Fantasy cycling: Flèche Wallone roundup

It was Philippe Gilbert who flexed his considerable muscles to take a fine win at the Fléche Wallone yesterday, leaving a trail of top-class riders in his wake as he stormed up the Mur de Huy. And in Fantasy Cycling land it was pablo's peddlers doing the muscle-flexing, with an astonishing haul of 108 points from the stage to catapult themselves into the driving seat.

108 points? That was a clear 20 more than team jauman who scored second place on the stage. Of nine riders in the top-scoring team, eight managed to score: pablo's peddlers had managed to pick Gilbert (1st), Rodriguez (2nd), Vinokourov (4th), Vanendert (6th plus a team bonus), Moreno Fernandez (8th), Martens (10th), Van Avermaet (16th) and Hermans (18th). How's about that for some inspired selections?

That huge point haul was enough to move up into top spot, with black men, the leading team after the Amstel Gold, only managing a very decent 55 points. pablo's peddlers now have a 46-point cushion at the top which, failing another extraordinary score in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, looks like it should be enough to take the first prize of the season, the King of the Classics. Can anyone stop them?

Below them in the overall league it's a close-run thing indeed, with just nine points separating 2nd from 6th. Top road.cc staff honours now rest on the shoulders of Tony, whose 39 points on the day saw him climb above early overall leader Simon Macmichael, who described his point scoring as being 'on a consistent trajectory', although sadly for him that trajectory is a downward one...