Prediction Game 2021 Women's Edition

[Samu Cuenca]

This is the race for Lottie Kopecky - She'll enjoy the brutal conditions.

Allowing you to enter at this point would be like giving back 30 minutes to Oscar Pereiro. It might not make a difference, but is it worth the risk?

 

[RedheadDane]

You know what? We suck at this!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

You know what? We suck at this!

Libertine's doing alright with Emma though, but other than that I fully agree.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's time for De Ronde tomorrow. The big question is of course "Who is going win?", and as we all know by now, it certainly won't be any of our picks. But that shouldn't stop neither us from predicting or the game from progressing.

Will it be Vleuten's very own Annemiek, Cille the hammer thrower, Kasia Queen of Canyon, Slongo's Longo or maybe one of the SD cards Worx better for you? It is time for you to decide!

 

[Põhja Konn]

RVV: Annemiek van Vleuten

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I kinda think it'll be Anna in the rainbow stripes, but I'm going to go semi-leftfield and say Grace Brown.

 

[yaco]

Think AVB is a near certainty - Unsure that Brown is as effective on the uphill cobbles at RVV, though if its miserable weather she comes into the reckoning.

 

[BlueRoads]

van der Breggen for RVV.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I have chosen Elisa Longo Borghini.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Põhja Konn scores some points!!!

Edit: and RedHeadDane!

The fact it's taken us this long to pick a winner tells you that, actually, women's racing isn't quite so predictable as the criticism suggests

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Again I'm mad at myself, cause I only picked ELB, because you guys had already picked AvV. But at least I can finally award some points.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think there should be 3 points for a win, 2 for 2nd, 1 for third. Or 5 points for a win, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd to make the win picks more important.

But that way I might get some points.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I think there should be 3 points for a win, 2 for 2nd, 1 for third. Or 5 points for a win, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd to make the win picks more important.

But that way I might get some points.

That would just give me more work to do. We should consider it for next year's edition though.
I would also still do poorly if we changed the rules now. Not even Lippert could save me today, because she was beaten for the six points by Mischa Bredewold from Parkhotel Valkenburg. They finished 25th and 26th respectively. Norsgaard got the two points and has extended her lead.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Cannot say I expected to be the first the pick the right winner as there are certainly posters with much better knowledge of womens cycling here than me. There's a saying in my native Estonian language about these kind of situations which translates roughly as "even a blind bird can sometimes find a seed to feed on". Essentially it means everybody will have their share of blind luck along the way.

Joking aside, I just went with AVV because she showed in midweek that the form was there. And an in form Annemiek is rather hard to bet against. But classics obviously have an inherent unpredictability in them and thats where the element of blind luck came into play.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That would just give me more work to do. We should consider it for next year's edition though.
I would also still do poorly if we changed the rules now. Not even Lippert could save me today, because she was beaten for the six points by Mischa Bredewold from Parkhotel Valkenburg. They finished 25th and 26th respectively. Norsgaard got the two points and has extended her lead.

Lippert is 23, so if you have picked her for the U23 jersey then she's going to have a tough job saving you there.

Looks like Franzi Koch got the four points however, and Norsgaard the two.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Lippert is 23, so if you have picked her for the U23 jersey then she's going to have a tough job saving you there.

Looks like Franzi Koch got the four points however, and Norsgaard the two.

My head decided to confuse her with Wiebes, because brain fart, so all in all it was just a very bad day for me

 

[BlueRoads]

Wiebes for Scheldeprijs.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yes, don't forget that I, unlike the other gamemaster , have actually chosen Scheldeprijs as one of the counting races.

I have already picked Emma Norsgaard for this race, and luckily she has been added to the startlist following the postponement of Paris-Roubaix.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The realistic choices may be Jolien or Lorena, but given this is the most hateful event on the calendar, I can only surmise that it would only be appropriate for me to choose Lizzie Deignan.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The realistic choices may be Jolien or Lorena, but given this is the most hateful event on the calendar, I can only surmise that it would only be appropriate for me to choose Lizzie Deignan.

