2024 Tour de France Fantasy League, and general TdF discussions.

It's only 31 days away!
The tour departs June 29th from Florence and finishes up July 21 in Nice (because of Summer Olympics).

Both Mrs Dee Hubbs and I are are in for the Fantasy league, and with her competitive nature it only takes one competitor for her to want to win.

Will Jonas be ready?
Will Tadej do the Giro TdF double?
Will Primoz and his new team be a major contender?
Can Remco live up to the hype?
Will Ineos' two prong attack of Rodgrigez and Burnal work?
I truly think this will be an exciting tour.

My initial answers:

Will Jonas be ready? Doesn't matter. See second question.
Will Tadej do the Giro TdF double? Yes.
Will Primoz and his new team be a major contender? Doesn't matter. See second question.
Can Remco live up to the hype? Doesn't matter. See second question.
Will Ineos' two prong attack of Rodgrigez and Burnal work? Doesn't matter. See second question.
I truly think this will be an exciting tour. Maybe. But see second question.

Also to add, will UAE have infighting with 4 GC leaders (Pogi, Almeida, Ayuso, Yates), not to mention Sivakov and Soler?
Can Jasper Philipsen continue his stranglehold on the sprints in the TDF?
Who among Carapaz, Geoghegan Hart, Mas, Gaudu, Bilbao, Guil. Martin, Simon Yates, Gall or the secondary GC contenders in each of the big 4/5 will fill out the top 10?
Can Cav break the stage win record this year?
Who will actually go for the polka dot hunt?

So ready for this year's competition! Really hope Jonas and Wout are healed enough and decide to ride, otherwise I fear it will be UAE domination. My heart wants Primoz to put up a fight but my mind tells me it won't happen.

The rational part of my brain says very little contention for top step GC, but the emotional part really wants to see Roglic emerge like a phoenix in perfect shape and crazy hungry for a win, giving Pogie a fight of the ages. Also hope Cav pulls a rabbit out of the hat and gets to retire (again) with his tiny head held high.

The UAE team is so strong! I have a hard time trying to figure out who the’ll take to the Tour.
My 8 would be:
GC- Poga?ar
Climb - Yates
Climb - Sivakov
Climb - Soler
Climb - Ayuso
Climb - Almeida
Rouleurs - Wellens
Rouleurs - Politt

That does not include:
Bjerg
Hirschi
Majka
McNulty
Vine

So strong.

Remco should add some excitement to the mix until he blows up.

If Jonas isn't 100%, will Sepp be Visma's GC rider?

Will all the other GC contenders form an alliance against Tadej & UAE?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skistack

Remco should add some excitement to the mix until he blows up.

If Jonas isn't 100%, will Sepp be Visma's GC rider?

Will all the other GC contenders form an alliance against Tadej & UAE?

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There won't be any champagne sipped by the leaders on the final stage and I'm down with that.

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I’m in for the fantasy league

All the oddsmakers have Pogi to win over Roglic. My guess is that Roglic crashes out. And UAE has a monster team no matter who gets selected.

I’m also guessing that van Aert will forgo le Tour and race in the Olympics. And that Vingagaard will not start 6/29. But he will win La Vuelta.

I just picked up a years subscription to Peacock for $19.99. Gives me live Dauphine coverage. Will get to see the form of Roglic, Kuss and other GC contenders. After two stages, neither is making any big moves.

If Jonas Vingegaard Hansen does not start, who will Jumbo's GC be?
Wilco Kelderman? I was just googling if he's recovered from his most recent broken collar bone injury, and saw his historic injury report.
That dude can't stay on a bike and holy shit his bones must be brittle....

2024-03-10 Crash in Paris - Nice | Stage 8 Fractured collarbone 6 weeks out
2021-09-01 Crash in Benelux Tour | stage 3 Fractured pelvis, Fractured rib(s) 8 weeks out
2021-01-16 Collision with car during training camp Concussion, Fractured vertebrae 8 weeks out
2019-03-29 Crash in Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (2.UWT) Stage 5 Fractured collarbone,Fractured vertebrae 10 weeks out
2018-03-11 Crash in Tirreno-Adriatico (2.UWT) Stage 5 Fractured collarbone 6 weeks out
2017-05-14 Crash in Giro d'Italia (2.UWT) Stage 9 Fractured finger 4 weeks out
2017-03-04 Crash in Strade Bianche Fractured finger 4 weeks out
2014-12-22 Crash during training Fractured collarbone 3 weeks out

^^^Kuss will be their GC guy if Vingo doesn’t start, like he is for Dauphine.
And he won’t finish top 10.

Four broken clavicles for Kelderman? Yikes!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TBS

^^^Kuss will be their GC guy if Vingo doesn’t start, like he is for Dauphine.
And he won’t finish top 10.

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Kuss was sitting at 9th on GC last year going into stage 20 riding as a pure domestique, I think odds are he's finishing inside the top 10 as a leader.

And at the end of stage 20 he sat 12th, between Pinot and Pidcock.

And after La Vuelta, he’s a marked man

Sure, none of the GC teams are going to let Sepp go in a break ever again.

