Gerrans Licks 'Em at Liege

I have to admit, I've not managed to watch a lot of the Classics this year. Annoying inconveniences like work, trips to the shops and the most annoying of all, a trip to church last weekend, have all hampered my viewing pleasure. But as luck would have it, Mrs Pance had a baby yesterday, meaning that I could catch Liege-Bastogne-Leige today while sitting in the hospital and pretending to watch the boy.

Shame it was a bit of a snooze-fest then. Once again there were some breaks and such - Matteo Bono was away for much of the race but he still hasn't found the big win he's looking for - however, as tends to be the case at Liege, it all came down to the last climb. For a little while it looked like Dan Martin might pull off a repeat victory. Then he fell off on the last corner.  

It was left to Valverde and Gerrans to fight it out for the win and for once the Australian Champion got the better of the Spaniard.

A clean sweep of the podium left me feeling pretty pleased with myself and sure enough, when the scores went up, the Bile Beans came out on top.

League Standings - Race 11

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	1	168
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	2	138
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	3	138
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	4	128
	Rouleurs	tdm911	5	96
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	6	82
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	7	64
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	8	58
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	9	0

And a win in the overall (for the second year in a row I might add) made me feel exceedingly pleased with myself. Some might even say smug.

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	1	1029
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	989
	Rouleurs	tdm911	3	925
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	4	892
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	5	860
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	599
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	7	575
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	8	468
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	9	132

So, Leige-Bastogne-Lieige brings the fun of the Fantasy Classics season to an end. Don't worry though, the Giro D'Italia is just around the corner and the big guns will be starting in the most Italian of all cities, Belfast.

Valverde Number One at Flèche Wallonne

It's tricky picking a Fantasy Cycling team isn't it?  Not only do you have to think about who's got good legs, there's the other considerations too.  There are some riders I just can't bring myself to have on my team.  For example, Danilo Di Luca who even before he was caught on the gear for the third time, was obviously a wrong 'un and not welcome on the Bile Beans.  And there are some riders who I won't have on my team for personal reasons - Tommy Voeckler and his stupid face just annoy me too much to be welcome on the Bile Beans. 

But when scores are tight at the end of the Fantasy Classics season, you gotta do what you gotta do.  So, although he may have served a ban for his Dr. Fuentes links, and although he may have been pretty unrepentant about the whole thing, Alejandro Valverde got the Bile Beans seal of approval.  After all he's certainly had a good season so far and so far he's not been caught doing anything else naughty.  I mean it's not like he rode off the front of the race with 2 team mates like they did back in the 90's.

Oh, how the younger me wanted one of those titanium De Rosas.  Anyway, to get back on topic, I was pleased, but also felt slightly dirty, when Alejandro Valverde won Flèche Wallonne today.

Top score went to ENRICO 666, with the Bile Beans close behind.

Tour De Pance

• OVERALL
• R1
• R2
• R3
• R4
• R5
• R6
• R7
• R8
• R9
• R10
• R11

League Standings - Race 10

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	1	96
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	2	94
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	3	88
	Rouleurs	tdm911	4	65
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	5	52
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	27
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	7	7
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	8	0
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	9	0

My second place was enough to get me back on the top of the overall, after a slightly poor showing from Mungo.

Tour De Pance

• OVERALL
• R1
• R2
• R3
• R4
• R5
• R6
• R7
• R8
• R9
• R10
• R11

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	1	861
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	851
	Rouleurs	tdm911	3	829
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	4	764
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	5	722
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	541
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	7	511
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	8	386
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	9	132

Only one race to go now till we crown the overall winner of the Spring Classics...... Liege-Bastogne-Leige, which as a Cat 1 race counts for more points.  I'm shit out of transfers, so I'm stuck with my current line-up.  I hope my boys can do enough to keep me on top,  Mungo and the Rouleurs will be hoping they can't.