Velogames Preview – Great Big Bike Game XXII

Velogames is back with the Great Big Bike Game XXII! You have until 12:45pm BST on Saturday the 29th to get your teams in. Head over to velogames.com to check out all the rules or see the post pinned at the bottom of my homepage for how it all works. In this piece, I’ll give you a lowdown on the main protagonists. Who’s worth the price? Where will the big points potentially come from? But remember, this is just a guide. There is a lot of luck in a game like this and most players usually end up switching their teams around dozens of times before the deadline. So there are many ways to play. The trick is trying to find that sweet spot.

The Route

First off, here’s a little run down on the route. Just to see how many stages are likely end in a sprint; how many time trials there are; where the overall contenders will do battle. So you’ll have an idea of who the biggest points scorers are likely to be. There are several useful tools to peruse at your leisure as well. The official website at letour.fr has every stage in detail, and procyclingstats.com is another with bags of information. Other blogs and online news outlets have also given their two cents on how this race will shape up, inrng.com is probably the best out there.

On the face of it, this Tour will be very hard, heading into the mountains as early stage 2 and with only one time trial in the whole race. Even that is an individual time trial up to the summit of La Planche des Belles Filles the day before the race heads to Paris. So make no mistake this is a climbers tour and the start list is full of the best GC climbing talent money can buy. Overall there are six summit finishes of varying difficulty. Two of them have harder climbs preceding the finales, the actual finishes aren’t that bad. Of the four other summit finishes, two are HC climbs and the others are category 1. Plenty of lumpy stages offer the breakaway several opportunities and the less arduous stages should give the sprinters five nailed on chances with up to nine total stages that could end in bunch sprints.

So expect this to be an incredibly competitive race from start to finish with general classification action right from the word go. The best stages to watch, if you can’t watch them all, should be the following:
Stage 2: Earliest GC action in the mountains around Nice.
Stage 4: First summit finish.
Stage 8: Monstrous day in the Pyrenees.
Stage 13: Hardly flat all day with a devilishly steep finale.
Stage 15: Massive final climb up the Grand Colombier.
Stage 17: Two HC climbs including the finish, and the highest point of this years race.
Stage 18: Final Alpine mountain day with hardly any flat.
Stage 20: Individual time trial up La Planche des Belles Filles.

Velogames Category Guide

To help with team selection, I’ve tried to point out the shrewdest picks below and where any potential bargains might be. There seem to be an abundance of 6 pointers in all categories this year so finding the right balance is arguably even harder. Where to save money and where to spend money? To be honest not even I know right now, but this should give you some ideas.

All Rounders

Primož Roglič, 24 Credits: The most expensive rider and the pre-race favourite. He has the strongest team based on warm up races, but did suffer a crash in the Dauphiné. He scored 2436 points in La Vuelta last year, and 1479 in the Giro.
Egan Bernal, 22 Credits: The second favourite and comes in with decent form depending on what you’ve heard about his withdrawal from the Dauphiné. Scored 1533 points at Le Tour last year.
Thibaut Pinot, 18 Credits: 2nd place in the Dauphiné and looks good for a top 5 or a podium, if he can finish the race. He’s DNF’d half of the 12 grand tours he’s entered, which is a huge shame for such a talented rider.
Emanuel Buchmann, 14 Credits: Had a brilliant Tour last year with a 4th place finish and looked to be building nicely for this one until a crash at the Dauphiné derailed his preparation. He takes to the start anyway with the team hoping he’ll grow in form through the race.

Elsewhere, Tom Dumoulin at 18 credits offers great backup to Roglič and should be capable of a high finish himself. Daniel Felipe Martinez (12 credits) is a cheaper alternative and did just win the Critérium du Dauphiné, not sure what his team’s priorities are in the race though. Pavel Sivakov is also great backup for his leader and could be well worth his 12 credits. All three of Movistar’s strongest riders are in this category with Alejandro Valverde at 14 credits; Enric Mas at 10; and Marc Soler at 6. Soler hasn’t done much of note recently and Valverde has been quiet as well. Mas hasn’t really kicked on from his 2nd place at the 2018 Vuelta so the whole team is a bit of a mystery. The other riders in this list are all quality riders, but I’m struggling to see where the points are going to come from. Maybe Rigoberto Urán (8 credits) pulls a 2017 where he finished 2nd in Le Tour, but I doubt it. Bauke Mollema (8 credits) is also pretty cheap and everyone else here should be supporting their leader.

Climbers

Oh boy this section is stacked, I’ll try and say something about as many as I can, but you might have to do your own research in some cases.

