Well, let's get to it then:
Fabio Jakobsen, 635
My most expensive pick. He was only obtaining points from August onwards but quickly managed to seem like the quickest sprinter in the world. He has the best team for the leadouts, and it's evident that he wants to be the one to go for the win, as we saw in Villanueva de la Serena where his leadout rode him dead and he was pretty pissed even if his teammate won the stage. That's not the most sympathetic of traits but it should ensure lots of points, and I think he will be the most prolific sprinter in the Tour and win a lot of one-day races.
Marc Hirschi, 577
A gamble. It could go either way, and there's a risk of getting squeezed in a team with Pogacar and Almeida. But if he manages to find his 2020-mojo, he should go quadruple digits, easily. There's no guarantee of that, of course. And now I read that he got hip surgery not long ago that will delay the start of his season
Magnus Cort Nielsen, 565
He says he wants to aim a bit more at one-day races next year. If he manages to do that successfully, he should gain lots of points considering the absurd level he was showing in the Vuelta. Also, he is my favourite Dane, so I kind of wanted to include him. But I also do think that he could take it to the next level points-wise. Also because he wants to do a bit more TT training which could turn him into a weapon in that discipline too. He just needs to have a little luck in the battle for position and be a bit more cut-throat!
Miguel Ángel López, 563
As a player who had him on his team last year, I know a race where he could have gained a few more points... Let's try again, shall we? Please no hissy-fits, this year, and a Giro-Vuelta double would seem prudent. You can also win Catalunya along the way.
Mikel Landa, 533
Also plenty of room for improvement GT-wise for him. His level at the Vuelta was worrying but he really looked impressive in the Giro, and if he can find that shape again, El Landismo sigue vivo!
Caleb Ewan, 482
Quite hard not to pick him. I would expect him to be on most teams. Worlds may be a bit too hard for him after all, but there should be ample opportunity to do way better than in 2021.
Sergio Higuita, 404
Bora will have a strange team next year, and there are no guarantees of anything, but if Higuita can get back on the track he was upon in 2019 and early 2020, he should have a great season. But is he a good fit for Bora? It's not really an obvious one with no other Spanish speaking riders on the roster.
Alberto Dainese, 352
I have quite a lot of semi-expensive sprinters. This one really got his motor running in the fall of 2021 and got all his points after the start ofthe Vuelta. I think he should eclipse the usless Cees Bol as the team's primary sprinter, and even if he isn't as fast as Jakobsen and Ewan, that should still give him tons of chances for getting lots of points for a team that always set out with their sights set on a sprint.
Giulio Ciccone, 343
He looked good in the Giro until he crashed out. He also has potential elsewhere. Plus he's a fun rider. He says he thinks he'll do top 5 in a Grand Tour if he can avoid accidents. Well, if Gino Mäder can do that, I won't say it can't happen.
Andrea Bagioli, 314
I'm not really sure here because people can easily be squeezed on QuickStep but he definitely has the level to get a lot more points than 300.
Mark Padun, 314
His mother would be so disappointed if I didn't pick him.
Daniel Felipe Martínez, 311
Probably not the smartest pick, but he did only do anything noteworthy in the Giro, so there should be a lot of room for improvement even if he is going to spend a lot of time helping somebody else.
Tom Dumoulin, 307
Pretty self-explanatory.
Alberto Bettiol, 257
In 2019, he got more points in one day than he got last season where he seemed exceptionally strong lots of times but got exceptionally little to show for himself in terms of results. But I would expect him to be one of the most picked riders of the game.
Thibaut Pinot, 207
I am losing hope here, but at that price, you can't not pick him unless you're Macbindle.
Mick van Dijke, 202
He seems to be one of the most promising riders entering the WorldTour and already had a really impressive showing in Croatia. Also, Jumbo have a lot of really good riders but not nearly a width comparable to that of Ineos or QuickStep, so he should get his chances to ride for himself.
Juan Ayuso, 178
He lost a lot of points with crashing out of the Tour de l'Avenir which means that he is a bit of an obvious pick, considering what we have seen of obscenely young riders the past few years.
Ilan Van Wilder, 137
Going from DSM to QuickStep is good enough in itself to be considered for this game, but when you have been side-lined most of the season you spent "riding" for DSM, it's an even more obvious pick.
Jai Hindley, 137
Well, he didn't pedal that strongly 15 months ago by accident, right? Plus, he has also gone from DSM to a good team, so he cannot get fewer points than last year.
David Dekker, 109
The departure of Groenewegen opens things up for him. But he didn't really live up to what he showed at the beginning of the 2021 season. He should probably not have been sent to the Giro.
Lucas Plapp, 97
I don't really know much about him, and riding for Ineos is probably not the most point-inducing thing to do. But he does seem to have a high ceiling.
Owain Doull, 78
A bit of a gamble but it could do him good to get away from Ineos, even if EF didn't exactly light it up in the Classics last year.
Jhonatan Narváez, 77
If he can arm wrestle with Mathieu van der Poel for 80 kilometres in a cobbled race without losing face, he can get more than 400 points in a season.
Lennard Kämna, 53
It's up and down with him, but if he can string something together, we saw in the 2020 Tour how good he can be.
Max Kanter, 49
An unimpressive sprinter goes to Movistar. What can go wrong?
Tim Van Dijke, 48
Four times as cheap as somebody identical to him. Sounds like a bargain, right?
Chris Froome, 44
Why do I do this? I guess I am a sucker.
Bob Jungels, 42
I don't know what to think of him. The procedure he got last year was similar to the one Aru got, and it didn't exactly propel him back to his former self. But 42 points is not a lot.
Niklas Larsen, 40
Well, now that there are no Olympics to keep him focused on the track, one could hope that he would go all-in for the road this year. And let's not forget that he is the winner of a race where he was preceded by Wout Van Aert and succeeded by Remco Evenepoel. Not the worst company.
Sacha Modolo, 25
Considering how much it meant to him when he won his stage last year, it seems unlikely that he hasn't worked a lot to get even closer to his former level. And now he has changed to a team where he will get many more chances to chase personal success than he did at Alpecin.
Vinicius Rangel, 8
I don't know him but top 10 at the U23 WCRR is not bad. Also, Movistar using him as a poster boy must mean they see something in him.
Julius Johansen, 5
Another rider who is going to stretch his legs on the road after an Olympic track focus. When he was a junior, he was freakishly strong (recall his Bergen win). I just hope he will not dab if he takes a victory again, or I shall voluntarily forfeit the points. Also, he will ride for Intermarché which means he can get quite a nice schedule, and I think he can have some success in the smaller Belgian one-day races, where I would suspect he can become one of his team's prime riders.
Cian Uijtdebroeks, 0
Let's see.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram