Fantasy TDF 2010 chat

Right, Ive signed up...dont know that I will do very well but hopefully my gaggle of riders will do themselves proud.

Yeah same here. I am away the first wk of the tour so will get the highlights but no more than that. Hopefully I'll come back to my team doing well though!

I've done my usual: "Pick the names I know and guess the rest." selection....

Even set up a Billy-No-Mates league : 1437

Hi, I've made my initial selections and would love to join a league if anyone will have me

Why not join the Billy-No-Mates league?

Am also signed up, and joining the Billy-No-Mates league - thanks DaveP. great idea this - always have the crap bored out of me by mates talking about fantasy football, now i can retaliate!

Its looking good, I was on an Arsenal FC forum the other day and they were talking about their mini-league.

I see even the Bike Radar forumites are talking about having a league in this competition.

Can only be good for Tony and Dave that.

do i have to have a league code or something to join a mini league ? love to join if anyone has one.

1361 is our office league, you are more than welcome to join that.

If any of you are in Worcestershie, I've set up a league whose title pays homage to the Kevin Costner cycling movie classic.

League number: 1368

Plus there's DaveP's Billy-No-Mates league : 1437

Have you got a code for that Arsenal mini-league? Quite fancy taking on some fellow Gooners

so i figured that the best policy was to pick a random team to make up the 150 points and see what gives... as opposed to subing/changing as the tour progresses. but hey im not know for picking winners.

have put my lot in with the billy no mates lot if thats okay. ta.

thanks for replies jimmythe cuckoo and davep I have joined the billy no mates league, two chances of being laterne rouge now!

nice game - chapeau

Finding the transfers a pain with the 2 riders per team rule causing problems with points limit. Say I'm trying to change Wiggins to Menchov and Freire to Cavendish, not enough points to do the sprint swap first, too many Rabo riders to do the GC swap first. The end result is OK I'd have enough points, and only 2 riders from rabobank

c'est la vie

bon chance

Same here.

Want to replace Wiggins with Cantador who is more expensive so have to replace another guy with a cheaper rider first. Unfortunately I can't do that as the replacement I want to bring in whois cheaper is a Sky rider and I can't do that as the replacement list blocks out the Sky riders as I already have 2 of them. Ultimately my team will meet the price and team member requirements.

Maybe this transfer system can do the removes first then the adds or apply them both together?

Nik

Both good points, Dave's the man who would need to see if this is possible, he looks after the gaffa tape and string side of the site - back tomorrow but after the stage starts so nothing doing before then I'm afraid.

Same problem here; I can't replace Farrar with Cavendish because Cav's more expensive, but that wouldn't be a problem if I could replace Wiggins with VandeVelde. But I can't do that because I've already got Farrar and Millar. This could get annoying...

just signed up to the billy no mates league. The I agree about the transfers, being able to set them up at the same time would be the solution (though I dont know how hard thatd be).

Also the scoring is hard to work out, ive got big points for gerrderman and farrar that I cant work out how i got, but not complaining. Would it be possible to get breakdown of the scores (a google docs spreadsheet of all the riders scores each day would surfice) juts being too geeky.

James

Both Gerrderman and Farrar got stage points and GC points points.

* 20 points for first position on the stage down to 1 point for 20th position
* 5 point bonus for every other member of the stage winner's team
* 10 points for overall leader in the GC down to 1 point for 10th position
* Intermediate sprint points as awarded for the stage (not stage finish)
* Intermediate KoM points adjusted* for the stage (not summit finishes)
* 5 points for the White jersey leader down to 1 point for 5th position
* 20 point bonus for the most combative rider. We love those guys.
* Lanterne Rouge: 10 point bonus for rolling in dead last. At least you tried.

* KoM points are adjusted as follows. Basically the number of riders who score is the number of points on offer over any col.

* Cat 4 & Cat 3: as awarded
* Cat 2: 6 points for first down to 1 point for sixth
* Cat 1: 8 points for first down to 1 point for eighth
* HC: 10 points for first down to 1 point for 10th

Nikalway beat me to it, thanks

Miffed, you should have 18 points for Farrar (14 stage + 4 GC position), 12 for Gerdemann (11 + 1). Anything else and something's broken, so let us know.

