Vincenzoooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Patrick - remember that with the classics league you get to swap out riders between every race (with a limit to the overall number of transfers you can make for the season). So you could try both strategies with one team... But I'm fine with you having two teams considering the prize list. 

Yeah great finish, I wouldn’t be surprised that he was initially setting things up for Cobrelli

that was the most exciting last 14K I've seen since...last years race
Cavendish had a superman moment in that crash.  He should shut it down and focus on the tour...he's old and his body must be knackered 
http://www.velonews.com/2018/03/news/milan-sanremo-cavendish-crashes-heavily-greipel-breaks-collarbone_460002

Looks like my roster of just-below-the-top-tier riders and not one big favorite is off to a good start. Cycling is a team sport, after all. And there's plenty of racing left for Benoot or Naesen to make a big breakthrough and deliver a W. 

Oh man, my transfers from last night never went through. I was suppose to pick up GVA and Benoot which would have given me some point but alas a goose egg. Between this and getting locked out of the L&C Cup for Sunday, not a good cycling day for me and it been all off the bike. 

Had a great day , E3 is the absolute form guide
quick step classics riding is amazing Gilbert and Stybar were so key to the 12 second lead holding 

Loved to watch those tactics play out 

So Julian Vermote is probably going to win everything up until Amstel , as i just sold his useless ass

I mean he made look totally easy peasy today.

*spoiler alert*

Last night I added five-time winner Kittel; plus Groenewegen, who announced himself so authoritatively on the Champs-Élysée last summer; as well as newcomers Hodeg and Ackermann, both great value at 4 and 6 credits respectively. I thought a podium sweep at Scheldeprijs wasn't out of the question, especially for such a reliably sprinter-friendly race.

Groenewegen was among the 35 riders disqualified at a railroad crossing. When Hodeg, the youngest of my picks at just 21 years old, punctured with around 15km to go, Quick-Step didn't send a teammate to help him because, of course, they had options. No surprises there.

But Kittel seemed to have just crumbled. With Katusha firmly in control of the race, the defending champion had his second puncture at 12km to go. Two teammates came back to help him, but the sprinter could barely hold their wheels as they rode through the cars back to the bunch. Hodeg must've thanked his lucky stars when he saw the Katusha crew rolling along, thinking he'd found a free ride up to the peloton. But they never made it, as attacks coming off the front kept the pace high. But also, Kittel just looked so miserable.

The final kilometers played out the now-familiar scene of Stybar working hard for a teammate who goes on to win. That guy deserves more than a few rounds of Kwaremont beer for his efforts this season.

Of the picks I was sure would get me my first win of the spring, only Ackermann showed well, finishing a close second. As much as I wish I had been rewarded for what I thought were savvy choices for this under-appreciated classic, I do love these races for their unpredictability. 

Ackermann was a nice pick. After RVV I only had one rider on my roster who was going to race Scheldepris so I made a couple of what I thought would prove to be savvy transfers and added Demare and Groenewegen, both of whom were disqualified. I also added Kittel but had less hope for him.

I just read Ackermann's name in one of the few preview articles available for Scheldeprijs, so I can't take too much credit!

I really admire Demare for having a go at every spring classic. I thought about putting him on my roster before MSR and leaving him there through Paris-Roubaix. Would've made managing transfers easy and, hey, he's talked about as contender for any of these races. I can't explain why exactly I left him off, but I haven't minded because he hasn't delivered. He probably had his best shot to win when he lined up at Scheldeprijs. When he was DQ'd he had missed the split in the wind, thus why he probably felt the urge to rush the closing gates at the crossing. Oh well. 

You're smart about Kittel--he looked awful at MSR, too--but I couldn't resist the history he had in his favor. 

Now it's tricky to get a good roster for the last cobbled classic with enough transfers left over to get through the Ardennes! 

I luckily gambled on leaving my Roubaix team in place and making wholesale transfers for the ardennes, i got a lot luckier than i hoped for , thanks to the train and a ton of punctures 
I really fancy Demare for sunday ,

A French winner for la plus belle course du monde? I'd love to see that. The last time that happened (I just looked it up) was FDJ's debut season: 1997.  

I'm afraid I've left too few transfers to make it through the Ardennes competitively. By LBL I might have only half my team on the start line. All the more necessary to choose wisely... 

Well?

@Mark Taylor I can't believe you had Jungels. Such insight into the pro peloton.  Well played, sir. 

I forgot to turn over my roster after Roubaix before Brabanste Pilj, and then forgot again before Amstel Gold and then...I gave up.  :'( 

Well-done to the rest of yous. See y'all back here for the Giro. 

@Jeff Condon cant say i really put Jungels in becuase i thought he would win , but did figure quick step have ,in pretty much every race sent someone up front and Jungels is the best Grand Tour type rider , which the race suits , as with Lampert & Terpstra  plan B work and the attack stayed away , i think more than any other team Quick really don't care who wins from the team as long as the team wins

What a fun and unpredictable Spring Classics. Jeff had an early season lead but Mark pulled ahead for a clear lead in the second half of the season.

Being my first fantasy classics campaign I experimented with two teams. One with Sagan, GVA and one or two other favorites who ate up all the points leaving  4 point support guys as the majority of the team. The second team were the 8-12 point guys. I was curious how they would play out differently.

While the Sagan et al. team was frequently on the podium there were too few of them to match Jeff and Mark's team. This team was less fun to field as there were too few remaining points to pick strong secondary riders. My only coup was picking Woods and Bardet for LBL after Sagan and GVA were no longer on the racing.  I won't be field two teams again.

A few other quick notes. 

1. I told Jim that I never even considered picking an Astana rider. Fair or not, I associate their team with doping and somehow mentally blocked them from consideration.

2. Loved seeing Wout Van Aert crush it after the CX season. 

3. Ironically I had removed Phinney from my team before Roubaix. I liked him, but needed the points for someone else I thought would do better. Nevertheless it was cool to see him come back to some of his prior potential. 

Nice playing with you guys

I also really enjoyed Wout's spring campaign along with Bardet , really nice to see a GT contender taking the spring races so seriously 

Giro starts Friday, who's in ?

This guy.

Sent from my iPhone

While I am looking forward to seeing a Froome v Dumoulin showdown, I think I’ve chosen not to have either in my fantasy team. I may end up regretting that move if they both win every stage...

Not so many TT kilometers in this edition, so who knows? That strategy may pay off. 

The sprinter's jersey competition looks even more difficult to predict, though.  

No so many TTs , agreed ,but the 34km TT ,day after the rest day , coming after the Zoncolan , could be where the race is decided .

Ok , guys 

League Name: kissena
League Code: 13669067

I’ve changed my team so often I can’t remembwr whose on it anymore. Every time I read another article I think “yeah, I want him on my team”. I am sure to change it again and will later lament my decision 

I changed my team make 10 times in the last hour. But now I have the perfect combination. #onlyregrets

BTW, I like how you get 9 riders on a fantasy team by only 8 in a grand tour.