But other than probably Tadej and Primoz he can put significant time on the other GC guys in the mountains. Top 5 seems realistic for him.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by TBS

And at the end of stage 20 he sat 12th, between Pinot and Pidcock.

And after La Vuelta, he’s a marked man

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Not exactly his fault that Carlos Rodriguez decided to lose grip and eat pavement right in front of him. Sepp almost rode out of it too! Dark horse for Visma might be Matteo as well. Dude put in work during Paris-Nice.

https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-...r-crash-video/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skistack

Sure, none of the GC teams are going to let Sepp go in a break ever again.

But other than probably Tadej and Primoz he can put significant time on the other GC guys in the mountains. Top 5 seems realistic for him.


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Sure, Mano-mano in the mountains he’s a beast. Question is how much help he’s gonna have.

And, He’s weak in ITT, of which there are two this year (one on last day). That’s gonna hurt his final standings.

Interesting to note that TVLAB list Kuss and Jorgenson as co-leaders for Dauphine…

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dee Hubbs

The UAE team is so strong! I have a hard time trying to figure out who the’ll take to the Tour.
My 8 would be:
GC- Poga?ar
Climb - Yates
Climb - Sivakov
Climb - Soler
Climb - Ayuso
Climb - Almeida
Rouleurs - Wellens
Rouleurs - Politt

So strong.

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Just heard Geraint Thomas & Luke Rowe interview Tadej. He said UAE’s TdF roster is just as you laid it out ^^^, and was set in December.

Update from Dauphine
Big crash today - van Baerle broke clavicle and Kruisjswijk broke hip - won’t be starting TdF for VLAB
Roglic and Evenepoel both hit the deck hard but finished the stage

Visma Lease a bike team rep stated that both Wout and Jonas are only "50/50" shot of being ready and selected for le Tour. Not sure how much of that is trying to mis-lead competitor teams, but I was surprised Wout was only a 50/50 shot.

I suspect the site might be common knowledge around here but if anyone needs a link to watch (basically any televised event) cycling message me. (I have nothing to do with it, it's free and has been an absolute godsend here in Canada..)

Which site are you using for the fantasy league? The one run by organizers (https://fantasybytissot.letour.fr/)? I've never done one and curious how it works. I also might try to get one going with my fantasy football crew - curious what fantasy tdf platform people think is best.


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Yes, that's the one we use. It's well run, and the scoring happens quick. They bullied out a small private Fantasy League operator we use to use, but we have all forgotten about that big corporate greed issue by now.

This one works by picking a Team of 8. You have a specific budget to stay within, riders are grouped into categories of leader, sprinter, climber, and polyvalent. You team cannot exceed 5 all-rounders, 3 climbers, 3 sprinters and 3 leaders.
Daily you have to choose a team captain who points are doubled on that day. For Example if it's the Time Trail Stage I'll choose Filippo Ganna (who is already on my team) as my captain, and any points he scores are doubled. The next day is a climbing stage so I choose Sepp Kuss as my climber, so his points are doubled.

Points are awarded for Stage wins/classifications, Stage Intermediate Sprits, Stage Mountain KOM/Classifications, Stage Combative Rider, KMs Covered In Breakaway in Lead Group (new this year!).
Jersey points are given out daily for Yellow, Green, Polka, White (and overall combative at the end).
You get the option for 8 rider changes throughout the 3 weeks, in case a rider crashes out or pulls a Tejay van Garderen after the second rest day and falls out of contention in one bad day.
Thats the quick and dirty explanation of this Fantasy League.

Looks like our league (TGR Maggots - #156) is still active.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TBS

Looks like our league (TGR Maggots - #156) is still active.

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You should be auto loaded in to any previous league you have joined.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dee Hubbs

Yes, that's the one we use. It's well run, and the scoring happens quick. They bullied out a small private Fantasy League operator we use to use, but we have all forgotten about that big corporate greed issue by now.

This one works by picking a Team of 8. You have a specific budget to stay within, riders are grouped into categories of leader, sprinter, climber, and polyvalent. You team cannot exceed 5 all-rounders, 3 climbers, 3 sprinters and 3 leaders.
Daily you have to choose a team captain who points are doubled on that day. For Example if it's the Time Trail Stage I'll choose Filippo Ganna (who is already on my team) as my captain, and any points he scores are doubled. The next day is a climbing stage so I choose Sepp Kuss as my climber, so his points are doubled.

Points are awarded for Stage wins/classifications, Stage Intermediate Sprits, Stage Mountain KOM/Classifications, Stage Combative Rider, KMs Covered In Breakaway in Lead Group (new this year!).
Jersey points are given out daily for Yellow, Green, Polka, White (and overall combative at the end).
You get the option for 8 rider changes throughout the 3 weeks, in case a rider crashes out or pulls a Tejay van Garderen after the second rest day and falls out of contention in one bad day.
Thats the quick and dirty explanation of this Fantasy League.

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Great - thanks, Dee!

If there's still space in the TGR league, lmk. Would be interested in joining.


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