I'll flag the Google Doc spreadsheet request to Dave, don't know if that is doable.

And someone on Twitter asked if we could let people see which riders others had in their teams, so that's on the list too

thanks, getting confused between GC and on the day points.

Hello chaps. Point taken about the transfers. I'll make changes to the system so that those transfers will be possible. That change will prob go live later this eve so you may want to hang fire on your stage 2 moves till tomorrow morning...

As for rider points, well as of (probably) monday you'll be able to click on a rider's name to see their points breakdown from within the game.

Other riders: you'll be able to see who scored what for other teams in stages that have been completed. You won't be able to see anyone's current team. Again, rollout for that on monday...

Glad I transferred Lars Boom into my side today, thought he might want to represent as the race left Holland

Ah, just heard Simons correction read out on eurosport by Carlton Kirby. Can't have been another MacMichael, could it?

Missed that, Gandberg (busy setting up report) - he didn't read out my tweet about how in Italy, Captain Birdseye goes by the name Capitano Findus, did he?

Are you able to sign up and create a team after the start? Just signed up and can't figure out how to pick riders

yes you are, you just get points from the first stage after you join

In that case, I think there's a problem because I can't work out where I select riders.

you can't do it while a stage is live. You can only do it in a transfer window. next one opens in 4 minutes...

I think I now have a legitimate beef with the points. Should Gerint Thomas not have won 12 points today (15 on stage = 6, plus 5 in GC = 6)? I goy nil points

In my defense for my pedantism im really jet lagged atm, there's not much to do in student halls in New Zealand at 5 am

Well spotted, Miffed, actually it's 16 points - 6 for the stage finish, 6 for the GC position, and 4 for being second in the Young Rider competition.

He's in my team too, so this clearly needs to be sorted

Oh even better.

scores are updated

not doing well If it wasn't for Boasson Hagen I'd be last.

Early days yet...

Who are going to be the big hitters in the next few days I wonder?

Don't ask me. I'm 249th

Belgian breakaway anyone? if someone goes it alone they could pick up 18 sprint and 21 KoM points in the game...

Going to be an interesting couple of days as those who normally avoid the cobbles are introduced to 'Mr Pave'.

Anyone know when/where any given days non-starters are listed. I can see the 'abandons' on the official site, but is that updated before the start each day?

Took Taaramae out of my team to replace him with a Belgian as I thought he'd be more effective in the lumpier stages. What happens? Taaramae attacks. Brilliant.

nice to see jurgen roelandts in there though

So my name got read out on Eurosport (good) but they associated it with wrong comment (bad)

And now everyone thinks that I can'ttell the flags of Macedonia and Moldova apart - I'll be kicked off the quiz team at this rate

Woo Hoo, go Roelandts, he's who I replaced Taaramae with. Panic over.

That said, I only get points if they stay away right?

Wish I could watch it at work!!!

Not a bit of it. He's already got six for winning the first sprint of the day

Super, watch me go shooting up the league. VICTORY!!!

Ok, that might be overstating it a bit...

A good day to have Sylvain Chavanel. A *very* good day to have him. I didn't have him.

I did have Roelandts though

Roelandts helped me jump 200 places today. got rid of him for tomorrow though, I'm banking on him having a 'recovery' day. Cobble specialists for me tomorrow...

In football manager speak I am in the 'top half of the table'.

go Geraint go!! nice second place and the young riders jersey, and bonus points for me! yah hah

I should probably apologise to Chavanel. My cunning tactic of swapping him in for a guaranteed 10 GC points appears to have awoken the p*nct*re fairies...

Yeah i jinxed him too. but luckily i had thomas and cancellara. and hushovd

i haven't received a 5 point bonus for brett lancaster being on the same team as stage winner thor?!

Have Cancellara and Thomas....other than that it is all a bit quiet.

do you get a 5 point bonus for that? I've got Brett Lancaster too… I must read the rules

just a slip of the spreadsheet... i'll wait to see if anyone notices any more before i update

OI!
I only kept him in because I knew Thor would win

don't worry grim-pur we'll get our extra points, Dave's just waiting to see if there are any other slips before he updates. I need those points, after today I'm on the march up from 6th (out of 8) in ou4 mini league.

