Mega Thread – Velogames Fantasy Cycling Sixes 2026

Welcome to the mega thread for the 2026 season of the men’s classics. The basic principals of this one are to pick your favourite six riders for each of the 44 races in the competition. There are three tiers of scoring, so the five monuments plus Amstel Gold and the world championships carry extra weight compared to the rest. The scoring in general has received a slight buff for 1st and 2nd places on last year too, so that should encourage you to stack who you think will win, rather than just picking the most balanced team you can. I’ll add new races to the top of the thread and try to keep things brief, otherwise this piece will end up being 40,000 words long!
On second though, I might just remove the text for old races and replace it with my wins and losses, or else this really will be 40,000 words long! At least!

Classique Dunkerque – Category 3

Apologies for completely failing to write anything for the previous two races, but I was spending a weekend off the beaten path with the family. Anyway! I’m back now and the season rumbles on. Tomorrow a very windy and potentially very wet day awaits an intrepid start list of riders in Northern France. It’s a choppy profile too, with many short sharp ups and downs and it ends with a 5.1% 500m finish. This then is one for the hardy rider. Echelons are very likely and the purer sprinters will struggle on that finale.

The best squads here for the bracing crosswinds appear to be Red Bull, Uno-X, maybe EF, possibly Unibet, potentially Ineos, and Decathlon could be alright as well. Really though, this is a bit of a lottery, so I’ll be going for those in form and handy in tough races. Movistar’s Barrenetxea has won two one-day races in a row and seems to be a good choice for this. Of the Red Bull hopefuls, I’d go for Meeus over Pithie, or maybe just take both of them. Lamperti, Hofstetter, Askey, Tiller, Gautherat, and any number of other riders could be good for this. I’m way out of this comp, although I have had a few good races in a row to get myself slightly back in it, but I’m going to pick a couple of gambles as well as four of the favourites. This race will be chaos, so I’m going to have some fun!

Eschborn-Frankfurt – Category 2

There’s a smidge more climbing this year to greet the riders as well as a calm, warm, and dry day. The additional climbing might be why so few sprinters are turning up, but there are many ‘classics’ sprinters turning up as well as the usual cohort of hilly punchy types. The favourites appear to be Tobias Lund Andresen and Corbin Strong, both have a good sprint and can get over a climb or two, but I’d imagine there are plenty of riders who want to take the race to the likes of Andresen so they don’t feature in the finale. Those riders might include the likes of Laurance, Pidcock, and Wellens. The other hilly fast men who’ll potentially feature include the following: Jeannière, Lapeira, Tulett, Barrenetxea, Del Grosso, Cort, Christen, Hermans, Pithie, Zambanini, Baudin, Verstrynge, and probably many many more. This is always one of the hardest races to predict, so maybe choosing a combo of the fast guys and the attackers might be the way to go. Good luck!

Liège-Bastogne-Liège – Category 1

A fine and warm day awaits the riders in Belgium for the 4th monument of the year and the finale of the Spring Classics. There are three major favourites for this one and it is possible top pick all three, but perhaps there’s a better approach. The three in question are of course Tadej Pogačar, Paul Seixas, and Remco Evenepoel. Tadej has races four one day races this season only, but has won three of them; Paul is fresh off a debut win at La Flèche Wallonne; and Remco won Amstel Gold a week ago. The major question you’ll have to ask yourself is who to leave out if you want to spread yourself out a bit more. I can’t help you there, but I can provide a list of the alternative riders to consider and some cheaper options to complete the team.

Tom Pidcock returned from his crash at Volta Catalunya at the Tour of the Alps and he had a pretty successful race. He probably used it as a glorified training ride, but he made three finishes and won one stage. Not a bad return, but there may still be some doubts about how competitive he can be on Sunday. Below this there is a long list of top 10 hopefuls and here it is. Skjelmose, Ciccone, Scaroni, Grégoire, Vauquelin, Tulett, Cosnefroy, Van Eetvelt, Schmid, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Laurance, Romeo, Vendrame, Baudin, and Vansevenant. There are probably more, but I think I’ve covered the main ones. From the bargain bin you have the following: Verstrynge, Frigo, Pinarello, Kron, Vercher, Molenaar, Otruba, and Azparran. Some of these could be break potentials and elsewhere you could go for UAE assists. I might go for two of the big favourites to try and limit the number of single digit riders I need to pick. At this point I have no idea who though, so best of luck to you too!

La Flèche Wallonne – Category 2

I haven’t left myself much time to write anything for this one so I’ll be brief. It’s a simple race anyway and seeing as the weather isn’t going to be awful this year we can expect a fair fight up the final Mur. It’s a fairly comprehensive start list with the exception of Mr Pogačar, and any of the following riders will be hoping for a good race. Seixas, Skjelmose, Lenny Martinez, Grégoire, Vauquelin, Cosnefroy, Van Eetvelt, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Martin, Hindley, Vansevenant, Nordhagen, and Valentin Paret-Peintre. So you know, the usual suspects who feature nicely on a steep uphill finish. There are also guys like Baudin, Hirschi, Schmid, and Alaphilippe who might go well too. Budget isn’t really much of a constraint, so you’re fully unleashed to go nuts.

