diphthong

hay everyone...it's vuelta time. the tour for new blood to emerge and for old blood
to make up for injuries, crashes disappointments and missing out on the tour de france.
many are racing for new contract as well. shorter stages make for exciting and unpredictable racing.

deadline is saturday, august 20th @17:00 cest. ¡venga venga venga!

Fantasy Vuelta a Espana 2016 | Velogames Fantasy Cycling

league name: bike forums

league code: 261518425711

dstrong 

In...but need to now read up on the course and the riders.

DLBroox

In for another round. Let's see how I do this time.

canam73

I joined.

But I always have issues with Velogames assignments of climber/GC. The Vuelta's seem the most arbitrary.

Giacomo 1 

I'm in again.

Seems like this Veulta is short on top tier sprinters.

slcbob

I hastily built a team in a few waking minutes during my rest stop in the Motel 6 in Green River, Utah.

If I do better than I usually do, that will say damning things about my thought process and my understanding of this game, causing me to do some soul searching.

If I beat you.....

Ha ha ha.

Good luck to all. May the odds be ever in your favor. Oops, wrong line.

- The Stark of Messina

dstrong 

How the hell did I get a non-starting rider on my team??? Oh well...lightning struck twice for me today but I don't expect that to last!

dstrong 

Holy carp! Meersman??? Total guess on my part. Srsly...it can't last.

dstrong 

Seriously..I chose Meersman because we used to have a cat named Gianni!

slcbob

It looks like lightning might strike twice

diphthong

omg my team is wretched so far. my sprinter is finishing in the last dozen or so riders every day. the guy-riblon-i rearranged my team to add, is apparently accompanying my sprinter on the back end. both seem...unprepared. my top 5 dark horse-lopez-just bounced. and i'm in third place. this race is fantastically unpredictable.

diphthong

oh heck yah. i woulda gladly spent a few extra points on a name sprinter that dared to
ride this vuelta, not meant for sprinters, just for the peace of
mind. i wanted to go with meersman but something told me no. something and i are currently on the outs...that tdf list of sprinters was the most stacked i'd ever seen. ridiculous.

DLBroox

Third place? Oh boo hoo! I'm second to last. My team is dreadful. The only reason I got a lot of points yesterday is because I have Simon Yates. And the only reason he's on my team is because I confused him with his twin brother! I suck as a manager!

diphthong

haha those yates bros...didn't the schlecks teach you anything? don't feel bad...i can't keep them apart either so i don't choose them. i hadn't checked the standings since the second day because of my team's "performance." i was shocked to find it in 3rd place today. let's face it...we all have leaky boats and it's just a matter of time to see whom is able to make the shortest swim to shore.

DLBroox

The Schlecks! I'm not sure which one I disliked more. I can't believe Frank is still riding. Would have thought he'd thrown in the towel by now.

I moved up a spot thanks to Bennati.

Giacomo 1 

That's the reason I picked Farrar.

I know he is past his prime and his real speed days are behind him, but the field was thin and I thought he might actually pull out a victory or at least a high placing. Well, he is my only rider with zero points, so, so much for that strategy! Is he still in the race? I'm not able to watch...

diphthong

farrar is still in the race-physically. he's 2 mins ahead of my sprinter-arndt (from team giant) but that's not saying much.

if i could get a do-over, i'd dump miguel lopez from astana (abandoned and a 14 pointer-was a top 5 dark horse for me) and would pick up
valverde. had valverde on an earlier, unfinalized version of my squad. guy has always been a fantasy points monster in any gt but this was to be his 3rd gt of the year.
my thoughts were that he'd maybe make it to this last covadongas stage then abandon or lose massive time. serves me right for doubting the most consistent rider
of the last decade+.

still feeling like a few of my mountain dudes will show up/hold steady/win a stage in the 2nd half of the race. i think atapuma (great 1st week), brambilla, contador, chaves
and ll sanchez have a stage win or two between them and possibly 2-4 of them in the mix for a top ten finish. a podium placing is a lot less likely-maybe chaves.
anyone with any combo or even just one of the quintana, valverde and froome trio is looking pretty good tho.

interested to see what kind of legs scarponi from astana has for the 2nd half of the race since he's 3 mins back and in 9th place. i could see him (and yates from orica) taking a flyer
on an upcoming stage to shake things up.

DLBroox

I've been kicking myself all through the race for not picking Valverde. I don't know why I passed over him. I had him in the Tour.

And I don't know why they put names in of non starters. I have two guys, Landa and Haussler who didn't start. Barguil has no points and I have not heard his name once. Haven't looked to see if he didn't start or abandoned.

My big guy this race is Froome.

diphthong

i think barguil left very early on (after stage 2?)

DLBroox

Ah, ok.

dstrong 

Way to close the gap Stark! I'm hoping Froome dominates the ITT tomorrow!

slcbob

Lightning has struck!

slcbob

I was very sad to see Rojas go slip sliding away under that guard rail. Slightly sadder when I realized I was missing out on his assist points for stage 21 and overall, plus whatever he might have grabbed in the final sprint in Madrid.

Fortunately, my clean living seems to have paid off and all is right in the world, if not necessarily for poor JJ, the UCI, and another vehicle enabled injury.

Be well, bike forums velogamers. See you for the Giro. Adios/ciao.

dstrong 

Almost! Congrats to The Stark for grabbing the red jersey from me on the next to last day! Just like Froome, I'll have to settle for a 1-2 Grand Tour finish!

Next year I'll have to review my picks prior to finalizing to make sure ALL of my riders are starting!

diphthong

congrats to slcbob and the stark of messina squad. another great vuelta (loved stage 15). hopefully see y'all in the spring for the giro.