Category: Cycling

Tibor Del Grosso spent most of the winter chasing home Alpecin team leader Matteus Van der Poel in the cyclo cross season.  The young Dutchman in his first season of top level racing has chosen the daunting double of Strada Bianche and Tirreno Adriatico to pit himself against the likes of Pogacar, Van Aert, Pidcock, Alaphilippe, Healey and George Bennett.  With 19 year old Paul Seixas also in the field fresh from his ride alone victory in the Ardeche last Saturday, we are in for a treat.

Vingegaard’s no show in the Emirates hit me hard with del Toro taking GC.  Jonathan Milan’s three sprint victories eased the pain.  Group 1 of the league contains only Tadej. Jonas, Romero with the injured Mads Pederson and Jaoa Almeida.
Pogacar and del Torro join forces in Strade Bianchi with the Mexican no-doubt playing second fiddle to his team leader.

My full team is
Pogacar Tadej [Uae Team Emirates – Xrg]
Pidcock Thomas [Pinarello – Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team]
Philipsen Jasper [Alpecin – Premier Tech]
Jorgenson Matteo [Team Visma – Lease A Bike]
Seixas Paul [Decathlon – Cma Cmg Team]
Simmons Quinn [Lidl – Trek]
Küng Stefan [Tudor Pro Cycling Team]
Rodriguez Martin Cristian [Xds – Astana Team]
Zimmermann Georg [Lotto – Intermarché]
Widar Jarno [Lotto – Intermarché]
Sweeny Harry [Ef Education – Easypost]

The top riders in Cobblestone League have been slow to make their appearance.  None undertook the long journey to Australia for the Tour Down Under, but in Period 2 Almeida was in Spain and Vingegaard was due to take on the UAE tour.  Almeida was well beaten by Evenepoul in Valencia and my decision to go with the Danish number one looked a good one as I briefly sat in top spot following  my top three full house in the Cadel Evans.  The Visma leader has suffered both illness and injury and his replacement by Kelderman however negated all this.  My week was further spoilt by Milan’s crash yesterday seeing my slip to 8th in the rankings.  My hope now is that Yates climbs better than Del Torro tomorrow.

Young British riders are well to the fore in UCI rankings with Tom Pidcock and Oscar Onley both in the top 10.  Simon Yates has announced his retirement but Adam hopes to contnue his return to the top after a stunning Giro steal.  Matthew Brennan, Ben Tulet and Samuel Watson will hopefully improve their ranking as the season progresses, Mattie and Sam having already picked up stages ‘Down Under’.

Debutants this season include Oliver Peace for Picnic Post, Noah Hobbs for Easy Post, Callum Thornley for Red Bull and Joshua Giddings for Lotto

Sprinters or climbers the Cobblestone Dilemma

Short tours like the current Tour Down Under pose a problem to cycling fantasists.  A climber will probably gain enough time to take the GC but is likely to compete in only one stage.  The other stages will likely be shared amongst the sprinters or a rouleur in a break.  I discarded Jay Vine for Matthew Brennan, a mistake as it turned out but I luckily picked up points from Tobias Andresen to soften the pain.

Prologue stage of the Tour Down Under was the first point scoring event for a new season of Cobblestone Fantasy Cycling.  Four Aussies in the top ten but UK pairing Watson and Vernon stole the day,

I have been keeping myself amused for the last few years by competing in the Cobblestone Fantasy Cycling League.  This season kicks off with the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans in Australia.  The web site ProCyclingStats and the live and highlight coverage on Discovery Plus keeps me up to date with riders, teams, results, and entries.