.
Daniel Oss – For the same reasons as everyone else
Rein Taaramäe – Gets better every year
Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi – I hope he’ll get loads of points sprinting in races where Cav, Farrar and Boonen don’t turn up.
Emanuele Sella – Just curious to see what he’s like without his magic potion. Anyway he’s weeny which is the number one good characteristic a climber needs.
2-pointers -
Matthieu Ladagnous – Not really got a clue why I picked him. He was one of FDJ’s best hopes a couple of years back, but being sent into early breaks in early season races doesn’t suggest that the boss still thinks that way.
Morris Possoni – A great climber who managed to waste completely last season. Maybe it was just a sympathy pick.
Benoît Vaugrenard – ’cos you can never have enough 2nd place celebrations
1-pointers -
Matteo Pelucchi – Who the hell’s he? 150 points in the bag already, that’s who. A great sprinter in the U23s, and also boyfriend of Marina. Actually I wouldn’t have checked his results out if it wasn’t for that last bit but he still got in the team on ability. I’m expecting a lot more from him in SSIRs.
Pavel Brutt – I thought he was an obfious bargain. 100 points already
Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo – Colombian climber, ex U23 World champ, likely to get a few placings in smaller Italian climby stage races. And already scored 70 points.
Daniele Ratto – Another I wouldn’t have noticed if not for seeing his sister race, but he had a win on Carmiooro last year and I’m expecting more. And given the lack of big names at Geox beside Menchov and Sastre he could be their regular sprinter.
Philip Deignan – dunno why I picked him now. Probably because all the recogniseable names cost at least two points this year.
Kevin Seeldraeyers – Belgian Climbing Sensation. Once. Worth a gamble.
Elia Viviani – A pretty obvious pick really. I just with he hadn’t done so well in the last couple of weeks then he might be more of a unique pick.
Ours are the only teams that have Ratto.
Had one win already and can apparently climb and finish. To use a cliché: “What’s not to like?”. Started scoring already too. I had no clue he had a sister who was a rider.
So you must have had a good Sunday. Two wins and two second places! And wins with obscure riders at that!
His sister Rossella
has been top rider for her age group every year in Italy for the past four or five years. She was second to Pauline Ferrand Prevot in the junior Worlds last year, and is still eligible to ride them again this year.
hi all, first time post for me and im very very excited about this VDS
i missed last years (im still in tears about it) so im supercharged up with my team, whom all should pick up at least, if not more, points than last year. Which gives me a serious shout in this competition (i bet we are all thinking that about our teams right?)
apart from the usual mob that can win GT’s/week long races and classics, i was left with about 13/14 riders, so instead of choosing hopefuls that can do well in races but who never win, ie Roche, (as much as i like him) i went for all sprinters. Yes, all sprinters, between 1-4 pts, that should win at least a few races each . Surely this makes more sense? Whether this tactic works, we will soon find out.
Roll on the next race.
All sprinters is great for knocking up wins in big numbers
then suddenly you get to the end of a GT and the guy who got 12th place magically scores more points. Spit.
Excellent strategy!
Good luck this year.
I asked myself, why is that frisbee getting bigger, and then it hit me.
There are some team names that
I kinda “get” like Ravel’s: \(^0^)/
Then there’s Jimbo: ( . ) ( . )
And Megabeth: 8===> in a box.
Hmmmm. And how do you pronounce them?
I found
this \o/ \o/
http://tinypic.com/r/30dgyo5/7
and this ( . ) \o/
http://tinypic.com/r/syqj5e/7
but I can’t find ( . ) ( . )
Or did Jimbo mean somehing else? Can’t think what.
La tête dans le guidon 2011
Already posted about my strategy earlier, so first let’s start with the last firing from the team. The 26th rider was Offredo so it’s a guarantee, his Omloop result is only the beginning :)
Returning from last year (fewer riders than expected, mostly because I wanted a more balanced team):
- Gesink
- Mollema
- Dan Martin
- Taaramae
- Moinard
- Deignan
- DiGregorio
- LeLay
For the last 5, my intuition last year was obviously good, they just had bad luck. Can’t happen again this year :)
New leaders, both high risk/high reward IMO:
- JRod: Should win 1 GT + do decent at classics
- Boonen: his last hurrah this season? I’m not sure Cancellara will do as well this year but Tommeke will also have to battle formidable teams from Garvelo and Sky. I still think he snatches 1 Monument and has a decent showing in GTs (which he didn’t last year)
Popular mid-value picks:
- Sagan (only points of the week-end)
- Igor Anton
- Coppel (the new Anquetil, is there any doubt at this point???)
