Final Standings
Degenkolb gives NAS a final leg-up to the top-non-Thomas slot, and the only last minute improvement among the top ten. Kazistuta and Postmanhat each get a 5 place hike to put some gloss on their final positions.
Well who'da thunk it. Essentially all victory required was to have Thomas and the 10th place on GC plus a stage win gained by Quintana, with 2nd places and on overall 22nd from Ion Izagirre giving a bit of a margin of comfort.
I shall learn a salutary lesson from the current placing of last year's winner, Amis Velo, now languishing in last place.
Got to go out now, a bit more analysis of the numbers later.
Rider scores
The top 40 scorers. The fact that the three riders who scored closest to Thomas were essentially priced out of the game was a great help to the Thomas teams.
1 THOMAS Geraint 1123 4 teams 2 DUMOULIN Tom 673 0
3 SAGAN Peter 594 0
4 FROOME Chris 508 0
5 ROGLIC Primoz 452 1 6 ALAPHILIPPE Julian 396 0
7 MARTIN Daniel 386 11 8 VAN AVERMAET Greg 338 0
9 BARDET Romain 333 3
10 KRISTOFF Alexander 305 0
11 KRUIJSWIJK Steven 304 11
12 DEMARE Arnaud 280 0
13 DEGENKOLB John 258 5
14 LANDA MEANA Mikel 252 0
15 QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander 246 34
16 GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando 230 21
17 GROENEWEGEN Dylan 195 4
18 ZAKARIN Ilnur 187 9
19 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 175 1
20 LATOUR Pierre 171 2
21 IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion 165 5
22 JUNGELS Bob 163 3
23 MAJKA Rafal 147 5
24 COLBRELLI Sonny 144 0
25 BARGUIL Warren 138 0
26 FUGLSANG Jakob 135 5
27 CARUSO Damiano 132 0
28 MOLLEMA Bauke 122 0
29 BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley 117 0
30 LAPORTE Christophe 115 1
31 IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka 111 0
32 POZZOVIVO Domenico 107 0
33 CORT NIELSEN Magnus 105 0
34 YATES Adam 102 7
35 FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar 100 3
36 KANGERT Tanel 96 17
37 NIEVE ITURRALDE Mikel 78 1
38 LAMPAERT Yves 75 0
39 GESCHKE Simon 72 0
39 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald 72 0
Impeccable picks
THOMAS Geraint 1123points 4 teams 1040 price
MARTIN Daniel 386 11 828
KRUIJSWIJK Steven 304 11 531
DEGENKOLB John 258 5 467
FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar 100 3 293
KANGERT Tanel 96 17 108
BERNARD Julien 40 0 100
HAGA Chad 23 2 78
SCULLY Tom 22 2 40
SUTHERLAND Rory 20 12 20
The most popular picks
PORTE Richie 20 points 36 teams 852 cost
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander 246 34 931
CAVENDISH Mark 4 34 152
ROLLAND Pierre 57 27 160
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando 230 21 860
GAUDU David 43 20 229
KANGERT Tanel 96 17 108
SUTHERLAND Rory 20 12 20
MARTIN Daniel 386 11 828
KRUIJSWIJK Steven 304 11 531
ZAKARIN Ilnur 187 9 748
KITTEL Marcel 50 8 676
YATES Adam 102 7 978
GUARNIERI Jacopo 20 6 25
Only Kangert, Kruijswijk, and possibly Martin and Rolland, among these can be said to have been successful. Sutherland and Guarnieri fulfilled the low expectation on them, as cheap finishers; Gaviria looked like he might have been very worth picking until he, and most other sprinters, came adrift in the Alps; Quintana redeemed himself partially by winning the short mountain stage, and eventually made the difference between the top four; and Porte was chosen by all four of the Thomas teams, so eventually his result was null no matter how well he might have done had he avoided his fall.
The Collective Wisdom team would have come 13th, with quite an underspend, so although these riders mainly underperformed, it was not disastrous.
Best possible team
Hakkie traditionally does a better job of working this out than I do, but I think it is:
THOMAS Geraint 1123pts 4 teams 1040 cost
ROGLIC Primoz 452 1 1441
MARTIN Daniel 386 11 828
KRUIJSWIJK Steven 304 11 531
BOSWELL Ian 20 5 46
SCULLY Tom 22 2 40
SUTHERLAND Rory 20 12 20
GUARNIERI Jacopo 20 6 25
Other combinations of cheap, 20 point finishers would be possible. This lot would come in close to budget, on the right side at 3971, and would have scored 2347pts. It would also have come lowest on the popularity charts.
Thanks to CQ for the scoring system, to PCS for the results, to the riders, and to everyone who had a go. I'm sure you will put me in my place in the Vuelta game.
I think the only person here competing was Sporting Nonsense: a respectable enough mid table position. I see there were quite a few reads, so I hope people found the game interesting. I'll post a link to the Vuelta game here when I am ready to start it, but I might ask entrants to follow at Velorooms or Cycling News rather than having a third place to paste everything (unless there are several entrants here).
