Fantasy Tour Stage 1: Trains Derailled by Bus Stop

And they're off!  Some of them quite literally.  Poor Tony Martin.  He doesn't have the best luck does he?

If there's one thing you can bet on, it's that there'll be some crashes on the first road stage of the Tour.  And crashes there were.  Usually people blame the weather, the "street furniture" or "nerves".  This time though, everyone was pointing the finger at the Orica-Greenedge Team Bus.

As you can see, it got a bit stuck under the finish line.  While Frenchmen stood around shrugging their shoulders and exclaiming "Zut Alors!" and "Merde!" the peloton was steaming towards the line.  So they decided to move the line up the road 3km.  Then the bus got shifted and they moved it back again.  This all lead to confusion and crashes for many a man.  Time will tell what this means for the race in the long-run, but for the moment, Marcell Kittel gets his first Tour stage win and a day in the Yellow Jersey tomorrow.  At least he's got rid of that stupid mustache.

So, to the scores and Craigatron is off to a good start.  He seems to have picked a pretty solid line-up for someone who has yet to see his second birthday.  He must have good genes.

	The Charmers	Craigatron	217
	Market Weighton Pharmacy	Wolds Wonders	205
	ENRICO 666	ENRICO 666	186
	KLOEFEKAPPERS	JAN VAN BELLEGHEM	151
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	36
	FULGAS	Vincent Lavallee	36
	The Hopalongs	Dave Robertson	31
	Temple of FROOME	Tom	23
	Evil Chan Bots	Evil Dr Chan	17
	Haxby Group Pharmacy	Isabel Harrison	17
	Team Lampreys	Edgar van Pimple	14
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	10
	Huntington Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	9
	Rouleurs	tdm911	7
	The Atomic Supermen	Toby Hodges	7
	Tight white lycra just aint right	WACA	7
	Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	5
	Dudes Openly Performance Enhancing	blinddrew	4
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	4
	Anyone for tennis?	Andrew Windrum	4
	It`s time to froome	Denspeck	4
	Miffy`s Marvels	Helen	3
	Return of Reflex	Karlos	0

I was a bit disappointed that the Bile Beans didn't do better today, but it's only Fantasy Cycling and in the real world, I was quite pleased with how things went today.

One stage down and plenty more to go.  I'll try to keep on top of this blogging lark as best I can, but I' may well be driven mad by the idiocy of the comments section on CyclingNews before the end of the race.  I could just stop reading them I suppose. If only something could be done about bell-ends on the Internet.

Stage 2 then.  Looks like this:

A wee bit tough for the big sprinters, I would have gone for Sagan, but he looks to be short a fair amount of skin after today.  So I'll tip Boasson Hagen.

100th Tour De France / 4th Tour De Pance: Open For Velogames Entries

Just in case you weren’t paying attention, it is my responsibility to remind you that the 100^th Tour De France kicks off in Corsica on Saturday and finishes in Paris about three weeks later.

 

Most of the 22 teams in the race have now revealed their squads (except Garmin who like to keep everyone guessing, even their own riders).  So if you haven’t done it already, it’s time to choose your Velogames Fantasy Tour team.  And if you have done it already, it’s always a good idea to have another look at who you chose.  A week is a long time in cycling and you don’t want to set yourself up on the couch on Saturday with your popcorn and beer, only to discover one of your riders never made the start, due to injury, team politics or an adverse analytical finding.

 

As things stand at the moment, you are guaranteed a top 10 finish in the Tour De Pance mini-league, but there’s always room for a few more.

 

I might as well give you a stage one preview while I’m here.   So let’s have a look shall we?

 

It’s set up for the sprinters then.   And who’s the best sprinter?  Well a lot of people would say Mark Cavendish and I’d be tempted to agree.  But there are plenty of other fast-men who may fancy their chances of taking the first Yellow Jersey of the race.  I think Marcel Kittel could be a dark-horse this year after he shat-out, (literally) on his Tour debut last year.  And let’s not forget young Peter Sagan, who won the Green Jersey last year and does all his own stunts.

Tour De Pance Fantasy Cycling Blog Ready for Fantasy Tour De France Blogging

While there's still a little over two weeks to go till the start of the biggest race of both the Real and Fantasy Cycling calendars, George over at Velogames is already open for entries.  So if you're one of my respected regulars, or just one of those dilettantes who only show up for the Tour, the time has come for you to select a team.  I’ve got some work to do to narrow down my shortlist.

I’ve set up a new mini-league, as the old number didn’t seem to work anymore.  Here’s the new code kids:

13165915

Good luck everyone.  May the best my team win.