Fantasy Cycling League 2000 - Tour de France
Last modified:
Sunday, 14 August, 2016
The Tour de France is, beyond question, the most significant cycle race in the
world. Raced over three weeks at the very height of the season it
forms the centre around which the whole cycling year revolves. Glued
to our TV, tuned to Eurosport's
daily coverage, Lisa & I immerse ourselves in the Tour's colourful and
intense world from start to finish. As well as following the endlessly
fascinating ebbs and flows of the race's action we also keep a special
eye out for the daily doings of our own chosen men: the members of our
respective Fantasy Cycling League teams.
Both our teams began
the Tour with significant expected participants missing from the start
line. Supersprinter Mario Cipollini was injured and internal politics
at Mapei kept out Andrea Tafi and Pavel Tonkov. As it was, then,
seven of Lisa's Ready Steady Riders (Jimenez, O'Grady, Hamilton, Livingston,
Backstedt, Kirsipuu, & Hamburger) and just four of Steve's Nightowlers
(Zülle, Zabel, Mori, & Miller) took the start.
The Tour started
with a bang for the Nightowlers when David Millar edged first place in
the opening time trial stage at Futuroscope from defending champion Lance
Armstrong and wore the yellow jersey for three days. Not bad for
a Tour debutant!
Stage 2, from Futuroscope
to Loudun, also set a pattern in that Nightowler Erik Zabel was just beaten
in a close sprint finish: his third place that day was to be one of three
third (the others were the following day, from to Loudun to Nantes, and
on stage 7, from to Tours to Limoges) and three second place stage placings.
For the Ready Steady Riders, Stuart O'Grady took second place on stage 2
but was not to score again before being forced out through injury at the
end of stage 6, from Vitré to Tours.
Stage 10, the first
true mountain stage (from Dax to Lourdes-Hautacam), saw Ready Steady Rider
Jimenez doing his best to stay with a rampant Lance Armstrong and taking 3rd
place on the day. The following day David Millar snuck into fourth on the stage from
Bagnères-de-Bigorre to Revel, while a day later Kirsipuu failed
to make it all the way from Carpentras to Mount Ventoux to reduce the Ready
Steady Riders' roster to five men.
On from the Pyrenees
to the Alps; and on stage 15, from Briançon to Courchevel, Jimenez
once again stuck as close as he could to a rampant climber (this time the
spectacularly resurrected Marco Pantani) to take second place on the stage.
The Nightowlers
suffered their sole attrition of the tour on stage 17 when the totally
out-of-touch Zülle failed to complete the run from Evian-les-Bains
to Lausanne on the day when Zabel took second on the line, as he had on
stage 5 (from Vannes to Vitré) and would yet again in Paris on
the final day (stage 21).
Stage 19, the long
time trial from Fribourg-en-Brisgau to Mulhouse, saw Hamilton grab fourth
place for the Ready Steady Riders as Armstrong put the boot in to ensure
that his overall victory would be convincing as well as comprehensive.
The next day Zabel did finally manage to get his stage win: on the penultimate
day's run from Belfort to Troyes.
So, for Lisa's Ready
Steady Riders Jimenez, Hambuger, Backstedt, Hamilton, & Livingston
survived to Paris (the latter two as real-life team-mates of overall winner
Lance Armstrong) as did Zabel (in the Green points victor's jersey), Millar,
and Mori for Steve's Nightowlers. Our final standings were:
 Overall |
Points |
Climbing |
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* calculated as total time ahead of the |
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So, that's it until
Saturday, 7th July, 2001 when the 88th Tour will set off from Dunkerque
for the first Grand Boucle of the 21st century. See you there!
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