I don't need to tell you that Vincenzo Nibali won the 2014 Tour De France, but I will anyway.
Out of the big 3 challengers for the race, Nibali was the only one I crossed off my list of potential team picks. If Team Sky have taught us anything, its that you need to be winning races in the run-up to the Tour. Nibali had been struggling for form, with only a win in the Italian Championships over Davide Formolo (no, I don't know who he is either) to his palmares this year. Froome and Contador may have fallen by the wayside, but it is a historic win and the first time that the Tour has been won by an Italian Groupset in many a year.
And it's been a long time since a Frenchie was on the podium, let alone 2 of them.
Not to mention AG2R took home the team prize.
No surprise to see the Green Jersey to to Sagan.
And Makja won the Polka Dots because somebody has to.
Stages are stages, but the biggest stack of points on offer in Velogames World, are the end of Tour points. Here's how they stacked-up in the mini-league.
|
TEAM
|
DIRECTEUR
|
RANK
|
SCORE
|
|
Vinny PL
|
1
|
1255
|
|
|
Vestan Pance
|
2
|
1135
|
|
|
Evil Dr Chan
|
3
|
1020
|
|
|
Ed Rawlings
|
4
|
890
|
|
|
OJ
|
5
|
885
|
|
|
Mungo
|
6
|
850
|
|
|
tdm911
|
7
|
760
|
|
|
Richard Harrison
|
8
|
670
|
|
|
Jan Van Belleghem
|
9
|
650
|
|
|
Oliver Wilkens
|
10
|
640
|
|
|
Hutch
|
11
|
620
|
|
|
Mr Smug
|
12
|
456
|
|
|
Craigatron
|
13
|
376
|
|
|
Andrew Ramos
|
14
|
345
|
|
|
Patches O`Houlihan
|
15
|
310
|
|
|
Isabel Harrison
|
16
|
305
|
|
|
Eric Mortier
|
17
|
290
|
|
|
Late night meds from
|
18
|
290
|
|
|
Dave
|
19
|
290
|
|
|
Drew Stephenson
|
20
|
270
|
|
|
Jonathan Wilcox
|
21
|
190
|
|
|
Helen S
|
22
|
185
|
|
|
Mark
|
23
|
180
|
|
|
Warwick Anderson
|
24
|
175
|
|
|
Den
|
25
|
130
|
They may not have topped the end-of-tour table, but Olliepops had enough of a lead to take the overall title in the mini-league this year. I suppose congratulations are due to OJ, but if it wasn't for those damn Olliepops, it would have been me on the top-step of the podium.
|
TEAM
|
DIRECTEUR
|
RANK
|
SCORE
|
|
OJ
|
1
|
6309
|
|
|
Vestan Pance
|
2
|
5983
|
|
|
Vinny PL
|
3
|
5303
|
|
|
Mungo
|
4
|
5275
|
|
|
Evil Dr Chan
|
5
|
5262
|
|
|
Richard Harrison
|
6
|
4974
|
|
|
Jan Van Belleghem
|
7
|
4330
|
|
|
Ed Rawlings
|
8
|
4316
|
|
|
Hutch
|
9
|
4119
|
|
|
tdm911
|
10
|
3843
|
|
|
Oliver Wilkens
|
11
|
3532
|
|
|
Eric Mortier
|
12
|
3512
|
|
|
Warwick Anderson
|
13
|
3327
|
|
|
Andrew Ramos
|
14
|
3198
|
|
|
Isabel Harrison
|
15
|
3082
|
|
|
Drew Stephenson
|
16
|
3051
|
|
|
Mr Smug
|
17
|
2859
|
|
|
Late night meds from
|
18
|
2802
|
|
|
Den
|
19
|
2798
|
|
|
Mark
|
20
|
2694
|
|
|
Craigatron
|
21
|
2503
|
|
|
Dave
|
22
|
2373
|
|
|
Jonathan Wilcox
|
23
|
1695
|
|
|
Helen S
|
24
|
1551
|
|
|
Patches O`Houlihan
|
25
|
1335
|
But before any of us become too pleased with ourselves for our performance in the small-pond that is the Tour De Pance mini-league, let's see what things look like at the top of the overall Velogames leaderboard.
I think you'll agree, that's a lot of points.
Anyway, I'd like to finish off by thanking George Chapman for all his Velogames work. And all of you for playing along at home (or, let's admit it, at work). If you're one of my regulars, then I'll probably see you at the Vuelta (which should have plenty of big names this year) and if you're not one of my regulars, then maybe I'll see you at the Tour next year when you take a short, 3 week interest in pro bike racing.
