Iglinskiy has Max Power at Liege

What do Alexandre Vinokourov, Alejandro Valverde, Davide Rebellin, Danilo Di Luca, Tyler Hamilton and Frank Vandenbrouke all have in common? Well, apart from liking to take performance enhancing substances, they’ve also all won Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Maxim Iglinskiy has just added his name to the list of Liege winners, with a powerful ride.

It was a cold and wet day, but Max rode smart and caught a fading Vincenzo Nibali before the line, to take the biggest win of his career. Team-mate/manager Vinokourov was impressed, saying he won "the Vino way", by which I assume he means he paid 100,000 Euro for the win. Let’s hope Max doesn’t follow in the footsteps of some of the other recent winners, and find himself busted for cheating – unless he’s been cheating of course, in which case, I hope he gets busted.

I didn’t even pick Max’s younger, less talented brother, Valentin for the Bile Beans. And my squad failed to deliver many points at all in the all important last race. Where was my big investment Alejandro Valverde during all the Ardennes races? Not anywhere near the front it would seem.

All that underperforming has cost me dear, as it has allowed Mungo Cycling to take second place overall. There was no touching the Roulers however, who earned a very respectable 875 points, which was not only enough for the Tour de Pance minileague win, but they also earned 14th overall out of all the Velogames entries. I can take some consolation from beating the Chanbots, which is always nice, but I get the feeling they weren't really trying.

The Giro D’Italia will be starting in the Netherlands, or Denmark, or somewhere like that, on May 5th, unless I’m mistaken. I’m sure I’ll be over my Classics disappointments by then, and I will be back with a new and improved Bile Bean squad, that will crush all in its path. Either that or I’ll just pick a bunch of donkeys like I normally do. Either way, the Giro is a great race, and it’s good to get some Fantasy Grand Tour practice in before all the wannabes turn up for the Tour de France.

J-Rod is Flèche Torpedo

Joaquim Rodriguez has come close to winning Fleche Wallonne before, finishing second for the last two years. This year he finally won, and he looked to be pretty pleased too.

The race unfolded much like Amstel Gold, only wetter. An early break went, it wasn’t allowed to get too far, and apart from a few late moves, it stayed together for a sprint up the Muy du Hoy. J-Rod had the best legs, and put plenty of distance between himself and the rest by the line.

Yet another good score for the Roulers then, there seems to be no stopping them. According to the scores for the day, Roulers beat my boys by 1 point. That doesn’t sound quite right to me though, as Jelle Vanendert’s points don’t seem to have been counted. Much as it pains me to say it, I think the Roulers deserve another 16 or so points, but I’m no George Chapman, so what do I know?

It’s all pretty much over at the top of the mini-league. It would take some sort of miracle for Roulers not to win, but there's still the lesser placings to fight for.

On Sunday then, it will be the end of the Spring Classics season, with Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Judging by the way the other Ardennes Classics have played out, I’m thinking it will all stay pretty much together, till the winner is decided on a sprint up the final climb.

Amstel Gold - Enrico Gives it Full Gas

Amstel may not make the best beer, but they do make quite a good bike race. There were hills aplenty, not to mention narrow roads, “street furniture” and plenty of parked cars.

There weren’t as many crashes as there could have been, and the favorites mostly waited until the final climb up the Cauberg for the real action to start. Oscar Friere tried a sneaky last minute move, but it was all over when the remains of the bunch caught him before the line. Enrico Gasparotto was the canny winner..

No one picked Gasparotto, but the Roulers did have Jelle Vanendert in second place, while my boy Peter Sagan went a little early and faded to third. I also had Vanendert in my team, but unfortunately it was Dennis Vanendert. The bad news is, it does you no good to pick the wrong cycling brother, as I found out the time I bet on Prudencio Indurain to win the Tour.

So, to the overall. And the Roulers have a comfortable lead, with transfers to spare. The battle for second rages between the Bile Beans and Mungo Cycling. According to Velogames, I'm still in the lead, but a quick bit of "math", would suggest I'm lagging behind the Mungos. I’ve just used up my last 2 transfers, so I'm hoping for big things from Pip Gilbert and Dries Devenyns in the remaining races if I want to keep them at bay.

In doping news, Denis Galimzyanov has become the latest rider to test positive for EPO. He may be a cheater, but at least he had the decency to confess in this note.....well, I’m told it’s a confession note. My Russian is not so good however, so it may be his shopping list for all I know.

And so, with an out of competition test, D-Gaz (as I like to call him), has joined the roll-call of former Bile Beans who have been naughty. Yes, I hate to admit it, but there have been a few wrong ‘uns on my team over my many years of Velogaming. I’ll just add him to the list along with Rico, Basso, Valverde, Contador, Millar, Petacchi, Vino, some guys I’ve forgotten about, and of course, Lance Armstrong.

Voeckler Take the Pijls

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not really a fan of Thomas Voeckler. Although he’s not a bell-end in the Ricardo Rico or Stefan Schumacher sort of league, I’ve always thought his style of riding was mostly for the cameras and the housewives of France. It also seems he’s not too popular with his colleagues in the peloton either. But all that said, I’ll have to admit he has spunk, and his win at Brabantse Pijl was really quite impressive, as he rode to the finish alone through the hail.

Oscar Friere’s second place was good news for the Roulers. Peter Sagan and Andy Schleck falling off in the rain, was bad news for the Bile Beans though. My boys didn’t score any points at all. Maybe I can take some consolation from the fact that the brother of one of my squad, finished in the top 10. No, I don’t think I can.

In the overall, the Roulers continue their domination, while Mungo Cycling and the Bile Beans fight it out for second

The three races that make up Ardennes week are approaching fast, and they will mark the end of the Fantasy Classics for this spring. Now is the time to use up the rest of those transfers and cross your fingers. On Sunday it will be Amstel Gold, which I think you’ll agree looks a bit lumpy.

This just in... Bad news for Tony Martin, he was hit by a car while out training the other day and smashed up his face pretty good. Bad news for his team too, as they’ve already lost their other main GC rider Levi Leipheimer in similar circumstances.

Boonen Crushes Competition on Cobbles

Tom Boonen has had an incredible season this year. And with his Paris-Roubaix win on Sunday, he’s now equaled the four wins of Roger De Vlaeminck. Not that Roger was impressed by Boonen’s exploits. He didn’t think much of Boonen’s rivals, “they were not second, but third-rate riders”. He then went on to complain about kids these days, the cost of things, and how modern music is just a load of noise that you can’t whistle along to. Still it's hard to argue with those sideburns.

Paris-Roubaix is one of the toughest one-day races in the calendar, but Tomke made it look easy. Everyone knew he was in form, but when he went clear with over 50km to go, it did seem a bit early. Team Sky drove on the chase, but were unable to bring Boonen back as he time-trialed to the finish on the Velodrome.

I reckon Tom deserves a bit of a celebration.

Only one man may have been able to stop him. But as Roger De Vlaeminck was quick to point out, Fabian Cancellara was still resting up his collarbone.

It looks like we’ll have to wait till next year for the big Classics show down. After his recent run of form, if you didn’t have Tom in your team, then you must be some kind of idiot. Best score for the day went to Mungo Cycling.

In the overall, the Roulers are opening out their lead at the top of the table with Boonen like ease.

Only four races to go in the fantasy cycling calendar then. First is De Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday, could be time for some transfers beforehand – if you’ve still got many left that is.

Scheldeprijs: Kittel Kills 'Em

They may have started the year as 1T4i, but now there are some new sponsors for the old Skill-Shimano squad. Say hello to Argos-Shimano.

So new team, new team kit. Hmmm, not so keen on the white kit boys, better not ride any races in the rain.

Still, it could have been worse, as the Team GB kit designed by Stella McCartney for the Olympics, has demonstrated. Not even Vicky Pendleton could make it look good.

All these bad kits recently have made me especially proud of the 2012 Faster Mustache kit, which “dropped” recently. Our designer Kurt did an excellent job, and managed to work in the things the team is really about...... bike chains, skulls, lightning bolts and bacon.

