Fantasy Cycling: Spring Classics review

The classics were a hard bunch of races to predict, it turned out. The Amstel Gold Race was the hardest of all, with over 1,000 teams failing to score a single point as the pre-race favourites finished anonymously in the pack. Over the seven races there has to be a winner though, so let's have a look and see who's come up trumps.

First of all, a quick look at the two races we haven't covered so far. Wednesday's Flèche Wallone saw Joaquin Rodriguez take the top podium slot ahead of GreenEdge's Michael Albasini and the coming-back-to form Phillipe Gilbert. At the top of the stage table Carry on up the Colombier and (max 30 characters) tied for the win on 154 points apiece, albeit with different teams. Both picked J-Rod though, and both had seven scoring riders. That meant that the win came down to who'd used the fewest transfers in the competition up to that point, so Tim Print's chopping and changing in the unlimited windows (66 transfers) was his undoing against widgetkicker (34 transfers) who takes the prize.

We did have an outright winner for Liège - Bastogne - Liège though. Flandrian correctly predicted the 1-2-3 of Maxim Iglinsky, Vincenzo Nibali and Enrico Gasparotto to post an unassailable 142 on the day, just one point ahead of Bandar Bandit.

So, to the overall competition. Pangbourne Pedallers hit the front with one race to go but their selections for Liège let them down a bit, netting just 69 points. That meant that 99 points from hannahs hurricanes was enough to move them three places up to the top spot to take the win, with Pangbourne Pedallers dropping to second. A massive 132-point haul from norfolkandchance on the last day sent them soaring 26 places into third. Biggest loser of the day was TEAM JAMESWEBB79, who managed only 22 for the final stage and dropped from second to 16th equal. Still, there's always the Giro.

In the purists there were some impressive scores. None more impressive than Chicken Dinner, who not only topped out with 539 points but did so without making any transfers in the unlimited windows before Gent-Wevelgem and the Amstel Gold Race. Very impressive. Pukey Otter rolled in second, and Chippy's Cyclistas were third. Here's a rundown of all the winners from the classics:

Milan San Remo: chrisgnewman
Gent-Wevelgem: letsgoup
Tour of Flanders: stewart
Paris-Roubaix: marlynn
Amstel Gold Race: road ronin
Flèche Wallone: widgetkicker
Liège - Bastogne - Liège: Flandrian
Classics: overall: boltsy74
Classics 2nd: londonplayer
Classics 3rd: noddy69
Classics purist: Liam Glen

Next up is the first grand tour, the Giro d'Italia, which starts in two weeks time. Stay tuned for updates!