Fantasy Directeur Sportif Challenge

In order of preference:

VAN GARDEREN Tejay
TALANSKY Andrew
DE GENDT Thomas
IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka
FUGLSANG Jakob
ROCHE Nicholas
ROY Jérémy
VOIGT Jens
RIBLON Christophe

with
TIERNAN-LOCKE Jonathan
ZANDIO ECHAIDE Xabier
SCHLECK Andy

as reserves in case anyone drops out before Monday.
I have a feeling Sky will be pushing Porte's cause at the expense of JTL and Xandio again, and stone dead last doesn't earn WT points...

thanks

In the meantime I get 1st and 2nd at a non WT, non Fantasy race...

After slipping up on day one, Fuglsang has been careful to not accidentally end up in the top ten and score some more WT points. The rest of the team seem to be happy supporting this by also riding just outside the top 20.

Thanks heavens for Fabian. I only hope falling yesterday hasn't spoilt this weekend.

And Laurent Pichon keeps churning out top 10s in the Continental 1 days. I'm trying to work out if that's promising or not given that he's 26 and in his 4th season. At least he's consistent, and showing the jersey in places I hadn't anticipated.

Speaking of which, here;s my team for Romandie:

Astarloza, Roy, Talansky, Cav, Rasch, Hoogerland, de Gendt.

Which is thinner than I thought it might be.

Sorry I've not be around much the last couple of weeks, been travelling with work, so I've not had much time to do anything with my team, as reflected by my plummet down the Spring Classics competition board. I'm pretty sure I've not had a full team at any of the recent races, so that's a bit poor. Anyway now I'm back, hopefully I'll get some time to focus on the Giro.

oops. forgot I needed to pick a team. Hmmmm tough,. Seeing as I seem to have picked too many TdF riders....

Sprinters
Cav
Kittel

GC
TJ
Talansky
Fuglsang
de Gendt

KOM
Gorka Iazgirre
Roche

And of course
Jens Voigt. How could I leave him out?

So, the Tour is over, and my main goal of the year is passed. Looking ahead, new goals, and next year, how we carry on this experiment. But for now, how have the team done?

First off the Tour review

[h1]Tour de France[/h1]

7 Stages, the first, the last and the double climb of Alpe d'Huez.
2 riders in the top 10
4 most combative rider on stage awards, and the most combative rider in the race

10 stages where we were represented in the breakaways
Pretty much every stage, there's been some reason to mention one of the team, which pleases the sponsors.

[h2]Stages[/h2]
Stage 1 – Marcel Kittel 1st
Stage 5 – Cav 1st.
Stage 6, Kittel 3rd, Cav 4th
Stage 9 Fuglsang 2nd
Stage 10, Kittel 1st, Cav 3rd
Stage 11, de Gendt 3rd, Roy 8th
Stage 12, Kittel 1st, Cav 2nd,
Stage 13, Cav 1st, Fuglsang 4th
Stage 15, Fuglsang 7th
Stage 16, Riblon 2nd, Astarloza 7th
Stage 17 Fuglsang 8th, Talansky 9th van Garderen 10th
Stage 18 Riblon 1st, van Garderen 2nd, Fuglsang 10th
Stage 20 Talansky 6th
Stage 21 Kittel 1st Cav 3rd

[h2]Jerseys[/h2]
Kittel Yellow, Green and White after stage 1, Green after Stage 2

[h2]Breakaways[/h2]
de Gendt Stage 5
Voigt stage 7
Hoogerland and Riblon stage 8
Fuglsang stage 9
Cav and Roche in the 1st echelon stage 13
Voigt, Talansky, van garderen stage 14
Riblon and Roy, stage 15
Riblon, Roche, Astarloza, de Gendt, Hoogerland stage 16
van Garderen, Riblon, Voigt stage 18
Voigt stage 20 **, van Garderen, Riblon

[h2]Most Combative[/h2]
de Gendt stage 5
Cav stage 13
Riblon stage 18
Voigt stage 20
Overall Riblon