I think it might be time to send it off to George “Velogames” Chapman for the custom jersey treatment, as my Bile Beans design still needs some work.

Anyway, Argos-Shimano earned their first win today at the Scheldeprijs, thanks to their sprint sensation Marcel Kittel.

Although, things didn't go quite so well for Jonnathan Cartwell, who hit a photographer just after the finish. Ouch!

Thanks to a lucky transfer, it was a win for the Bile Beans and I earned some much needed points. It seems I’m not the only one who switched his team up for the race though, and the Roulers and Hell of the North took second with Tyler Farrar.

I may have just beaten them for the day. But the Bile Beans are still trailing the Roulers in the overall. We're still lagging behind a bit with the scores though, so lets make do with the scores after the Tour of Flanders.

As we’re about halfway through the Classics season, it might be worth a quick look at how many transfers everyone’s got left.

Chanbots 24 

Bello 23 

Woohoppers 18 

Roulers 16 

Bile Beans 11 

Mungo Cycling 10 

 Hell of the North 5 

It looks like some teams have just given up after some initial interest in the first week or so. But for those of us still in contention, things are looking best for the Roulers, and while Hell of the North have been doing pretty well of late, with only 5 transfers left they could run out of steam in the Ardennes. Next race up, is my personal fave one-dayer, Paris-Roubaix. Rumor has it we might even get some weather this year, so let’s hope the cameras don’t get stuck behind an Argos-Shimano rider.

Boone in Break, Cancellara Broken

Such was my level of excitement for the Tour of Flanders, I went as far as spending some of my very own money on the on the Eurosport player thingy. I'm fed up with dodgy internet feeds that cut out, and US cycling coverage sucks. I was most impressed with the picture quality until we had to leave the cycling in order to watch some touring cars driving around.

Back to some dodgy Flemmish internet feed it was then. I think my Flemish is getting pretty good now, but luckily the cars didn't last too long and we could get back to Flanders.

I may have said it before, but cycling is a tough old game. Coming into the race, there were two names on everyone's lips, Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen. Out on the unforgiving Flemish roads, the anticipated showdown never happened, as poor Fabian crashed out with a broken collarbone. I'm betting he's not too happy right now.

Another man out in a crash was Langveld of GreenEdge. He tried a sneaky short cut, but came to grief when he hit a spooked spectator.


If you look closely, just behind Langveld is Filippo Pozzato, or Pipo Potato, as he will always be in my mind. Pozzato did well to avoid the crash, and he also did well to make it in the winning move with Boonen and Ballan. Once they had a gap, there was no catching them. It was a surprise to no one, to see Boonen take the sprint ahead of Pozzato.

I was pretty pleased with the Bile Beans performance, but was hoping for more from Sagan and Boasson Hagen. It turns out that in the league for the day, those pesky Roulers got the biggest score. With Boonen and Ballan, plus a few more in the top ten, things are Rouling along nicely for them. It looks like they still have a fair few transfers left too.

And the Roulers have done enough to oust the mighty Bile Beans from the top of the overall league. Not that the new scores are up yet mind. So you'll have to take my word for it.


All the cobbled bike racing action on Sunday must have put me in the mood, for I took the unusual step of actually riding my bike later that day. Second only to Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders as cobbled races go; it was time for Alleycross3 here in Atlanata.

I had little idea what to expect, but I had heard there was free beer afterwards, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was slightly concerned that there would be a load of Hipsters on 'Fixies', and although there were more tattoos than I'm used to seeing at a race, it turned out that most of the fixie crowd didn't want to break their bikes. I never even knew there were any cobbles in Atlanta, but it turns out there are. Mix 'em up with some city streets and paths, and you've got a fun little race. And there was free beer afterwards.

Tomorrow, (or even today...if you happen to be in one of those fancy time zones, like they have in Australia) it's the Scheldeprijs, which I believe to be popular with the sprinters. It looks like a lot of the bigger names are sitting it out in preparation for Paris-Roubaix at the weekend. So the big dilemma is, make some transfers to bag a few points? Or leave it be and save those transfers for Ardennes Week?