SBS RaboDirect Tour de France Fantasy

[Aushiker]

Hi

The SBS RaboDirect Tour de France Fantasy game is back on for 2010. Details at http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/fantasy.

Care to share you team details? Suggestions? Angsts? Wins? ...

Andrew

[Aushiker]

Hi

To add to the fun of this I have created a mini-league called "Australian Cycling Forums". Anyone is welcome to join, no prizes but. To join the mini league go to http://sbs.com.au/tdf/fantasy, pick your team then use the ‘mini-league admin' option to join the mini-league.

Andrew

[norbs]

Hi

To add to the fun of this I have created a mini-league called "Australian Cycling Forums". Anyone is welcome to join, no prizes but. To join the mini league go to http://sbs.com.au/tdf/fantasy, pick your team then use the ‘mini-league admin' option to join the mini-league.

Andrew

Is there a password?

[Aushiker]

Is there a password?

Hi

Yes, PM sent. That is a silly set up but as it allows anyone to then change the settings etc .... I have asked for clarification on the way this works.

Andrew

[norbs]

Im in with Team "Shut Up Legs".

[roller]

nicobec absolutely killed it last year.

search for his posts/info/tips

[damonik]

Password?

[nickobec]

nicobec absolutely killed it last year.

search for his posts/info/tips

Not that good, might of finished in top 100 overall, I got the tactics slightly wrong.

This year I will be back and want to do better.

Will start with a bunch of good GC men + good ITT riders, will not swap anybody for prologue (unlike last year). Then after prologue swap out everybody I can for sprinters. Next seven stages all flat, one will be my double points stage. Just got to pick the right one.

Top tips:
edit 23/06/2010 13:50WST
Initial team is very important this year, pick a team that will place multiple riders in top 15 of GC, getting 3rd, 5th & 13th is worth 60pts as much as get Rider who finishes 1st in GC (and 15 points more than the team that finishes with 1st and 8th in GC)
Ignore that I went and read the rules again, it is for team ranking, I will explain it better in another post
Prologue vs GC:Assuming you are not going to do wholesale changes here. Top 10 finish in GC is worth more than 1st in prologue. But a top 10 finish on the prologue is better than 15th in the GC. So expect to see a couple of ITT specialists on my initial roster (Spartacus, David Miller, Zabriskie etc)

Good Value:
Cervello not for your GC team, but transfer in after that for 3m you get Hushvod and Haussler (assuming fit)
Brad Wiggins 4.9m do not expect a repeat of last year, but hoping for around 10th in GC and top 10 in prologue.
Tom Boonen 4.8m, not for the GC but has won short prologues before and the first few days are in Belgium

[Mallacai]

i am going to be running with Team Source.

What would the password be?

[Aushiker]

Hi

PM sent with the password to those that asked. Would prefer to not make it public until I have heard back from the game people if that is okay.

Andrew

[nickobec]

PM sent with the password to those that asked.

Can I have the password too?

[reeves]

Me to please

[Aushiker]

Hi

PM sent to nickobec and reeves. If anyone else wants it let me know here or via PM.

Andrew

[Bay23]

Hi Andrew,

Could I please get the password as well?

[familyguy]

The Brass Monkeys Team is in.

Jim

[redcorpsjames]

can i get the password thanks

[Aushiker]

Hi

Passwords sent to those that asked.

Andrew

[Aushiker]

Hi

I have received this reply from SilentManger re my query with regards to the password and access to the min-league.

Only the mini league administrator (creator) can accept/decline the league. The accepted member can only see each other in the same league.

Can someone who has the password please check and see if they can make any administrative changes. If the answer is no I can simply post the password here and anyone interested can just get in a join without further hassle.

Thanks
Andrew

[nickobec]

I tend to write posts on game strategy to gather my thoughts and get other peoples opinions.

Yes I am a game player. I read the rules and try to make the most of them.

So here are my thoughts on the initial selection.

Special stage - you want a stage which is predictable (no breakaways) where as many as possible of your team will finish in the top 20. Which means prologue, ITT, mountain top finish or sprint finished.

I went prologue last year and got a bucket load of points, but in doing so and stacking my team with prologue/ITT specialists cost me dear in GC and the next four days sprinting and the same will happen this year to anybody adopting these tactics.Prologue is not available as a special stage this year

ITT (Stage 19), a slightly better choice Stage 17 is a mountain top finish on Col du Tourmalet, stage 18 flat, you then get six transfers, before the penultimate stage 19 ITT and then the final day in Paris. With two or three of GC contenders who can time trial already in your team, transferring in another four ITT specialists into you team, should give you 7 scoring riders on the day. Unfortunately that gives you a max of 4 scoring riders on the Champs-Elysées.

Mountain top finish eg stage 17 Col du Tourmalet, by this stage of the race you will have a good idea who will be the 1st dozen riders to finish this stage. Only problem is being able to fit them into you team budget.

Sprint finish, other than Stage 20 on the Champs-Elysées (and you will not have enough transfers left to get 7 scoring riders) , you can not guarantee a sprint finish, however you can take a calculated risk and gamble on one of the first 6 stages producing a sprint finish and stacking your team with sprinters for the early stages. That is what I will be doing, hoping to get 7 or 8 riders in the top 20 that day, and probably at least 4 of the other 5 opening stages.

GC, Prologue or sprinters for the initial team.
You get 9 riders and 6 transfers for the 1st week. A GC finishing position is worth 3 times as much as an individual stage and other than the prologue, the first 6 stages (with the possible exception of the pave in stage 3) are sprinters stages. My team will start with 5 GC riders and 4 sprinters and by stage 1 will be 8 sprinters, the one exception is likely to be the yellow jersey winner from the prologue. As there are no time bonuses, who ever wins yellow in Rotterdam is likely to hold it until Morzine-Avoriaz which is a bonus 6 points a day.

Team selection.
Team points for GC are based on team standings, ie time of best 3 riders from that team to finish a stage. Still working out is it worth the transfer and $5m to start with a top five team GCE, AST, LIQ, SAX, RSH and the transfer out to a sprinting team like CTT, just get THR in the first place, save a transfer, get a top 10 finish and points every time Cav wins or start with CTT expect minimal GC team points and spent the 5m adding another top GC rider.

[nickobec]

Can someone who has the password please check and see if they can make any administrative changes.

Can not do anything other than see Aushiker's Demons

[HAKS]

password please . Thanks in advance

Looking forward to this again, learnt from my mistakes of last year

[Aushiker]

Can someone who has the password please check and see if they can make any administrative changes.

Can not do anything other than see Aushiker's Demons

Hi

Thanks Nik. I assume no one else has joined the league as yet.

Appreciated

Andrew

[nickobec]

Thanks Nik. I assume no one else has joined the league as yet.

I joined this moening = LPO breaks

I assume it was just taking the 24 hours it said it might

[Aushiker]

Hi

It seems that as administrator I have to "accept" your team into the league. I have just done this for those that have joined and will keep an eye on this now that I know. Everyone should be there in the mini-league within 24 hours.

For anyone else that wants to join, please do so and please let us know here so we know who we are up against Also posting here reminds me to check the league and to accept your team.

The password for those wanting to join is BNA.

Regards
Andrew

[thelittlebattler]

I played this last year, but didn't know about the BNA forums... was good reading the thread from last year though, everyone else seemed to have the same problems as me with points and botch-ups etc. Hope it's smoother this year.