De Brabantse Pijl / Amstel Gold - Pip Pips 'Em

Hello.  Firstly my apologies for being a bit tardy with my updates, contact lenses don't make themselves you know.  And unlike my happy go lucky days back in the UK they make us work on Good Friday and Easter Monday, so I can no longer rely on an extended and alcohol-infused Easter weekend.  

Anyway let's cast our minds back to this time a few years ago, when Philippe Gilbert was winning Ardennes Classics like a man possesed.  Since then Pip left Lotto where he had his amazing year, and signed for the Big Bucks at BMC and stopped being so good.  I think his contract must be up this year though, as he seems to have his mojo back with 2 wins in 2 races.  He won De Brabantse Pijl last week, while not far behind was young rider-on-the-rise, Michael Matthews.

Slightly further behind those 2 was was Tony Gallopin.  Tony was all set to be drafted into the Bile Beans for Amstel Gold, but he sneaked-onto the Brabantse Pijl start-list under my radar.  After lecturing you all about the importance of checking start-lists before you do your transfers, it was a timely reminder to me to check the start-lists for the upcoming races.  So without Tony, the Bile Beans were doomed to mid-table mediocrity for the day.

League Standings - Race 8

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Rouleurs	tdm911	1	73
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	55
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	3	49
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	4	38
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	5	36
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	27
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	7	22
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	8	0
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	9	0

On Sunday, it was time for Amstel Gold.  As brought to you by the makers of that beer you get when you are presented with a poor selection at a bar.  It's slightly better than Budweiser, Miller or Coors, but I can make something far superior in my basement without too much effort.

Anyway Tony Gallopin was now on-board for the Bile Beans and failed to do anything at all. Luckily, I had the man of the moment, Philippe Gilbert.  Him and a few others in the top ten made me King of the Day.

League Standings - Race 9

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	1	156
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	2	125
	Rouleurs	tdm911	3	114
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	4	114
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	5	96
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	94
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	7	87
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	8	0
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	9	0

Still King of the League is Mungo. He's not quite so far ahead now though.  In theory it could still all go wrong for him - fingers crossed.

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	1	799
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	2	767
	Rouleurs	tdm911	3	764
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	4	676
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	5	626
	WACA`s wilters	Warwick Anderson	6	514
	Only here to have the P taken	Drew	7	504
	Evil Chicken Bots	King Chicken	8	386
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	9	132

Only 2 races to go, the "Walloon Arrow" and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.  In recent years these races all come down to a mad dash up the final climb.  If you've got any transfers left, you might as well use 'em.