The Tour de France has finished and the withdrawal from your favorite announcers, I am sure, has already begun. Weekend (or even weekday) mornings may never feel as productively unproductive for the rest of the year. The last three stages of le Tour offered up some predictable racing, but the suspense was there as Bardet attempted to fall off the podium. The fantasy cycling was about as predictable.
The big winner of the 11th annual Wrath of le Tour goes to Faire le Pont managed by Jeff Cook-Lundgren. Jeff took the lead on stage 7 and never looked back. Jeff had an impressive team with an average fantasy ranking of 24th place. Froome, Aru, Kittel and Quintana were his big money riders and all scored their fair share of points. The most impressive picks came in cherry picking his high value low cost riders. Guillaume Martin, Tiesj Benoot, Bauke Mollema and Damiano Caruso were all value picks that scored well above their cost. Congratulations Jeff on your first ever win in the Wrath of le Tour fantasy cycling competition. A decade of hard work has finally paid off!!!
Second place in 2017 goes to Matt Damon managed by Matt Kurke. Matt was one of the three brave souls that did not select Chris Froome. He did have four riders in the top 10 which is an impressive feat. Things were looking up for Matt when Arnaud Demare was one of the top sprinters left in the peloton. His lack of form in the mountains or swapping out his low pick of Gianluca Brambilla might have been enough to make up the 104 point deficit to the top spot on the podium.
Third place goes to the returning champion For old time sake managed by Kelin Dunfee. Kelin made a late charge for the podium by making some nice overall picks. Kelin's affinity to the stage hunter and sprinters worked out well. However, one can only wonder what might have been if Cavendish would have found his form of old rather than the barriers in 2017.
The lanterne rouge in 2017 goes to first time competitor Lion of Flanders managed by Lee Cox. Lee was hit hard by Porte's abandon. The other riders he selected are have excellent palmarès, however 2017 just wasn't their year for fantasy cycling. Welcome to the big time Lee. We hope to see you back next year!
Thanks to everyone for participating and hope to see you all next year!
Team rosters and scoring
Stage by stage scoring
Rider scores
Stage 19 Podium
1 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 159
2 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 151
3 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 114
Stage 20 Podium
1 - J's Racing - Vicki J. - 259
2 - The Bikers Must Be Crazy - Alex Hooke - 241
3 - Lion of Flanders - Lee Cox - 191
Stage 21 Podium
1 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 204
2 - RathOfLeTour - Justin Rath - 189
3 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 181
Podium for overall picks
1 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 3209
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 3172
3 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 2397
***FINAL RESULTS***
GC - Team Name - Manager - Score
1 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 7425
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 7321
3 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 5745
4 - Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer - 5118
5 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 5052
6 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 4902
7 - Rule #5 - Ian Hill - 4596
8 - J's Racing - Vicki J. - 4503
9 - Santa Barbara Sandbaggers - Alex Kurt - 4353
10 - El Pistolero's Last Stand - Scott Bromelkamp - 4347
11 - RathOfLeTour - Justin Rath - 4080
12 - The Bikers Must Be Crazy - Alex Hooke - 4022
13 - Team Bullseye - Steve Knutson - 3982
14 - Flo Ridas - Lizzy Sander - 3763
15 - WADA mean, I'm clean. - Jared Smith - 3659
16 - Lion of Flanders - Lee Cox - 3281
Top Scoring Riders (points - rider)
2237 - FROOME Christopher
1617 - URAN Rigoberto
1530 - BARDET Romain
1370 - ARU Fabio
1349 - MARTIN Daniel
1246 - BARGUIL WARREN
1193 - YATES Simon
1129 - LANDA Mikel
1013 - MEINTJES Louis
1006 - MATTHEWS Michael
Most valuable riders (value - cost - points - rider name)
246. - 2 - 493 - MARTIN Guillaume
169. - 3 - 508 - GROENEWEGEN Dylan
138. - 9 - 1246 - BARGUIL WARREN
137. - 4 - 548 - CARUSO Damiano
134. - 12 - 1617 - URAN Rigoberto
124. - 7 - 874 - BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
115. - 3 - 346 - FEILLU Brice
108. - 5 - 544 - BENOOT Tiesj
103. - 13 - 1349 - MARTIN Daniel
102. - 11 - 1129 - LANDA Mikel
The Alps have left a lasting shape on the 2017 Tour de France. Fearful leaders have fallen back and quiet contenders have risen to the fore. There are three stages left and the final places are staring to become more and more clear.
