Update #7: EvansIsTheBest IsTheBestFebruary is rolling along and this week was another great one for the 26 teams who figured Remco Evenepoel would be worth the price tag (should we call that group of teams the "Remcoalition"?) But with Haut Var, as well as Algarve and Andalucia, it took more than one rider to win the week. I mean, he certainly helped, though.
This Week's Top ScorersRank Team Points this week
1 EvansIsTheBest 627
2 Leadbelly 625
3 Hakkie2 492
4 karaev 482
5 Otoxiep87 463
As mentioned in the headline, game veteran (the handle might indicate some senority on the forum) EvansIsTheBest kills it this week, ekeing out a victory by two points but scoring a pretty darn good 627 points. 234 of those came from Evenepoel, yes, but EITB managed to fit some more popular expensive riders in Pinot (51 this week) and Bardet (80 this week). So that was a good start, and less popular youngsters like McNulty (74 pts), Kamna (56 more to go into profit already) and Almeida (44) seal the deal. Leadbelly comes oh so close but has to settle for second, going their standard route of rare riders - of course Evenepoel led the charge, but most of the other gains were from 134 from Schachmann (2 teams), 54 from Dan Martin (4 teams) and a very fine 69 points from unique zero-pointer Alessandro Fancellu (or, as I call him as of this moment when I've heard of him for the first time ever, Alessandro Fancell-who?) And in third place is... goddamn it, it's Hakkie2 again! What a run for that team!
This Week's High Movers1 Leadbelly (+53)
2 SafeBet (+29)
2 Bicycle_Boy (+29)
4 Tsyka (+27)
5 trackstand (+26)
Well, I suppose the 50+ spot jumps aren't quite over yet. Leadbelly's rare rider strategy tends to be boom or bust, and this is a pretty huge boom this week, moving up 53 spots (Alessandro Fancel-woo-hoo!) SafeBet and Bicycle_Boy tie for second, moving up 29 spots as members of the Remcoalition. Hakkie2 can't top this list, because you can't move up from the top spot.
(note: sorry if there are too many bad puns this week, I'm just in a mood)
Green Jersey CompetitionRank Team Total
1 Hakkie2 116
2 EvansIsTheBest 101
3 Jakob747 87
4 Fivezzz 71
5 will10 69
A fair bit of movement at the top here this week, as two teams are looking really good (more on this later). Hakkie2 gets 30 points and EITB gets 45 to solidly slot into the top 2 spots, sending Jakob747 down to third. Fivezzz scores 16 points this week to move up to 4th overall.
Top 10 OverallRank Up/down Team Points
1 (-)
Hakkie2
2294
2 (+2) EvansIsTheBest 2148
3 (+7) 18-Valve. (pithy) 1857
4 (-1) Jakob747 1851
5 (+9) Otoxiep87 1797
6 (-1) Squire 1794
7 (-1) Object 1765
8 (-1) sodak_za 1750
9 (+2) western_grebe 1745
10 (-8) HelgeBlendet 1742
Well, yes, Hakkie2 continues to kill it by getting 3rd on the week, but EvansIsTheBest was also 4th going into the week, and a dominant win (135 points more than Hakkie2) means that Hakkie2's lead to second actually went down from over 200 points last week to less than 150 this week. Of course, the rising tide floats both of their boats, as the top 2 are pulling away from the rest of the field. 18-Valve's 7th on the week gets their team an impressive leap onto the podium as well. Otoxiep87 and western_grebe jump into the top 10, while zaka_fan and yours truly slide on out.
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