Season Fantasy Challenge #5 | Update from Criterium du Dauphiné until Clásica San Sebastian

Recently, I embarked on a challenge known as the "Season Fantasy Challenge," where I compete in two year-long fantasy cycling competitions on Zweeler and FirstCycling. My goal is to achieve the best possible finish. As we move deeper into spring, the standings have started to solidify, providing some 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

Goal: Top50
Ranking on last update (1/6): 1100th
Current Ranking: 1238th

No moves towards the positive side yet. In reality another step down, the goal of a Top50 becomes unachievable after the Tour de France as the riders I had in game didn't score enough to really make a difference. From 1100th to 1238th throughout these two months of racing from the Criterium du Dauphiné to Clásica San Sebastián.

Spot 1953 at the Dauphiné, 2134 in Suisse, 719 at the Tour de France and 422 in San Sebastián. An improvement towards the end but at this point in the season I would need massive results to really climb up the ladder. They ultimately didn't come.

The Dauphiné was a poor performance with Guillaume the top scorer with only 66 points, in Suisse the choice of Juan Ayuso finally earned good points - I still expect him to score big now towards the end of the season. The Tour de France was not bad, Pogacar's presence assured me good points, adding Bilbao and Gaudu from the GC, Pedersen and van Aert for sprints and hilly days... Decent scoring.

In San Sebastián I had my best result in months with Pello Bilbao and Aleksandr Vlasov making it to the podium, but still such ride earning only a 422nd spot is way below anything I was gearing up to earlier in the year. Enric Mas, Fabio Jakobsen and Sam Bennett's lack of points from the Tour - all for different reasons - were another big hit which will most likely not be compensated later in the year. Otherwise, a few picks from the more modest riders continue to earn no points because the race where they perform don't get me points, a mistake I had learnt previously in the year.

The Tour de Pologne is ongoing, but the coming weeks also see the World Championships, Vuelta a Burgos, BEMER Cyclassics, Renewi Tour, Deutschland Tour and Vuelta a Espana.

Goal: 1st place
Ranking on last update (1/6): 36th
Current Ranking: 44th

A similar trend was seen in the FirstCycling charts. The victory goal also becomes too far to be realistic, and the tables have turned in the wrong direction. The past two months saw me descend from 36th to 44th in the overall standings.

The level is incredibly high. Somehow I've seen better results in lower level races and women's racing which is relatively surprising to me, as I follow elite men's cycling with the biggest amount of attention. I've added Top10 results at the Tour Déminin Pyrénées, Giro Donne and Tour de Wallonie.

I've missed two races in these two months, but both small ones which ultimately aren't a reason for the descent in the standings. In the last 6 weeks I've been the 68th best scorer, visible evidence that the past few months have not seen such good performances from me. I admit at times it is hard to remain consistent which have seen me miss a couple ones, but ultimately I still expected better results.

There are still a few more months of racing and it's hard to think of what would be an ambitious goal at this specific time, it would be nicer to see a win in a specific race - Paris-Roubaix Femmes up to today being my only victory.

A lot of racing has taken place since the last update, the results have been as following:
Tour de Kumano: 89th
Classique Alpes Juniors: 120th
Brussels Cycling Classic: 74th
Alpes Gresivaudan Classic: 94th
Criterium du Dauphiné: 120th
Dwars door de Westhoek: 34th
Course de la Paix: 12th
Tour Féminin Pyrénées: 5th
Dwars door het Hageland (Women): 100th
Dwars door het Hageland (Men): 45th
Elfstedenronde: 108th
Tour de Suisse: 87th
Flanders Diamond Tour: 99th
Tour of Slovenia: 24th
Belgium Tour: 68tht
Route d'Occitanie: 35th
Vuelta a Colombia: 125th
Tour de Suisse Women: 80th
Giro d'Italia Donne: 7th

Tour de France: 201st
Österreich-Rundfahrt: -
Valromey Juniors: 99th
Baloise Ladies Tour: 20th
SD Worx BW Classic: 44th
Tour de Wallonie: 4th
Tour de France Femmes: 40th
GP Kranj: 13rd
Prueba Villafranca: -
Dookola Mazowsza: 124th
Vuelta a Castilla y León: 122th
Vuelta a Colombia Femenina: 15th
Czech Tour: 76th
Clásica San Sebastián: 17th