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TdF Game; Final RemarksFloyd Landis has won the Tour de France 2006. Last year's winner, fellow countryman Lance Armstrong, repeated his victory six more times. There are not a lot of people that believe that Landis can repeat this remarkable feat. First, Armstrong was 27 years old when he won his first Tour while Landis is three years older now. Second, Landis is due to have his right hip replaced this fall (2006) and it is unknown how he will respond to the surgery. We hope that he will be able to return to professional cycling and take part in the race next year.
DropoutsA total of 139 riders have completed the race. This means that 37 riders have left the race. Another 13, among which Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, did not start the race because they were withdrawn by their team one day before the start. This brings the total amount of missing cyclists to 50 which is very close to the average of the last twelve editions of the race (54). The maximum number of riders to have abandoned the race race was 93 in 1998 and the minimum 34 last year. The dropouts have caused problems for the participants in the game. Only one of the 647 participants has a complete team: Matthias Kersten of Germany (497th place). Sixteen teams have lost one rider and 81 lost two. Eight participants, among which former winner Etienne Gaasenbeek, have lost seven riders, the largest lost registered this year. The participants with the smallest teams are Jo Nymo Matland (Norway) and Tom Robinson, (Australia). They started the game with incomplete teams and arrive in Paris with only seven cyclists.
Popular cyclistsAt the previous rest days we have compared the performance of the robot participant Jan Modaal, composed from the list of most favorite cyclists in the game, with teams that contained the most popular cyclists of the countries that provided 10 or more participants to the game. After stage 14, the average teams did less well than expected: only one of them (Team The Netherlands) would have been ranked among the best 10% of the participants in the game. Here are the overall rankings of the country teams at the end of the game:
Plc Per Pnt Name 62. 90% 672 Team Belgium 62. 90% 672 Team The Netherlands 93. 85% 652 Team Norway 109. 82% 640 Team Germany 127. 80% 635 Team France 128. 80% 634 Team Australia 137. 78% 631 Jan Modaal (United Nations) 211. 67% 606 Team Sweden 219. 65% 603 Team UK 238. 63% 595 Team USA 240. 62% 594 Team New Zealand 264. 59% 586 Team Canada This list contains the projected place of the team in the overall rankings, the percentage of participants it would have beaten, its score and its name. The performances of the country teams have improved since the last rest day. At that day only one team beat 90% of the participants while one other team beat 80%. At the end of the race both Team Belgium and Team The Netherlands beat 90% of the participants while four other teams beat 80%.
Alternative rankingsSince 1999, we have used the rest days to look at several alternative rankings. We examine the current overall rankings for the four main jerseys: yellow (overall time), green (sprinter points), polka dot (mountain points) and white (best young rider). If we interpret the top ten positions of these rankings as a stage result (see CyclingNews.com), we get the following top tens of participants:
Top ten yellow jersey rankings after stage 20
1. 69 Tore Högman (Sweden)
2. 63 Jacqueline Blom (The Netherlands)
3. 58 O. Vergeer (The Netherlands)
58 Ole Olesen (Norway)
5. 57 Jan Buiten (The Netherlands)
6. 55 Rick Goatman (Australia)
7. 53 Jason Bartram (Australia)
53 Olle Olausson (Sweden)
9. 51 Y. T. (Poland)
10. 50 Erik TKS (The Netherlands)
Top ten green jersey rankings after stage 20
1. 74 Matthijs Otten (The Netherlands)
2. 73 Balazs Barna (Hungary)
3. 72 Arthur Denneman (The Netherlands)
