Last year I did a number of these posts. However some of the data was very unchanging as a large portion of the peloton does not to a whole bunch after the first week in April. So I decided that I would wait until after the Giro to post up this info.

Where do I get these numbers from well two years ago Tgartner proposed a System to determine rider value that took into account the cost of the rider in a way that pure efficiency does not. For instance Sebastian Turgot has an efficiency of 470 while Thomas De Gent has an efficiency of 282.5. does that mean that Sebastien was a better buy than Crazy Thomas? What Tgartgner suggested was taking the rider cost multiplying it by a number of points, then subtracting that total from the production of the rider. This means that while it is still easier for low priced riders to do well, a high priced rider that performs well gets his due as well. The number I use for my base production is 55 close enough to Tgartners number to work and easy peasy for me to remember. So Sebastian's Value is 415 (475-1*55) and Crazy Thomas has a Value of 455 (565-2*55) so relative to his cost Thomas has outperformed the more efficient Sebastien.

What does all this mean for your favourite FSA DS riders well....

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Is this the day that all of us in the Great White North get to see our first GT winnar? I have read a good number of comments saying that this is uncharted territory for Ryder. I do believe that we have at least one data point that says this is not as uncharted as it may seem. In 2010 there was this little race in France that included a tiny molehill called the Col du Tourmalet. Two amateur climbers by the names of A. Schleck and A Contador has a titanic struggle on the slopes of this Mythic Monster. Schleck missing his brother was unable to put the 30 seconds he needed into Contador. Just a little ways down the mountain however were a couple of notables who relate to our story J-Rod and Hesjedal.

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Well I seemed eager enough to tell everyone how they should go about and pick an FSA DS team a couple of weeks back. Now that the season is under way but still fresh enough that I have some hope and optimism, I thought I would share the reasoning that this particular Dummy put into his FSA DS team.

Now like all rational people who are trying to win I like to think that I will pick with my logical brain, going for guys that I know will do well. Rather than picking guys that I believe will do well. Reality does like to come up and smack us in the head and let us know that we are not as rational as we might like. This team certainly does show a good bit more heart than head but hey its not all about winning is it?

Team and thoughts on the flip.

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So You are looking at this whole FSA DS thing and thinking that building a team looks complicated and stuff. Well that is not the case. I figured that I would give those on the fence a few pointers on how to put together a team.

First thing you have to go to the FSA DS web site see not so hard so far.

Now here's a tricky question, are you a member of the podium cafe?

If so just use your login to register for a team, if not, go back to the podium cafe and register. This is free and painless and I have never gotten a spam from SB Nation.

O.K. so now you are registered for the FSA DS wesite, so now what?

Create a team name and submit, don't worry this is not your final name you have until you finalize your team to think up a name that you will love for a year. After you pick a name you will get a screen that looks like this.

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So I figured that there might be one or two people out there that are looking at this FSA DS (formerly VDS) thing and thinking that it seems too complicated or requires too much effort or something. So as I have successfully completed two FSA DS Seasons, and I must say this is the easiest game around (much thanks to SuperTed for his Brilliant site). The rules and everything are on the FSA DS Site I thought I would go for some pointers on team construction.

Am I qualified to help? Define Qualified, If you need a past winner, not me. if you need someone who has finished in the top 50, again not me. Going on the basis that those who can't do teach (not a slag on teachers, wonderful souls those), I must be eminently qualified. I have finished in the top 150 and top 100 so I don't totally suck.

Tips on the Flips.

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Wow are years short or what. It seems like just yesterday that I was putting together a VDS Team. Narrowly avoiding putting Ricco, Breschel, Pozzato, and GHH together on the same team.

VDS Rider Values are Calculated using This System.

So the Season is over and we have winners and losers. Producers and Doughnuts. So who was what and how did everyone do. Answers after the Jump.

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So Here I am again with an update on rider Values after the TdF Pointsalanche. Crap isn't the summer way too short. So I meant for this to be done prior to the Vuelta, but life got in the way. So here we go after the Vuelta and the Tour and about a hundred other races.

As usual I will be using This System to assess rider values with 55 being the points per point pay off level.

I will also see if some of the riders looking for Tour VDS Love actually got any.

The top Ten VDS Value Riders are little changed. Or are they at this point I haven't even checked. Time to download the Spreadsheet and do some minor maths.

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So we have had a cobbled classics season, a slew of week long stage races, one third of the Grand Tours (some Shit Small Race in Italy), the all important Tour of California. Yet here we are and still some of the sports biggest lights, and costliest VDS riders have kept their powder dry. Some of them have kept their powder very, very dry. If you own one of these riders you probably know who they are.

So lets see if any of these current boat anchors are in with a shot of paying off during TdF pointsalanche. As always I will be using This System to assess rider values with 55 being the points per point pay off level.

Riders in need of Tour Loving on the flip.

