The Classical

I was getting a bit nervous, as things have been a bit quiet at Velogames Towers, but the waiting is over and the Fantasy Classics are open for business!  I’m pretty sure you can read, so get on over to Velogames to sign up and check out the rules, which are a bit different than for the Grand Tours.  The Bile Beans are already in, and hoping for some early season success to justify at poor showing at the Tour de France.  The mini-league code from last year still seems to work (2152107), so you best get picking those teams before the action starts on Sunday at Milan-San Remo.

It is traditional that the off-season gives us a chance to take a break from the Pro-Cycling circus, and enjoy some down-time in the winter with a beer and a few cakes.  Just like Jan Ullrich used to do.  

Things were a little different this winter though.  I almost choked on my beer and cakes, as there was much coverage of the shocking and amazing news that Lance Armstrong was pumped full of drugs while he was winning those Tours de France.  Did I mention how I was shocked and amazed?  The stories keep on coming, and I’m sure there’s plenty more juicy stuff to come out about “the bad old days”, luckily “things are totally different now, with a new generation of riders”.  So let’s take a leaf out of the UCI’s book, just pretend none of this is happening and get on with the racing. 

As a responsible Blogger though, I feel it is my duty to try and address some of the problems in the sport, so I will be introducing "Vestan’s Traffic Light System�" on the blog.

 

I will be using an advanced combination of: stuff I read on the internet, unsubstantiated rumors, and my prejudices against certain riders and nations, to put cyclists into one of three arbitrary categories.

·         Green (actually white, I can’t be arsed to change colours too often, and I’m red/green colour blind, so I’ll just get confused) – Guys who I’ve no real reason to suspect, although there’s not real reason not to (Wiggins, Evans, Hushovd, Gilbert)

·         Yellow – There’s something a bit fishy about them, but I can’t really put my finger on it.  They might just be a bit too good, on the wrong team at the wrong time, or be a bit foreign. (Sagan, Cancellara, Samuel Sanchez)

·         Red – Been caught up to no good, or should have been. (Armstrong, Menchov and I guess David Millar qualifies too)

 

The season gets longer every year, and we’ve already had races in Australia, Oman and Qatar, not to mention Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.  If you’ve been paying attention, you may have some idea who’s going well (Cavendish, Sagan, Nibali), who isn’t (Boonen, Ballan, Evans), and who sucks so bad it’s a major event if he manages to finish a race (Andy Schleck).  

There’s a guide to the Classics over at Cycling News that might help you out, and if you want to know who’s riding in what race, you can check out startlists here.  Remember to be careful with those team selections. You only get so many transfers to use through the series, and you don't want to have pissed them all away after the first few races.  So good luck everyone.  I hope the Bile Beans crush you.