- JVDB and Van Avermaet: could be a Belgian disaster or a nice surprise
- Romain Feillu: I do think he will reach a new level this year
1 and 2-pointers (French contingent mostly):
- Péraud, Poels, Hivert, Mangel, Roy, Gallopin, Kadri, Txurruka and Viviani (obvious pick as pointed out already)
Objective: continue to have good GT success (2 wins last year (Nibali and Contador), Gesink and J-Rod this year :)), have a less disastrous classics campaign and have a lot of fun cheering for my guys all year long.
Thanks again for all the work !
Sep's Saddle Soirees
is a classic example of PdC thread seduction.After struggling with 25 more traditional VDS setups,I stumbled upon a Sep themed thread that posed the possibility of “25 Seps”.Eureka! Why not? Most of my teams had 6 or 7 6 pointers already so,what the heck.Out of the 50 6pointers available there were more than 25 that I liked. The elimination process was interesting.I x’ed the older guys,Klodi,Karpets,Levi,the unfortunate Kim K.,some guy named Lance,etc. That left a nice mix of proven-Robbie,D Moncoutie,Ballan,G.Henderson,Sastre,middles-Terpstra,Haedo,Eisel,Lloyd,Burghart,Satambrogio,Nieve,Felliu and young uns-Boom,Bole,Keukelieure,Kisrlovski,Machado,molema,Offredo,Spilak,Uran Uran,Appollionio,TJ and one (hopefully THE one) Sep.Not a team for the win(8600 points last year)but entertaining and with room for improvement.As VDS head honcho,I think I can keep all the boys happy and have them all score ,something not easy to do (only two teams in 2010)The added advantages were that the math,25 times 6,was easy and that I get to see them at the top of the “Super Domestiques”list as I cheer/berate myself for being seduced by the multiple Seps strategy. The post race evening soirees should be fun as well.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
I had no 6's at all.
It seemed to me that there was the least value here.
Too many has-beens priced on distant memories (Ballan, Karpets), talented but aging guys that you can’t expect to outperform last year significantly (McEwen, Kloden, Leipheimer) and young talented guys with a 1-2 point premium over rational expection given their age what they’ve actually shown so far (Machado, Appolonio, Santambrogio, Mollema). Of course, some of these guys will shine, but my guess is that if you average out over 25 you’re paying a premium for their chances.
Wah?
I couldn’t get enough 6-pointers, wanted them all, kept ditching 8, 10 and 12-pointers to make room for 6-pointers.
I think the numbers back up my intuition
I formed my hypothesis about 2011 before looking at the 2010 returns.
These are large enough sample sizes and large enough differences that the results are significant.
Of course, the pricing committee may have change their 2011 pricing, but my intuition says no. My feeling was that in 2011 the best value in “up and comers” in the 4-pointers, and the worst value in 6-pointers. I now see that this was certainly the case in 2010.
We know that there is a lot of coal for every diamond in the 1 and 2 pointers, but notice that the 6 pointers barely outperformed even them.
1 pointers (646 riders) = 37.8 return per point
2 pt……… (402)……… = 38.3
4 pt……… (75)……….. = 51.3
6 pt……… (28)……….. = 42.0
8-10 pt….. (26)……….. = 49.1
12-16 pt… (21)……….. = 48.3
No Question
that 6’s are not a “value” driven VDS strategy. Winning certainly was not my end goal.I just wanted a quirky team of riders that I liked, would be competing in events throughout the year and that might have some modest upside. Plus ,that ineffable Sep factor of irrationality.Not to be advised for everyone
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 6:15 PM EST up reply actions
I didn’t mean to give you a hard time!
But several times before people had said how much they loved so many of the 6-pointers, when I felt just the opposite. Your post just started me thinking about it again.