4. 70 Amaryllis Frieser (The Netherlands)
70 Bevo Gallagher (USA)
70 Dimitri van Agterveld (The Netherlands)
70 Jack Crombag (The Netherlands)
70 Nathalie Mulder (The Netherlands)
70 Steve Tester (Australia)
10. 69 Arjen Pijfers (The Netherlands)
69 Edwin Saunders (South Africa)
69 Karolina Tobiasson (Sweden)
69 Xiaojun Creemers (The Netherlands)
Top ten polka dot jersey rankings after stage 20
1. 60 Tore Högman (Sweden)
2. 58 Erik TKS (The Netherlands)
3. 54 Richard Stephens (USA)
54 Tatyana Molloy (USA)
5. 53 Alexander Martin (The Netherlands)
53 Ole Olesen (Norway)
7. 52 Todd Pontifex (Australia)
8. 51 Brian Gregg (USA)
9. 49 Håkon Mørk (Norway)
10. 48 M.P. McGinley (USA)
48 Rick Goatman (Australia)
48 Vince Davis (USA)
Top ten white jersey rankings after stage 20
1. 21 Hamste Panthers (Sweden)
2. 14 Guido Van Hal (Belgium)
3. 13 Brian Gregg (USA)
13 Jeroen Wouda (The Netherlands)
13 Jock McKenzie (UK/Scotland)
13 Kim Johnstone (New Zealand)
7. 12 Alexander Martin (The Netherlands)
12 M.T. Zbinden (USA)
12 Mardie Parrot (Germany)
12 Roberto Sabadini (Italy)
In order to obtain a high position in these rankings you need to have included cyclists that are still present in the Tour. In the game, when a cyclist leaves the race, you will keep all the points he earned for you but in these rankings only the remaining cyclists can earn points for you. When we compare the lists with those of the previous rest day, we see that the scores for the green jersey rankings have decreased while the polkadot jersey ranking scores improved. The first was caused by the fact that some top sprinters left the race in the final week (Boonen, Freire, Bennati and Hunter). The increase of the mountain rankings was caused by the additional mountain stages in the final week which allowed the expected cyclists to improve their positions in the polkadot rankings. At the second rest day, we have also computed two additional rankings based on the percentile rates. Here is an update of the list based on the highest total percentile score:
Top ten total percentile rates 1. 1309 Daryl Collingwood (New Zealand) 2. 1270 Geraint Parry (USA) 3. 1266 Steve Tester (Australia) 4. 1261 Marc Van den Bossche (Belgium) 5. 1253 Christoph Kersten (Germany) 6. 1246 Arthur Denneman (The Netherlands) 7. 1241 Tobias van den Broek (The Netherlands) 8. 1237 Denver McMahon (USA) 9. 1236 Jane van Niekerk (South Africa) 10. 1229 Dietmar Pauly (Germany) The basis for this ranking is similar to that of the green jersey rankings in the Tour de France: the more often a team finishes in the top of the stage rankings, the more points it collects. Overall number 24, Daryl Collingwood, is the leader in these rankings. Winner Arthur Denneman is sixth. Here is an update of the top ten of participants with the highest minimum percentile scores:
Top eleven lowest percentile rate 1. 40 Jane van Niekerk (South Africa) 2. 22 Chris Church (South Africa) 3. 17 Jack Crombag (The Netherlands) 4. 12 Julien Le Gall (France) 5. 10 M. Sullivan (Canada) 6. 10 Erik Hogan (The Netherlands) 7. 8 Akke Vellinga (Belgium) 8. 7 Richard McCarthy (USA) 9. 7 Regina Bryson (USA) 10. 7 Joey Mocnik (Canada) 11. 5 Darren Martin (UK/England) The ranking of participants with the same minimal percentile rate has been based on their second-worst rate. Jane van Niekerk has beaten at least 40% of the other participants in each stage and is the clear winner in this category. She is also the only one that manages to appear in both top ten lists. The eleven participants listed here are the only ones that managed to collect points in each and every stage in the game. In 2005 only two participants accomplished this feat.
Successful participantsIn the 2006 edition of the game, we have seen many excellent performances of the participants:
All point records have been broken in this edition and many participants have been able to repeat earlier successes. Congratulations!
