Tour de Romandie Prologue Dream Team and Top 10 Challenge Results

Well, it's weird... Given an unrestricted budget and no limitations and the task of trying to pick the Top 10, none of us did a spectacular job... It probably would have been better if it had been a sprint finish or a longer time trial or a mountaintop finish, but none of us managed to pick more than 4 of the Top 10 with an unlimited budget...

Gkam placed Tony Martin and Rohan Dennis correctly in the Top 10, Joel placed Kwiakowski and Tony Martin and I placed Kwiatkowski, Dennis, Martin and Lancaster... Thanks for playing, guys...

Using my handy dandy spreadsheet, I'm pretty sure this would have been the highest scoring 'within budget' team posible for today's stage:

37.8 Michal Kwiatkowski
19.1 Marcel Kittel
20.4 Rohan Dennis
19.8 Giacomo Nizzolo
13.7 Brett Lancaster
12.5 Matthias Brandle
11.5 Jesse Sergent
3.5 Martijn Keizer
3.0

Total 141.3

No Froome!

And, actually, below (!) the 145.0 credit budget available for this competition.

Not bad (!)

But , back (!) to my point!

How would my Dream Team have fared today, at a budget of 151.3?

It would have scored only 99 points (!)

37.8 Michal Kwiatkowski 50
29.7 Tony Martin 31
28.8 Tejay Van Garderen 10
40.0 Christopher Froome 8

So, in essence, just being able to pick the 4 highest value riders does not make for a good game strategy. I honestly think if we raised the budget a few points, the game would still be extremely satisfying, not 'boring' nor 'easy'!

So, I would suggest as a budget guideline, especially for the Tour de France, that the budget allow for a player to be able to select the 4 highest valued riders and 5 3.0 riders. In the Tour de Romandie, the current competiton, this would be:

37.8 Michal Kwiatkowski
37.7 Vincenzo Nibali
40.0 Christopher Froome
28.8 Tejay Van Garderen
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
Total 159.0

The only problem might be, now that I think about it, that it truly might make the Purist game more alike... But the Standard teams? I don't think anyone would start a stage race just with 4 high value riders

Only a fool, like me , would do that, but, in all honestly I think everyone's fears that the game would be 'too easy' would not (!) be realized, 'cause there's so (!) much more to the game than just (!) selecting the 4 highest valued riders! So, what do you say, Dave, can we have a bigger budget for the Tour?

Gkam84 wrote:

1 Michal KWIATKOWSKI
2 Rohan DENNIS
3 Marcel KITTEL
4 Giacomo NIZZOLO
5 Tony MARTIN
6 Brett LANCASTER
7 Matthias BRANDLE
8 Jesse SERGENT
9 Ramunas NAVARDAUSKAS
10 Martijn KEIZER
11 Danny VAN POPPEL
12 Alexandre GENIEZ
13 Jon IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI
14 Christopher FROOME
15 Lieuwe WESTRA
16 Cameron MEYER
17 Jesus HERRADA LOPEZ
18 Vincenzo NIBALI
19 Thomas DE GENDT
20 Anthony ROUX

That was pretty quick! Where did you get your results?

Here we go:

chrisdstripes wrote:

You're on your own on this one Enrique - 145 is on the high side of about right looking at the riders and values...

I know...

chrisdstripes wrote:

In fairness it was one person complaining and everyone else disagreeing with him

I have to admit you're right.

But this what I'm thinking... I am no cycling guru... There is no way I would ever win a stage, much less a competition in this game, but I do love the 'look and feel' of this game!

My theory is this, even if I had an unlimited budget I would never 'own' this game. So, since I'm curious, I think I'll track the scores for what would have been Dream Teams for a couple of the stages in Romandie.

My theory is that a slight rise in the budget, in this case 6.3 credits, would allow people to select higher valued riders, just 4, in my case, but it would not give the unknowledgeable cycling enthusiast, like me, an unfair advantage! Nor do I think it would make 'all the teams the same'. I think that's highly unlikely.

And I don't think it would make the game less fun. I actually think it would make the game more (!) fun!

I think you have to put a whole lot of planning into this game, epecially in stage racing where you're stuck with your choices for a longer period of time. I just think we could enjoy a small rise in the budget and that small rise would not be a disaster. I may be wrong but I'll start out testing the team I originally wanted for today's prologue (below). This is the same team I had posted earlier and was salivating to 'own'

40.0 Christopher Froome
28.8 Tejay Van Garderen
37.8 Michal Kwiatkowski
29.7 Tony Martin
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0

Evem though I love this team, I think it will probably be a disaster (!) today and hell to manage throughout the week. If you're dumb enough to start out a stage race with just 4 big value riders, does it mean, everybody else, will do the same? Of course not!

My point is a small rise in the budget still restricts you, but I don't think that small rise has as huge an impact as people seem to think. I think we can safely raise the budget a few points and the people who, for example, know the track riders for a day like today, (not me!), will win out anyways, and the dumb folks like me, who would just want a 'pretty' team stacked with 4 All-Stars would pay a hefty price for their dumb choices and not win anyways, so, why not ease up on the budget a little anyways? I'd be happier!

Feel free to join me if you're curious! Just put down what you think you would have chosen as a Dream Team today if you had had a budget of 151.3. Of course, waiting to see who wins today's prologue can skew your choices, so if you can, either post your team before the end of today's stage or post a team which you honestly would have wanted without knowing today's results. Thanks!

drheaton wrote:

... so it's best just to ignore them.

I understand. I am even one of the people who 'liked' your comment! I will try and not feel offended if you ignore me...