No problem
I think many of the same things you do about the 6’s. That was part of the fun of the weeding out once I’d locked into the whole 25 Seps thing. I wanted to see if there could be a team of 25 6 pointers that might improve over their last years score. A kind of ,on the test floor of VDS pricing. I’ll be very happy if they can go from 8600 to say,9700,and over the moon if they somehow hit 10k.That potential is what makes it of interesting ,rooting fan ,value to me.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 7:02 PM EST up reply actions
With an accent
on the younger guys, not just the ones who might garner more points.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 7:27 PM EST up reply actions
yeah – take your baseline as the average return of 6-pointers, and see how much you can beat it by – many of these names are the hardest to judge, so that’s a nice challenge
(last year baseline was 150 × 42 = 6,300)
Yes
Based on my riders:from last years scores I need to exceed 348/rider,58/points per point.10k is 66.6 ppp,400/rider.With the new team training techniques I have implemented this increase is doable.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 8:11 PM EST up reply actions
Frinking said there would be no Maths!
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Frinking said?
You lose me there. Kidding, I luv my guys. If they can do the maths even better.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 9:29 PM EST up reply actions
This is why
my team has Texas Instruments calculators hooked on their handlebars rather than those odious race radios.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 9:41 PM EST up reply actions
My team has HTFU stickers :)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Or the 'Too Old for all that Shit' team more likely...
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Team HTFU?
Brilljant! Next year in my VDS Jerusalem. AKA. the Jerds and Nocks
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Feb 28, 2011 10:31 PM EST up reply actions
Love it :)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
I was going to go with the
“at the end there are chips” stickers
How about, 'At the end there'll be beer'?
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
you're assuming we're trying to win ;-)
"There is nobody doing it for the money. Everybody is doing it because they want to ride bikes." Lizzie Armitstead
My guess is
that that this genuinely represents a price point of maximally irrational behaviour, and to the extent that the pricing committee add a slight premium to anticipated popular picks, this is the place where they (rightly) do it
It’s a point where up-and-coming riders are well known enough that the hype has exceeded rational expectation; and the great years of declining favorite riders are still fresh enough in the memory that nostalgia outweighs reason
If you'd like a gentlemen's wager
You pick your favorite 10 × 6-pointers
I pick my favorite 15 × 4-pointers
(exclude anyone who has already scored)
loser buys a new barbie (or prop of choice) for the Cafe theatrical troupe
winner gets glory
(I hope this doesn’t violate U.S. gaming laws)
I ended up with 3
I wanted a ton of them though. I had to fire a bunch because I thought my team was unbalanced.
If you call 500 points a “winning” return, a huge chunk of the 6 pointers are one small result away from that amount.
Take Mollema for example. 12th in the Giro (without being in that 13 min break). 3rd in Poland and 13th in a classic.
I see no reason why Mollema couldn’t replicate all of those performances and add considerably to them. Sure, he’s skipping the Giro and riding for Gesink at the Tour, but there’s a lot of races out there that are perfect for him.
And as to riders having a premium, that premium is added specifically because the handicapers know that the rider should be priced off expectations not past returns. Look at Farrar and F. Schleck last year. Terrible efficiency at the start of the year – but they put huge total points with a great efficiency.
My theory is pick your riders you want without looking at their price, drop the ones who are unreasonably expensive and fill in the holes with bargains like Chavanel and Feillu
"Oh man, it’s going to take days to kill all these people!"
of course if you pick the RIGHT 6-pointers then all is well
I didn’t come at this looking at the average returns, I did just what you did – looking at what I thought of individual riders. I just ended up feelng that many of the 6-pointers I looked at were overpriced – it’s only just know that I see the stats.
Cream of the Crap
I’m so used to mediocrity in this damn competition that I named this year’s team after my usual results.
That being said, this year I rolled out the riders that I want to cheer on with no GC guy to speak of unless Vino has some amazing stored blood products comeback year.
Other riders who have little chance of winning anything big will often win many of the smaller competitions so for these meager points I have chosen two of my all time favorite riders Thomas Voeckler and Jimmy Casper.
Kenny Van Hummell, for his amazing ride last year in the tour, earned a place on the team.
Bryce Filieu and Roman Filieu because the other set of brothers was too expensive.