Updated now...

Okay, so I've made a complete mess of picking my team and didn't realise I couldn't change or swap people around when first setting up the team, oh and I got the name wrong! Are there any contact details for somebody I can email to get it reset ?

Cheers

okay, so i've made a mess of fixing a loophole in the game whereby if one of your riders got knocked out you could make unlimited changes...

anyway, if you join now you *can* make unlimited changes in your first transfer window. tonyw - i can reset your team if you like, or you can run with what you have. you'll miss out on today's stage though.

Its conspiring against me, I tranferred out mayoz last night.

can't believe i got rid of Pettachi for Hushovd this morning, what a muppet!!

When do transfers next open?

6pm… but you should have got rid of Cav yesterday JTC

i should have not even started with Cav, let alone left him there, maybe the boy will do good soon. ill stick with 'em for now as it may just be a blip.

He's had three bad crashes recently two of them in the last week, I think it's asking a lot to expect him to be able to pull it out after the bashing his body has already taken… so not sure why I stuck with him so long, maybe it's because I'm a sentimental fool, and Hushovd cost more

Tomorrows another day for Cav.

how many riders are you allowed from the same team? anybody know

Two from same team, Dave.

Don't do what I did earlier and try to transfer a third in. Makes the game very unhappy...

Speaking as someone who is currently in the 1090th position, can I just clarify whether it is the team with the MOST points or the LEAST points that wins? Although perhaps I could remain in the running for the 'Mark Cavendish Award for Underachievement'.

Is that nightly?

yup, then closes again at 11am the next morning

glad I took cav out of my poorly performing team.

well how come someone has got fout htc riders in the one team?

Woohoo!
Not only does Cav come good, but Jesus Hernandez picks up the Lanterne Rouge award for the second day in a row!

Does he? I got rid of him too. Only choose him due to his name anyway. Gaaaaaaaaaay.

10 points per day for LR!

Nobody f**ks with the Jesus! Just ask the Dude.

Any idea when the scores update? I've got a good feeling about today (for once).

They're coming Timbo13… not long now

What, Kristian House?

Point of order - shouldn't the Lanterne Rouge points be for the guy who is last on GC?

I transferred Mr Bole in special like.

Sorry LR points are last on the stage. I'll amend the rules if that isn't clear.

Should have kept the faith.

Have decided to punt on Nick Roche in the hope of a breakaway, to free up enough points tomorrow to bring in the climbing specialists.

Aargh - went in to try transfers but didn't make any choices as wanted to back out and compare - now I can't even access transfers even though made no changes.

Emptied cache and cookies but to no avail.

Anyone help?

Cheers
Dave

Looking at your post time it's probably because you were after the 11.00am cut off.

who's taking a punt on a climber then? they've been patiently waiting to strut their stuff. and will cancellara keep yellow?

Bugger. Should have transferred in Heysedahl about two stages ago. Arse...

I've taken out Cav and replaced him with McKewen, before his incident with the chaperone was reported so that I could get a higher rated climber and brought in Sorensen in place of my original KM.

Time will tell. I'm just the right site of 1000th in the table so not much chance of worrying the leaders.

Is there any mods for the fantasy TDF? I'm stuck in a catch 22. I had 3 riders from the same team so removed one of them. Now I can't transfer out a rider until I have 9 riders unfortunately the only rider I can add to make 9 would break my 3 rider/team limit again and it won't let me do it. Apologies if this doesn't make sense

heh. i've chucked morabito in for you. you'll need to move one of yr bmc boys though.

not quite sure how it happened though: did you have txurruka and then he got removed from the game? that's the only thing i can think of.

Dave - I'm in exactly the same boat! I had txurruka and he was removed, now i'm stuck unable to add anyone within budget due to the team limit!

I'll fix first thing...

should be fixed now - you should be able to replace a retired rider even if it takes you over quota. remember to transfer them out though...

hey dave, do i get a few bonus points for Barredo whacking Costa with a wheel ?

it's certainly combative

Out of interest, will it be the standard two transfers in a single transfer window from 6pm Sunday until 11am on Tuesday what with the rest day or will there be any different rules in place?

Roche, Garate and Cuddles did me proud today.

same gig, two transfers for the stage.

