Season Fantasy Challenge #4 | Update from Dwars door Vlaanderen to Giro d'Italia
Cycling
Recently, I embarked on a challenge I call the "Season Fantasy Challenge," participating in two year-long fantasy cycling competitions on Zweeler and FirstCycling, aiming for the best possible finish. As we move deeper into spring, the classifications have begun to solidify, providing intriguing insights into the predictions.
If you want to learn about both competitions I've entered, you can do so by reading the opening column.
Zweeler - https://en.zweeler.com/results/14951
FirstCycling - https://firstcycling.com/fantasy.php?k=sta
Zweeler
Goal: Top50
Ranking on last update (28/3): 350th
Current Ranking: 1100th
From 350th to 1100th. Not the best of springs over on the Zweeler competition, it's definitely seen my strong start to the season fade, there is plenty to analyze within these weeks. Tadej Pogacar won Flanders, Amstel and Flèche, he abandoned Liege but as only 9% of the competition does not have him, I can't say I benefited much from it. Mads Pedersen continued a strong spring, but abandoned his Giro too early and didn't score many points.
From this most recent race, the Giro, I did not have any of the big scorers and 4 out of my 6 riders abandoned. Pedersen, Ganna, Groves and Vlasov could all have brought more but it wasn't to be.
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David Gaudu and Enric Mas brought in some points at Itzzulia Basque Country, Valentin Madouas and Guillaume Martin scored decently at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Juan Ayuso looked sharp at Romandie but then collapsed in the high mountains... That is essentially it when it comes to big points throughout this period. There could be more, but that's why the numbers have gone down quite a bit.
Pedersen, Matthews and Groves still brought in some nice points from the Giro sprints, but there is suffering. However not all is bad, looking at the team there certainly seems to be a bigger focus on the Tour. There I should have Pogacar, Pedersen, van Aert, Bilbao, Gaudu, Madouas, Mas, Jakobsen, Bennett, Coquard, Martin and Johannessen at least within shot of winning points. Not only there, but hopefully at the Dauphine and Suisse they bring in some points that will help the charge to regain lost positions.
De Lie, Zingle and Thijssen continue to have a very strong season but outside of races where points can be won which is far from good for my situation, something to note for the future too. Tobias Johannessen finally starts to show good signs but Norway has not given points, Hugo Hofstetter and Patrick Bevin continue to show no signs of improving so it's unlikely for the time being to hope for points from them.
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FirstCycling
Goal: 1st place
Ranking on last update (28/3): 18th
Current Ranking: 36th
On FirstCycling the update also isn't positive, the results over the spring classics have not been the best and the Giro d'Italia did not improve the situation.
Over the many races that took place throughout April and May there were definitely a few ups and downs. On the downside is one race I missed, the Orlens Nations Grand Prix, but in the big picture the points I lacked there won't make much of a difference. There weren't too many standouts, my ranking in the stage-races has lowered from what was a comfortable Top10 and is now 35th, however in the one-day races there has been some improvement and I'm now 37th.
Some of this due to the first victory I got in the season, that was at Paris-Roubaix espoirs. A small race however, but there was also a 3rd place at Antwerp Port Epic. The spring racing period has passed but May brought in plenty one-day races, those won't stop now in the upcoming month. The next months will see the Criterium du Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse and Tour de France, all of which will be key races to regain positions, the victory goal begins to fade against so many smart competitors however the goal is to still achieve the single best possible result.
A lot of racing has taken place since the last update, the results have been as following:
Dwars door Vlaanderen Men: 35th
Dwars door Vlaanderen Women: 46th
Vuelta Bantrab: 31st
Route Adélie de Vitré: 42nd
GP Miguel Indurain: 56th
Volta Limburg Classic: 75th
Ronde van Vlaanderen: 37th
Ronde van Vlaanderen Women's: 130th
Itzulia Basque Country: 50th
Pays de la Loire Tour: 49th
Scheldeprijs Women: 24th
Scheldeprijs: 64th
Ster van Zuid-Limburg: 37th
Paris-Roubaix Femmes: 11st
Paris-Roubaix: 119th
Ronde de Mouscron: 40th
Giro di Sicilia: 48th
Brabantse Pijl WE: 63rd
Brabantse Pijl: 65th
Classic Grand Besançon Doubs: 40th
Tour du Jura: 66th
LBL U23: 119th
Amstel Gold Race Ladies: 23rd
Amstel Gold Race: 62nd
Tour du Doubs: 95th
Giro Reggio Calabria: 66th
GP Féminin de Chambéry: 55th
Tour of the Alps: 28th
Flèche Wallone WE: 24th
Flèche Wallone: 117th
Gipuzkoa Klasikoa: 76th
Omloop van Borsele: 92nd
Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes: 129th
Liège-Bastogne-Liège: 182nd
Rutland - Melton Classic: 138th
Tour de Bretagne: 146th
Tour de Romandie: 80th
reVolta: 34th
Leiedal Koerse: 55th
Festival Elsy Jacobs: 47th
GP Voralberg: 34th
GP West Bohemia: 71st
Eschborn - Frankfurt U23: 31st
Eschborn - Frankfurt: 49th
Vuelta Femenina: 121st
Classique Morbihan WE: 52nd
GP de Plumelec: 96th
Giro d'Italia: 139th
Tro-Bro Leon: 142nd
Paris-Roubaix Espoirs: 1st
GP Bob Jungels Juniors: 41st
Bretagne Ladies Tour: 98th
Tour de Hongrie: 138th
Itzulia Women: 54th
Tour du Finistère: 53rd
4 Jours du Dunkerque: 53rd
Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic: 50th
Trophée Morbihan Juniors: 92nd
ZLM Omloop der Kempen Ladies: 78th
Tour of Japan: 105th
Antwerp Port Epic Ladies: 49th
Antwerp Port Epic: 3rd
Ronde van Vlaanderen Juniors: 39th
Thüringen Ladies Tour: 82nd
Orlen Nations Grand Prix: -
Tour de Feminin: 102nd
Tour of Estonia: 109th
GP Beiras: 119th
Prudential Ridelondon: 73th
Tour of Norway: 99th
GP Ciudad de Eibar: 18th
Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes: 22nd
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UltimateOpportunist23-12-2024 - If you look at the major races they’ve both been in, van der Poel had the early edge as lately Pogacar has had the advantage. It’s all on procyclingstats.RidesHills23-12-2024
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