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Fantasy Cycling Calendar

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  • February 26, 2013 at 11:18 am #18073
    drheaton

    Of late there seems to be a few people disgruntled with the current calendar and the makeup of the races.

    The calendar has expanded quite rapidly over the past couple of years, especially with the inception of the premium game last year, to the point where it's now bigger than ever covering all manner of races.

    This thread isn't about this year, what's in the calendar is there and is unlikely to change unless a glaring omission is spotted and a race or two included. What I was curious to know is whether the general consensus is that the game has too many races/too few races/too much overlap or whether it's going ok as it is. I have no power to change anything but I figured by starting this thread early and letting it run through the season it'd be a place to put all of your gripes or suggestions.

    The current calendar is:

    Tour Down Under (completed)

    Tour of Qatar (completed)

    Tour de Mediterraneen (completed)

    Tour of Oman (completed)

    Volta ao Algarve (completed)

    Early classics

    Paris-Nice

    Tirreno-Adriatico

    Spring Classics

    Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

    Vuelta Pais Vasco

    Giro del Trentino

    Tour de Romandie

    Giro d'Italia

    Tour of California

    Criterium du Dauphine

    Tour de Suisse

    Tour de France

    Clasica San Sebastian

    Tour de Pologne

    Eneco Tour

    USA Pro Cycling Challenge

    Vuelta a Espana

    GP Quebec & Montreal

    Tour of Britain

    World Championships

    Autumn Classics

    Tour of Beijing

    That's three grand tours, nineteen stage races of varying lengths (excluding grand tours), the world championships and four sets of classics (early classics we're in the middle of, major classics that include Milan San Remo and Paris – Roubaix, Montreal/Qubec and autumn classics including Lombardia etc).

    So, what's working, what's not working (so far) and what would you like changed in future years?

    Personally I think that in previous years the one day races and classics were under represented with only the biggest races featured. Adding the likes of the Omloop, KBK and Strade Bianchi has gone some way to rectifying this.

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Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 27 total)
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  • April 17, 2013 at 6:15 am #719041
    0
    sm

    On the subject of splitting
    On the subject of splitting up the classics to avoid confusion, I think the reminder emails could be a bit more explicit for new purist players like myself. For example, I received this:

    “We’ve made the final changes to the start roster, there are six free transfers available from your Amstel Gold Race team.”

    Maybe add a line that this is not for purist players. I understand now but didn’t a while ago – think you just need to be careful around the wording of “free transfers” compared to “unlimited transfers”.

    April 15, 2013 at 8:21 pm #719039
    0
    sm

    TERatcliffe26 wrote:Did Dave

    TERatcliffe26 wrote:
    Did Dave reset your team :)

    Nah, he slapped me down with a thirty point penalty, plenty more than my transfers gained but definitely worth the hit to get back in the purist league after my own mistake. Have to say, it’s a great game. I’d sign up to premium but I already spend too much time on the game so need to resist!

    How about a fee to play as purist with badges? I know I could sign up and not play the two teams but the temptation would be too great! đŸ™‚

    April 15, 2013 at 7:44 pm #719037
    0
    TERatcliffe26

    sm wrote:I like the idea of

    sm wrote:
    I like the idea of splitting the classics up. I was caught out making changes as a purist in the classics. Thanks for sorting me out Dave! Anyhow, I like the groupings above that split the classics out. More of a challenge than if they were individual races although taking them as one days would also be good. Have to say I prefer the one day races to the tours so far.

    Did Dave reset your team đŸ™‚

    April 15, 2013 at 7:28 pm #719035
    0
    sm

    I like the idea of splitting
    I like the idea of splitting the classics up. I was caught out making changes as a purist in the classics. Thanks for sorting me out Dave! Anyhow, I like the groupings above that split the classics out. More of a challenge than if they were individual races although taking them as one days would also be good. Have to say I prefer the one day races to the tours so far.

    April 15, 2013 at 12:06 pm #719033
    0
    ray silvester

    I’m definitely the SKY of the
    I’m definitely the SKY of the one day races and my aim next year will be to significantly improve that.

    For example….against some of my rivals in Forum’s Scorum’s Mimi League I’ve dropped 160 pts to Wig_Billy,149 to chrisdstripes and 70 to Alan Tullett during the spring classics alone(and there’s still 2 of the blighters left)!!

    April 15, 2013 at 11:00 am #719031
    0
    drheaton

    chrisdstripes wrote:With

    chrisdstripes wrote:
    With Milan-San Remo in with the Early classics too? Sounds good to me.

    Don’t think Paris-Roubaix needs to be separate – its a cobbled classic after all, and as its the last one, people only have to save an extra couple of transfers and they can essentially pick a whole new team for it anyway.

    Hmm, I forgot MSR, not sure where that fits to be honest, it’s two weeks after Strade Bianchi/Roma Maxima and kind of fits better with Flanders than the earlier two but it’s two weeks before Flanders…

    E3 Harelbeke is the week after MSR so at least that kind of ties it in with the cobbled classics…

    Possibly MSR and Paris-Roubaix could be separate? Have the early classics as a build up to a separate MSR and then cobbled classics (E3, Flanders, Gent) as a build up to Paris-Roubaix so that those two are separate and ‘above’ the others? Just an idea…

    Personally, I don’t like one day races, I’m appallingly bad at them and never ever ever manage to pick a solid team but I see their value in the fantasy calendar and I think there should be more of them. There are plenty of excellent, exciting and historic one day races and around and I think the calendar would benefit from a few more of them.

    April 15, 2013 at 10:38 am #719029
    0
    chrisdstripes

    drheaton wrote:Thinking ahead

    drheaton wrote:
    Thinking ahead to the classics next year is it worth breaking them up into separate competitions?

