Fantasy Cycling: TDF stage 9 + a look at the numbers

Everyone take a well-earned break on rest day and look back on the first nine stages of the Tour. How's it been for you? Most of us - the entire road.cc staff included - have given up hope of being on the Fantasy podium by now but there's still plenty to play for, including a great stage prize every day.

Stage 9's prize went to Honest Men Wheelers. Time trials are notoriously difficult to score on because it's all about having the right stars; the best-scoring domstique yesterday was Jimmy Engoulvent on 10, and that was by virtue of him rolling in last. Of the other four dream team domestiques, three were only there thanks to bonus points for being team mates of Wiggo. Only Tony Gallopin actually scored useful points for doing something off his own back…

So then, it was all about having Wiggo and Froome and some other stars who came good on the day. Honest Men Wheelers had Chavanel (20) and Van Garderen (30) backing up the two Sky boys, and another assist from Izagirre - it seems to be a requirement to have him in a winning team right now - meant a total of 144, enough for the win ahead of Team SounDaz and Fast Freddie, both on 143. The difference? They didn't have Izagirre…

So it's HonestMan1910 who gets the stage prize of a set of Altura Ergofit Leg Warmers + Ergofit Arm Warmers worth £54. Tomorrow's prize is a cracker; a Minoura W3100 Workstand worth £149. You've got 4 transfers to hone your team ahead of Wednesday.

In the overall BoredMan have jumped to the top of the pile, with a 137-point haul. Team Mandy are second, 16 points adrift, and EPO Breaks are in third a further 4 points back. In the purist league cavalry trouser tips have opened up a bit of a gap, 32 points over second placed Superconfex ride again.

Fantasy data: the first week

We've been doing a bit of number crunching on rest day too, to see who's been doing what. Top of the points pile right now - not suprisingly, since he's won three stages - is everyone's favourite Slovakian, Peter Sagan. He's managed to garner 277 points so far from the nine stages. Wiggo is next man, on 228 points, and Cancellara, with a prologue win and a long stint in yellow, is on 195.

Who's the best value for money though? We've calculated value by taking the number of points scored and dividing it by the cost of the rider. Peter Sagan's the first of the big names in seventh place; above him are six domestiques and at the top of the lot sits Michael Morkov of Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank. Costing you a measly 7 credits and snaffling up 118 points, his points-per-credit rating is a healthy 16.9 right now. Darly Impey in second place has only scored 49 points, but then he only costs 3.4 credits, for a value rating of 14.4. In third is Pablo Urtasun (41 points, 3.1 credits) with a value rating of 13.2.

And the damp squibs? Well, of all the riders still to get off the mark, there are two that really stand out. Thomas Voeckler had a fantastic tour last year but this time around he's really been struggling, off the pace from the start. He's not managed to score a single point, and nor has Vuelta winner Juan Jose Cobo who's been pretty anonymous thus far; maybe he'll come alive once the big hills start. Michele Scarponi has managed just 4 points, Tony Martin a meagre 9. Johnny Hoogerland's been a disappointment too, again just 4 points thus far.

Top ten riders by score

Name                  Team                    Price       Score      Value
Peter Sagan           Liquigas-Cannondale     34.6        277        8.0
Bradley Wiggins       Sky                     38.4        228        5.9
Fabian Cancellara     RadioShack-Nissan       37.7        195        5.2
Matthew Goss          Orica GreenEDGE         33.2        192        5.8
Edvald Boasson Hagen  Sky                     37          187        5.1
Cadel Evans           BMC Racing Team         39.7        174        4.4
Andre Greipel         Lotto-Belisol           34.6        160        4.6
Tejay van Garderen    BMC Racing Team         28.8        150        5.2
Mark Cavendish        Sky                     40          147        3.7
Vicenzo Nibali        Liquigas-Cannondale     39.1        142        3.6

Top ten riders by value

Name                  Team                       Price      Score     Value
Michael Morkov        Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank   7          118       16.9
Daryl Impey           Orica GreenEDGE            3.4        49        14.4
Pablo Urtasun         Euskaltel-Euskadi          3.1        41        13.2
Brett Lancaster       Orica GreenEDGE            5.2        53        10.2
Kris Boeckmans        Vacansoleil-DCM            3.1        29        9.4
Matthieu Ladagnous    FDJ-BigMat                 4.7        40        8.5
Peter Sagan           Liquigas-Cannondale        34.6       277       8.0
Thibaut Pinot         FDJ-BigMat                 10         80        8.0
Nicolas Edet          Cofidis                    2.9        23        7.9
Tony Gallopin         RadioShack-Nissan          10.2       69        6.8