The Basics:

• Each team will have to select 25 riders, using up to 150 points in the process.

• The only other rule at the outset is that you cannot have more than two riders worth 20 points or more. This eliminates the 4 grand tour studs and 21 scrubs strategy. Frankly, I could be talked out of this, but I dunno, I think it lacks creativity, and doesn't really resemble how teams are built. At least, not since the 2004 T-Mobile squad... and we all know how that ended.

• Submit your team by Wednesday, February 27, 2008 via email to podiumcafe@yahoo.com vdsentry2008@yahoo.com. As usual, if you send it in early, any last-minute changes are due by the same deadline. Update [2008-1-17 15:33:46 by chris]: Don't forget to include your nom de blog with your submittal.

How it will work:

• This will be your team for the entire 2008 season. Earlier I posted the races that will be included in the competition. N.b.: the grand tours will have separate prizes for winners, we hope, but will NOT be scored separately in a second competition. We will have one unified VDS in 2008. It's all about the unity.

• During the season, you will not need to turn in a roster for each race. Rather, the top nine scores all points by guys on your 25-man roster will count towards your haul. Another reason not to pick 15 guys based on their potential performance at the Tour.

• I will come up with a substitution policy before Het Volk. I think it'll be a little more liberal than last year, but will listen to ideas about it.[editor's note, by chris] The substitution policy is... no substitutions.

• I said I wanted to try to let people participate in grand tours only if they join the party late, but am a little flummoxed about how to do it. So for now don't assume I'll come up with something. Basically, the dilemma is how to let people compete on a level playing field if they get to pick a team in June. Do I give them a short list of riders to choose from? I'd like to at least do this for the Tour, but again, am open to ideas about how to do so without messing up the year-long VDS, our top priority.

• Update [2008-1-15 23:43:29 by chris]: The scoring system has been posted, see the next post.

• Finally: as always, this contest is completely free and open to anyone who bothers to register a pseudonym at the Podium Cafe. No actual information required. Name your team and assign a DS. One entry per person, please. [And if you see anything that looks patently stupid, let me know asap.]

Rider values on the flip!

First, a word about the rationale here: these values roughly track the Cycling Quotient points standings from last year. Not the perfect system, but close enough, and considering how each rider's points tend to vary wildly from one year to the next, it's not worth fretting over small point values, IMHO. Also, I wanted to use something objective; I think the mistake I've made in the past was to try to project how guys will do, and what you ended up with was Chris Fontecchio's Favorite Riders, in order. Not good... or accurate.

That said, riders have been moved around, particularly in the top three brackets, to try to make the choices harder. Other guys were moved up if their '07 points scores were unusually low (think Hincapie, Rogers, other injured guys). Also, I took the U25 studs and sprinkled them around the scale, somewhat randomly... otherwise they'd all be bargain picks, and would show up on 85% of the rosters.

OK, have at it!

25
Cadel Evans
Alejandro Valverde
Alberto Contador
Oscar Freire
Denis Menchov
Tom Boonen

20
Alessandro Petacchi
Levi Leipheimer
Daniele Bennati
Danilo DiLuca
Ricardo Ricco
Alessandro Ballan
Fabian Cancellara

---------------------

18
Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez
Andy Schleck
Damiano Cunego
Jens! Voigt
Paolo Bettini
Davide Rebellin
Thomas Dekker

16
Kim Kirchen
Vlad Gusev
Vlad Karpets
Erik Zabel
Robbie McEwen
Filippo Pozzato
Stefan Schumacher
Stuart O'Grady
Thor Hushovd
Carlos Sastre
Frank Schleck
Andreas Kloden
Marcus Burghardt

14
JJ Cobo Acebo
Alessandro Bertolini
Franco Pellizotti
Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver
Fabian Wegmann
Danilo Napolitano
Vincenzo Nibali
Christophe Moreau
Mark Cavendish
Luca Mazzanti
Vlad Efimkin

12
Baden Cooke
Robbie Hunter
Gilberto Simoni
Gerald Ciolek
Philippe Gilbert
Jose Ivan Gutierrez Palacios
Stijn Devolder
Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez
Wouter Weylandt
Update [2008-1-16 3:11:15 by chris]: Martin Elminger
David Lopez Garcia
Gert Steegmans
Allan Davis
Leonardo Piepoli
Leif Hoste
Nick Nuyens
George Hincapie
Michael Rogers

