Fantasy DH League Results: Who Won the First Round - Fort William DH World Cup 2024

 yeah the salary pricing is a bit shit.

 Yeah new point system is crap.

 seems like if a FL rider is winning your budget should go up as well & if you're losing it at least stays the same or drops (?) $1m for the top 2 ladies or 4 men means you have all of essentially nothing left...

 We'll take a look at the budget cap later in the season if we have to, but it's supposed to create tough choices and look at more riders than the well known top 5—just like being a real team manager.

 @brianpark: Any chance PB will be offering the over/under on the number of times Ric McLaughlin utters the word "penultimate"?

 If there weren't actual prizes (supposedly), this might be funny.

 @Kysic: I have no stones to throw for repeating phrases. I can't stop myself from saying "the fact that" in podcasts or presentations, it's terrible.

 @brianpark: @edspratt Just a question on overall value in the riders field. You increase Vali and Nina by a combined $500,000 now, but does the overall value of the womans field have drops of $500,000 for other riders? What I'm getting at is the whole value of the complete womans (& mens) field should stay static otherwise its pointless if the budget doesn't increase.

 @brianpark: Just a question on overall value in the riders field. You increase Vali and Nina by a combined $500,000 now, but does the overall value of the womans field have drops of $500,000 for other riders? What I'm getting at is the whole value of the complete womans (& mens) field should stay static otherwise its pointless if the budget doesn't increase. @edspratt

 @JNZ @brianpark: Pretty much this... and maybe that's how it would have to work. IE - the womens pool for example would have say a $5 million total pricing. so as some pros go up, others should go do down so that each round the pool is still $5M (?). I don't know if that's the actual total or how it works, just speculating. I know zilch about gambling style / fantasy anything.

But even with the previous $750K (ish) per top tier pro, no one could have a top male or female as that woul eat the entire budget. At $1M for one rider now, it would seem the cost of having even 1 top tier pro, forcing bottom of the race pro's would defeat the whole point. And if the cost jumps 33% for Vali or Loic for one race, and say that rider wins the next race - their cost should then be $1.33M then if they won races 3 & 4, at 33% jumps, it would exceed entire budget (or it should as if you are winning every race your value would have to be exponential not reducing). But hey, I'm sure PB has though thru that?

 @JNZ: this is the only reasonable question/criticism I've seen yet on fantasy DH. It does make sense that the entire field cost doesn't change. Regardless though, if everybody is limited by the same rules it doesn't really matter, but this is a good idea.

 @brianpark: whatever the end state is, I gotta say it had its desired effect. Couple of us were obsessing over qualis, semis, and finals beginning to end because we had to build teams with riders outside of the top 5.

 @JNZ @Mtn-Goat-13: yes, much of the field decreases in price per round. It's not to a total maximum value per field, although I don't hate that idea. I will say that the majority of the field decreases in price per round. And yes it'll get harder as the year goes on and the consistently top riders price themselves out of most teams, but there should be lots of deals to be had as riders have bad races or come back from injury, etc.

 @brianpark: Thanks for the update, just another point what was the reasoning for not awarding points from Qualifying and semi finals same as it was previously? Round scores are obviously going to be lower across the season. Effectively now you have to have a consistent top 30 man or top 15 woman that makes it through qualy and semis to score any points at all.

 @brianpark: what's the point in having riders no one can afford.

 @sidekicksjn: So that everyone doesn't just pick the same team and the contest doesn't become stale after round 2.

 @sidekicksjn: more interesting strategies.

@JNZ @Mtn-Goat-13: I checked w Ed this morning and the overall cost of the men's field decreased after round 1, and the overall cost of the women's field went up just a fraction.

Lots of excellent picks to be had for Rd 2.

 @brianpark: word. this is all a game anyway so I'm not sweating it, just curious but w/ all you have going on - much obliged on the updates.

 @brianpark: I think the intention is/was great. The execution not so much. $1 for a top rider when your budget is $1.5 creates a system where you don't have difficult choices, you have no choice.

Essentially, you can't put the top end riders on your team. You pick one of them you're then forced to fill your team with people that are very likely to put up zeros. It's just not fan friendly. People want to be able to have people on their team that are a threat to win it not a bunch of people you hope make finals.

I think with the current structure $2.5 would be reasonable but I'd bump it to $2m immediately. That allows you to run 1-2 people that are shots to win. 1-2 people that are podium contenders and a couple people that are at the very least likely to make finals. Having the ability to build a team that at least everyone scores is pretty rad.

