Fabian Flounders in Flanders

It's been a busy old week of racing since last I blogged. So let's have a quick round up of what's been happening up in Belgium..............First, it was the Dwars Door Vlaanderen. Many of the big names decided to sit it out, as they either rested after MSR, or took it easy before the races later in the week. Making the most of the situation, was young Niki Terpstra, who took a classy solo win ahead of the bunch.

There were no huge scores in the league, but The Roulers came off best for the day, and every point helps.

And in the overall, it was Mungo cycling in the lead. I was doing my best to ignore the Mungos when they were in the other league, but now they're in with the rest of us, I'll have to admit they're looking pretty good.

Next we had the E3 Prijs. And if you happened to follow the race last year, you might remember that Fabian Cancellara won the race after some crashes and mechanical setbacks. Or you might just remember the eye catching race poster.

Spartacus wasn't so lucky this year. He had some crashes and mechanical setbacks, but this time he didn't bounce back so well, and finished some time after the winner Tom Boonen.

On the day it was a reasonable result for the Bile Beans, but a better one for Mungo, the Roulers and a resurgent Hell of the North.

Lastly, but not leastly, it was time for Ghent-Wevelgem. It was another tough day in the saddle, and only the strongest riders were in the final group at the finish. In a messy sprint for the line it was that Tom Boonen again for the win.

Another reasonable day for the Bile Beans, and a very good day for Hell of the North. If they keep on like this they'll be dangerous.

For the moment then, all is right with the league, as the Bile Beans are on top again. Only just though. It's tight at the top.

After all that action last week, we have until Sunday till the next race. And what a race it is. Yes, it's the Tour of Flanders.

Not only is it a proper hard man's race over cobbles and hills and things, but it's also a Velogames cat. 1 race. That means there's points aplenty on offer. If you haven't already blown a bunch of your transfers, it might be time to rejig your team before the big day. Good luck!

Milan San Remo - Gerrans Takes a Long, Hard One

Milan-San Remo is the longest one-day race on the cycling calendar, at over 300km when you count the neutralised section in Milan. So it's a tough one, and it looks like it was too tough for my top pick for victory, Mark Cavendish. The World Champion went backwards on the Le Manie climb. I know they say the camera adds 10 pounds, and horizontal stripes aren't flattering, but he did look a little chubby as he tried, and failed to get back in the race.

Another one of my picks was Fabian Cancellara. And when the real racing started on the Poggio,  he tore off down the road with Vincenzo Nibali and Simon Gerrans. I was pleased to see Spartacus doing so well....... until I remembered that I transferred him out of my team in a last minute change of heart. As the race unfolded I was hoping they'd get caught, but Cancellara hauled them to the line, only to be pipped by Gerrans in the sprint.

Gerrans has been around a while, and he's had a few Grand Tour stage wins, but today he landed the biggest win of his career when he crossed the line in San Remo. We might feel a bit bad for Spartacus, as he was the strongest, but Gerrans has had a couple of second places of his own recently. At the Tour Down Under.

And at Paris Nice.

The top three may have eluded me, but at least I had some consolation with the next two men home, as Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb led in the remains of the bunch just 2 seconds later. Also thereabouts were Bennati and Friere, which meant that the Bile Beans did enough to take the top spot the mini-league.

The Bile Beans may be off to an early lead, but the Classics season has only just begun. Next up is the Dwars door Vlaanderen. It might be time to think about a few transfers in your team, as many of the riders from MSR will not be making the trip up North for the next series of races. If you are wondering who's going to be racing, check out CyclingFever for some handy startlists.

Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico: Slack Pance

Hello. Is it Thursday already? It seems like just the other day we were in the thick of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. And then I missed a few posts, and everything was over. In case you weren't paying attention, Bradley Wiggins won Paris nice.

He looked pretty calm throughout the race, and with a bunch of time trial miles to come in the Tour this year, he's looking good for a high placing in Paris. Also doing nicely in the race was runner-up Lieuwe Westra, who could well be a man to watch in the future.

In the Tour de Pance league, it was that canny Vestan Pance who got the win, but it was mostly due to the use of all his transfers rather than any smart picks.

Over in Italy, Vincenzo Nibali won Tirreno-Adriatico after squeezing out Chris Horner in the final time trial.

In the mini-league it was those Roulers who took first place, even after that canny Vestan Pance used all his transfers to try and strengthen his team.