Julian Alaphilippe, 18 Credits: The team say not to expect a repeat of last year’s heroics. He will absolutely be hunting for a stage win or two though and comes in with 3rd place in the French national road race and 2nd in the mountains classification at the Dauphiné.
Richard Carapaz, 16 Credits: Late-ish call up to the squad after he was expected to miss this one and head to the Giro. But a change of plan at INEOS has brought him here in slightly mixed form. He crashed out of the Tour de Pologne and then managed 13th at Il Lombardia. Should also be excellent backup for Bernal though.
Tadej Pogačar, 16 Credits: Grew into form nicely in the Dauphiné with two top 5s and 4th on GC. Smashed his first grand tour last year where he picked up 3rd on GC and 1863 points in Velogames fantasy.
Miguel Angel López, 14 Credits: 5th in the Dauphiné without being spectacular and is used to being much more expensive than this. He was worth 20 credits at last year’s Vuelta and picked up 1357 points.
Mikel Landa, 14 Credits: 2nd in the Vuelta a Burgos at the end of last month, but his Dauphiné wasn’t brilliant. Not sure if he’s worth more than López at the same price.
Nairo Quintana, 14 Credits: Quintana rounds off the more expensive lot will definitely be looking for a stage win if he doesn’t hang with the GC crowd. In all honesty anything is possible when he’s involved.

Of the remaining lot, many will be looking for stage wins or maybe the king of the mountains jersey. Two who will probably be going for GC though are Guillaume Martin, 10 credits, and Esteban Chaves, 8 credits. The latter is a bit of an unknown though and he says he wants to see how it goes. Martin has been on good form recently though with a 3rd place finish at the Dauphiné. Adam Yates, 12 credits, has said he’s going for stage wins. Not sure what to expect from Romain Bardet, 12 credits, and the two guys from Jumbo at 10 credits, George Bennett and Sepp Kuss are both on great form, but should be domestiques only. Can’t rule out a stage win from any of these guys though. Further down the list, there are some enticing prospects for not a lot of budget. Both Sergio Higuita and Davide Formolo look interesting at only 8 credits.

Sprinters

Peter Sagan, 16 Credits: Usually more expensive than this and has top scored in this category every year since 2013, except when he was DQ’d in 2017. He’s surely looking for a stage win and a hat full of top 5s and maybe an 8th green jersey.
Sam Bennett, 14 Credits: Two stage wins in the warm up races in a team built for stage hunting. Expect him to win at least one.
Caleb Ewan, 12 Credits: Weirdly cheaper than Bennett despite winning three stages last year. Also looking in fine form.
Wout van Aert, 12 Credits: He’s had a monster of a month since racing resumed, and if his team and even himself hadn’t said he’s there to help the team’s GC push and has no personal ambitions, then I’d be telling everyone to get him. As it stands though, his own opportunities might be few and far between. It’s just a case of if you believe them or not.
Giacomo Nizzolo, 10 Credits: The newly crowned Italian and European champion is in the form of his life. The only thing hurting his chances here might be his team.
Elia Viviani, 10 Credits: Not in great form, unsure how he’s going to fair.

There are then a myriad of excellent riders at 8 credits or under. Don’t sleep on Matteo Trentin at 8 credits, and Bryan Coquard is also worth a look. Cees Bol, 8 credits, should be Sunweb’s chosen sprinter and Luka Mezgec, also 8 credits, is Mitchelton’s. Several of the 6 pointers could be worth a shout, but the main points will come from up top. Only go for a 6 pointer for a wildcard perhaps, especially if you’ve filled you main spots with more expensive riders.

Unclassed Riders

This section is always a minefield and enormously hard to predict. What I’ll do is try and identify the riders most likely to be in the fight for stage wins, but be advised, there are loads.

Greg ven Avermaet, 8 Credits: Nearly always enjoys a good Tour and is usually worth between 400 and 800 points.
Alexey Lutsenko, 8 Credits: A brilliant rider along with his teammate Sánchez, will they be doing more domestique duties though.
Thomas de Gendt, 8 Credits: A very popular rider, Mr Breakaway himself.
Oliver Naesen, 6 Credits: Classics specialist.
Matej Mohorič, 6 Credits: Should be looking for breakaways.
Kasper Asgreen, 6 Credits: A decent debut a year ago.
Alberto Bettiol, 6 Credits: Yet to see him shine in a grand tour.
Marc Hirschi, 6 Credits: Sunweb’s strategy here is a little mysterious. This guy might be their man for the mountains though.
Simon Geschke, 4 Credits: Former stage winner who looks good at only 4 credits.
Tim Declercq, 4 Credits: If Quick Step have a good Tour, this guy will be worth some assist points.
Connor Swift, 4 Credits: The young Brit might be given a chance to prove himself.
Niklas Eg, 4 Credits: Young climber who’s yet to break through, and he may be in service of his seniors this race.

So there are some ideas to chew over and I’m sure those more initiated among you will have spotted more good looking picks. Hopefully it’s given you something to think about and a nod in the right direction if you’re lost. It’s not my fault if your team score crashes and burns though, and as I’m using my own advice mine will probably go the same way. Happy picking though and enjoy the race!