So the scores bump up. You are still going to have to make difficult choices and your top end players are still going to be players that spend time and make good choices. But at least it's fun for casuals at that point and people can put people on their team that they know.

 @onemanarmy: Completey agree. I basically makes half you team useless if you want a top rider. The limit is way too low especially with the current projections if someone wins every race theyll be priced at nearly 3m.

 @philousousou nice job choosing a super interesting team and scoring a lot of points without the male or female winners on your team.

 @brianpark:

It's an interesting dynamic. It looks to be about across the board value. With the semifinal race format, only a handful of racers will even have the chance to pick up points and the winner doesn't really earn that many more points than other top finishers. It seems like if you could save six figures in budget by picking the 5th place (mens) finisher rather than the winner and apply the savings to try to get riders who can score any points at all, you'll come out ahead vs. picking the mega budget winner and filling out the roster with riders who are long shots to advance past the semis.

 @lancemountainbike: Dude - Do not give away good strategy for free......

 @brianpark: thanks, sometimes outsider (who still great riders) make some interesting run

 hmmm yeah actually that'd be interesting to dig in on. I'll see if we can figure that out. I'm really impressed that the top team didn't have any of the winners—makes it way more interesting to me.

 @brianpark: Well, this is because you can't currently buy a top 10 man and a top 3 woman in the same team...

 Same

 You need to clear the whole team and try again. It’s a bit shit this…

 Thanks for letting us know, we will take a look and get this fixed.

 Yeah happened me too, swap out the highest woman on the list and it brings up the blokes list.

 @RickyMicky: Wow, I guess it is working as intended, so less people have to deal with it.

 @RickyMicky: So the same after every fantasy round for me then. A bit shit would be a vast improvement. I am completely shit at fantasy.

 @edspratt: also some teams now show 5 dudes, after a rider has been dropped due to over budget.

 @Andrea1811: You should still have your points from round one even with Loic removed from your team. Can you send me a message with a link to your team so I can look into this?

 Imagine if Specialised announced today "Well, good news from Fort William we got both elite riders in the top 3! The bad news is we have had to sell Finn to Norco, and no one can afford Bruni anomore so he will be racing as a privateer from now on"

Doesn't affect me because my team choice was terrible, but anyone that had good picks who is having their top rider get booted is entitled to a moan.

 Yeah this is a joke. Removed Vali for me.

 The new system effectively forces you to review and tweak your team before each race if you want to win. At least it's the same for everyone.

 @tremeer023: Yeah but I think vali went up 300k. That's an insane jump up for 1 round.

 When you get a rider you should be locked in at their price until you decide to change riders. I get what their intentions are currently but I don't think it's working the way they want. Forcing people to sell off their best and presumably favorite rider after every round they've done well is counterintuitive.

 Yeah it's a gash rule.

 You just have to budget better Hoffman was removed from my team so I removed the 2nd highest price male and put her back in.

 @matjtom90: this would be a far better idea.

 @matjtom90: I don't mind the new system, but this would make more sense to m. The you'd have to decide to keep your value buy or go to the market and pay whatever the price is based on latest results. Maybe next year, we're in it for 2024, let's make the best of the new format.

The plus side is when you suck, like I did, there's more money to be spent because every rider I chose went down in value hahaha

 @matjtom90: Normally Pinkbike undervalues some riders at the beginning of the season and after round one everybody twigs who the "best value" riders are this year. By the 2nd/3rd round basically everybody converges on a very similar team and makes no further changes.

This new system is a lot more dynamic - because the rider prices change after each round it forces you to constantly re-evaluate and reselect your team based on the latest results.

I don't know if it will be better or worse for the new system, but it should make it a bit more engaging - you need to come back every round to re-assess and select again. Every round is a clean slate.

It maybe gives you more of an incentive to follow the riders and pay careful attention to the results. It won't be as easy this year to just pick the people that did well in the last rounds.

 @tom666: I get that, but having to change the majority of your riders each round isn't really how most people want to play it seems and with the budgets people will have to really nerd out on some stats. In my opinion choosing the riders at their base price on the opening round makes sense and adjusting from there. I'm my case I had Dakota Norton because I assumed he'd be a podium contender and his value went up as well, if I was locked in I could keep him part of my team and the people that wanted to add him after the results could pay more for the privilege.

 @edspratt: My bad, all is good.

 @Andrea1811: your team for Fort William was: Loic Bruni (+30), Lachlan Stevens-Mcnab (0), Jack Reading (0), Bodhi Kuhn (+8 ), Camille Balanche (+24), Jenna Hastings (0).

Congrats, you have 62 points and are in 1936th place (of almost 19K players!).