Fair enough, thanks for confirming it, just trying to plan ahead for next week

Glad to have kept Pineau in my team after today's monumental showing

Just curious, did anyone transfer him in for Stage 7 after his remarks we included in the Stage 6 reaction story? Said then that he was looking to get into an early break and hoover up the KOM points

post withdrawm

Post withdrawn... what's that about then

Not the total disaster for Team 'Cycles Moff' that I was expecting after todays stage. Wonder who the hot transfer out is going to be this evening?

Hmm… tricky isn't it, are those new faces who've shown so well so far going to be able to stick?

I am going with yes so the chequebook will be out tonight.

pretty disatrous day for futon-servietto though. and do i use my transfers to bring in some new blood at the top or some break-happy frenchies for bastille day?

Good day to have Moreau, Sammy Sanchez and Gesink

Bastille day tomorrow. So which French riders will make the inevitable break? Can Pineau go for it again?

are lanterne rouge points awarded to the rider in last place overall? or last for that stage?

last on the stage

Yes I'm pondering that one too. Chavanel had a bit of a rest today, but surely he can't win 3 stages. Apart from a bit of stage 7 Voeckler has taken the whole race off so he'll be fresh, but will he be capable? Moreau? Did too much today. Double ditto Casar and Charteau, and Pineau has done an awful lot over the last few days… though maybe he dropped back on purpose today?

And of course there's always someone who hasn't read the script… Cav won it last year, and Piepoli in 2008, mind you Cedric Vasseur won it in 2007

There's quite a few Gauls who haven't really shown up so far, especially in the all-rounder section. Auge, perhaps? Or a French domestique.? I've taken a punt on Jeremy Roy and also brought in Charteau, to join Pineau. Surely one of them will want to duke it out for KM points, if not the stage win.

I have 3.5 Frenchmen lined up for tomorrow

Not exactly the day I'd hoped for. A very slow stage indeed: just what the peloton ordered. At least Roche decided to show himself towards the end. Otherwise I'd be stuck with Pineau and Charteau for points today (other than Schleck Jr).

not a bad day for me, mostly safe points and a nice mini break from roche. but i've got BIG plans for an enormous points haul tomorrow

Let me guess, you've signed up all three of today's escapees and bribed them to get off the front early on?

dem boys gone get captured, and it'll be a points bonanza on the line! (uncrosses fingers)

So how did it go Simon? Hope you didn't have renshaw! Does he have all his points wiped for earlier stages?

I didn't have Renshaw but, yes, his points got wiped (as per the rules).

Today I fell 14 place despite having my 3rd best day

Thing is though, I'd considered a couple of transfers this morning that, if I'd made them, would have got me 100+ points in total today - but I would still have fallen one place.

Some people must have got some pretty serious scores today

Yeah!!! 137 points in 1 stage, loving that. Thank you's go to Rodriguez, charteux, gesink, kreuziger, schleck and van den broek.

Because geraint has faded and tyler farrar abandoned I now have Nico Roche and David Millar...come on, give me another breakaway.

aaahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Had Riblon on my team for a few stages and did the transfer last night! Next stage (14) he goes solo! Just great............

Understandable you dropped him, he was having a dog of a tour up until today. I dropped moinard, not as bad but still points in the bin...

I just wanted to win the Road CC t-shirt as well!

does Jurgen Van Der Walle get his stage points today? (14)

Well spotted, bagelboy, bit of a spreadsheet input malfunction there which we're getting sorted out.

Anyone with Jurgen Roelandts in their team who is wondering where those 14 points he scored today came from... well, they'll be disappearing pretty soon

Really enjoying this, I must say.

A couple of suggestions for next year (go on, say you'll do it again:

1. In the teams tab, can you show the day's points for each team as well as the total points?

2. In the riders tab, can you work out a way to avoid me having to go all the way back to my team after looking at a particular rider's stats? If there was a link back to the rider list, that'd be much easier.

Don't take it as a moan, just suggesting a couple of tweaks to improve things.

Do it again next year? We're enjoying it so much we'll be doing it again for the Vuelta!

Noted on those suggestions too.

My sprinter has gone awol and I cant replace him either, whats going on? Cheers!