Nick Nuyens, Sylwester Szmyd, Dimitry Fofonov, Perrick Fedrigo, Karston Kroon and Stijn Devolder because I pick them every year. (Who can resist cheering on Fofonov? These names just roll off the tongue.)
This is the first time I’ve had Jens! on my team. I have high hopes for him this year.
I picked Martjin Masskant because his name makes me think of meerkats, I hope he keeps popping up out of nowhere so far he’s my only point earner.
Sammy Sanchez, who the hell knows why I picked him. I don’t follow him much so there you go. Sanchez is my “why the hell did I pick you” guy.
Mark Renshaw, ’cause he has brass ones.
Roman Kreuziger, Janez Brajkovic, Heinrich Haussler, Maxime Monfort and Gerald Ciolek have all had promising seasons, hoping one or a few of these guys will pull some points for the team.
My new guys are Tejay Van Garderen and Taylor Phinney, good riding to them both.
Last but not least, my one pointers John-Lee Augustin and Johnnie Walker.
Strategy, we don’t got no stinkin’ strategy!
Hope you all have fun playing. xo bethie
I asked myself, why is that frisbee getting bigger, and then it hit me.
I'm going to cheer for your team just on the comment about Mark Renshaw alone :)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
You and me Seahorse
a beautifull season !!!
I asked myself, why is that frisbee getting bigger, and then it hit me.
I have Johnnie Walker Too :)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Wheelies in the Gutter
Some old and some new this year. I continued by basic approach of picking guys I like and want to root for and guys that I want to watch more closely. I’m also looking for value and someone likely to be on an ‘up’ year. To wit:
J-Rod- Classy rider, who now out of ValvPiti’s shadow, will perform from the Ardennes to the Vuelta.
Cadel- Former Mtb-er and all around badass. His battle against the curse of the Rainbow Jersey last year was epic. Save for breaking something in the TdF, he kicked it’s ass. I would have picked him this year if he had climbed off the bike after the Giro stage 17 last year and never ridden again.
Pozzato- I paid more form him last year and he got hurt. I could not pass him up at a cheaper price this year. If he gets rolling, he could win a Monument and podium on another.
Oscarito-I think he’s the coolest rider out there. As long as he rides, he has a place on my team. Won two Monuments last year and it was an off year. I so want him to win a 4th WC.
Igor Anton-Won my heart with his Vuelta ride last year.
Menchov- Has won GT’s in the past and could win again. Carried my Ed Liga team on his back a few years ago. Class act.
Barbie-(see Pozz) I paid for him last year and he was lame, just trying to get my investment back this year. I like him too; will not stop trying.
Moncoutie- Cleanest guy in the peloton. Can make any KOM competition that he want his own.
Boom- Dutch Hegemony
Ballan- Is due a good year.
Chava- French and tres classy. Any rider on QS can be a threat.
Gadret- Climby French dude who rode well last year. I’d had him on my squad years ago and he rode like my aunt. Maybe I get some payback this year.
Degenkolb-Young stud, has been winning early. Fun to watch.
Tschopp- Climby Mtb-er. Steady progress at the Giro. Break-out year?
Guesdon- Won Paris-Roubaix.
M. Matthews- New kid. Should be fun to watch.
SIcard- On my last year’s list of guys to pick this year.
Aerts- Like Guesdon, an old guy that won a Classic (FW, in his case)
Champion- His name is ‘Champion’. What more can I say? He also rides a mean TT.
Van Impe- Royal pedigree. Also, see Chava re: QS ability to manufacture wins out of thin air.
Ignatenko,Navardauskas,Nizzolo,Txurruka- Impressive young guys I want to pull for. Also some really cool names there.
There you have it, more intuition than logic. Now that would be a goon team name…
There were a lot of fresh cowboys in the peloton and it was a nervous fuss. Tomekke
Well, at least you have Oscarito
Who are you gonna pick when he retires?
I think goon team name is appropros, ne cest pas?
I asked myself, why is that frisbee getting bigger, and then it hit me.
I do like the goon name.
Apres Oscat, le deluge.
