Veulta Stage 21 & Overall - Sagan, Cobo, and Happiness Stan

I bet you thought I didn't bother doing an update yesterday because I didn't win the mini-league. Well nothing could be further from the truth, and now I've accepted my failure, lets get on with business.

Peter Sagan won yet another stage when he took the final sprint in Milan against the remaining fast-men in the race. I've said it before, but Sagan is jolly good, and it looks like he's got some good legs heading into the World Champs.

And of course, Juan Jose Cobo won the overall title. Only 13 seconds ahead of Brit/Kenyan Chris Froome though. In fact, Froome actually rode the race 19 seconds faster than Cobo, but didn't earn as many time bonuses. Then again, if Sky hadn't made such a balls-up of the team time trial, they could have won the race, and maybe bagged second spot with Wiggins too.

I think I should also mention that Bile Bean and Rabobank rider Bauke Mollema had a good race. He got 4th overall and won the points jersey, not to mention taking a nice haul of Velogames points. If he rides the Tour next year, I think he'll be a better pick that that Robert Gesink, who I keep selecting, and who keeps crashing.

As far as the Velogames scores went, I always thought that Happiness Stan would do well with the end of Tour points. And so it proved.

Although I didn't win a single Grand Tour this year, I can't really complain about how the Bile Beans season went, (apart from the Giro that is). And the Fantasy Classics and Tour de Suisse went quite nicely. The Vuelta is traditionally the final event in the Fantasy Cycling callendar, but here's hints on the Velogames site that George may have a few more events planned, so keep your eyes peeled.

If there's Fantasy Cycling going on I'll be blogging. And maybe I'll be blogging if there isn't, as I'm sure you'll be itching to hear my thoughts on things that might be happening. I've also got a cool project going on in the Pance Tech labs, that I might blog about soon.

Vuelta Stage 20 - Bennati Brings It

Stage 20 then, and it turned out it was a bunch sprint. Daniele Bennati was the man today, earning his first Grand Tour win in quite a while, and setting himself up for a tilt at the Worlds at the end of the month. It could also be the last win for the the Lay-O-Pard Trek team, before they transform next year, into Radioshat-Nissan-Trek or some-such.

No big scores for the Bile Beans today, but enough to keep me in pole position. A bit of a shuffle with second and third spots though, as Happiness Stan sneak into second spot by a mere 3 points ahead of the Roulers.

I'm sure there's some tired legs among the riders in the Vuelta, but luckily for them, the end is in sight. As there's just one day to go. In theory, there's still enough time bonuses on offer for Chris Froome to stick it to Cobo and take the win. But lets face it, looking at the route, it's not going to happen. Stage 21 has got sprint finish written all over it.

Save some kind of huge upset, Cobo will win the race. And after Stage 21 there's the all important end-of-tour points to be calculated. Experience has shown me that these can make all the difference, and I suspect that Happiness Stan will do quite nicely. Experience has also shown me that the end-of-tour points can take George a while to work out, so there could be some tense times ahead, before we find out who will be the Fantasy Vuelta Champion of 20111.

Vuelta Stage 19 - Igor Improves Score

Not a lot of people read this blog. But I think Igor Anton may be one of the select few. Some would say Anton had a go on Stage 19 because it was on his home turf in the Basque Country. I know better though. He won Stage 19 because he knew that Vestan Pance was counting on him to score some fantasy cycling points.

Thank you Igor. Your effort has helped the Bile Beans stay on top for a little while longer.

Stage 20 is going on right now, and it looks like there's a big break of 23 away right now. There's a few hills early on, but then it's pretty flat on the way to the finish. If the break stays away, I'm going to tip Mr. Greg Van Avermaet for the win.

Vuelta Stage 18 - Beans on Most Again

The good news is that I actually managed to catch a bit of the race today. The bad news is that the big break of the day didn't have a whole lot of my riders in it. J-Rod was there though, and although he only managed 8th on the stage, he seems to be getting over his crash of a few days ago, and has got the points jersey back. Then again, he won it back off my boy Mollema, so you win some, you lose some. The win went to Francesco Gavazzi of Lampre, who made easy work of Kristof Vandewalle in a 2-up sprint.

And behind, the big names seemed happy enough to take a bit of a rest and finished all together, with Cobo still maintaining his 13 second lead over Chris Froome.

In the mini-league, the game of cat and mouse between the Bile Beans and the Roulers continues, with the Beans coming out on top for today. I'm not quite sure if it's because I did better today, or because those scores from stage 12, that I keep moaning about, have now been updated.

Stage 19 sees the race head into the Basque country. Which is different from Spain, don't you know? The locals will get shirty with anyone who suggests they're Spanish, and there could even be a few protests along the route from folks who object to those filthy Spaniards bringing the race on their turf. Local team Euskaltel will be looking to shine today. Maybe Igor Anton can score me some points? I hope so, he cost enough and has underwhelmed so far.

Vuelta Stage 17 - Vroom Froome

Today was apparently one of the best grand tour stages in many a year. Had I actually been watching and not shopping, I'm sure I would have been on the edge of my seat and shouting at the TV. As it was, I was basking in the glory of the British Aisle down at my local the supermarket.

I could have been upset by missing the race, but it could have been worse. It could have been Sunday.

Anyway, It seems that Sky boy Chris Froome put some pressure on race leader Cobo on the final climb. Froomey won the stage, but didn't take back a whole lot of time. Hats off to the lad for trying though.

Enough of the real race. Lets get on to the important stuff. Most importantly, the Bile Beans have lost the lead to the Roulers again.

Time for a breakaway tomorrow on Stage 18.

Vuelta stage 16 - Haedo Wins in Roundabout Way

Hello again. Is the Vuelta still on? It seems so. I've not been able to watch it the last couple of days, but fortunately, thanks to the internets, I can read stuff, and pretend like I was there the whole time.

So, apart from a crash for J-Rod, Stage 16 went pretty much as expected, and ended in a sprint finish. Only there was a bit of confusion as to which way to go on that final roundabout, and some folks went a bit wrong. Oh well, it was only a sprint, so not as bad as when Robert Millar went the wrong way on a mountaintop finish back in 1988, which if you have enough time on your hands you can watch here.


Anyway, all of these shenanigans didn't make a whole lot of difference to the scores.

Here's how Stage 17 shaped up.

Vuelta Stage 15 - Cobo Conquers Angliru; Wiggins Wilts

Oh dear! It was all going so well! And then the Vuelta had to go up the Angliru. It's just silly steep. On the brutal slopes of the climb, big lad Bradly Wiggins couldn't keep up with the littler Cobo.

In the end Bradley lost 1:21 on the Angliru, and now sits 46 seconds off the lead. In fact he's not even in second spot, having been overtaken by team-mate Chris Froome. The toughest stages have been and gone, so I'm left wondering where he can make up the time with the time trial stage long behind us.

In the mini-league the Bile Beans are on top, but those pesky Roulers are still breathing down my neck. Not to mention Happiness Stan, who are looking dangerous as we head into the final week, what with them having Cobo and plenty of other quality riders.

Stage 16 doesn't look like a chance for Bradley to get that time back. It's downhill most of the way and looks like it might end in a sprint to me. Fingers crossed for Degenkolb. And fingers crossed I get the points this time.