The optimal teamThe second week of the race has provided some mountain stages. However there was only one summit finish and therefore the climbers and the race favorites have not been able to achieve many top positions in the stages. Like on the previous rest day, the optimal team at this stage of the game is dominated by sprinters.
1. R. McEwen | 9x: 1* 1* 5 1* 4 2 6 6 2 2. T. Boonen | 9x: 2* 4 4 2* 3 9 4 5 8 3. O. Freire | 7x: 4 7 3* 1 6 1 3* 4. E. Zabel | 9x: 9 5 9 7 6 3 9 8 4* 5. D. Bennati | 7x: 5* 3 6 2 5* 8 9 6. T. Hushovd | 6x: 3 7 5 10 10 1 7. B. Eisel | 7x: 8 9 10 4 7* 7* 7* 8. L. Paolini | 6x: 6 6 8* 8* 8* 5 9. A. Kloden | 6x: 8 9* 5 5 8 2 10. C. Evans | 5x: 4 10* 4 10* 8 11. F. Landis | 5x: 2 3 4 1 3 12. D. Kopp | 4x: 5 4 10 9 13. F. Ventoso | 4x: 7 8 7 7 14. I. Isasi | 4x: 3 10 6 9 15. C. Moreau | 4x: 10 4 4 3 The team list contains the positions of the cyclists in the team, their names, the number of times they have appeared in the top ten until now and the positions which they have obtained in these top ten positions. An asterix behind the position indicates that the cyclist has obtained bonus points for that result. This team would have obtained 890 points, 109 points more than game winner Arthur Denneman. Here is the score sheet of the team:
tot 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1. R. McEwen 144 18 . 18 15 18 . 15 15 . . 15 15 . . . . . . 15
2. T. Boonen 132 17 14 14 17 14 . 14 14 . . 14 14 . *
3. O. Freire 97 13 13 16 13 13 . . 13 . . 16 . . . . . *
4. E. Zabel 110 12 12 . 12 12 . 12 12 12 . 12 . . . . . . . 14
5. D. Bennati 81 13 11 11 . 11 . 13 . 11 . 11 . . . *
6. T. Hushovd 60 10 . . 10 10 . . 10 . . 10 . . . . . . . 10
7. B. Eisel 69 9 . 9 9 9 . 11 . . . . 11 . . . . . . 11
8. L. Paolini 54 8 8 . . 10 . 10 10 . . . . . . . . . . 8
9. A. Kloden 44 . . . . . 7 . . . 9 . . . 7 7 7 . 7 .
10. C. Evans 34 . . . . . . . . . 6 . . 8 . 6 8 . 6 .
11. F. Landis 25 . . . . . 5 . . . 5 . . . 5 . 5 . 5 .
12. D. Kopp 16 . . 4 4 . . 4 4 . . . . . . *
13. F. Ventoso 12 . . 3 3 . . . 3 . . 3 . . . . . . . .
14. I. Isasi 8 . . . 2 2 . . . 2 . . . . . . . 2 . .
15. C. Moreau 4 . . . . . . . . . 1 . . 1 . 1 1 . . .
Points: 890100 58 75 85 99 12 79 81 25 21 81 40 9 12 14 21 2 18 58
Percentiles: 100 97 99 99100 99 45100 99 98 34100 96 22 27 29 54 96 45 85
The percentile scores show what percentage of the participants in the game would have finished behind this team in the overall rankings or in the stages This super team would have won four stages in the game (stages 5, 6, 8 and 12) and have obtained two second places (stages 3 and 9). These involve stages with sprint finishes as well as stages in which a small or larger group finished before the main group. The maximum attainable score, 890 points, is not a record. The maximum possible overall score was higher in 2005 (897 points) and in 1994 (893 points).
Game veteransSince the edition of 2001, we have examined the performance of the game veterans: participants which have participated in nearly all editions of this game. The following performance overview lists the 64 people that have participated in the game nine times or more (also see the history section). The robot participant Jan Modaal has also been included in the list.