    Every year people struggle to get their heads around having the classics as groups of races and purists fail to understand how it works.

    What about having three separate competitions?

    Early classics (KBK and Omloop, Strade Bianchi and Roma Maxima)

    Cobbled classics (E3, Gent, Flanders and possibly Paris-Roubaix unless that could be a separate race entirely)

    Ardennes Classics (Brabanste Pijl, Amstel, Fleche Wallone and LBL)

    That’d break it up while still keeping the races together in sensible groups, it also makes it more challenging for purists without being unduly confusing.

    Thoughts?


    With Milan-San Remo in with the Early classics too? Sounds good to me.

    Don’t think Paris-Roubaix needs to be separate – its a cobbled classic after all, and as its the last one, people only have to save an extra couple of transfers and they can essentially pick a whole new team for it anyway.

    April 15, 2013 at 10:32 am #719027
    0
    STEVESPRO 79

    drheaton wrote:I can see the

    drheaton wrote:
    I can see the arguement for running each race individually but if you can pick a new team for each race where is the challenge? Yeah you’re going to have to pick the right guys but the 6 transfers between races makes you think more about your team for the whole classics rather than each race individually.

    Plus, having group races with limited transfers actually replicates what teams do with a classics squad going into these races as a unit and only minimal changes between them.

    Regarding adding new races when you look at the calendar we’re actually very light on one day races. We have 19 stage races plus the three grand tours in the current calendar, contrast that with probably at most 15 individual one day classics. Adding in races like E3 Harelbeke (a great pre-cursor to Gent/Flanders and arguably more in keeping with those two than Paris-Roubaix, plus, it’s World Tour status) and Brabanste Pijl (a good pre-Amstel race) would help to balance things out without actually creating too much extra work as most people will probably check these races out as part of the classics prep anyway.


    The challenge for me this season is trying to pick riders who can stay on their flipping bikes….As soon as I select a rider….man and machine seem to part company……lol…. :”( ~X(

    April 15, 2013 at 10:21 am #719025
    0
    drheaton

    I can see the arguement for
    I can see the arguement for running each race individually but if you can pick a new team for each race where is the challenge? Yeah you’re going to have to pick the right guys but the 6 transfers between races makes you think more about your team for the whole classics rather than each race individually.

    Plus, having group races with limited transfers actually replicates what teams do with a classics squad going into these races as a unit and only minimal changes between them.

    Regarding adding new races when you look at the calendar we’re actually very light on one day races. We have 19 stage races plus the three grand tours in the current calendar, contrast that with probably at most 15 individual one day classics. Adding in races like E3 Harelbeke (a great pre-cursor to Gent/Flanders and arguably more in keeping with those two than Paris-Roubaix, plus, it’s World Tour status) and Brabanste Pijl (a good pre-Amstel race) would help to balance things out without actually creating too much extra work as most people will probably check these races out as part of the classics prep anyway.

    April 15, 2013 at 10:15 am #719023
    0
    STEVESPRO 79

    Personally dont think that we
    Personally dont think that we need anymore extra races,I think that we have to do more thinking than the team directors anyway….However I see no reason why the Spring Classics have to be grouped….I would prefer to keep the races that we have but just play them all as individual races…..Takes all the confusion out of the issue…..not that it confused me…..but some people have obviously been caught out…. đŸ™‚

    April 15, 2013 at 9:12 am #719021
    0
    drheaton

    Thinking ahead to the
    Thinking ahead to the classics next year is it worth breaking them up into separate competitions?

    Every year people struggle to get their heads around having the classics as groups of races and purists fail to understand how it works.

    What about having three separate competitions?

    Early classics (KBK and Omloop, Strade Bianchi and Roma Maxima)

    Cobbled classics (E3, Gent, Flanders and possibly Paris-Roubaix unless that could be a separate race entirely)

    Ardennes Classics (Brabanste Pijl, Amstel, Fleche Wallone and LBL)

    That’d break it up while still keeping the races together in sensible groups, it also makes it more challenging for purists without being unduly confusing.

    Thoughts?

    March 18, 2013 at 9:41 pm #719019
    0
    TERatcliffe26

    Agreed, maybe not sure
    Agreed, maybe not sure đŸ˜• Piemonte is the race most similar to Lombardia, so made sense not have that one really anyway

    March 18, 2013 at 9:18 pm #719017
    0
    chrisdstripes

    TERatcliffe26

    TERatcliffe26 wrote:
    chrisdstripes wrote:

    Apart from that I’m happy with it as is – haven’t looked at what races the “autumn classics” consists of but it would be nice to have 3-4 of them – Piemonte, Milano/Torino, Lombardia and…?

    The races are Milan-Torino, Paris-Tours and Lombardia


    Yeah, I’ve just seen that Piemonte and Milano-Torino are on the same day this year. Maybe something to do with the Worlds being over there as well? Anyway, agreed we shouldn’t have both.

    March 18, 2013 at 9:15 pm #719015
    0
    TERatcliffe26

    chrisdstripes wrote:
    Apart

    chrisdstripes wrote:

    Apart from that I’m happy with it as is – haven’t looked at what races the “autumn classics” consists of but it would be nice to have 3-4 of them – Piemonte, Milano/Torino, Lombardia and…?

    The races are Milan-Torino, Paris-Tours and Lombardia

    March 18, 2013 at 6:29 pm #719013
    0
    northstar

    Quote:Looking at the

    Looking at the startlist for E3-Harelbeke on Friday, I’d say this would be a welcome addition to the Spring Classics next year

    Can we add it this year as a standalone? đŸ‘¿

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