Fantasy Cycling Teams - 2020

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Last modified: Tuesday, 8 May, 2018
 

As has become our custom, Lisa & I will be adding to our interest in this year's professional cycling season by following the fortunes of our own fantasy cycling teams. We've been doing this since 1997. We select our teams on the basis of each rider "costing" his total UCI ranking points earned last season divided by fifteen and rounded to the nearest five, with a minimum cost of twenty points and a maximum of 200.  We allow each team equal points on this basis, with nine riders to be selected. No more than two riders in each team can be selected from the same real life trade team.  Throughout the season we score our riders performances in all the major races according to the points system adapted from one used by Roger Hughes in his Fantasy Cycling League. The tables below summarise the fortunes of our teams throughout the season.

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In contrast to last year, for this season's line-up, Lisa makes two changes to her Ready Steady Riders. As Marcel Kittel has retired and Dan Martin moved on, she brings in young Brit. James Knox and Carl Frederick Hagen.

Steve makes three changes to the line-up of his Nightowlers team: Alex Dowsett, Rick Zabel and André Greipel have all moved on and in come Sam Bennett, Arnaud Démare and young Brit. Fred Wright.

For a blow-by-blow account of our riders' scoring rides, see the accompanying blog.

The season came to a juddering halt in mid-March at the end of the penultimate scheduled day of Paris-Nice as the whole sport shut down in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Fast forward to the last week of July and the season began a tentative re-start with the Vuelta a Burgos, now considered the first race in "Period 5" of a re-organised calendar.

A few more races were cancelled or truncated but the season finally reached its end in Madrid in November for the last stage of the Vuelta. We already know that there will be no Tour Down Under to start next season so fingers crossed for a season of some sort in Europe.

See below for Ready Steady Riders' results.
 

N i g h t o w l e r s
Rider	Period Scores								Total Score
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Bauke Mollema	5	X	X	X	12				17
Philippe Gilbert	7	X	X	X	6				13
Mark Cavendish		X	X	X
Sam Bennett	8	X	X	X	9	38		11	66
Vincenzo Nibali	27	X	X	X	19		1	12	59
Arnaud Démare	1	X	X	X	79		3	32	115
Adam Yates	34	X	X	X		36			70
Fred Wright		X	X	X				1	1
Peter Sagan	3	X	X	X	21	16		25	65
Total	85	X	X	X	146	90	4	81	306

R e a d y   S t e a d y   R i d e r s
Rider	Period Scores								Total Score
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Rui Costa	12	X	X	X	10			2	24
Rafal Majka	12	X	X	X	15		21	6	54
James Knox		X	X	X			9	4	13
Carl Frederick Hagen		X	X	X	1				1
Caleb Ewan	17	X	X	X	19	19		20	75
Fernando Gaviria	2	X	X	X	7		4		13
Julian Alaphilippe		X	X	X	21	26	35	30	112
Daniel McLay		X	X	X	6				6
Greg van Avermaet		X	X	X	40	4			44
Total	43	X	X	X	119	49	69	62	342

See above for Nightowlers' results.