10
Tadej Valjavec
Robert Gesink
Greg Van Avermaet
Steven De Jongh
Igor Anton Hernandez
Alexandr Kolobnev
Romain Feillu
Leonardo Bertagnolli
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Graeme Brown
Gustav Erik Larsson
JJ Rojas Gil
John Gadret
Francisco Mancebo Perez
Giovanni Visconti
Thomas Voeckler
Tom Danielson

8
Daniel Moreno Fernandez
Chris Horner
David Millar
Matteo Carrara
Evgeni Petrov
Stefan Van Dijk
JJ Haedo
Xavier Tondo Volponi
Luca Paolini
Mikhael Ignatiev
Janez Brajkovic
Yaroslav Popovych
Paolo Savoldelli

6
Jose Angel Gomez Marchante
Eladio Jimenez Sanchez
Vasil Kiryienka
Oscar Sevilla
Linus Gerdemann
Stef Clement
Joaquim Barbosa Candido
Maarten Tjallingii
Mikel Astarloza
Matti Breschel
Bernhardt Eisel
Stefano Garzelli
Bert Grabsch
Christian Pfannenberger
Janek Tombak
Manuel Beltran Martinez
Juan Antonio Flecha
Pierrick Fedrigo
Paul Martens
Haimar Zubeldia Agirre
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
Koldo Gil Perez
Sebastian Chavanel
Andreas Klier
Remy DiGregorio
Bernhardt Kohl
Magnus Backstedt
Juan Manuel Garate
Thomas Lovkvist

4
Bert De Waele
Angel Vicioso Arcos
Sebastien Rosseler
Anthony Charteau
Enrico Gasparotto
Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi
Roman Kreuziger
Bobby Julich
Marzio Bruseghin
Fortunato Baliani
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Eddy Mazzoleni
David Zabriskie
Tomas Vaitkus
Emanuele Sella
Pavel Brutt
Alexandre Usov
Sylvester Szmyd
Sylvain Chavanel
Peter Velits
Leonardo Duque
Koldo Fernandez De Larrea
Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez
Dimitri Champion
Jose Rujano
Sebastian Lang
Nicholas Roche
Rene Haselbacher
Oscar Gatto
Stephan Schreck
Gianni Meersman
Heinrich Haussler
Dominique Cornu
Dmitriy Fofonov
Pietro Caucchioli
Robert Forster
Francesco Chicchi
Lars Bak
Benoit Vaugrenard
Chris Anker Sorensen
Lars Boom
Matthieu Ladagnous
Nico Eeckhout
Nicki Sorensen
Sandy Casar
Jimmy Casper

2
Kanstantin Siutsou
Roger Hammond
Patxi Vila Errandonea
Gregory Rast
Mikhaylo Khalilov
Gorik Gardeyn
Gabriele Bosisio
Roy Sentjens
Hector Guerra Garcia
Alexandre Efimkin
Ariel Maximilliano Richeze
Alexandre Botcharov
Johan Van Summeren
Martyn Maaskant
Borut Bozic
Steffen Radochla
Rinaldo Nocentini
Carlos Barredo Llamazales
Christian Vandevelde
Ludovic Turpin
Manuele Mori
Andy Capelle
Marco Marcato
Marco Pinotti
Daniele Pietropolli
Jose Miguel Elias Galindo
Ruslan Pidgornyy
Vicente Reynes Mimo
Oscar Pereiro Sio
Thomas Rohregger
Jeremy Hunt
Christian Murro
Murilo Fischer
Maxime Monfort
Laurens Ten Dam
Luis Perez Rodriguez
Massimo Giunti
Santo Anza
David Rodriguez Blanco
Luke Roberts
Javier Benitez Pomares
Remi Pauriol
Pablo Lastras Garcia
Jerome Pineau
Bram Tankink
Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez
Alberto Fernandez de la Puebla
Jose Azevedo
Moises Duenas
Staf Schierlinckx
Andrea Noe
Dario Cioni
David Kopp
Simon Gerrans
Karsten Kroon
Manuel Quinziato
Xavier Florencio Cabre
Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez
Brad Wiggins
Jason McCartney
Daniele Nardello
Mario Aerts
Andre Greipel
William Bonnet
Paolo Bossoni
Paride Grillo
Alberto Loddo
Bert Roesems
Markus Fothen
Lorenzo Bernucci
Erki Putsep
Darren Lapthorne
Kevin Hulsmans

Anyone not listed here: 1 point