AntBanter! Fantasy lessons to be learned

Not so long ago, I was holding out for the onset of some hors categorie climbs to breathe new life into my ailing Fantasy Tour de France team. I should have known better than to think that my downward spiral could ever be reversed, as all I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks has been an ever-growing malaise among the riders of Much Abdou About Nothing.

It’s been so bad in fact, that I’ve slumped to 583rd, which puts all of my fellow VeloVoices above me (comfortably, I might add). Not even cheering on David Millar or Mark Cavendish on the Champs Elysees could change that. So it’s time for me to be realistic, open, and honest, and look into the finer detail as to where I went wrong. Who knows? I may learn something.

Big outlay, little return

Some of my “big guns” choices were obvious mistakes. I dropped 858 points by going for Contador over Froome, and a further 444 by following my heart and opting for Cav instead of Peter Sagan. To add salt to my wounds, I didn’t even heed my own advice on Nairo Quintana, and selected Valverde instead, which blew another 567 points. That tidy little haul of 1869 points that I missed out on would have seen me scraping the top 100 of our league.

If I’d had all these guys on my Fantasy Team, I’d be laughing at the whole of VeloVoices! (Image: ASO)

Strength in depth

The sad thing is that the three guys above, who I’ve already labelled as “mistakes”, were my top three riders in terms of points! If you consider that the average points tally of the top 100 riders was 334, I had 6 riders below that. In fact, I had two who didn’t even get off zero, and no amount of shouting from Marc Madiot was going to change that.

To highlight the significance of this tactical disaster, riders valued at £8m or less picked up nearly 60% of the points won by the peloton and eight “budget” riders finished in the top 20, and racked up between 500-1000 points each! Just think, if I’d chosen 6 riders who’d hit that average tally of 334 points each, coupled with the right “big guns”, I’d have finished 8^th!

Fantasy lessons

Aside from jumping on a streetcar named hindsight, there are some learning points to take from this.

Firstly, follow your head and not your heart. The form-book should be your bible, and you should not be swayed by personality, sense of adventure, or a worrying penchant for polka-dot shorts.

On Bastille Day, French fans hoped for a Pierre Rolland win (Image: ASO/B Bade)

Never let the pox sway you in picking your team (Image: ASO/B Bade)

Secondly, consider the parcours, especially when selecting between types of riders. Yes, the Tour may have had some spectacular climbs, but there were more points to be had from sprints.

Thirdly, consider how many competitions a rider may be involved in, especially the White Jersey.

Fourthly, consider each rider’s team in general. Will team orders clip a rider’s wings? This is where I slipped up with Andrey Amador. Could there be a leadership switch? I noticed that Quintana had stated before the Tour that he was riding for Valverde, but a combination of bad luck and good judgement saw the roles reversed. Additionally, with points to be gained for “assists”, picking riders from strong teams is just plain common sense!

Andrey Amador at Movistar team presentation (image courtesy of Movistar)

Andrey Amador might be a gritty little rider, but if he’s under team orders, he doesn’t accumulate a lot of points (Image: Movistar)

And FINALLY, listen to the VeloVoices preview podcast!! I didn’t manage to listen to it before picking my team, and do you know what? Kitty, Tim, and Panache dished out plenty of sage advice that would have straightened my team selection out and saved the day! Let’s face it, they all finished above me, so who am I to argue?

So with all the above duly noted, and before I start thinking about salvaging some pride in the Vuelta, here are some stats for you:

The Points

Total Number of Points awarded to the Peloton = 36,040

Average Number of Points per Rider = 185

Top 10 Riders (Points Scored):

		Cost	Points
Christopher Froome	SKY	26	1975
Nairo Quintana	MOV	14	1420
Peter Sagan	CAN	18	1388
Joaquin Rodriguez	KAT	18	1154
Alberto Contador	TST	22	1117
Roman Kreuziger	TST	10	1033
Michal Kwiatkowski	OPQ	8	961
Mark Cavendish	OPQ	18	944
Marcel Kittel	ARG	12	856
Alejandro Valverde	MOV	14	853

Show me the (value for) money!

Top 10 Riders (Value for Money)

		Cost	Points	Points/£
Michal Kwiatkowski	OPQ	8	961	120.1
Bauke Mollema	BLA	8	845	105.6
Alexander Kristoff	KAT	6	631	105.2
Roman Kreuziger	TST	10	1033	103.3
Nairo Quintana	MOV	14	1420	101.4
Christophe Riblon	ALM	6	561	93.5
Jakob Fuglsang	AST	8	732	91.5
Laurens ten Dam	BLA	6	509	84.8
Jan Bakelants	RLT	6	507	84.5
Rui Costa	MOV	6	493	82.2

TdF 2013 stage 7 Michal Kwiatkowski OPQS

OPQS’s Michal Kwaitkowski was worth his fantasy weight in gold (Image: ASO)

Bottom 10 Riders (Value for Money)

		Cost	Points	Points/£
Rohan Dennis	GRS	8	10	1.3
Damiano Cunego	LAM	10	11	1.1
Brice Feillu	SOJ	6	6	1.0
Maxime Mederel	SOJ	4	4	1.0
Andrey Kashechkin	AST	6	5	0.8
Jonathan Hivert	SOJ	6	5	0.8
Assan Bazayev	AST	4	3	0.8
Dimitri Muravyev	AST	4	3	0.8
Michael Schär	BMC	4	3	0.8
Enrico Gasparotto	AST	6	3	0.5

Team Totals

Top 5 Teams by Points Tally:

	Points
SKY	3746
MOVISTAR	3727
SAXO-TINKOFF	3531
OPQS	2953
KATUSHA	2169

Bottom 5 Teams by Points Tally:

	Points
BMC	635
COFIDIS	585
FDJ	536
LAMPRE	526
SOJASUN	485

The VeloVoices League:

We had 715 entrants, whose teams scored a combined total of 3,310,644 points. That’s an average of 4,630 per team. Our final top 10 stands as:

More stars than watercarriers (I hope)	James Dunlop	8316
i`diable noir	Dan Jones	8010
One Man Bike Club	Jack	7393
Jarrovians RUFC	Metcalficus	7355
Dream Team	Marco	6801
Killerbroney	greggyc	6794
FFF	Peter	6769
BrotherSport	Johan	6740
Muddy Mudskippers	Tim	6709
Team Constellation	benne	6687