[h2]Other points[/h2]
[h3]mountain points[/h2]
5. de Gendt 2,1,1
7. Voigt 1,3
9. De Gendt 5 Fuglsang 8
14. Voigt 1, van Garderen 1, Talansky 1
15. de Gendt 1, Roy 2, Riblon 1
16. Hoogerland 5, Riblon 2
18. Riblon 1, 20, 3, 50 Voigt 2, 14, 2, van Garderen 16, 5, 40, Fuglsang 4
19 Riblon 16, Hoogerland 4
20 Voigt 2, 10, Riblon 1, 4 van Garderen 1, Talansky 20

[h3]intermediate sprint points[/h3]
1. Cav 9
2. Cav 8, Kittel 2
3. Kittel 10, Cav 8
5. de Gendt 20, Cav 6
6. Cav 17
8. Hoogerland 20, Riblon 13, Cav 9, de Gendt 5
9. de Gendt 20,
10. Cav 8, de Gendt 3
12 Cav 10
13 Cav 17
14 Voigt 10, van Garderen 5, Talansky 2
15 Roy 11, Riblon 7, Cav 5
16 de Gendt 20, Hoogerland 17, Riblon 9
18 Riblon 15, van Garderen 11, Voigt 9, Roche 5
20 Riblon 17, Voigt 10, Astarloza 8, Cav 4

[h2]Overall GC[/h2]
Fuglsang 7th
Talansky 10th
Schleck 20th
Riblon 37th
Roche 40th
Astarloza 42nd
TJ 45th
Voigt 67th
de Gendt 96th
Hoogerland 101st
Roy 126th
Cav 148th
Kittel 166th

[h1]Year to date[/h1]

As for the year to date, I laid out some goals early on:

robdaykin wrote:

For me the team goal is to entertain the spectators, so lots of breaks, lots of combative riding and pleasing the sponsors. Targetted races are the 1 day races and GTs. GT goals will vary but I'd be happy with 1 overall jersey and 1 top 10 GC finish plus say 6-10 GT stages through the year (well I have got Cav). Any more and I'll be hanging out a car window like Marc Madiot

Rider goals - more to be added later after I've 'talked' to the riders. These are hopefully close to the actual rider goals.

Cav in yellow day one and green overall at the TdF.
Cancellara to lose weight and work on beating Gilbert rather than Martin
Voigt to get in every break and have fun
JTL for the Ardennes Classics and the Vuelta
Talansky Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie, TdF top 10

Taking the individual goals first, how has it gone?
Cav – failed on specific targets. Due to circumstances, but how can I be disappointed? Kittel brought home the yellow, green and white jerseys on Stage 1, and bookended it on the Champs Elysee. As a DS, job done. As a British cycling fan, less ecstatic, but for the team, this actually is a success. On the positive side for Cav he's riding in the national champs Jersey, and has won the Green Jersey at the Giro, numerous stages, and I really can't complain, nor I suspect can he, though he probably will at some point.
Cancellara – success what a classics season. No Tour, but to be honest he's only ever been there for TT stages and as a super domestique for the Schlecks. He seems to have prospered away from the GT races and I'm looking forward to the World Champs where he'll be taking on the TT in the Swiss champs Jersey, again.
Voigt – success Never had a doubt. Most combative stage 20, multiple breakaways, lots of camera time. Job done
JTL – failed doesn't seem to have prospered with Sky, possibly as predicted. They seem to have decided he needs making into a standard Sky team domestique instead of taking advantage of his talent. So all in all a fail.
Talansky – success Paris Nice yep, Romandie not so hot, TdF 10th job done.

And for the others?

