Alright, buckle up because I am having withdrawal from le Tour. Here is a team by team analysis of what went right or wrong for each team.
Let’s start at the top. The massive amount of respect that #1 in Sales 79-81, Spanning 2 decades!- Matthew Kurke has received in the office around the water cooler is almost palpable. How did he do it though? Was is it consistency, massive wins, strength on the flats, climbing mountains, or picking the podium? Well, it was a few of them. Mr. Kurke had Froome who led all scorers with 2246 points, Quintana who was second in scoring with 1902 points, Rodriguez who was 4th in scoring 1292 points, and Sagan who was 5th in scoring with 1269 points. He also outscored everyone in the final GC scoring by over 400 points. Pretty impressive. Good thing he didn't grab Kwiatkowski who was 3rd in points with 1445. Otherwise we all would have been in a world of hurt from the beginning.
We all know how our second place rider came to his spot. Les Têtards - Charlie Sawyer won 10 of 22 stages and was second in two other stages. He was the carrot that everyone else was chasing, but only one person could get. He was 1100 points ahead of our third place team! But he still came up 200 points short.
Third place goes to Allez mes coureurs - Jeff Cook-Lundgren with 6105 points. Getting here took a lot a patience as his team was built for the mountains and the overall competition. The patience was worth the wait as he came in third in the final GC scoring. This was enough to get him on the podium.
The next three teams took different routes to almost get on the podium. Clean Air - Jed Friedrich, 5887 points, used the wait and pounce method and it worked. He came in second in the overall GC and was only on the stage podium one other time. Two Headed Monster - Scott Bromelkamp, 5747 points, had a steady climb to the top with a good finish at the end. Johnston Cycling Group - Vicki Johnston, 5607 points, was in the hunt from the beginning and launched an even attack. Unfortunately, her riders weren't quite high enough in the overall GC to get the job done.
Now a bunch of teams who didn't do that great:
Turn Over - Jess Braun, 4909 points, picked the favorites, but the rest of the picks didn't add up. Is her team name an indicator of next years team?
The green monster - Ryan Buus, 4864 points, did score well in the green jersey competition, but this didn't cut it.
Spinner B's - Bethany Buus, 4669 points, had three studs but in the end she needed more studs that that.
Saddle Dominators - Matt Holton, 4603 points, tried picking the second best rider on each team. This is not a good strategy.
Backseat DS - Whit Yost, 4483 points, had the closest view of the tour and did pick the winner of yellow and green. None of the other riders were in the top 30 fantasy scorers.
Team Bullseye - Steve Knutson, 4217 points, cheated off Whit and had the same three top scoreers. Next year you should cheat off someone else (unless Whit wins).
Moto Man - Justin Rath, 3786 points, was the winner of the fantasy Giro competition this Spring. I guess it really is too hard to do the Giro-Tour double.
Now we are to the last two spots.
Viva la Lance - Luke Dueffert, 2323 points, is a Wrath of le Tour rookie and it showed. The team looked good on paper, but picking previous winners of jerseys just doesn't cut it. Luke, welcome to the big leagues ;) Your time will come.
This years lantern rouge goes to Flo Ridas - Lizzy Sander with 1103 points. Lizzy had a lock on this spot from the beginning. She picked a great all around team with six riders who have finished in the top 10 of previous grand tours. Lady luck was not on her side though as only four of her riders scored points in this years tour.
We have not had a repeat winner in the Wrath of le Tour, but Lizzy you have repeated as the lantern rouge. Last year it was only by five points to, guess who... Matthew Kurke. Hang in there Lizzy, there is hope.
Here are some graphs if you like that kind of thing:
Here are some numbers if you like that kind of thing:Stage Scores
These are the riders you should have picked: Rider Scores
If you made it this far, congratulations!
Come back for more fantasy cycling fun in the near future.