On the fantasy side of things, Matt Damon managed by Matt Kurke are starting to flex their muscles. They have been in the top two of the past three stages and cut Faire le Pont managed by Jeff Cook-Lundgren' lead to a meager 125 points. The final podium spot is also coming up for grabs as For old time sake managed by Kelin Dunfee, Rule #5 managed by Ian Hill, Les Têtards managed by Charlie Sawyer and JIOs managed by Jess Braun are all within 500 points of third place. Team Undertow managed by Ryan Buus has a fading Aru as their top rider. Each of the other challengers has Froome to complete the charge to Paris.
The final weekend should be good!!!
Stage 18 Podium
1 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 288
2 - El Pistolero's Last Stand - Scott Bromelkamp - 273
3 - Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer - 230
Stage 17 Podium
1 - Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer - 337
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 300
3 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 230
GC - Team Name - Manager - Score
1 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 3837
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 3712
3 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 3165
4 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 2880
5 - Rule #5 - Ian Hill - 2823
6 - Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer - 2725
7 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 2643
8 - El Pistolero's Last Stand - Scott Bromelkamp - 2266
9 - J's Racing - Vicki J. - 2219
10 - RathOfLeTour - Justin Rath - 2180
11 - Santa Barbara Sandbaggers - Alex Kurt - 2159
12 - Flo Ridas - Lizzy Sander - 2045
13 - The Bikers Must Be Crazy - Alex Hooke - 1975
14 - Team Bullseye - Steve Knutson - 1966
15 - WADA mean, I'm clean. - Jared Smith - 1819
16 - Lion of Flanders - Lee Cox - 1741
The tour is really hotting up now! Transition stages are tough fights. Riders are dropping due to illness very likely secondary to fatigue. This week is where heroes are made and dreams are truly crushed.
The fantasy racing had another first time podium placer in The Bikers Must Be Crazy managed by Alex Hooke. His sleeper pick of Bauke Mollema was key with the stage win on 15. Unfortunately he has both Sagan and Porte who are no longer in the race.
Faire le Pont managed by Jeff Cook-Lundgren is still holding down the top spot. He has to be a bit nervous though because Matt Damon managed by Matt Kurke is only 334 point behind. Jeff has 1, 2, 9 and 10th place riders while Matt has 3, 4, 6, 7, and 10th place riders. In the overall scores it will be tight!
Stage 16 Podium
1 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 225
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 174
3 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 169
Stage 15 Podium
1 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 306
2 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 264
3 - The Bikers Must Be Crazy - Alex Hooke - 204
GC - Team Name - Manager - Score
1 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 3458
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 3124
3 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 2830
4 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 2543
5 - Rule #5 - Ian Hill - 2522
6 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 2218
7 - Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer - 2158
8 - RathOfLeTour - Justin Rath - 1978
9 - J's Racing - Vicki J. - 1887
10 - Santa Barbara Sandbaggers - Alex Kurt - 1866
11 - El Pistolero's Last Stand - Scott Bromelkamp - 1771
12 - Flo Ridas - Lizzy Sander - 1757
13 - The Bikers Must Be Crazy - Alex Hooke - 1744
14 - Team Bullseye - Steve Knutson - 1702
15 - WADA mean, I'm clean. - Jared Smith - 1575
16 - Lion of Flanders - Lee Cox - 1487
Wondering who you shoulder have picked?!?!?
