Like every year, all of you are surely wondering -- obsessing, even -- over what could have been. Who should you have picked, instead of the lazy slobs that dumped you waaay back in 80th spot?
You're also, no doubt, driven to distraction wondering who had the best pool, and who had the worst. You see, it's not all about the final rankings. There are stage results, there are progressions, there are regressions, there is the thrill of victory, and there is the agony of defeat.
Well, look no further. Here is a brief compendium of all the most interesting stats I could think of and was able to drag out of the spreadsheet. If you have any other ideas please don't hesitate to let me know.
On a technical note, these stats are compiled taking into account all adjustments from doping positives, corrections to entries and other changes, so they may not precisely reflect the daily updates throughout the Tour.
As a further note, Conor O'Brien and Peter Metuzals have been rehabilitated into the final results and you can see your ranking in the appropriate Tour Pool posting.
Enjoy!
KW
Top five team picks
1 TEAM CSC SAXO BANK 139 points
2 GARMIN CHIPOTLE 31
3 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 29
4 CAISSE D'EPARGNE 24
5 TEAM MILRAM 20
No surprises here-- the dominant team in the Tour also dominated the Pool.
Worst five team picks
15 LAMPRE 0
16 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 0
17 BOUYGUES TELECOM 0
18 BARLOWORLD -7
19 LIQUIGAS -10
20 SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT -29
Again, no surprises. Saunier-Duval paid for the mass exit after their doping scandals (Ricco admitted to doping, by the way, while Piepoli denied it). Barloworld and Liquigas also had a rough time thanks to doping positives. Lampre, FdJ and Boygues were simply anonymous.
Top 20 rider picks
1 FREIRE Oscar 148
2 KIRCHEN Kim 134
3 SASTRE Carlos 113
4 EVANS Cadel 97
5 KOHL Bernhard 95
6 VALVERDE Alejandro 91
7 SCHLECK Andy 77
8 SCHLECK Frank 73
9 CAVENDISH Mark 70
10 SCHUMACHER Stefan 68
11 HUSHOVD Thor 63
12 ZABEL Erik 61
13 CIOLEK Gerald 47
14 MENCHOV Denis 45
15 EFIMKIN Vladimir 43
16 NIBALI Vincenzo 43
17 VANDEVELDE Christian 40
18 FEILLU Romain 38
19 KREUZIGER Roman 37
20 SANCHEZ Samuel 36
Consistent stage finishes seem to be the key here, with Freire topping the classification.
Bottom 20 rider picks
160 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio -5
161 RENSHAW Mark -5
162 PASSERON Aurelien -5
163 MOREAU Christophe -5
164 JALABERT Nicolas -5
165 GOMEZ Angel -5
166 GADRET John -5
167 FLECHA Juan Antonio -5
168 FACCI Mauro -5
169 DUCLOS-LASSALLE Herve -5
170 DEVOLDER Stijn -5
171 DEL NERO Jesus -5
172 CARDENAS Felix -5
173 BRANDT Christophe -5
174 BERTOGLIATI Rubens -5
175 BACKSTEDT Magnus -5
176 BELTRAN Manuel -23
177 RICCO Riccardo -33
178 FOFONOV Dmitriy -40
179 DUENAS NEVADO Moises -43
180 PIEPOLI Leonardo -50
Actually, the bottom 21, since so many were tied at -5. Clearly Piepoli and the other dopers were poison, while the rest simply quit without scoring a single point.
Your score if you picked the top 9 riders and the best team: 1037
The best score in the Pool: 792
Some room for improvement, but pretty good nonetheless.
Your score if you picked the bottom 9 riders and the worst team: -238
The worst score in the Pool: 78
Clearly, K8 didn't do her homework.
Entry with stage wins:
1 Jay "Green Jersey" Heins 5 wins
2 Team Last Minute 4
3 Paul McAneney 3
3 Flip i Flap 3
5 Grimpeur George 2
5 Tricia K (& RP) 2
5 Marc Boudreau 2
5 Steve Proulx 2
5 Stephan Sander 2
5 Paul Crowley 2
5 Fee 2
5 Les Boyz 2
5 Jay "GC" Heins 2
5 Remi Berube 2
15 Josée Lamirande 1
15 TinaB 1
15 Kris Westwood 1
15 Bob Webber 1
15 Meylina Kandoy 1
15 Earl Wexler 1
15 Team Twink 1
15 Phelan 1
15 Grimpeur Kings 1
15 Helena Deveer 1
15 Rob Grondin 1
Clearly, Jay picked the Green Jersey squad well.
Entries with podium finishes:
1 Jay "Green Jersey" Heins 8
2 Remi Berube 7
3 Tricia K (& RP) 6
3 Stephan Sander 6
3 Paul Crowley 6
3 Team Last Minute 6
7 Paul McAneney 5
7 Steve Proulx 5
7 Flip i Flap 5
10 Marc Boudreau 4
10 Bob Webber 4
10 Fee 4
10 Les Boyz 4
14 Meylina Kandoy 3
14 Jay "GC" Heins 3
16 Grimpeur George 2
16 Earl Wexler 2
16 Team Twink 2
16 Grimpeur Kings 2
16 Helena Deveer 2
21 Sheri Jay 1
21 Josée Lamirande 1
21 Ian Dalling 1
21 TinaB 1
21 Kris Westwood 1
21 David Markin 1
21 France in my Pants 1
21 Donneli 1
21 Ilennod 1
21 Phelan 1
21 Dr. Ed 1
21 Vince Caceres 1
21 Rob Grondin 1
Again, Jay leads the group, but it didn't help him in the overall ...
Top 10 entries by average stage finish
1 Tricia K (& RP) 19
1 Steve Proulx 19
1 Stephan Sander 19
4 Remi Berube 20
5 Paul McAneney 21
5 Team Last Minute 21
5 Bob Webber 21
8 Meylina Kandoy 22
8 Matthew Ellis A-Team 22
10 Marc Boudreau 23
10 Les Boyz 23
10 Josée Lamirande 23
10 Earl Wexler 23
Consistency shows ...
Bottom 10 entrants by average stage finish
75 Lisa McMurray 55
76 Kris Westwood 56
76 Matthew Ellis B-Team 56
78 Doug Corner 57
79 Mhairi Gilmore 61
79 Julie Jay 61
81 Erich Zappe 65
82 Old Farts 69
83 Ilennod 74
84 K8 Scallion 78
And again.
Well, I'm tapped out, time for bed.
Posted by kriswestwood at July 31, 2008 11:05 PM