Thoughts about 2017 Pro Tour Punditry?

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I was having a look at the 2017 calendar today in preparation for the 2017 version.

My current thoughts are to have a reduced number of events, as some events (especially the end of year stuff) attracted few pundits, and others seemed to be a bit of a grind.

I was also thinking a reduced number of events might encourage others who want to give it a go some encouragement to do so - it was quite good to have a wee break when others ran events last year for the 'lympics and Tour of Britain - and might lead to some more innovation. One of the good things from last year was the changes to the format/scoring so I'm all up for more of that. I have been giving some thought to scoring additions for "flair picks" but it needs some work and only as an experiment to see if it works.

I am keen for more people to join in so open to all suggestions.

Thoughts?

 

[HF2300]

Might be no significance to my thoughts as I couldn't really participate last year and can't promise to this year, but I thought it worked well last year thanks in large part to your scoring innovations and enthusiasm.

I'd be wary of going too overboard on scoring experimentation; I think one reason it works, apart from the healthy feeling of community here, is that it is simple and easy to participate in, or muck in and run a couple of events for those who want to. Whatever you do should stay light and accessible.

Agreed on perhaps chopping a few events, maybe to leave the highlight events and reasonable gaps between, and avoid a long tail at the end of the season.

How do you define a flair pick, and how would you score it?

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

How do you define a flair pick, and how would you score it?

Errr, errr, errr...

As I said, it needs a bit of work

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Just using this as a holding pen for the races, not guaranteed to be the final list...

17.01-22.01 View attachment 331585 Tour Down Under
25.02 View attachment 331587 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
04.03 View attachment 331589 Strade Bianche Men/Women
18.03 View attachment 331589 Milano - Sanremo
22.03 View attachment 331587 Dwars door Vlaanderen
24.03 View attachment 331587 E3 Harelbeke
26.03 View attachment 331587 Gent - Wevelgem Men/Women
02.04 View attachment 331587 Ronde v. Vlaanderen Men/Women
09.04 View attachment 331602 Paris - Roubaix
16.04 View attachment 331603 Amstel Gold Race Men/Women
19.04 View attachment 331587 La Flèche Wallonne Men/Women
23.04 View attachment 331587 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Men/Women
05.05-28.05 View attachment 331589 Giro d'Italia
04.06-11.06 View attachment 331602 Critérium Dauphiné
01.07-23.07 View attachment 331602 Tour de France
19.08-10.09 View attachment 331616 Vuelta a España
17.09-24.09 View attachment 331618 World Champ Men/Women TTT/ITT/RR
07.10 View attachment 331589 Il Lombardia

 

[rich p]

Forget the womens' races...

 

[gk09]

I'll definately be in and hopefully for the whole season this time!

No need for drastic change in my opinion, I agree with @HF2300 that it's good because it's simple to join in.

But I wonder if there's scope for a fantasy team type competition. Pick you squad of riders at the start of the season, points for results throughout the season.... maybe something for next year.

 

[rich p]

Flair picks don't need extra rewards IMHO.
They are their own reward in that you get points that nobody else has.
Keep it simple
No concurrent events
No women's races. Did I mention that before?

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I'll keep it simple.
And Women's events are IN

 

[themosquitoking]

Automatic double points for me, that could an easy feature to introduce.

 

[roadrash]

I like simple, I'm easily confused

 

[simo105]

Keep it simple, I'll try and predict throughout this season!

 

[rich p]

I'll keep it simple.
And Women's events are IN

Fine, I'll get a new pin.

 

[HF2300]

I have another thought - can the organisers send out daily reminders - including ones to stick to the basics and not overthink picks!

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I have another thought - can the organisers send out daily reminders - including ones to stick to the basics and not overthink picks!

I do try as much as possible to send out reminders to those who have not picked - which can be tricky with the TDU given that it takes place during British night time. But dinnae rely on me!

I was thinking I might try out "bonus" points at some point for anyone who correctly selects the top 3 riders for a stage - you wouldn't have to get them in the right order when selecting but if the 3 riders you pick finish 1,2,3 then award an extra bonus of 20 points to the total. It doesn't happen often. But it happened today.

I might trial it during the Giro, which is the next stage race on the PTP calendar.

 

[gk09]

I do try as much as possible to send out reminders to those who have not picked - which can be tricky with the TDU given that it takes place during British night time. But dinnae rely on me!

I was thinking I might try out "bonus" points at some point for anyone who correctly selects the top 3 riders for a stage - you wouldn't have to get them in the right order when selecting but if the 3 riders you pick finish 1,2,3 then award an extra bonus of 20 points to the total. It doesn't happen often. But it happened today.

I might trial it during the Giro, which is the next stage race on the PTP calendar.

I think you should try that retrospectively from beginning of the TDU!