Top Scoring Riders (points - rider)
905 - KITTEL Marcel
894 - FROOME Christopher
769 - MATTHEWS Michael
735 - ARU Fabio
663 - MARTIN Daniel
539 - BARDET Romain
533 - BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
526 - URAN Rigoberto
187 - SAGAN Peter
466 - YATES Simon
Most valuable riders (value - cost - points - rider name)
104. - 3 - 314 - GROENEWEGEN Dylan
86.5 - 2 - 173 - MARTIN Guillaume
77.3 - 6 - 464 - DEMARE Arnaud
77.0 - 3 - 231 - KÜNG Stefan
76.1 - 7 - 533 - BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
69.6 - 13 - 905 - KITTEL Marcel
60.4 - 5 - 302 - CALMEJANE Lilian
59.1 - 13 - 769 - MATTHEWS Michael
51.0 - 13 - 663 - MARTIN Daniel
50.0 - 2 - 100 - SELIG Rüdiger
Team scores
Rider scores
Stage scores
No rider is safe to sit in the bunch if they are looking for yellow. Today's stage underscored the urgency and nervousness the GC riders go though. Team Sky capitalizes on every mistake. Fabio Aru looks like a one man team. If the "team" aspect of this sport is confusing for you, take a look at the last 20-30k from stage 14. Froome has riders to help him to the front and Aru looks like toast trying to find a welcoming wheel to sit on.
The sprint was something new too! The extra long celebration from a rider with the nick-name of "Bling" wasn't too surprising.
Slow day on the fantasy circuit, but we have a new name to the podium. Santa Barbara Sandbaggers managed by Alex Kurt have been close a couple of times, but finally made that last step up to third on a stage. Mr. Kurt also gets the community outreach award for bringing the most friends to the party! To my knowledge Ian Hill, Jared Smith and Lee Cox have all come to the league via Alex. I can only imagine the water cooler talk in their office. I am jealous (seriously).
Results below:
Stage 14 Podium
1 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 220
2 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 217
3 - Santa Barbara Sandbaggers - Alex Kurt - 216
Another great stage in the books. The dynamics between the breakaway and the yellow jersey worn by Fabio Aru were something else today. Some riders were frustrated that other were let back into the race. Those who worked their way back into the race are feeling good.
Link to video summary from letour.com via dailymotion
It was another good outing by our top two fantasy riders. They are steadily pulling away from the field with Team Undertow managed by Ryan Buus now over 400 points back in third place. There is one week left in the race and any thing could happen. The riders have been quite aggressive so the racing has been exciting!
Stage 13 Podium
1 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 314
2 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 274
3 - El Pistolero's Last Stand - Scott Bromelkamp - 209
GC - Team Name - Manager - Score
1 - Faire le Pont - Jeff Cook-Lundgren - 2817
2 - Matt Damon - Matt Kurke - 2656
3 - Team Undertow - Ryan Buus - 2242
4 - Rule #5 - Ian Hill - 2177
5 - For old time sake - Kelin Dunfee - 2031
6 - Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer - 1799
7 - JIOs - Jess Braun - 1775
8 - RathOfLeTour - Justin Rath - 1742
9 - J's Racing - Vicki J. - 1588
10 - Santa Barbara Sandbaggers - Alex Kurt - 1479
11 - Flo Ridas - Lizzy Sander - 1464
12 - El Pistolero's Last Stand - Scott Bromelkamp - 1422
13 - The Bikers Must Be Crazy - Alex Hooke - 1332
14 - WADA mean, I'm clean. - Jared Smith - 1298
15 - Team Bullseye - Steve Knutson - 1291
16 - Lion of Flanders - Lee Cox - 1258
GC Standings
1 - ARU FABIO
2 - FROOME CHRISTOPHER
3 - BARDET ROMAIN
4 - URAN RIGOBERTO
5 - LANDA MIKEL
6 - MARTIN DANIEL
7 - YATES SIMON
8 - QUINTANA NAIRO
9 - MEINTJES LOUIS
10 - CONTADOR ALBERTO
