While we wait for the Tour results, and therefore the Tour Pool results, to become official on Sunday, we have had a couple requests to know who the best picks in the Pool were. More specifically, we were asked to put together a "Dream Team" of the top-scoring riders.
Well, the hamsters got their wheels spinning and the team is below. Anyone who picked these nine riders and team, plus guessed the total finishers, would have earned 1,166 points.
The obvious best pick in the Pool was overall winner Contador, followed by green jersey winner Boonen, and as usual a couple other sprinters (Hunter and Zabel) made it into this elite group. But it's also interesting to see a pure climber, Soler, make it (thanks, no doubt, to there being three mountain-top finishes). Rasmussen is still there, too, as his results up to his abandon still stand.
Our overall winner did quite well, scoring 806 points, or 69% of the possible maximum score. But it just goes to show how hard it is to pick teams for the Pool ...
Every year, there's one rider that nobody picks and everybody wished they had. This time it was Soler. Nobody chose the unknown Columbian, so nobody got to cash in on the 113 points he earned on his way to Paris.
On the flip side, everyone save the Lanterne Rouge contenders can breathe easy that they didn't pick Moreni, who scored a surreal -76 points by abandoning, testing positive and being arrested.
So, put that info in the bank for next year -- it could come in handy ...
-- KW
Dream Team
Contador 191 pts
Boonen 188
Rasmussen 168
Soler 113
Cancellera 101
Hunter 78
Evans 77
Zabel 77
Lephheimer 64
Team - Discovery 89
Finishers 141 (20 pts)
Total Score - 1,166 pts
Rider that everyone wished they had but no one picked - Soler
Rider that everyone was glad they didn't have and no one picked - Moreni (-76pts)