There were a lot of fresh cowboys in the peloton and it was a nervous fuss. Tomekke
eastern block
For some unknown reason (perhaps a fascination with Dr. Strangelove and the Cold War era), I chose riders who were born behind the iron curtain, or close to it if you include the former Yugoslavia, and a couple born after 1990, mainly so I could include Sagan. Stacked the team with East Germans (Greipel, T. Martin, Kloden), Russians (Kolobnev, Gusev, Karpets, Ivanov, Ignatiev), and Kazaks (M. Iglinsky, but not Vino — he was too expensive, and I think his best days are behind him). Also have Kreuziger, Grivko, Spilak, P. Velits and lots of others with Slavic names. I’ve always been a Kloden fan, hope he can ride for himself this year. I originally also had Pavel Brutt, but he got cut. Stupid move. Also passed on Menchov, even though I like the guy. I think being left out of the ProTour is going to hurt his results, and he was kinda expensive.
Tony Martin went to West Germany at age of 6
you should chose young Germans like Gretsch, Kittel and Degenkolb for they all come from Thüringer :p
Acido Lattico Cycling Team
Basso—-TdF
Scarponi—-Giro
Anton—-Vuelta
These are my predictions for GTs; I think they can win in each races, or at least get the podiums.
Boasson Hagen—-all around
Carrara—-classics+stages
Voeckler—-c+s
Cunego—-c+s
Machado—-top stage races (and maybe GT)
Sagan—-c+tsr
Oss—-c
Taaramae—-c
Chavanel—-c+s
Ballan—-c+s
Peraud—-tsr
Van Garderen—-tsr
Egoi Matinez—-s
Gadret—-s
F.Masciarelli—-young
Felline—-young
Soler—-Jolly if reborn
These are my “all season” riders: they can win fron march to october… so I can enjoy (quite) every races in front of TV.
Haussler, Guardini, Viviani, Galimzyanov, Matthews.
These are my sprinters… but I think I’m too weak here… my big hope is the russian… I expect a lot of points from him (costs only 2).
Good luck everyone! :-)
I have all the same sprinters
So I don’t think you are too weak there! Oh, maybe a little bit – I picked Arashiro too from Europcar. I thought he could win all the races Greipel won last year and maybe another TdF stage
And I have Degenkolb too
I know lots of people are going for Chavez and saying he’s cheap but he was a beneficiary of Canc shutting down that TdF stage. I’m not a believer for this year.
about Chava
ok for TdF, but in my little opinion he’s still a good man in classics too.
about Degenkolb: good rider too, but always in my opinion he’s the fourth sprinter of the team after Cav, Goss and Renshaw… How much space will it have?
Agree on Chavanel.
platypus: the reason people think he’s cheap is because he scored 675 points in ‘08 and 818 in ’09 before fracturing his skull last year and missing a lot of races. When not injured, he gets points in both classics and stage races, so it’s reasonable to expect Good Things this year.
I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen
renshaw is always with Cav
Degenkolb is brought up as a cobbles rider at least this year.
I mean, if you want to choose a rider maybe you should go to have a look at his schedule.
for Degenkolb, in January, is
Februar
06.-10.02.2011 Challenge Ciclista a Mallorca (Spanien)
16.-20.02.2011 Volta ao Algarve (Portugal)
26.02.2011 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite (Belgien)
März
16.03.2011 Nokere-Koerse (Belgien)
23.03.2011 Dwars door Vlaanderen / A travers la Flandre (Belgien)
29.-31.03.2011 KBC-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde (Belgien)
April
06.04.2011 Scheldeprijs (Belgien)
10.04.2011 Paris – Roubaix (Frankreich)
17.04.2011 Amstel Gold Race (Niederlande)
Mai
01.05.2011 Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt
22.05.2011 Skoda Velothon Berlin
25.-29.05.2011 Bayern-Rundfahrt
Juni
05.-12.06.2011 Critérium du Dauphiné (Frankreich)
24.-26.06.2011 Deutsche Meisterschaften
It is changed after Algarve I believe. Now, it is:
März
04.-06.03.2011Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen (Belgien)
23.03.2011Dwars door Vlaanderen / A travers la Flandre (Belgien)
29.-31.03.2011KBC-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde (Belgien)
April
03.04.2011Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres (Belgien)
10.04.2011Paris – Roubaix (Frankreich)
17.04.2011Amstel Gold Race (Niederlande)
Mai
01.05.2011Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt
22.05.2011Skoda Velothon Berlin
25.-29.05.2011Bayern-Rundfahrt
Juni
05.-12.06.2011Critérium du Dauphiné (Frankreich)
24.-26.06.2011Deutsche Meisterschaften
you can see it is mainly about classics. No P-N or T-A. And no G-W that HTC really cares about. The semi-classics he takes part in is not Goss skilled in. For RVV, PR and AGR, HTC have any rider that could be called a really faviourite. It is good for Degenkolb to earn experience. Races in May all in Germany so he is the protected riders if his form and position all are in the right place. The squad of HTC in Dauphiné is alway weaker than TDS. In fact, the race calendar of Degenkolb is good for this kid.