Anyway, as you may know, the Fantasy Classics are nearly here. Which means it's time to get those teams picked and entered in the mini-league. Due to yet more incompetence on my part, I seem to have two Tour de Pance leagues going, so lets try and agree on this one. So pick those teams, and make sure you're picking guys who might actually be riding the races. There's a Milan-San Remo start list over here. Good luck y'all!

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 2: Mark Cavendish in sprint win shocker

Meanwhile, in Italy........................

Firstly, the scores for stage 1 are in, and the Bile Beans did very badly indeed.

MINI LEAGUE SCORES

Tour De Pance

Rank    Team               Score
1          Rouleurs           24
2          evil chanbots    19
3          Bile Beans         7

And then we had Stage 2. I was thinking Mark Cavendish might have been up to his old 'ride crappy in Tirreno-Adriatico, and then win Milan-San Remo' tricks. But he must be trying to do his World Champion's proud, by winning all the races he can.

And things still don't look any better for the Beany Men.

I think I'm going to make some transfers.

Paris-Nice Stage 5 - Go Westra

It was tough going on the way up the Montee Laurent Jalabert today. It's a steep one, and the big guns were taking no prisoners. Richie Porte was hammering away on the front for much of the climb. And while he made sure his Team Leader, Bradley Wiggins was comfy, he didn't care much for those he was putting the hurt on. Out the back were the likes of Frank Schleck, Ivan Basso, Denis Menchov, Jani Brajkovic, and Tony Martin. Still hanging in there were Leipheimer, Valverde, Teej Van Geej, and Tony Martin. Still hanging in there were Leipheimer, Valverde, and the man who would sneak off to win the stage, Leiuwe Westra.

Westra came within six seconds of the Yellow Jersey, but thanks to his showboating antics before the finish, it's Bradley's for at least another day.

In the Velogames world, I'm happy to say that the Bile Beans are at the top of the table.

Tomorrow should be a sprint, I think I might transfer a few more fastmen onto my squad.

Tirreno Adriatico Stage 1 - Green Edge have the Edge

Just a quick one for those of us doing the Fantasy Tirreno-Adriatico. Which seems to be the Bile Beans, Chanbots and Roulers - correct me if I'm wrong.

Stage 1 was a team time trial, which was won by the new Australian outfit GreenEdge. They did seem to be suffering from "the curse of the new team", where the newest big-money team on the Pro-Tour get crappy results in year one - see Sky in 2010, and Lay-O-Pard Schleck in 2011. They may have got lucky with the wind, but they won by 17 seconds, which is pretty impressive over km.

There's no scores yet. So again, it's anyone's guess who's winning. But my guess is that those Roulers are off to an early lead, thanks to picking new race leader Matt Goss of GreenEdge.

Paris-Nice Stage 4: Meersman Fastman

I must admit, I've never heard of Gianni Meersman. He must be pretty good though, as he won a stage of the Paris-Nice race today.

And who's that still wearing the yellow jersey? Why it's that Bradley Wiggins.

It doesn't look like anyone else has heard of Gianni Meersman either, as no one seems to have him in their team. And as there's no scores yet, it's anyone's guess who's leading the minileague. But my guess is that it's still those Chanbots.

Don't forget to use those transfers to get rid of any donkeys on your team. Or get rid of anyone who's called in sick. It seems there's some kind of "gastrointestinal issues" floating around the bunch, so along with Andy Schleck, these guys have pooped out of the race.

DNS	Joost Posthuma (Ned) RadioShack-Nissan
DNS	Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Belisol Team
DNS	Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan
DNS	Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team
DNS	Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Lotto-Belisol Team

Onto tomorrow then, and it's a hilly one, with a finish up the Montee Laurent Jalabert. The likes of Valverde, Leipheimer and Van Geej, will be looking to put Wiggins under pressure. But the way he's been riding, I think Bradley will be OK.

Paris-Nice Stage 3: Valverde Victorious; Chanbots Chuffed

He may be a bit of a cheat, but Alejandro Valverde is a classy bike rider. So we'll overlook those bags of blood in Dr. Fuentes' garage that matched his DNA. And then we'll have to overlook the fact that he still doesn't think he did anything wrong. So let's just sit back and admire the way he just beat Simon Gerrans on the uphill sprint today.

And Bradley Wiggins held onto the yellow jersey.

Today's antics were mostly good news for the Bile Beans. But first and second places, made it a very good day for the Chanbots.

Tomorrow looks like another lumpy one, we could see a few of today's top ten finishers in action again.

