Whoa, nice to be among the leaders! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up in this fierce competition. Here's a small status on my team so far. I've excluded the most common picks like Cancellara, Demare and Lopez.
Kwiatkowski:
Decent but not more than that. His 435 points might look like a lot, but it's not even that good - he's 63 points behind his 2015 score - although I'll admit that it's hard to draw comparisons like this, as he's actually ahead of his 2014 score. The most important thing is that he's in good form and could score a lot in the spring. Then he just needs to do something later in the season as well.
Tony Martin:
Not good. He has rarely scored a lot at this time of year, so it's not the points I'm worried about at this point. It's his racing program and his form as he hasn't looked very comfortable on the cobbles so far. Hopefully he can score a decent amount of points in Driedaagse De Panne where he's the bookies' favorite.
Van Garderen:
55 points ahead of last year, but more importantly he looks quite good this year in my opinion. I'm pretty confident.
Daniel Martin:
Scored a lot of nice points in Catalunya and looks good for the Ardennes. I'm very confident that he'll turn out to be a great pick.
Meersman:
Quite disappointing as he's way behind last years points and hasn't looked very good so far. I'm not even sure where he's supposed to score big points this year. That said, he's a very good rider and it's hard for him to turn out to be a real flop. However, I don't think he'll do much for my team.
Arredondo:
I have no idea what's going on with this guy, and honestly I haven't really researched him. He was injuried/sick last year, right? He doesn't look like someone who'll get back on track anytime soon. Could be a big mistake to have picked him.
Cort Nielsen:
He was so talented, but I'm not sure what's going on. He's been used solely as a domestique so far which is rather disappointing. That said, 5 points doesn't really reflect his level this year, I think. Although in the end, it's only the points that count. As Arredondo, he could turn out to be a big mistake.
Pozzato:
One of the positive surprises for me this year. He has been completely anonymous but produced two results that almost makes him break even already. I had no idea what to expect from him but I figured that the potential was too good to miss out on. He just needs to produce a few more results in big races for him to already be a good pick.
Mezgec:
I don't know. I completely forgot he existed until he suddently finished 12th in Gent-Wevelgem and actually was looking quite good. That said, I won't get my hopes up too high and in the end he'll probably turn out to be a slightly bad pick I think.
Bystrøm:
Has been doing OK, raking up some points here and there. I'm disappointed that he won't ride Driedaagse De Panne as it was his performances here last year that made me pick him for this edition and I believe he could do well in races like these. I hope he'll get to ride his own chances in the Norwegian races but with Kristoff in the team, the chances are that he won't.
Ciolek:
I haven't seen him a single time this season yet. It's weird, he should be able to do very well.
Villella:
Can't really complain. I need him to take a step up from last year and so far it's hard to tell if he can do that. A 10th in Critérium International doesn't say much, but the points are nice.
Moscon:
Another positive surprise. We all knew he was talented but the real question was if he would get any chances to ride for himself. Turns out he did and it's nice that he's getting results this early in the season as he then might get a few more chances later on.
I won't go in detail with the rest of my cheaper riders as the season is still young and just a few results can make a rider go from a bad pick to a very good pick, so I don't think an assessment of their current status does a whole lot.
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