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 8th!
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.
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 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 |
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 |
Time for a quick look at how the VeloVoices fared – and my own personal walk of shame:
League Position |
|
Score |
223 |
Kiss_My_Panache |
5120 |
243 |
Kitty Fondue |
5052 |
282 |
Jack |
4966 |
377 |
Sheree |
4630 |
419 |
Tim |
4458 |
583 |
Ant |
3746 |
Most of all, that was three weeks of fun, and in spite of everything, I loved it! Here’s to the Vuelta!!