## 1994 95 96 97 98 992000 01 02 03 04 05 06 avg.
Adrie van Geffen 10x - - - 7 8 11 25 58 20 39 16 59 32 27
Anton Cozijnsen 9x - - - - 95 93 - 96 86 23 28 93 97 --
Arthur Denneman 11x - - 84 97 63 36 76 99 95 63 100 65 100 84
Benoit Rey 12x - 85 30 62 71 28 44 90 88 74 46 61 85 70
Bert Platt 10x - - - 38 79 77 97 82 64 59 79 89 72 73
Bojan Kozelj 10x - - - 42 83 88 89 65 80 75 86 49 88 74
Bret Jaeger 11x - - 27 52 41 65 41 76 63 76 50 83 81 62
Brian Roth 9x - - 95 84 79 63 56 20 43 56 69 - - --
Carlos Girao 10x - - - 48 55 96 66 56 17 26 69 37 79 54
Chad Lennon 10x - 61 - 94 83 86 81 94 - 92 77 79 43 79
Christoph Kersten 10x - - - 74 31 82 65 13 54 92 80 62 91 64
Constant Martini 10x - - - 17 81 60 26 67 98 82 12 27 60 53
David Marshall 11x - - 8 11 99 30 66 62 68 58 20 42 81 53
Dex Tooke 10x - - - 54 31 21 66 75 71 80 48 67 20 53
Edwin Saunders 9x - - - - 37 9 83 93 76 76 23 52 94 --
Erik TKS 13x 2 46 37 44 7 0 17 24 27 8 13 11 10 23
Erix Schokker 12x - 39 91 37 94 98 85 63 38 38 77 12 92 71
Francis Stalpers 11x - - 93 97 65 90 87 40 95 46 68 81 77 79
Francois Hudon 10x - - - 76 92 74 95 88 98 84 77 78 80 84
Frank Koper 12x - 100 43 98 41 83 94 67 89 35 52 71 79 77
Fred Goudbeek 9x - - - - 39 14 66 30 73 33 29 50 70 --
Gerard Creemers 10x - - - 97 95 94 97 56 85 85 89 73 96 86
Gosse Bouma 12x 83 78 85 67 85 72 89 81 50 59 94 - 60 79
Graeme Camp 10x - - - 45 ** 71 94 93 96 91 81 76 87 --
Guus van Zadelhoff 12x - 82 45 79 64 83 80 79 81 82 86 68 61 78
Hans Dekker 9x - - - 99 20 39 60 59 35 58 2 39 - --
Harrie Wintermans 9x - - - 24 81 45 58 86 72 48 10 - 93 --
Hugo Paulissen 10x - - - 14 91 8 12 26 7 88 65 49 44 40
Jan Modaal 13x 63 95 81 97 55 72 69 89 89 89 79 83 78 85
Jean-Luc Bulliard 10x - - - 89 67 64 96 97 94 77 95 98 93 87
Jeroen van Koert 9x - - - - 93 90 95 93 81 66 61 91 21 --
Jezz Nash 10x - - - 20 47 30 63 53 82 78 47 81 17 51
Joel Hull 9x - - - - 50 90 80 85 92 39 97 85 26 --
Jos Droste 10x - - - 87 90 95 97 75 98 81 80 89 67 85
Ken Charbonneau 9x - - - - 17 98 65 61 98 70 73 67 46 --
Kevin Mathers 10x - - - 4 8 42 50 53 26 86 81 23 23 39
Marcel Luyckx 10x - - - 49 60 74 84 77 60 91 62 83 64 70
Marcel Spanjer 12x - 5 89 68 91 95 25 64 64 35 7 61 43 63
Mark Biggs 10x - - - 70 57 28 35 16 30 24 29 37 44 37
Marko Tukic 11x - - 63 87 36 74 62 81 91 83 67 85 41 73
Martin Ellfolk 9x - - - 71 34 74 46 98 87 73 75 58 - --
Matthias Kersten 10x - - - 28 32 25 58 72 67 55 97 99 23 55
Michael Botzet 10x - - - 78 51 100 96 91 92 88 99 97 87 87
Michael McQuillen 11x - 76 68 78 94 90 86 98 98 72 98 - 91 88
Michael Smukler 10x - - - 66 68 56 35 34 54 89 54 78 68 60
Michel Oberson 9x - - - - 66 94 93 97 83 72 42 33 83 --
Mike Ross 9x - - - - 67 68 86 99 55 47 55 56 83 --
Nico Wienders 12x - 90 63 95 23 95 84 98 89 69 39 92 88 86
