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July 24, 2011
Congratulations to Team Tinkoff, winner of the 2011 Tour de France fantasy game! It had a stellar roster and was the only team to break 1200 points. Here's the top 10:
| Team | Points | |
| 1. | Team Tinkoff | 1211 |
| 2. | hautedog | 1143 |
| 3. | TrainingWheels | 1125 |
| 4. | Thors Minions | 1098 |
| 5. | The Instigator | 1063 |
| 6. | farrell8 | 1034 |
| 7. | Team Lenny | 1028 |
| 8. | Leopard Trek | 957 |
| 9. | HZBIKE | 950 |
| 10. | Utah Sunday Rider | 937 |
Please see the final results for the complete classification.
Congratulations also to Cadel Evans for his magnificent Tour de France victory! He looked superb mentally and physically this year and had the team support he needed. It is a well-deserved win. Bravo!
This fantasy game has been a real joy — a big thank you everyone who participated! I hope you will tell your friends and come back next year. For 2012 I have planned to improve both the website and the underlying code powering Tour Fantasy, making it easier to navigate and providing more game features. It should be pretty cool, and I hope you'll be here to see it!
Thank you again, and I hope to see you back first for the first ever edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge fantasy game after the tour in Colorado, formerly known as the Quizno's Challenge.
A la prochaine fois!
July 13, 2011
Who's in the race and what do they need?
Cadel Evans needs to limit his losses in the mountains and go at his own pace to preserve himself for the final time trial, where he'll take back time. He is unlikely to follow serious accelerations.
Andy Schleck needs to gain a minimum of 1:30 to 2:00 on Cadel in the mountains. Will he wait until the Alps, preferring to watch Contador, as usual? Will he let Cadel finish with the favorites, knowing that the pressure of the yellow jersey will weaken BMC before the Alps and distract Cadel from recovery?
Frank Schleck is in the same boat as his brother. He has to put time on Cadel. Frank has looked better than Andy all year, but maybe Andy will suddenly be strong?
Ivan Basso is currently down 1:10 on Cadel and will need a comfortable margin before the final time trial. If Basso is in good form, he'll be the most likely to attack.
Alberto Contador needs to let his knee heal before digging deep. I suspect he'll wait until the Alps, as he is already virtually tied with the Schlecks considering the 41km time trial.
Samuel Sanchez needs to make up serious time in the mountains. As an excellent descender, it would be thrilling to see him attack on a descent and then go all out on a following summit finish.
Tony Martin might do well to pair up with Cadel Evans if their climbing legs are on par tomorrow. They'll both take time in the final time trial.
At the end of the day, whoever's in the best condition will attack. At the very least, after tomorrow, the Top 10 will be more clear.
July 9, 2011
Who is left after crashes? Let's have a look at the Virtual GC as of Stage 8. (This list will diminish rapidly in size following the Pyrénées.)
| Cyclist | Time | |
| 1. | Cadel Evans | 0:00:01 |
| 2. | Fränk Schleck | 0:00:04 |
| 3. | Andreas Klöden | 0:00:10 |
| 4. | Andy Schleck | |
| 5. | Tony Martin | 0:00:13 |
| 6. | Jurgen Van Den Broeck | 0:00:39 |
| 7. | Ivan Basso | 0:01:03 |
| 8. | Damiano Cunego | |
| 9. | Robert Gesink | 0:01:28 |
| 10. | Alberto Contador | 0:01:42 |
| 11. | Thomas Danielson | 0:01:57 |
| 12. | Christian Vande Velde | |
| 13. | Vladimir Karpets | 0:02:04 |
| 14. | Samuel Sanchez | 0:02:36 |
In my opinion, Cadel looks the strongest. Normally he would get dropped in the high mountains, but his principal climbing rivals — Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck — are both looking fatigued. Contador is coming off a brutal Giro, and Andy has looked awful all year long, getting dropped (badly) in California and Switzerland. Only time will tell, but at this point in the race, it's not unreasonable to believe Cadel could finish with the big climbers if he goes at his own pace, ignoring their accelerations. And in the final 41km time trial, Cadel can be expected to put serious time into the Schlecks and take time from Contador as well.
It's unclear which GC team looks the strongest. BMC cannot be expected to provide much support in the mountains, and the Saxo Bank guys are still tired from the Giro. Leopard-Trek may not be any stronger though, and Cancellara recently came down with a slight illness for which he's on antibiotics. And Radioshack is decimated from the first week of ice rugby, er, pro cycling.
It's definitely a wide-open Tour de France at this point.