...cleaning up after a long season.
Year in Review
Team by Team
Fujarky
 |
Team Fujarky p/b Steven the neo-pro
claims the Lanterne Rouge |
What started out as a promising first season for the neo pro ended in disappointment. Fujarky's early season transfers helped him reach as high as second overall. However, a lack of late season transfers and the inability of his top three picks to bring home a Grand Tour or Monument earned Steven the Lanterne Rouge.
Rider Recap
Contador: gave it his best shot at LeTour, but his best ain't what it used to be
Evans: a solid 3rd at the Giro was overshadowed by a horrible Tour
Hesjedal: Did they ever figure out what he was "sick" with at the Giro?
Greipel: Wins, not enough at the Tour though, hard for sprinters to score a lot
D. Martin: Best pick. Snatched up all kinds of potatoes
Henao: great season pointswise, but just couldn't get that big win
Gasparrato: the GasMan needs to refuel
Boom: didn't go the dynamite
Pinot: Finished strong, only mountaintop finishes for this guy, no downhill
Zubeldia: I feel like he was a factor in a race or two, also I feel like he was on drugs last year
Monfort: Dude was at the Tour
Nieve: Looked good, scored as much as Hesjedal, but that ain't a lot
Transfers:
Santambrogio: Great pick up, he managed to not get busted for doping until after the Giro. Points stand
Majka: Even better pick up, finished the season 20th in points
The Commish's Take
If Fujarky could have kept up with the transfers he probably would have finished much higher. However, when you draft 3 former grand tour winners and none of them produce it is going to make for a tough season. Better luck next year.
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Taco's main man, Valverde, gets all the ladies
and some points too |
Team Dirty Sanchezs p/b Taco made a late season push to get out of the basement but was just short of overtaking Volpe for 4th. Valverde just kept scoring all year and Chris Horner turned in the performance of a lifetime to claim the Vuelta.
Rider Recap
Sammy Sanchez: Scored some points but a massive bust as a first round pick
Valverde: Finished 3rd in scoring on the road and 1st in scoring with the ladies
Moser: Won early, best days are still ahead of him
De Gendt: De Bust
LL Sanchez: Team wouldn't let him race and then paid him to go away, the dirtiest of the Sanchezs
Fuglsang: Pretty boy looked tough at the Tour, nice comeback
Degenkolb: Chunky German sprinter, what's not to like?
Hushovd: Won that fjordy Norweigan race that was on tv for some reason, not much else
Horner: Suprise of the season. La Vuelta! USA USA USA
Van Avermaet: Turns out coming in second to Sagan all the time is worth a lot of points
Rolland: Like in the Epic of Roland, he goes real hard, but then blows up
Farrar: Got a win somewhere but he still really sucks
Transfers:
None
The Commish's Take
I really thought Taco was going to catch Volpe at the end. Without the dead weight of some of these guys like DeGendt and Farrar, Taco had a decent team. Taco needs to tap into the Colombian connection next season and spice things up a bit.
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| Volpe loves him some cobbles |
Volpe's focus on classics riders has once again provided him with a solid team. Not good enough to crack the podium but better than the rest. Last year, Boonen was the man for Volpe. This year it was Cancellera who dominated the cobbles. If only Patrick could get these two to both do well in the same season.
Rider Recap
Cancellera: Flanders/Roubaix double double! Amazing season
Boonen: He's more of an every other year kinda guy these days
Uran: Highest ranked mullet on the leaderboard
A. Schleck: Pretty sure he finally finished a race at some point
Cav: As always lots of wins, but overshadowed at Le Tour in sprints and in the hunt for green
Phinney: A few gutsy performances but not many points
Basso: "Taint"ed season
Roche: Looked tough when he could ride for himself, solid points
Kittel: 4 big wins at Le Tour, that's 80 points right there. Best sleeper pick of the draft?
Iglinsky: Not so much
Roelandts: Quietly amassed 110 points. Flanders!
VanMarcke: Came in second in Roubaix accounting for all of his 80 points
Transfers: None
The Commish's Take
It must be fun to dominate the cobbles every year. If Volpe could just get a GC guy to pan out he would be formidable opponent. If Patrick stays with his current strategy he is going to need to be more active during the transfer periods.
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| All he does is win yellow |
Maillot Jaune Guillaume racks up his second Tour de France win in as many years. With a strong team all around it was looking close going into the Vuelta. Unfortunatly, Froome and Porte took the last part of the season off and Bill ended up just slipping into third. Even more unfortunate is that we haven't heard from Bill since Volpe drafted for him last year and it looks like Guillaume might be getting dropped off the back of the Wiskota train.
Rider Recap
Wiggo: Sucked at the Giro, then went home
Froome: What can we say? Best GC guy out there
T. Martin: What can we say? Best TT guy out there
Gerrans: Injury held him back but still managed decent points
Kreuziger: Killer season, did it in one dayers and stage races, that's what makes a WFL star
Scarponi: Still can't believe this guy was allowed to race. Racked up top tier points
Goss: Over this guy
Terpstra: The Terpinator was tough all year, respectable late round pick points.
Haussler: Snagged weird points, especially at the end
Porte: Steal of the draft! This guy pissed me off all year.
Anton: Weak season
Breschel: Meh
Transfers: None
The Commish's Take
Guillaume had probably the strongest top end in the league. Take into account the steal of the draft and this was a tough team. A few transfers, cut some dead weight and this team would be untouchable. I'm glad that didn't happen. As Team Maillot Jaune Guillaume looks to go the way of Euskatel it will be interesting to see where these riders land.
 |
| Epic Massive Nibs |
Team Forza made the comeback of the season to end in second place overall. After yet another disappointing classics season Gregario started to turn things around, mostly through the efforts of his main man Nibali. Transfers paid off big time for Forza, none more than the Tour runner up Nitro Quintana. It took until the final few races, but in the end Forza was able to knock off Guillaume and claim a solid second place.
Rider Recap
Nibali: One of the best out there, races all year, serious points
Gilbert: Be a bust once, shame on you, be a bust twice...
BoHaug: Too much time on the beach with his girlfriend, bust
Mollema: Solid pick, but just missed out on being a really good pick
Costa: Can't believe he slipped so far down in the draft, taken way too low, great rider
Rodgers: Should've started doping earlier in the season
Albasini: He won a stage somewhere along the way I think
Voekler: Did he win anything?
Flecha: Bon Voyage Van der Flecha, you will be missed
Westra: I thought you were supposed to be able to TT?
Nocentini: Sneaky points
Vanenedert: Peanut butter Jelle man
Transfers:
Quintana: Best pick up, hands down, 2nd place at le Tour plus white and polka dot
Betancur: Colombian of the future, badass
Intxausti: Don't forget about the X factor
Peraud: Almost a top ten at tour, sad ending, pretty sure he scored all his points before he was picked up
Kwiatkowski: The Quiet One does it all
Coppel: Nope
Arroyo: Sorry
The Commish's Take
Forza should really have had Valverde on his team because like Valverde he dug himself in hole and just when you started to forget about him all of a sudden he would be dragging himself back up to the lead group. Like Balaverde, when others called it a season Forza hung in there racking up late season points. And, keeping with the Valverde analogy, those efforts paid off, but only with a podium place.
It was the best season yet for the Wiskota Fantasy League and I'm looking forward to a even more competitive season three.
