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TdF initial thoughts?
Very excited about the race, and the prospects of Cav and Vroom. Picking fantasy teams has been a real struggle though! The way the values are calculated has (in my opinion) worked fairly well for the GC,AR,KM,PC guys, but unfortunately left very few bargains in the DS list - I'd have hoped for a lot more riders to be rated under 5 credits given the number of high-priced riders lining up. I know there's something factored in to the calculation to make sure the prices vary depending on the quality of the field, but I reckon its not worked out quite right for the Tour. Potential new players to the game may be put off by only being able to choose 2-3 of the riders they actually want!
But ho-hum, its the same for everyone - and actually its only purist that's a real problem - it might actually enhance the standard teams as we should see a lot of variation. 
My purist team currently has no GC guys at all - can't believe that's the way to go, but have yet to come up with a viable alternative!
How's everyone else finding it?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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Talking of white Jersey I'm thinking that Kittel or Bouhanni will have it after stage1,Sagan after stage 2-3,Dennis,Ramunas,Kwiatkowki or perhaps even EBH after the team time trial and then gradually Pinot,Talansky,Quintana and Tejay will catch and overtake on the real long steep climbs but that Kwia and Dennis could claw some back in the ITT's on all of those four barring Tejay which leads us to the obvious conclusion of Tejay as winner.....UNLESS of course Cadel's on good form and in the top 3 and Tejay has to sacrifice himself(although on last year's evidence on Tack-Day he may not do it!!) leaving it wide open and perhaps the most intriguing jersey competition?
Personally, I'd be appalled if Dave spent any time at all thinking about anything else!
Yeh, maybe some other factor could be added in, that reflects the number of races raced or such being, but im sure Daves already thinking of something for next year.
Yes but Delaplace scored pretty much all his points in the TdF if i remember correctly and in terms of fantasy races has not raced in many others, if any at all, therefore has a high success rate of scoring when he races, thus a pretty high price
Yeah, I get why the system has given him a high price, I'm just saying that it might be a sign that the system needs a couple of minor tweaks for next season. The reason he hasn't raced in many of the fantasy races is because he rides for a pro-continental team, and he isn't particularly good. However his price doesn't reflect that. (Same with a couple of his teammates, and some of the Europcar boys). No biggie, just thought I'd point it out.
Maybe, but I think Quintana is strong enough to still be up there, and once the ITT has gone, they will both attack anyway, and let Sky do the majority of the work. I think Quintana will do better than Rui Costa on the steepest stuff, whether he has to help Valverde or not, as I think we could have a Tejay/Cadel situation like last yeat, but we shall see
For purist, I am going for stage winners.
Plus a few who might join in breaks and fillers.
For std, my plan is to pick the top 3 plus yellow jersey for every other stage.and the rest are fillers and possible. Breakaways.
My purist has no GC riders and no Cav. As for standard I've gone through reams of paper working out different teams and none of them make sense
I've got a purist team sorted now which looks half decent but cant make my mind up between Faria Da Costa and Quintana.
Heart says one, head say's the other
One has a chance of being in the top 3 of white jersey, which probably gives away which one ive gone for
Ah yes forgot about the white jersey ! that makes my mind up but will they both have to sacrifice themselves for Valverde
I Thought about Mick RogeRs, But Decided No, Cos He Will Ride For AlberTo.
Age would be the tie-breaker for me on Rui/Quintana
I'd tell you what I think but it would ruin my masterplan for my std
As for purist , yellow green white contenders picked and a possible polka dot star depending on team orders .....
Purist: Froome, Clenbutador, Voeckler, Flecha and fillers.
Standard: That's the one I'm playing for so I'm keeping schtum.
The prices are definitely making this Tour the one to separate the men from the boys though. I suppose it's art imitating life.
I have three GC guys in my purist team but they not expensive ones. No flat sprinters at all, although I may Still change that.
My standard team is a mess, and I may clear it out and start again before Saturday. It is packed with fast guys at the moment which although I do not feel is wrong, might be overstretching myself. Challenging is the word I am looking for overall. But in a nice way too.
I think the game could benefit from being a bit harder. It gets boring when everybody can pick a strong team of 6-7 scoring riders by midway through the first week (like in recent tours). Personally I'm looking forward to racking up a nice collection of zeros before getting all excited when one of my DS'es actually does something.
Gone all French for my purist.
Standard no Sagan for me on stage 1 but thinking having him for the couple stages after. Have a team worked out with 2 credits spare which im hoping will score well but kind of clueless up till the TTT
Regarding the prices, they're calculated across the entire set of fantasy cyclists based on their individual performances.
What's happened this year though is that fewer of the really cheap guys have been picked by their teams meaning the overall quality of the field is higher and the average rider cost has increased.
Unfortunately that's kind of unavoidable unless you impose some scaling on the rider values once the teams have been finalised but that would involve either guessing at start lists and having potentially worse price scaling involved or not letting people pick teams until the eve of the race...
In the end, it is the same for everyone and this just makes it harder
There are a few weird anomalies tho' - Delaplace has scored 41 points in the last 12 months and is rated at 16.6 credits! You're right tho', with the current system its impossible to scale down the DS's until you know the final rider list, which is too late. I just think the game would be more fun if you had more cheap break guys to choose from!
I think there's also one less wild card team also after the re-instatement of Katusha to world tour status meaning less 'weaker' teams and thus less 3-5 credit riders.....remember in the Giro we had Vini-Fantini,Androni,Colombia and Bardiani Valvolve as opposed to Katusha,Cofidis,Sojasun and Europcar in LeTour?
Hard
Ive gone Froome and Sagan as far as purist goes. I think my purist team looks ok to be honest
Not sure what to do for standard, I have Sagan, Cav, Greipel, but not sure if thats the way to go, although im thinking take it a day at a time, as getting ahead with a plan rarely works, especially the longer the race. So going for a decent score on day one and see what happens