Update #9: Ferminal flies while Pentacycle settles in on top
There are a variety of ways in which fans gauge whether the season has begun - for us CQ players, it might be the Aussie nationals, for others it might be the TDU, a case could be made for the start of the European season at the end of January with GP Marseillaise, or more likely 'Opening Weekend' of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and KBK. But by the time Paris-Nice rolls around, there is no question that the season is on. Our leader in the standings has just reached 3000 points, which historically is somewhere between 12-20% of the final total for the season. So our season is also truly in full swing.
This Week's Top Scorers
Rank Team Points this week
1 Ferminal 647
2 ironted 615
3 Eric10 566
4 LaFlorecita 513
5 mc_mountain 512
Five teams had Paris-Nice winner Geraint Thomas; Seven teams had stage winner/4th place finisher Ilnur Zakarin; Ferminal and ironted have them both. There are a few differences on their team that settled the week - certainly the 50 points from Demare that Ferminal got and ironted didn't could have provided the crucial difference. Eric10 builds up points from Zakarin/Kelderman/S. Yates/Jeanneson, while Flo takes a different route with Contador (2 teams), a points source that will probably see her back in these rankings a few times this year.
This Week's High Movers
Rank Team Up/down
1 Eric10 (+54)
2 LaFlorecita (+40)
3 mc_mountain (+31)
4 ironted (+28)
5 LosBrolin (+25)
A very similar list to the previous one, with LosBrolin (6th in points) showing up here instead of Ferminal. mc_mountain, one of about 25 players who has been in every edition of this game, shows up on both these lists as well on the strength of Thomas and some smaller point picks.
Green Jersey
Rank Team Total
1 Pentacycle 90
2 ironted 80
3 Nicosix 72
4 karaev 70
5 comodoro 65
Pentacycle remains in top spot after the back-to-back weekly wins (he got a more down-to-earth 108th place this week, if you're wondering), but ironted rockets up the chart with 35 points for 2nd on top of the 45 their team earned for first place in week 5. The rest of the top 5 stays the same as last week.
Polka Dot Jersey
Rank Team Points
1 LosBrolin 42
2 ironted 39
3 the_fool_on_the_hill 33
4 LaFlorecita 32
4 Schleckamagurky 32
Some serious movement on this chart! LosBrolin was in 3rd last week with 30 points, but leaps up to the top spot with 12 points to make 42 total, just holding off the charge from ironted (14 points this week). LaFlorecita jumps into the top 5 this week as well, and gathers points for the third week this year so far. Perhaps having Contador on one's team will rocket you up the standings now and then.
Top 10 Overall
Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (-) Pentacycle 3040
2 (-) StephenC2020 2963
3 (-) Nicosix 2953
4 (+17) Ferminal 2929
5 (+28) ironted 2795
6 (-2) skidmark 2781
7 (-2) karaev 2771
8 (-2) togo95 2741
9 (+5) the asian 2718
10 (-2) The_Instigator 2703
The big story is the big two teams of the week, as Ferminal and ironted vault into the upper echelons of the game. The podium stays the same as last week, and most other teams see modest movement after being displaced by the meteoric rise of the two stars of the week. the asian also jumps into the top 10, while Ruvu75, asdfgh101 and Shalgo tumble out. With Tirreno up for grabs in a flat TT and Milan-San Remo giving us our first Monumental points of the season (as well as being pretty wide open in terms of who can win), this week is bound to be interesting.
Spreadsheet at dropbox
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