Appollonio disappointing– hoped he'd prosper post Sky, but he's had more DNFs than Andy. He seems to be having a bad year, and has not delivered as I'd hoped so far.
Riblon success – anonymous, silent, hardly raced before the Tour. Then came the Tour. Most combative rider, first French stage winner on the iconic Alpe d'Huez stage. Am I happy? Find me a car window to hang out of
Marcel Kittel success – early on in the year I thought the team mechanic had fitted a compact chainset by mistake, but then the wins started to come. Not when I'd have liked, but the Tour has paid off for all, with even Cav praising Marcel's sprint.
Fuglsang success – I was wondering if his mouth had run away with him last year, but come the Tour, he's pulled off a top 10 in style. Riding a long break with Martin, and then never quite being strong enough in the mountains, but never failing either. A consistent ride with a fair result. We'll ignore his early form.
Iglinsky good - not as good in the Classics as hoped, but a couple of palmares this year, and some good domestique riding. Not set the world alight, but more than satisfactory.
Hushovd ok – has definitely lost the top end speed, and seems to be taking his time finding some form. Not the points earner I'd hoped for.
Schar good – seems to be taking his pointers from Hushovd. Fortunately at the Swiss champs, Hushovd wasn't there, so Schar was able to take the win. A disappointing TdF, but at least we saw the Jersey.
TJ success – he tried to get the team ticket from Cadel, and he seemed to be onto a good thing, till the Giro. During the Tour he seems to have started badly and improved with time. His ride on the Alpe d'Huez stage was fantastic, and only perhaps undone by his earlier mechanical on the stage. Having given up on GC, he's read the team mandate and ridden in an exemplary fashion.
Astarloza good – I wanted a road captain, and I'd say he's done that job.
Izagirre ok – strong early season, but seems to be out of form. Maybe we'll see him at the Vuelta
Pichon good – brought in as a domestique, but has won some minor races. Promising as a third sprinter maybe, but on the whole has done his job
Roux good – brought in for Tour breakaways, hasn't ridden the TdF, but has been active throughout the restof the year, riding breakaways and placing well in minor stage races.
Roy good – has done well in ITTs this year, riding well in the Tour. Been seen in the breakaways, and all in all what I wanted.
Cattaneo ok – a learning year. Nothing bad to say, and no surprises.
Dowsett success – unlike Appollonio has thrived away from Sky. I'm very pleased with his performances, and the ITT in the Giro was the icing on the cake.
Gutierrez poor – perhaps another rider for the Vuelta?
Schleck good – has had a tough time, but his riding in the Tour has shown signs of a return to riding well, if not brilliantly. Written off by many, he's looking more comfortable, and in another year I'd expect him to be back at the front.
Roche good – super domestique, but possibly not well used by Saxo.
Sorenson good – another super domestique, but has not shone this year.
Zandio good – Another domestique, doing the domestique job with no sparkle but lots of effort.
de Gendt good – has been criticised for his lack of GC success in the Tour, but he obviously read the team manifesto, and I'm more than happy.
Hoogerland success – goal has really been get fit, and get back. He's back and has been attacking on the Tour, riding breakaways in his Dutch national Jersey. Something Gesink, Mollema and Ten Dam for all their GC aspirations aren't wearing. I'm pleased.

And as a team it has Definitely gone to plan. We're into double figure GT stage wins, Cav brought back the Green Jersey from Italy, and Fabian has shone in the Classics. We've worn our jerseys with pride, we've got 5 National Jerseys in the team, we've ridden aggressively in breakaways and won combativity awards. We've exceeded expectations so far.
Are we going to win the WT or fantasy points battles? Nope. Did we expect to? Nope. Have we had a good run so far? H*ll yes!

Clasica San Sebastian:

Andrew Talansky (GRM)
Jakob Fuglsang (AST)
Thomas De Gendt (VCD)
Anthony Roux (FDJ)
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (SKY)
Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (EUS)
Mikel Astarloza (EUS)
Johnny Hoogerland (VCD)
Maxim Iglinsky

Tour of Poland
Riblon
Cancellara
Hushovd
Sorenson

Unless you organise a chat room with all 10 players, and do the picks interactively in a small number of sessions that translates into 300 posts/emails/online spreadsheet updates, each dependent on the last, and that could take a very long time to do. An auction could take even longer.

You could speed it up using software, but I suspect that might remove some of the fun element.