Only just found this Forum. Joined Billy-no-mates league and am in a reasonable position. Also joined Worcs Flyers and shot straight to the top! Yay! Thanks for the open invites fellas!

Can't wait for the Vuelta even more now, knowing that I can be a mediocre manager again so soon. What will we do come season end?

And DON'T suggest Fantasy Footie thank you very much.

Why can't you replace him Gandberg? If he's dropped out you get an extra transfer to replace him

I must confess I am really enjoying the Tour all the more due to this and I enjoy the Tour a lot anyway!

Plus my son has got hooked all the more so now (like having a signed Contador poster on his wall wasn't enough!) He keeps asking me to check my points

Tour of Britain?

oooo Tour of Britain! Now why didn't I think of that? Do it, do it, do IT!

that means we'd have to start the ToB one before the Vuelta one had finished, right?

If you're taking requests/suggestions is there any chance you can make the rider list available throughout the tour in the same format as when you pick your team (ie ordered by cost split into category as well as ordered by point score)? Would just make it s little easier to pick riders

Woow! 76 best score of the Tour.

That's not a problem, is it?

Go on do it. You know it makes sense.

OMG! 121 points on one stage.

About time too! Finally getting to grips with these team balance thingy.

Can't understand why Schleck didn't gain me any kom points today after the Tourmalet- otherwise a very good day for me with 130 points.

Evening. My list of stages gors from 14 straight to 17, without mention of stages 15 and 16.... Any ideas, moderators?

Mountain finishes don't count towards kom; only intermediate climbs. Same with sprints.

You didn't have a full roster maybe?

been great fun 3 transfers per stage would make it better cos more combo's possible therefore harder. More points for stage less for overall wud be good too eg cancellara just wins prolog but picks up points everyday for being in top 10 just a thought anyone disagree?

I like the two transfers per stage rule, in my opinion it makes it much harder because it forces you to think further ahead. Rather than making it harder with more combinations I think three transfers would make it easier to draft riders in for single stages like the TT and make it easier to score more points on the transitions between sprint and mountain stages. I'd love to have three transfers ahead of the TT but only because it would make life easier. Maybe having double or unlimited transfers on rest days could be a compromise and allow those struggling to completely reshuffle their teams?

I also like the scoring system because its relatively balanced between climbers and sprinters. Points for GC position is a nice touch and adds something else you need to think about ie do you take Sammy Sanchez's guaranteed 8 points a stage or gamble on Boassen Hagen etc?

Overall its a really great well thought out system and I wouldn't change too much

well we're looking at a few bits and bobs for the vuelta/tob, and next year. unlimited transfers on rest days was one we had considered, also the ability to make more than two transfers but incur a penalty for any above two, say 10 points a transfer. we'll also be revamping the transfer system a bit, so you can do your transfers all at once and press go rather than having to do them one at a time.

overall we reckon the scoring system, scrawled on the back of a fag packet as it was, has worked out pretty well. but we're open to suggestions on how it can be improved, and obviously it'll have to be altered for the other races anyway.

Are there any bonus points on offer for the overall winners of the jerseys? I feel bad for dropping Chartreau just because he's not going to win me any more KOM points...

If not perhaps that would be a good tweak to the scoring system for the Vuelta - as it stands (if I haven't got it wrong) then having lots of days in the yellow jersey is more important for the fantasy scoring than winning the race.

Its been a really great fantasy TDF. A suggestion perhaps would be that your original line up of riders would count for more points at the end of the race similar to the one that was on eurosport a few years ago. I must admit tho, that this method has been far more exciting and ive been commuting even faster to get home from work to get my transfers in!!!!

OMG I won.....incredible!

Well done alexl - you deserve it after leading for so long. Looking forward to your tips for next year!

Could I ask the moderators to arrange for blood and urine samples from a sample of the Fantasy League competitors (say the first 133 teams). Maybe check for hidden electric motors also.

no prizes for guessing where you finished then, Greensox

this was a great competition! Loved it, even though it made watching the Tour even more stressful. Fancy doing one for the Vuelta as well? Please?

yup, vuelta version is in 'development'

Brill. Looking forward to it!

Excellent news. Would hate to have to wait till the next TdF to play again!