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Well the Cobbles have hammered the Classicists into submission, and the peloton has suffered around the Italian countryside. So how has this all affected the VDS. The pointsalanche at the end of the Giro has reshuffled the order of everything.

I have had a personally satisfying Giro VDSwise, just missing the top ten teams by 55 points. Hopefully the strategy of having lots of guys riding in two grand tours will pay off in the long haul.

But who is the best Value rider and how do we figure this out?

Well the figuring is done using This System, I am using 55 as the points per point to pay off since we won't know the real number until seasons end.

So who is the Best Value Rider after the Giro?

Answers after the flip, but be warned Operation Puerto and doping bans are hanging around the podium like a cloud. 

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So I will be trying to keep up on this as we go throughout the year.

Well Classics season is behind us...... I have left a moment of silence to mourn the passing of yet another year of fantastic classics racing. So how have the Classics affected the fortunes of those of us VDS addicted types. Once again I will be looking at the riders overall Value.

Value will be determined using This System since it is the one I like the best. Oh and I will using 55 as the number of points required per point in order for a rider to pay off. Since we won't know this years actual number until after the season.

Results on the flip after I say that

the number one rider is Phil Gil....

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So who are the 2011 VDS Highest Value Riders as we head into Paris Roubaix and close the door on the cobbled classics for another year. Granted at this early point in the season lower cost riders will have an easier time paying off.

So how am I going about determining who is paying off and who is not?

I will be using This System since this is the system that tickles my fancy the most!

Riders and values on the flip.

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On Thursday Last week my two oldest kids ( 31/2 and 2) were packed of to Grandmas early and The Wife and I along with our new little Bundle of Joy Drove 1000km to Quebec City. The Wife loves Quebec City and she loves me (apparently) so taking the excuse of a couple of bike races (you might have heard of them) we headed off for a trek to La Belle Provence.

Entering Quebec once again made me feel an inferior human, since I learned French in school and grew up in a supposedly Bilingual country you would expect I could at least order a pizza in french. Alas, the answer is no. My French is so substandard that any attempt I make to speak french to a francophone quickly results in English being spoken to me.

Ah well, inferior it is. So on to the races Piccies on the Flip.

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So who are my Top Five and why?

I don't even know that I am all that interested in what I think at this point, but hey this is the internet! If the internet has taught us anything it is that every moron on the planet is entitled to share his random/useless/uninformed/poorly researched/horribly written opinion, with an unsuspecting public.

So the guy who's wife just did a bunch of hard work to bring his third child into the world, and will be further earning his Tired Dad stripes is going to pick these Five Guys.

Oh the (hopefully) interesting stuff about Bike Racing will be below the flip....

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So here I stand at the end of the 2010 Cobbled Classics my total points gained are as follows,

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - 50 points from Borut Bozic

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne - 50 points from Dominique Rollin

                                      10 points from Sebastian Langeveld

Le Samyn -                     30 points from Yauheni Hutarovich

On the Flip It pretty much just gets worse from there. If you can also commiserate come and share your sorrows, you will find a shoulder upon which to rest your weary brow.

If you can gloat please feel welcome to come inside and kick dirt on all those crying in their beer.

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As we wonder during this transfer season about things like, why would Levi go to BMC? I just started thinking about something. Whos' palmares would you rather have If you had to choose between Levi Leipheimer, Cadel Evans Denis Menchov, Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego.

Levi Leipheimer  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Leipheimer

Has numerous wins including

National TT and RR champs, dauphine, tour of Germany, 3 Gand tour stages (1 TdF and 2 Vuelta), a couple of vuelta podiums and a Tour podium, 4 Tours of california, bronze medal ITT, castilla y leon.

 Cadel Evans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadel_Evans

Has Wins including

2 Tours of Austria, Tour de Romandie, Coppi e Bartalli, and a whole whack of podiums in various classics and tours including two seconds in the TdF.

Denis Menchov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Menchov

Numerous wins including

A Vuelta, A Giro, stages 5 Grand tour stages including one in every GT, pais vasco, and a white jersey.

Valv Piti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Valverde

many wins including

6 Grand Tour stage wins, La Fleche, 2 LBL, San Sebastian, Spanis Nats, Murcia, Catalonia, Burgos, 2 dauphine.

Damiano Cunego http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damiano_Cunego

numerous wins including

Giro, 3 Lombardia, Amstel Gold, 2 Coppi e Bartali,.

So whats worth more Podiums in the tour, one week stage races, GT victories, Classics, Monuments?

Personally if I was a cyclist i would want to be Valv piti, I think he is the most talented of the lot, and loving the monuments and spring races in general he probalby ends up as my choice.

Take Valverde away and I want Menchovs Palmares, especially over Cadel or Levi. I would rather win the Giro or the Vuelta than finish top ten in the tour. So if I'm Cadel I bail on Silence and head to Aqua e sapone and pad my Palmares with possible grio or vuelta wins and to heck with the tour. Levi head to BMC and concentrate on ToC Romandie and Suisse and whatever else you can get you paws on.