Amstel Gold Race – Category 1

It’s time for Ardennes week! And we kick off with the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. There’s a chance of a shower or two later into the race, but it should otherwise be warm and calm. The route is the same as last year more or less and there are many ways the race could play out. It might all come down to the form of one Remco Evenepoel. If he brings his good legs, then a solo win is expected. Here are all the other riders who’ll have something to say about this.

The guys who’ll benefit from a harder race and more of a selection come the finish include Jorgenson, Skjelmose, Grégoire, Vauquelin, Cosnefroy, Del Grosso, Hermans, but Skjelmose has had illness since Itzulia. Others who’ll prefer a more condensed race for the final sprint are Laporte, Aranburu, Lapeira, Godon, Laurance, Zambanini, and Venturini. Some good riders whose form is somewhat unknown include Velasco, Hirschi, Simmons, and Alaphilippe. And a selection of the cheaper riders who have a chance to score well might be Berckmoes, Kron, Isidore, L’Hote, Van Hemelen, Remijn, Foldager after his Brabantse win, Gilmore, and Lanhove. So, only the small list of riders to choose from there. We might have a whole load of different fantasy teams for this one.

De Brabantse Pijl – Category 3

No one here was strong enough to shred this race and Foldager profited as a surprise winner! Good points returns for most of the favourites mentioned though.

Paris-Roubaix – Category 1

Wout Van Aert! What a superb edition of Roubaix and a very worthy winner. Van der Poel was undone by a mechanical and dodgy bike changes in Arenburg, but his chase was incredible. Wout proved to be more than equal to the task to hold on for the win and many tears followed from cycling fans globally. Elsewhere, Pithie was looking superb until his crash, and Bissegger had an amazing race.

Schelderprijs – Category 3

It was a comeback win for Tim merlier! He’s probably the top sprinter in a straight fight and he proved that once again here.

Ronde van Vlaanderen – Category 1

This race followed the script I think most would have written for it and the final top 10 was about as predictable as it gets for a monument. Pleasantly surprised Mohorič still had a good performance in him, but it was the top guys who hoovered up all the main points.

Dwars door Vlaanderen – Category 2

This is always a hard race to predict and the sprint was way closer than I thought it would be. Superb effort from Van Aert and a top win from Ganna, and I did not see that coming at all.

In Flanders Fields – Middelkerke to Wevelgem – Category 2

Van Aert and van der Poel tried their hardest to prevent the sprint, but the latter was more or less banking on a sprint with Philipsen anyway. In the end it was Ganna that ensured the sprint and then Philipsen delivered. My guy Tobias finished a strong second, but the win eluded him.

E3 Saxo Classic – Category 2

Fun race this one! Van der Poel looked a bit vulnerable in the finale, but the chasers couldn’t make the catch. Great rides by Per Strand Hagenes, Florian Vermeersch, Stan Dewulf, and Jonas Abrahamsen with a reduced sprint not far behind won by Tobias Lund Andresen. I wasn’t far off with a lot of my picks, but I was nowhere near predicting the make up of that second group. Well done to all who bagged at least one rider in that quartet!

Ronde van Brugge – Category 2

Well the weather wasn’t quite as terrible as was forecast, but the wind did still play havoc with the riders. Echelons were aplenty and splits were everywhere, but in the end it all came together for a sprint where Philipsen’s lead out went astray and Groenewegen profited.

Milano-Sanremo – Category 1

Tadej Pogačar finally tastes success in Milan-Sanremo! Only Paris-Roubaix remains for the greatest of all time. Word on the street is he’ll tackle all three grand tours in 2027 if he wins that in a few week’s time. Elsewhere in the top 10 were Tom Pidcock, who was incredibly impressive; Van Aert was superb; Mads Pedersen came back from injury with a bang; and I was happy with my Vendrame and Berckmoes suggestions, even though I didn’t take either of them.

Danilith Nokere Koerse – Category 3

Well Jordi Meeus and Jasper Philipsen were race favourites and they finished 2 and 1. How lucky were you with the rest of your sprinter picks?

Strade Bianche – Category 2

I got the essence of this one correct, but I thought I could outsmart the Pogačar, Del Toro, Seixas stack. It turns out that I could not.

Trofeo Laigueglia – Category 3

Well I managed to mention a lot of the riders who ended up placing decently, but forgot about the guy who won it!

Kuurne – Brussel – Kuurne – Category 3

Well that went about as well as could be expected! Brennan crashes in one race, then wins the following day. Philipsen makes the end, but with no teammates. Magnier suffered a mechanical at the pivotal moment in the race and missed the sprint. Milan didn’t look at the races at all. And there were many riders in the top 30 who I didn’t mention and didn’t consider at all! Hopefully your opening weekends were stronger than mine.

Omloop Nieuwsblad – Category 2

As expected, Mathieu van der Poel dominated the race and collected maximum points, as he finished ahead of a group of good classics riders who in tern, managed to hold off the sprinters. Other wins included Christophe Laporte, who finished just in front of the sprinters, which was headed by Tobias Lund Andresen and also contained Paul Magnier, Jordi Meeus, Jenno Berckmoes, and Laurence Pithie. There were strong performances from many riders I didn’t mention. Florian Vermeersch started his classics campaign with a solid 3rd place, and Tim Van Dijk looked very strong indeed in 2nd. So well done if you picked either of those!