Italy 2020 – Velogames Round Up

This is the year of youth, two grand tours down, two winners aged 25 or under. Can the Vuelta follow suit? There are a few young guns going well there, but it’s only Hugh Carthy who can emulate his compatriot from the Giro. Speaking of the Giro, who’d have thought after three weeks of hard racing, the overall win would come down to Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jai Hindley? There were some crazy performances here and several riders stepped up after both Covid attacked and a stray bidon took out the pre-race favourite. We’ll unpack it all here and reveal what was the cheapest dream team that I can remember.

Final Rider Standings

The points inflation this year is once again evident as there are big increases across the board, especially in the all rounder and unclassed categories. There are a lot of surprise high scorers and some of them possibly won’t score like this again for a while. But it just goes to show that anything can happen in this sport and no amount of planning and predictions can prepare you for what unfolds. Here’s the rundown on each category’s highest scorers and those who missed the mark.

All rounders

1. João Almeida – 2966
2. Tao Geoghegan Hart – 2459
3. Wilco Kelderman – 2174
4. Patrick Konrad – 1386
5. Jakub Fuglsang – 1197

A simply ridiculous debut performance from João Almeida who finished 2nd, 4th, and 6th in the time trials; spent 15 days in the Maglia Rosa; and recorded 11 top 10 finishes during the race. The only accolade missing from the 22 year old’s palmares was a stage win and maybe a spot on the final podium, but I think we can all expect big things from him in the future if he’s like this at 22. The 25 year old Brit Tao Geoghegan Hart is next here after a cracking final week that culminated in winning the Giro by 39 seconds. He laid the groundwork with a 6th place at the end of week one, and then two stage wins on difficult mountain stages set himself up for the win. The others on this list rode a consistent Giro with Kelderman staying higher on GC than the rest and with slightly better stage results. The notable absentees here are obviously the Covid positive Steven Kruijswijk and the unluckiest man ever, Geraint Thomas. Illness put paid to Alexandr Vlasov’s race as well, but fortunately it wasn’t Covid. Vincenzo Nibali just missed out on this list but had a very similar race to Fuglsang, and finished less than 100 points behind.

Climbers

1. Jai Hindley – 2106
2. Pello Bilbao – 1481
3. Rafal Majka – 1039
4. Fausto Masnada – 946
5. Domenico Pozzovivo – 871

It was not a race for the majority of the climbers and even more so with the withdrawal of Simon Yates and Miguel Angel Lopez. One climber who did have an excellent breakthrough race was 24 year old Australian Jai Hindley. Some might question the Team Sunweb tactics on the Stelvio and the rest of the final week, but racing like they did secured them a stage win and a double final podium. Also riding well was Pello Bilbao fresh off the back of the Tour de France. I think it’s safe to say he surpassed everyone’s expectations with his 5th place finish and he always looked to be the ‘best of the rest’ after Hart, Almeida, and the Sunweb duo. Consistent stage placings and the lesser GC spots make up a large number of the other climbers.

Sprinters

1. Peter Sagan – 1486
2. Arnaud Démare – 1363
3. Ben Swift – 840
4. Michael Matthews – 771
5. Davide Ballerini – 734

Will Peter Sagan ever not be worth a spot in your fantasy team? Well maybe not the 2017 Tour de France, but at every other race yes. His win into Tortoreto on stage 10 was one of the most impressive rides I’ve ever seen from him, and that’s saying a lot when he’s won 114 races. Démare did prove to be the strongest sprinter winning all the bunch sprints and even the uphill finish on stage 6 that I was convinced was too much for him. Ben Swift tried his hardest for an elusive win, but three top 5s were the closest he came. After that he was a key domestique for Hart and also key to Ineos winning the team classification. Michael Matthews looked good before he left the race after a positive Covid test and Quick Step did split their sprint duties between Ballerini and Hodeg to soften both of their impacts on this leader board. The two most prominent omissions from this list are Gaviria and Viviani. I’m not altogether sure what was up with Viviani, but Cofidis still haven’t won on the world tour this year and now all their hopes rest with those riders currently racing in La Vuelta. Gaviria was another positive Covid case and also a re-infection after contracting the virus at the UAE Tour earlier this year.

Unclassed

1. Filippo Ganna – 1597
2. Brandon McNulty – 1018
3. Ruben Guerreiro – 841
4. Andrea Vendrame – 780
5. Josef Černý – 762

Absolutely no surprise to see Ganna atop the tree here with his four stage wins, 4th in the points classification, and flawless service for Hart in the last week. He was the obvious ‘must pick’ and that’s showed with a simply monstrous score from an unclassed rider. 22 year old McNulty proved he’s a rider for the future with several good performances including one 2nd place, and mature rides in all the time trials. Ruben Guerreiro became the first Portuguese rider to claim a jersey at one of the grand tours. Andrea Vendrame and Josef Černý had a few good stage placings, the latter especially in the time trials and his win on the bizarre stage 19. Just missing out was Ben O’Connor who attacked multiple stages in the last week and had a wonderful breakthrough win on the Madonna di Campiglio.

Dream Team

This dream team is weird for multiple reasons. Firstly, it simply involves all of the best scorers from each category, no poking around and searching for the best value. Secondly, the value of this dream team comes in at only 88 credits, which might be the cheapest I have ever seen a dream team. As such, the gulf between the first place squad and the best squad available is huge. It would have taken a brave soul to not take any of the most expensive all rounders or climbers, but maybe it’s a lesson that we don’t always need to spend to full 100 credits. Alright this was an exceptional race, but it’s still something to think about. Here is the dream team.

Rider	Category	Cost	Points
João Almeida	All Rounder	12	2966
Tao Geoghegan Hart	All Rounder	10	2459
Jai Hindley	Climber	6	2106
Pello Bilbao	Climber	10	1481
Peter Sagan	Sprinter	16	1486
Filippo Ganna	Unclassed	6	1597
Brandon McNulty	Unclassed	6	1018
Ruben Guerreiro	Unclassed	8	841
Wilco Kelderman	Wildcard (All Rounder)	14	2174

The winning team had only four riders shared with the dream team, which just goes to show how unpredictable this race was. Well done to anyone who showed faith in Almeida. I chickened out and have regretted is ever since. In the league I set up before La Vuelta, it was Anders Van Andermaet who claimed the win and finished in 65th place overall! So well done to you.

Best of luck with all your Vuelta teams and here’s to a non-weird 2021 season just around the corner!