It would be hard for you to score a point if you choose Deignan though. But not recognizing the startlist would obviously be in line with how you regard the race.

 

[Põhja Konn]

For Scheldeprijs I pick Wiebes too.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm going to go left-field here a bit. After all, it's the most worthless race of the year, and there's also a good chance a few favourites get embroiled in a crash or something because that's what the S**s is about. And so I'll pick somebody fast but that might fly under the radar a bit more (I am trying to go for some different contenders as picks much of the time, with the view that if I hit paydirt on one or two picks that'll be enough for me) and stay upright when all around are staying true to the spirit of the race and trying to break their own collarbones, and plump for Elisa Balsamo as my pick. If I'm wrong, who cares? It's only The Antwerp Race of Doom. If I'm right, I get a bit of bragging rights.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Together we succesfully predicted today's podium

In light of this, I have now decided to change the rules (if the UCI can do it, so can I!). So if your chosen rider finishes third in a race, you'll score one point. If she finishes second, you'll get two points, and if you manage to predict the winner, you'll gain the maximum four points. These rules do only apply to one-day races, the GC of a stage race and for the individual WT, team and youth rankings. So if your rider wins a secondary competition in the Giro, you will still only get one point and nothing for a podium.

This obviously changes the scores drastically:

Strade Bianche: Samu Cuenca/BlueRoads receive two points for van der Breggen's second place.
Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Põhja Konn gets two points for Vos's second place, and RhD scores one point for Cille's third place.
Gent-Wevelgem: BlueRoads gains two points for Kopecky's second place.
RVV: Põhja Konn/RhD scores four points due to van Vleuten's victory, and Libertine gets one point because Grace Brown finished third.
Scheldeprijs: Wiebes's win gift BlueRoads/Põhja Konn four points, RhD/Samu Cuenca gets two points from Norsgaard's second place, and finally Libertine is handed one point by the legs of Elisa Balsamo.

Current standings:
Põhja Konn 10
BlueRoads 8
RedheadDane 7
Samu Cuenca 4
Libertine Seguros 2

Unofficial entry: yaco 2 points for Kopecky's second place in GW.


Feel free to correct me, if I have made any miscalculations.

 

[BlueRoads]

Together we succesfully predicted today's podium

In light of this, I have now decided to change the rules (if the UCI can do it, so can I!). So if your chosen rider finishes third in a race, you'll score one point. If she finishes second, you'll get two points, and if you manage to predict the winner, you'll gain the maximum four points. These rules do only apply to one-day races, the GC of a stage race and for the individual WT, team and youth rankings. So if your rider wins a secondary competition in the Giro, you will still only get one point and nothing for a podium.

This obviously changes the scores drastically:

Strade Bianche: Samu Cuenca/BlueRoads receive two points for van der Breggen's second place.
Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Põhja Konn gets two points for Vos's second place, and RhD scores one point for Cille's third place.
Gent-Wevelgem: BlueRoads gains two points for Kopecky's second place.
RVV: Põhja Konn/RhD scores four points due to van Vleuten's victory, and Libertine gets one point because Grace Brown finished third.
Scheldeprijs: Wiebes's win gift BlueRoads/Põhja Konn four points, RhD/Samu Cuenca gets two points from Norsgaard's second place, and finally Libertine is handed one point by the legs of Elisa Balsamo.

Current standings:
Põhja Konn 10
BlueRoads 8
RedheadDane 7
Samu Cuenca 4
Libertine Seguros 2

Unofficial entry: yaco 2 points for Kopecky's second place in GW.


Feel free to correct me, if I have made any miscalculations.

I always had a feeling Libertine knows nothing about women's cycling.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I always had a feeling Libertine knows nothing about women's cycling.

Well if we had let her pick the races, then I'm sure she would have had a huge lead due to us not knowing any of the riders.