HTC really doesnt expect him to become another sprinter. Either does Degenkolb. He was 3rd in U23 RVV and hope win PR one day.
Correct! But...
I do not criticize those who pick him in team, but the rookie’s year is always very hard, especially in the classics, where the experience is very important ’cause you have to ride near “old lions” like Cancellara, Boonen, Pozzato, etc…
However, I will be happy to be proved wrong. Good luck.
but there is still some small races like
these three races in Germany.
At first I think Omloop Het Volk is also too hard for him. But he handled it well.
I didnt expect him to become Sagan Second, but I believe he will get 200+ if he keeps healthy. He is a beast and a smart kid.
It is the races that go beyond 200km that will probably be his bane...
Seeing as that is the farthest you usually ride in the U23 ranks. Usually races don’t go more than 180km so I can see why he was almost in tears.
by Vlaanderen90 on Mar 1, 2011 10:44 AM EST up reply actions
Lets see if I can explain my picks
Basso and Nibali – GTs, I think Basso is the most likely to prosper from a Contador less TdF and I think the Giro this year is Nibali’s. I also just like him as a rider.
EBH, Haussler, Chavanel, will gather points through out the year and should all improve on last years totals.
Rogers – should do very well on the week long races now he will be free from GT duty.
Roche – Consistent point scorer in the GTs
Swift, Thomas, Downing, Blythe, Dowsett – these guys were all mainly picked because they are British and I had heard of them. Hopefully they will all improve on last year.
Millar, British and likely to pick up points in TTs and breakaways.
Ballan, Bole, JJ Haedo – all 6-pointers who I thought could improve greatly on last year’s points.
Eijssen, Betancourt, Di Gregorio, Kwiatkowski, Vandousselaere – all youngsters I hope will do well based on the very small amount of research I did.
Gadret, I was surpirsed how low he was priced and how few points he got last year for a rider I had heard of!
Ruben Plaza and Egoi Martinez, both under-priced I thought and i need a couple of Spaniards for the SSSRs and Vuelta.
And Degenkolb
because I heard he was tipped for great things
OK here's mine
I went for young guys (hence the name “Someoftheseguysaresoyoungyallmustthinkimapaedophile”) and guys who should do better this year thn previous years
*Gesink (18) Obvious choice, races all year long and should be a bit stronger than last year. If he is as good in fall as last year, he should score me a lot of points.
*Anton & Menchov (12) my men for the GT’s and smaller stage races. Two bargains at 12 points IMO.
*Haussler (12) my main classics guy, hoping for some extra points left and right in summer and fall.
*Iglinsky (10) I have no idea why I chose him at 10 points, regret it already
*Peter Velits (10) hoping he’s a bit stronger than last year and scores in some smaller stage races too. Risky choice because 10 points is a lot for him.
*Dan Martin (10) did great things for me last season. Seemed real strong in fall, and without allergies, I’m hoping he scores even more this year. Should be worth 10 points.
*Rojas Gil (8) my most expensive sprinter, but with so many stage races in Spain all year long…
*Roche (8) hoping for good results in stage races and GT’s.
*Van Avermaet (8) should have a great fall as always and I’m hoping the new team gives him the motivation to ride like his first season with the pro’s. If he’s in shape he can finish top 10 in virtually any race (except mountain stages). His first job is to score me some points in the classics.
*Van Garderen, Mollema & Kiserlovski (6) young guys that can do well in smaller stage races and perhaps a GT too. Hoping Van garderen scores a bit in the Ardennes too. Dunno what role Kiserlovski is going to play at Astana, but last year Giro convinced me to take him.