Pia Harbers 9x - - - 56 8 37 - 14 59 85 2 39 71 --
Randall Cockroft 9x - - - - 96 87 42 87 84 77 58 87 65 --
Remco van Veenendaal 11x - 85 50 - 15 49 55 98 62 32 14 56 85 58
Ria Molanus 9x - - - 92 43 27 48 62 - 30 27 42 55 --
Rien Post 11x - - 91 64 91 99 69 58 50 59 84 17 81 74
Robert Beernink 11x - - 77 93 83 93 88 30 61 88 88 94 63 82
Robert van Lunteren 9x - - - 53 40 91 89 72 59 - 99 94 86 --
Robin van Koert 9x - - - 49 91 - 70 99 93 69 81 62 6 --
Sjoerd Stoffels 9x - - - - 66 81 89 91 88 58 76 95 58 --
Stefano Heyer 9x - - - - 98 68 98 90 86 77 83 81 69 --
Steve Smith 10x - - 52 2 4 62 60 - 69 85 69 68 54 52
Tako Molanus 13x 25 87 23 36 100 58 48 90 69 97 88 59 54 75
Tom Scanlon 10x - - - 93 41 68 54 84 75 91 83 85 79 75
Wil Gommans 9x - - - - 93 49 99 96 91 94 95 66 97 --
Wim Penninx 11x 72 97 84 32 68 67 23 74 - 76 - 25 53 64
Xander Wiardi 9x - - 75 35 - 23 92 53 91 90 44 18 - --
Xavier Pons 10x - 72 92 93 48 53 69 47 88 85 - 86 - 73
## 1994 95 96 97 98 992000 01 02 03 04 05 06 avg.
Immediately behind each participant name there is a number indicating how often the participant has taken part in the game. The other numbers are percentile rates, the percentage of the other players that obtained fewer points in that particular edition of the game. So 100 means the participant was first and 23 means that only 23% of the field obtained fewer points. The final number on each line is an average computed over the ten highest percentile rates. The 2006 edition of the game has been an excellent one for the veterans. Arthur Denneman managed to win the game and nine other veterans managed to beat more than 90% of the field: Anton Cozijnsen (97%), Christoph Kersten (91%), Edwin Saunders (94%), Erix Schokker (92%), Gerard Creemers (96%), Harrie Wintermans (93%), Jean-Luc Bulliard (93%) Michael McQuillen (91%) and Wil Gommans (97%). With respect to the average rate, Michael McQuillen (88%) remains the most successful participant. Jean-Luc Bulliard (87%) and Michael Botzet (87%) are second while Gerard Creemers (86%) and Nico Wienders (86%) share fourth place. These five are the only ones that manage to obtain a higher average rate than the robot participant Jan Modaal (85%, Jos Droste has the same rate). Four game veterans have managed to win an edition of the game: Arthur Denneman (2004 and 2006), Frank Koper (1995), Michael Botzet (1999) and Tako Molanus (1998). With respect to positions among the best 10% of the field, Wil Gommans remains the most successful participant. This year he obtained his seventh 90+ rate in nine participations. Cameron Henderson (not included in this list), Jean-Luc Bulliard, Michael Botzet and Michael McQuillen have managed six positions in the top 10% of the field.
Last update: July 25, 2006. erikt@xs4all.nl |