Fantasy Tour De France 2014 Now Open!

July is just around the corner, which means the 2014 Tour De France can't be far away either.  As I write this, you have just over a week to pick your Fantasy Tour Team over at the new-look Velogames website.

This year's race kicks off in my old stomping grounds of Yorkshire and I had planned to make a trip over to do some live blogging from the roadside.  And drink beer.  And maybe push-over some riders who are not in my team.  

Unfortunately the Blog's travel budget is non-existent and apparently I'm needed at the factory while my boss is away. So, the Blog will just be the same load of crap that it normally is, with me doing a half-arsed report of the day's events and who's been earning the points in the mini-league.  Talking of the mini-league, you'll probably be needing this:

League Name: Tour De Pance

League Code: 27134154

Then just sit back and enjoy the fun as you share in the ups and downs of your riders as they win stages, crash or get busted for doping.  

Dauphine and Swiss Roll-Call

Hello again.  It looks like I finally have a few moments to spare, so as the big race of the year approaches, we should probably clear-up the unfinished business of the Dauphine and the Tour De Suisse...... 

So, first we had the Dauphine.  Back in the day, the Dauphine wasn't taken too seriously by the Tour De France contenders.  They showed-up, but never won, possibly because they were too busy banking bags of blood to use in July.  For the last couple of years though, the Dauphine winner has gone on to win the Tour and it serves as a very handy form-guide ahead of the Big-One.  

Things were looking good for the Froome-Dog, until he took a bit of a tumble and couldn't stay with Contador the next day.  In the end though, it was young Yank Andrew Talansky who finished on the top step of the podium after some smart racing on the final stage.  Recent data suggests that he will now go on to win the Tour.

In the Fantasy race - much like Michael Kwiatkowski in the real race - the Bile Beans struggled to find any form at all, but at least I beat Warwick.  There was no mistaking who the winner was though, ENRICO 666 won the league comfortably, not to mention finished 3rd overall of all the teams on the Velogames site - 10 more points and Eric would have been the King of Velogames.

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	1	3906
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	3013
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	3	2374
	Rouleurs	tdm911	4	2250
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	5	2102
	Town aint big enough for the two of us..	Warwick Anderson	6	1370

Over in Switzerland, things were looking good for Tony Martin.

He dominated the time trials, he stayed with them in the high mountains.  Then it all went wrong on the last day and defending champ and World Champ Rui Costa won.

In the League, it was a very similar story to the Dauphine.  The Bile Beans were crap again, (but not as crap as Warwick's team) and once again ENRICO 666 took an impressive win.  Although Eric wasn't quite so near the top of the overall rankings this time, so more like an Earl or Duke of Velogames.

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	1	3806
	Rouleurs	tdm911	2	3330
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	3	3158
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	4	2774
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	5	1655
	The Matterhorns	Warwick Anderson	6	1354

So there you have it.  The next race on the Fantasy Cycling calendar is the Tour De France!  I'm sure I'll see my trusty regulars for Tour De Pance fun and no doubt there'll be a load of once-a-year chancers showing up here to try their luck as well.  I will strive to provide daily updates for the Tour, and if work demands interfere, then I'll just have to hand in my resignation. 

Pance Down For Dauphine

Hi Pance Pickers.  I bet you've been wondering where I am. Well, I've been way busy with my day-job, so I'm afraid that I've not been keeping up with how the Dauphine is going - last time I looked the Bile Beans were doing shitely.

I hope to bring you a Dauphine round-up after the event. But in the meantime, I have managed to pick a team and set-up a league for the Tour De Suisse.

League Name: Tour De Pance
League Code: 14131052

Dauphiné Details

Thinking of signing up for the Fantasy Critérium du Dauphiné over at Velogames? If you are, you might want this number for Tour De Pance fun:

06184605

See you at the Dauphiné.  In the meantime, here's a picture of a dolphin eh?

Giro 2014 Overall - Quintana Takes Race, Charmers Take League

The Giro finished on Sunday, so is suppose it's about time I did the final roundup. The official reason for the delay is that I like to give Chappers time to de-bug the scores before I go to press. But the real reason is it was Game Of Thrones on telly last night and I couldn't be arsed. The final stage is mostly a formality, but for Luca Mezgec it was his first big win and yet more proof that Giant-Shimano are a team packed with talented sprinters.

A good day for Mezgec then, but a better day for Nairo Quintana, who bagged his first Grand Tour win. I suspect it won't be his last and the other 2 podium finishers should have bright futures too.

The last stage was one for Wilko, (not Kelderman) and a last gasp from the Bile Beans.

League Standings - Stage 21

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	1	256
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	2	183
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	3	175
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	4	123
	Charmers	Craigatron	5	96
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	6	95
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	7	82
	Ollysaurus	OJ	8	77
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	9	72
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	10	70
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	11	58
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	12	57
	Rouleurs	tdm911	13	52
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	14	51
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	15	4

The big points were the end of Tour points though and Ollysaurus were the biggest beneficiaries.

League Standings - End

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Ollysaurus	OJ	1	1240
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	2	1225
	Charmers	Craigatron	3	1215
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	4	1140
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	5	1050
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	6	980
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	7	870
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	8	870
	Rouleurs	tdm911	9	815
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	10	770
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	11	735
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	12	655
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	13	515
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	14	420
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	15	45

The Charmers were right up there with the end points too and with a healthy lead going into the final stages, they did enough to take the mini-league. And who's that in last place? Why if it isn't Drew

League Standings - Overall

	Team	Directeur	Rank	Score
	Charmers	Craigatron	1	5343
	Ollysaurus	OJ	2	5110
	MADFORITS	Warwick Anderson	3	4934
	ENRICO 666	Erik Mortier	4	4654
	Evil Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	5	4487
	Smugblokes	Mark Philo	6	4370
	Rouleurs	tdm911	7	3983
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	8	3940
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	9	3723
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	10	3486
	Pretty in Pink	Vincent Paul Lavallee	11	3406
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	12	3393
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	13	3152
	Sean Kelly All-Stars	Patrick Hough	14	2766
	Dead Rubbers Usually Give Surprises	drew stephenson	15	947

So that's the end of that then. I hope you all had fun. If you've still got the Fantasy Cycling itch, then I believe that a Fantasy Dauphine is just around the corner. Now the astute amongst you may be asking, "Vestan, I believe Craigatron and OJ may be a bit young to be picking viable fantasy cycling teams" to which I reply, "I have no idea what you are talking about. If you have a problem with it, then I suggest you find another half-arsed fantasy cycling blog to frequent".