*Intxausti (4) This will be his breakthrough year, a bargain.
*Oss (4) third classics guy.
*Rujano & Serpa (2) will make me a happy man during the Giro. Should be able to score in other Italian races too. Bargains.
*Matthews (2) the new Sagan?
*Hermans (2) should score me some points in the Ardennes.
*Felline (2) god knows where Geox will be allowed to start, but he’s a talented rider and I’m hoping for a few good results. Unfortunately not much cobbles for him this year.
*Howard (2) Viviani & Guardini (1) the young sprinters on the team.
*Duarte and Monsalve (1) talented youngsters who can score in smaller stage races. Duarte should be fast enough to score a couple of stage wins too. Hoping he’ll become one of the big surprises this year.
I’m hoping to score all year long and finish somewhere in the middle of the bunch. My biggest problem is the fact that I have 3 Geox riders and 2 Androni guys. No guarantee for GT tickets so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
I need closure
My main strategy is to get big chunks of points from a few fairly priced leaders. I plan to do this by avoiding guys that specialize in the Tour and focus on potential Giro-Vuelta candidates, particularly if they also ride the Ardennes. I noticed that I wanted nothing to do with a lot of the riders in the 16-18 range and the 6-8 range. I felt a disproportionate amount of those riders were too risky to for me to taking at such high prices.
The two hardest decisions for me were:
1. Excluding Visconti from my team. I wanted him for months, and then decided he wasn’t worth 12 points with all the other options and because I thought he may not get race invites. He already had FW and LBL before the deadline (and the time I submitted) and has since got the nod for AGR and is scoring in everything in site.
2. I went with Cavendish over J-Rod as my 24 pointer+ rider. I thought that Cavendish could do better than last year at MSR and Worlds (perhaps even score this time!) and that he missed a lot of points with his dental surgery mishap and his emotional rollercoaster pre-tour. The truth is I like having the prohibitive favorite in certain disciplines because it gives my VDS team a strong rooting interest even if I don’t love the guy. For similar reasons I wager against my favorite teams in the playoffs, I consider it a mix between “buying” victories and insurance that compensates me for any disappointment or heartbreak they may cause me. Rooting for Cav in the sprints is like backing the house in Vegas, and my VDS team finds this oddly comforting. However, J-Rod is the poster boy for my general strategy, and if he scores more points than Cav by a significant margin or has a monster season I may weep.
*24 Cavendish, had him last year at 28, he somewhat underperformed but I enjoyed the experience. He is for points cheaper and I don’t think he could possibly do worse than 2010 this year (in VDS).
*20 Boonen, my main cobbles guy. Like with Cav he gives me a favorite on the cobbles, which are races that in general I do not feel it pays to invest in in VDS. Wish he would sprint for lesser placings and try to score in smaller races though. I understand why he does what he does, but it frustrates me as a VDS owner.
*14 Kreuziger, I love that he is not targeting the Tour and hope he ends up riding the Vuelta instead of working for Vino. People say that the Giro is too climby for him, but he looked good in the Vuelta and I am not so sure anyone in the Giro is explosive enough to blow him up.
*12 Anton, provides very good value. Should ride Giro and could easily win Vuelta.
*12 Menchov, he better get that Giro invite. I think he will do well enough even if the courses don’t suit him.
*12 Goss, I think he is an exciting young rider who can pick up points in the SSR/B-team sprints that Greipel vacated but also score in the classics. He should be the guy the Cyclones lead out in Copenhagen IMO unless he is injured or ill or someone else is on the form of their life.
*10 Cunego, he needs to return to previous season’s form or I will regret taking him and not Visconti.
*6 Sastre, he should do enough to justify his spot, although he is outclassed at this age and his team still needs the Giro invite.
*6 Boom, I believe in you Lars!
*4 Bos, Oss, Hoogerland, Ciolek. I feel most of these guys should prove their worth. I like Oss a lot.
*2 Poels, Matthews, Degenkolb, Lagutin, Galimzyanov, Kashechkin. Lagutin better win the Uzbek nats. I felt really dirty taking Kashechkin, like my team was now tainted.
*1 Deignan, Seeldraeyers, Masciarelli, Guardini, Viviani, Kluge. Some hopeful you talents and some guys that I hope are not already has-beens.
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