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Look here for last year's story. First off, let's get to the list. Afterwards let's have some fun with it. The list below I took from this year's VDS pricelist and it contains all of the riders, below the age of 25 as of Het Volk Ghent-Ghent, who are priced this year at four points or more. After their name is their age, the VDS price, and their VDS score last year. That's 19 21 riders, only four fewer riders than Chris listed last year, and these 20 riders aren't just future hopes. These guys are already good- and theyll be joined by more than a couple new guys this year.
Mark Cavendish 23 20 913
Andy Schleck 23 16 800
Robert Gesink 22 16 1077
Thomas Lovkvist 24 14 865
Greg Van Avermaet 23 14 785
Thomas Dekker 24 12 675
Roman Kreuziger 22 12 716
Gerald Ciolek 22 10 240
Rigoberto Uran 22 10 480
Matti Breschel 24 8 427
Vincenzo Nibali 24 6 399
Edvald Boasson Hagen 21 6 40
JJ Rojas 23 6 310
Bauke Mollema 22 4 60
Chris Anker Sorensen 24 4 190
Morris Possoni 24 4 327
Nicholas Roche 24 4 180
Romain Felliu 24 4 225
Sebastian Langeveld 4 165
Tyler Farrar 24 4 150
Wouter Weylandt 24 4 290
So in looking at this list I'm deciding to have some fun with it. Could one make a U-25 VDS team that 's competitive? Results are on the flip...
How's this for a team of 25 U-25's (name, VDS cost, VDS points earned last year). These guys below scored, what at least 7368 points last year and if you think they will score more this year then give yourself an A+. (I say "at least" because they actually scored more. Now who did the extra scoring... you can find out.)
Mark Cavendish 20 913
Andy Schleck 16 800
Robert Gesink 16 1077
Thomas Lovkvist 14 865
Thomas Dekker 12 675
Matti Breschel 8 427
Vincenzo Nibali 6 399
Edvald Boasson Hagen 6 40
JJ Rojas 6 310
Nicholas Roche 4 180
Bauke Mollema 4 60
Chris Anker Sorensen 4 190
Morris Possoni 4 327
Romain Felliu 4 225
Sebastian Langeveld 4 165
Tyler Farrar 4 150
Wouter Weylandt 4 290
Simon Spilak 2 185
Peter Velits 2 50
Jurgen Roelandts 2 70
Kenny Dehaes 2 140
Craig Lewis 2 90
Gianni Meersman 2 50
Mauro Finetto 1
Tom Stansnijder 1