Fantasy Cycling end of season roundup

So, that's it for the year. The World Champs road race was the final instalment of 2011's Fantasy Cycling season, in association with Evans Cycles. That was stage 89 of a competition that's kept us distracted from work for most of the year, and the last hurrah was won by team Ang Motion Cycling Project, with a score of 92 points and a correct prediction of the top three.

In the World Champs Time Trial A Cat Named Bugno went even better, correctly picking the top five riders for a massive 114-point haul. But those late efforts weren't enough to change the look of the overall leaderboard.

Overall winner

Top of the pile for this year is team jauman, who have been there or thereabouts for the whole of the season and top of the overall rankings for as long as anyone in the office can remember. It's been a near-faultless performance from user jau: top dog in the Giro and eighth in the Vuelta sandwiched a solid 58th place in the Tour de France. In the end the margin of victory was 115 points, with a total of 7794 to second-placed eaju's 7679.

So it's bragging rights to Spain this year, with a one-two on the podium. Will the plucky Brits rally to a better showing next time around? Only time will tell...

Purist league

There's some other competitions to clear up too. Plenty of people have been playing the game as purists this year, not making any transfers while a tour is in progress. That particular competition went right down to the wire, and in the end it was user fhoupg who came through at the death, with his team valv piti tirumphant by a single point over KidEternity's A.S Services Ltd. Those two were well ahead of third placed danielheaton's Team Slym but well done to him too for an excellent purist season.

Consistency league

The Consistency league aped the main competition, as it transpired that most of the people who were racking up the good scores had been playing since the start anyway. In the end the first two positions were reversed, with team eaju edging out team jauman by just 0.03 on the average. a 113.27 point average is some achievement, so well done there.

Rider rankings

In the rider rankings Alberto Contador was top dog, netting 681 points for the season. Behind him came J-Rod on 632 points and Vincenzo Nibali on 608, with Cadel Evans (585), Bauke Mollema (505), Bradley Wiggins (489), Michele Scarponi (434), Phillipe Gilbert (423), Frank Schleck (423) and Jose Rojas (386) making up the top ten. Daniel Moreno was probably the bargain pick of the year, costing just 8.3 credits but netting 338 points across all competitions. The flip side of that particular coin is probably Team Sky's Michael Rogers, who despite attracting a pre-competition price tag of 36 credits failed to score a single fantasy point all season. Bertie, btw, wins some road.cc socks. We've contacted the team.

Full list of winners

The final list of winning teams, then, is as follows:

road.cc Fantasy Cycling Champion 2011: jauman (jau), 7794 points
Tour de France: Redbone (scorekeeper), 1994 points
Giro d'Italia: Jauman (jau), 2243 points
Vuelta a Espana: zueco (zueco), 1965 points

Purist Champion 2011: valv piti (fhoupg), 4274 points
Tour de France purist: valv piti (fhoupg), 1352 points
Giro d'Italia purist: Psychoman Ash (psychoman ask), 1679 points
Vuelta a Espana purist: Champions (arsene), 1429 points

Consistency league: eaju (eaju), 113.27 average

Top rider: Alberto Contador, 681 points

What's next for Fantasy Cycling on road.cc?

Well, it'll be back next year. We're in the process of looking at the game and working out a plan for 2012. If you want to be a part of that process, go to this forum topic and include your suggestions. We value your input and we want to make the game better for next year, so get creative!