Paris-Nice - Boonen Blasts Through on Stage 2

Stage 2 of the Paris-Nice is now over and done with..... It seems like just this morning that I was telling you about Stage 1, but here we go again....... So a look a today's profile would have suggested a bunch sprint might be on the cards.

And a sprint we had, with a tidy win from Tom Boonen.

It was a nice win, but there was plenty happening behind Tornado Tom today. Some stiff winds and some wet weather split the race up into a number of small groups, with the leading group putting around 2 minutes into the rest. Up front with Boonen were some of the GC hopefuls, but not others. It was a canny move for the likes of Levi Leipheimer, Alejandro Valverde and Tejay Van Garderen, (or Teej Van Geej as I like to call him). And it was a crappy move for those left behind, like Tony Martin, Ivan Basso and the Schlecks. The biggest winner though was our boy Bradley Wiggins, he was looking relaxed and strong, and earned himself the race lead.

And in the lead in the minileague are the Marras. They had a fair few riders in today's break and that win from Tom Boonen helped them out nicely.

Remember to use those transfers. I just noticed that Denis Galimzanov isn't actually riding, so I've made a few changes to my line-up. You might want to check all your boys started, or are still in the race - guys like David Millar and Nick Nuyens, for example. It looks a bit lumpier at the finish for tomorrow, maybe my new sprinter John Degenkolb can do something.

Paris Nice Stage1 - Larsson Leads

The opening time trial of Paris-Nice has been and gone. The fastest man of the day was Gustav Erik Larsson, 

I've already covered Larsson's sideline in surreal cartoons. So today's Larsson fact, is that he's quite the audiophile. Apparently he's made his own valve amp and speakers. Looks pretty nice, I might have to pop round one day and see how my TFT vinyl sounds on his system.

Mr Larsson was lucky enough to set off when the weather was still good. Not so Bradley Wiggins, who set off when there was all kinds of water about. He was taking it easy on the corners, but still did enough to take second.

Also off in the rain was last year's winner, Tony Martin. Maybe it was the combination of the rain and his white World Champ's skinsuit, but he failed to impress, and lost 25 seconds to Larsson. Also failing to impress were those Shlecks. With time trial kms aplenty in the Tour De France this year they'll have to do better, as they both lost about a minute in less than 10km. Or maybe, now that Andy Schleck won the 2010 Tour, he's realized that he's already achieved that Grand Tour win he's been after.

It's early days in the minileague, and things are looking pretty evenly matched so far. Looking at the teams it seems that Wiggins is a popular pick, so I think we can all agree that we hope he does well. Also I think you can make transfers to your teams, so if someone's looking a bit crap you can replace them.

Don't forget that the Fantasy Tirreno-Adriatico is now open, so you might as well pick a team for that too.

I've set up a minileague, but there seems to be some funny stuff going on with it. Try entering and see what happens.

League Name: Tour De Pance

League Code: 03150444

Cross Over - Nice time on the way

The Velogames Cross season is now well and truly over. And the Bile Beans performance was less than stellar, but not the worst out there either. In fact the Bile Beans Cross season went much like my own, which I wrapped up last weekend at Southern Cross. So although I wasn't raking in the wins like Kevin Pauwels, I did, at least for the most part, have fun.

Although, due to the typically short nature of a Cross race, it's had to get enough beer handups to keep up with the hardcore spectators.

Anyway, we all know that Cross is mostly a distraction for the winter, before the serious business of the road season starts again in the spring. The pros have already been in action in places like Oman and Qatar, but there's something about the podium presentations over there that make me long for the circus to get back to Europe. Compare this.

To this.

And I think you can see why I'm looking forward to the Giro. So the road season is here, and that means it's time for Fantasy Cycling. It looks like George has spent the off-season applying a lick of paint to the Velogames site, and I'm sure you'll agree it looks very nice. First up is Paris-Nice, with Tirreno-Adriatico and the Classics to follow soon. As usual, I've wasted no time in picking a Bile Beans squad, and opening a minileague.

League Name: Tour De Pance

League Code: 02152107

In other news, I've got myself a new job. So I'll be swapping one of these.

For one of these.

So, my bikeshop days are now over. Which sadly, means I'll  no longer be able to bring you news of the latest technical innovations in cycling. Such as the Aeroguard.

The Wordlock.

And the lesbian/dog-Police-chase-fantasy-wheel-guard, or whatever the fuck this is....

Anyhooze, you better get a team picked for Paris-Nice, as it starts on Sunday with a 9.6km uphill time trial.