Well we're a week into the Tour de France already, doesn't time fly. There's nearly 6,000 teams taking part in the Fantasy game, but who's come out of the first rest day at the head of the field. Here are the numbers:
Stage 1: Porto-Vecchio > Bastia
Winner: cbantilan (208 points)
A day to pick the sprinters, but not the ones that fell off in the big crash. cbantilan had Kittel, Kristoff, Dumoulin, Cousin and Van Poppel, plus Lars Boom who went off in the break. Very prescient.
Stage 2: Bastia > Ajaccio
Winner: Stevesmyth100 (132 points)
A harder day to score big, but it helped if you had Jan Bakelants and the charging Peter Sagan. Which Stevesmyth100 did, as well as Boasson Hagen and Gerrans.
Stage 3: Ajaccio > Calvi
Winner: IP2W (164 points)
A day for the puncheurs and the one sprinter who can climb a bit. Gerrans and Sagan were top scorers with Kwiatkowski bagging a hatful too. IP2W had those three, plus Simon and Boasson Hagen, for a big score.
Stage 4: Nice > Nice
Winner: jayna (148 points)
A draw at the top but jayna comes out the winner by virtue of having the higher-scoring Kwiatkowski in their team. Bad luck to Spritzen-Ulle who also managed 148 points on the new higher-scoring team time trial.
Stage 5: Cagnes-sur-Mer > Marseille
Winner: TheFlyingPirate (159 points)
Cav's day, this was. TheFlyingPirate also had Boasson Hagen, Greipel, Kristoff and surprise package Lobato for a very decent total.
Stage 6: Aix-en-Provence > Montpellier
Winner: sykkelerbest(212 points)
Some big scores on a nailed-on sprint kind of a day, but sykkelerbest edges it by one point with seven scoring riders, including winner Greipel who picked up combativity points too in the absence of a break.
Stage 7: Montpellier > Albi
Winner: Il Grillo (176 points)
A day which Cannondale bossed from start to finish, and Peter Sagan rewarded them with his first stage win. Kwiatkowski, Gerrans, Impey, Gavazzi and Kadri all picked up useful points too; Il Grillo had all of them.
Stage 8: Castres > Ax 3 Domaines
Winner: Chossum (212 points)
A day to back Team Sky. Froome and Porte alone netted you 122 points. Chossum wins the stage tie from archieboy on a coin toss; both had the same scoring riders: the two Sky boys plus Quintana, Nieve, Hoogerland and Van Poppel.
Stage 9: Saint-Girons > Bagnères-de-Bigorre
Winner: stevebull-01 (151 points)
Dan Martin and Jakob Fuglsang contested the win, so obviously having them both was the basis for a good score; stevebull-01 added Rolland's KOM points and Froome and Schleck who finished in the front group.
Overall league
None of those stage winners have been consistent enough to make it into the overall lead, however. That accolade goes to guinunes whose team, Radio Bank, have amassed 1,170 points over the first week of racing. Second, 30 points behind, is Dux89 with Guitariff a further 31 adrift. With plenty of racing left it's a long way from being cut and dried at the top; a good run from anyone in the top 20 or so could see them onto the podium yet.
Purist league
The purist league is headed up by BQ89, on 810 points. They chose a sprint-heavy squad – Sagan, Schleck, Kristoff, Kittel, Bennati, Impey, Hoogerland, Dupont, Danny Van Poppel – but it's done them proud so far and there's plenty of flat stuff to come this week too.
For all of you out of the running for a top placing, don't worry: there's still every stage to play for and we'll be throwing some spot prizes out there too!
Thanks for the review. I like that Orbea have included aero extras and wish more manufacturers would stick two fingers up at the UCI - at least in...
Shame about stages whilst their Smartbike was very overpriced even compared to the expensive competition, they more than anyone helped democratise...
As good as this DIY ANPR camera may (or may not) be governments aren't in the habit of buying DIY untested products. Govts don't have staff with...
Excellent - I think I'll replace my emergency tube that is a real squeeze to get into the little Topeak bottle cage bag thingy....
I'm genuinely shocked by their reaction.
I enjoyed this guy I captured with his hound on New Oxford Street a few years ago.
That's perspective though - not a small number of americans would consider the current UK government "socialist"....
I know this is a bit late but one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the extra wear and possible damage to the cycle lane surface due to being...
*bursts back into the room hours after the conversation has moved on*...
Damn, that sucks. I generally feel pretty relaxed with my bike on Avanti trains because the compartment is locked and I don't have to worry about...