The Man Game Season 2012 finished recently. Time to check the 2012 previews again.
We had 3 brilliant Continental tour previews. All of them were great read and gave us a closer view on the teams. But some riders disappointed while others surprised many of us.
In the following tables I will list the 3 previews. The + and - symbols will show you the difference to the original ranking.
First Heine`s 2012 prediction. He was the first before the season and had the hardest job probably.
Preview
Real
Difference
Team
1
1
0
Team Bianchi
2
4
-2
Pokerstars.com
3
14
-11
Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa
4
11
-7
VolksWagen - Siemens
5
24
-19
Proximus - Trek
6
15
-9
T.CS Bank - OJSC Rosneft
7
2
5
Rapha Condor - Qhubeka
8
13
-5
Emu Export
9
12
-3
Pirelli - Alfa Romeo
10
3
7
Jayco - Red Bull
11
5
6
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
12
7
5
Team Venchi ProCycling
13
18
-5
Saab-Scania
14
10
4
Hollister Pro Cycling
15
20
-5
Team Rothaus - Aegon
16
22
-6
Team CSC-Orbea
17
23
-6
Team WWE
18
16
2
Team Trilux - Falke
19
6
13
Aker Solutions - Bergans
20
21
-1
Ferrari - ERG
21
8
13
UniCredit
22
9
13
Team Puma - SAP
23
17
6
Team Bpost
24
27
-3
Cerne
25
19
6
Cyclevox
26
25
1
Focused Cycling
27
26
1
Koppert Cycling Team
28
28
0
Meiji - Fuji
29
29
0
Oz Cycling Project
Heine expected far too much from Proximus, Vespa and T.CS. Well, their rosters around Valverde, Pozzovivo, Ginanni and Ignatiev could let you think they would be higher.
Aker Solution, Unicredit and Puma-SAP were the examples for other other direction. But who would have had expected them so high? Alarcon and Bennati were really beasting this season, while Unicredit had a good depth.
Next ember`s preview:
Preview
Real
Difference
Team
1
1
0
Team Bianchi
2
11
-9
VolksWagen - Siemens
3
15
-12
T.CS Bank - OJSC Rosneft
4
14
-10
Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa
5
4
1
Pokerstars.com
6
2
4
Rapha Condor - Qhubeka
7
3
4
Jayco - Red Bull
8
7
1
Team Venchi ProCycling
9
12
-3
Pirelli - Alfa Romeo
10
24
-14
Proximus - Trek
11
6
5
Aker Solutions - Bergans
12
13
-1
Emu Export
13
5
8
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
14
17
-3
Team Bpost
15
8
7
UniCredit
16
9
7
Team Puma - SAP
17
16
1
Team Trilux - Falke
18
18
0
Saab-Scania
19
22
-3
Team CSC-Orbea
20
23
-3
Team WWE
21
10
11
Hollister Pro Cycling
22
27
-5
Cerne
23
19
4
Cyclevox
24
21
3
Ferrari - ERG
25
20
5
Team Rothaus - Aegon
26
26
0
Koppert Cycling Team
27
25
2
Focused Cycling
28
28
0
Meiji - Fuji
29
28
1
Oz Cycling Project
Just like Heine the high expectations in T.CS, Vespa and Proximus let ember "fail" in these 3 predictions. In California, Unicredit and Puma he has the 3 biggest difference to the top of the ranking.
Last but not least Smowz`s preview:
Preview
Real
Difference
Team
1
15
-14
T.CS Bank - OJSC Rosneft
2
1
1
Team Bianchi
3
14
-11
Vespa - Aprilia - De Rosa
4
11
-7
VolksWagen - Siemens
5
3
2
Jayco - Red Bull
6
4
2
Pokerstars.com
7
12
-5
Pirelli - Alfa Romeo
8
5
3
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
9
10
-1
Hollister Pro Cycling
10
2
8
Rapha Condor - Qhubeka
11
8
3
UniCredit
12
24
-12
Proximus - Trek
13
7
6
Team Venchi ProCycling
14
13
1
Emu Export
15
16
-1
Team Trilux - Falke
16
6
10
Aker Solutions - Bergans
17
9
8
Team Puma - SAP
18
23
-5
Team WWE
19
27
-8
Cerne
20
18
2
Saab-Scania
21
17
4
Team Bpost
22
25
-3
Focused Cycling
23
21
2
Ferrari - ERG
24
20
4
Team Rothaus - Aegon
25
22
3
Team CSC-Orbea
26
19
7
Cyclevox
27
26
1
Koppert Cycling Team
28
28
0
Meiji - Fuji
29
29
0
Oz Cycling Project
Smowz put the biggest hope in T.CS and Vespa and previewed these two as podium teams. In the end they are not even relegation teams. Also Proximus was again put far too high after their disappointing season.
With Aker, Puma and Rapha he selected 3 teams far too low. Aker and Puma even reached the relegation spots in the end due to their stars, while Rapha was one of the dominating teams this season with an incredibly deep.
So in total we see that Bianchi was voted to be one of the strongest teams and they did fulfill all expectations by winning the CT Tour.
Also Pokerstars was previewed in the right area while all 3 were misled by T.CS, Vespa, Proximus and Volkswagen the most in the one direction and Puma and Aker into the other direction.
The fight for the bottom last was won by Meiji and all 3 predictions got that right.
I sure showed you guys In fairness, we only came 19th thanks to a smart move sending Vaitkus to Faso (dumb luck really) and again, dumb luck with Mandri's win in Taihu.
I guess it says, smart planning or pure dumb luck can stand for more than a good team. Unless of course, it's Bianchi/Red Bull/ Rapha good.
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I would add that VolksWagen and Pirelli underpeformed a bit.
I think that this is partly due to increased competition in their leaders races and perhaps overreliance on those leaders. Something that Bianchi and JRB didn't do. Rapha whilst having a big scorer in Bellis also got some great results out of medium riders also.
Alarcon was just awesome - even taking into account his extra race days he was very strong. That has been nerfed a bit for next season with teh recalculated average. Not sure if embers gamble will work as well. That said some of his lesser riders actually scored relatively well which also contributed to a very successful season.
Proximus Trek - just rank bad planning for me. Their squad was not dissimilar to Bacardi from last year - that is one superstar two very decent subleaders and a load of 50K riders (granted Kami got better ones). The difference here was in the planning. Can you remember much from Cavendish and Ben Nasser?
T.CS Bank had issues with being based in Europe and not getting the easy score races. There was some strange planning decisions and some issues with them missing races. Ignatiev struggled to impose himself as he had before and they fell quite badly below the mark. I think they'll be very strong though in 2013.
At lease Smowz only slightly underestimated my team. Or at lease underestimated the amount of money I am willing to spend in bribes to the race reporters