After Fort William, each rider's price changed based on their results. This mean that your most expensive rider (Bruni) was removed from your team and automatically replaced with a cheaper rider.

You can make other team changes to make room to get Bruni back, or replace him with another rider. At this point it's likely that going all-in on a top rider isn't the winning strategy, so you'll have to look further down the ranks to see who can deliver value for your money.

Tip: look for top riders who had a bad first race and who have dropped in value.

 @brianpark: Yeah, sorry for the confusion and harsh words.

 For one, I know the winners of WIW are found on the original posts. But wouldn't this comment be better off on a Win it Wednesday thread? There still aren't new posts announcing the winners which is what your comment is implying

 @everythingsucks: I will reflect on your feedback and strive to do better in the future.

 @sfarnum: I don't believe you

 @everythingsucks: If only my actions will suffice to persuade, then let my deeds henceforth be evidence of my honesty forthwith.

 You can find the points table for this year's Fantasy League here. We assign points to a rider based on their position in finals only.

 @edspratt: Luke Meier-Smith came 30th and therefor should of got 1 point but he has 0

 @harvUK: Luke Meier-Smith had a DSQ on the official results so as he does not get a placing in finals he gets 0 points.

 @edspratt: thanks

 The "next eligible person" should ship it to him. I would.

 @nateb: i dont think this will happen

 Henri Kiefer was not available as a fantasy league rider for round one so could not score league points, as he made it to finals in Fort William he will now be available for the rest of the season.

 @edspratt:oh now I see it. and of course Henri and not the tennis player Nicolas:-) Thanks!

 @edspratt: he was the junior Worldchamp lol, Henry Kerr got no fantasy points btw, i am pretty sure he was there before the first round.

 At least since I started here five years ago the Fantasy League points have always been for finals only. While before recent format changes that covered 60 riders, we were still not giving out points to any rider who did not qualify for a finals run.

 Duh! Welcome to the PB comment section! LOL! I love the work the PB team put into this. Love the concept and the challenge of having sliding scales. Just wish the budget was a tad higher.

 @pierceblewis both Amaury and Tahnee's points are showing correctly on teams for me. Can you send me a message with a link to your team so I can take a look at the problem?

 This I'd be pretty miffed if I was philousousou. If he was across the border in Germany he'd have two pairs of shoes to go alongside the bragging rights, but he's in Belgium, so he gets peanuts.

 @Maxcommencemal: Each country has different policies and rules I think. It's not as simple as saying "it's in the EU so it's fine".

 @JonnyNorthmore: yes. It's called having sovereignty.
Now for imports once it's in the EU, it's in. Games, raffles, sweepstakes and lottery rules will differ according to each individual country. It's still a bit shite for Philou, but that's how it is.
Pinkbike ought to ask him if he has any address they could use in those territories that allow the prize giving before moving onto the next player on the list

 @Maxcommencemal: I'm sure someone could take delivery of said prize, and then ship them to him in Belgium.

 ... someone at PB that is.

 @Maxcommencemal: yes I'm sure pinkbike is really interested in setting up a legit contest that abides by international sweepstakes laws and then just casually reaching out to a winner outside of one of those approved jurisdictions and be like, "hey do you have an address outside your country we can use to illegally ship your prize to?"

Are you f*cking stupid? How would you ever think that would happen?

 @warmerdamj: glad to be reminded that I can always rely on somebody below the line on PB to take it to the second degree. Lighten up, it's a game. For fun.

 @Maxcommencemal: My comment has nothing to do with the game. It's about your thought process that a company as big as Outside (because that's what PB is now) not offering to send somebody a pair of shoes in a country they have already deemed ineligible in a contest is somehow unfair. It's stupid and they should absolutely be expected to move onto the next name on the list.

 @Maxcommencemal: Hello Max, No because I live in Monschau. it's exactly the place where we count on 3 borders. So my adress is in germany and my cellular phone number is from belgium. provider coverage issue

 @philousousou: so you got the shoes? Awesome and congratulations!

 Best change it then

 Yeah it said that in the rundown of how the season works. If your rider value changes they bump your highest value person. You can put them back on your team but you'll have to trim budget in other places.

 Matt Walker is showing he received the correct 21 points on our end and looks to have been added correctly to teams.

 Matt walker uk.shows scored points Matthew walker Nz scored 0 points

 @edspratt: I’m in a league called Utah MTB and I have Walker in my lineup showing 0 points. How do I get this corrected?

 @tjberard19: If you send me a message on my Pinkbike profile with a link to your team page I can have a look into this.