Fantasy Cycling-Games TIPS & TACTICS -

Make provisional selections for all 21 stages now!...

One of the biggest areas of disappointment in the game comes from not having a selection in place for a given Stage. One missed stage selection can blow your entire chances at winning a game. It can be the difference of 50-100 places in the ranks if you are unlucky. Don't rely on your internet connection always working at critical points in the game (e.g. especially just before the daily stage entry deadline). Don't leave it to the last minute... that Grand Prize could be yours.

Here's what to do - make a provisional selection of 9 riders in the MANAGE TEAM screen for each and every stage (21 daily Stages, GC, PTS and MTN). If you see Green buttons instead of Orange ones then you've cracked it!

Éric from Québec (Canada) already one of the Grand Prize winners from this year's games says...

"Since there were many sprint stages this year and few stages for escapees in the Giro, I picked 6 sprinters using the first stages as a clue to who could perform in the sprints. I tried to pick a few sprinters whom I thought would make it to the end, this makes a big difference in the stage points. Then I picked 9 riders for GC using stage 4 as a reference, but took a chance with Savoldelli which paid off in the end. I didn't bother taking a good climber which wasn't going for GC as many GC contenders/helpers were amongst the best climbers. And I won a great prize with a little luck! Thanks for a great game! Éric (manager Éric, Canada)

Joao Marques from Portugal, who came second in last year's Fantasy le Tour game, shares some of his tactics for this year's game...

"First of all, I would like to say, that this is one of the best games that I have played online. It's a great way to watch the every day stages of the Grand Tours. About this year TDF game, considering the change in rules, I will use different tactics this year. Of course, the mostly important thing, is to catch the first five or six of the GC. But it is also very important to catch the best climbing riders and those who score a lot in the points classification. In my view, the best way to pick the riders, is to choose seven for GC, two for the Mountains, two strong guys for the stages, and the remaining four, they will come from the first eigth stages. The difficulty lies in having to select our riders before the first real mountain stage, the shape of the best riders can't be known for sure. Good luck! Joao" (manager Joao Marques, Portugal)

How to create your own Mini-League...

Why not search for your friends teams and create your own mini league in the WATCH TEAMS screen? It's easy to do. Just ask them for their team name or manager name and search for them in the TEAM RANKS page. Then click the blue button and add them to your personalised WATCH TEAMS screen.

As part of the improvements we've added to the game this year we've added the ability to WATCH TEAMS. You can keep an eye on key players in the game and see how they perform. From the TEAM RANKS page simply click the blue button next to the team name. This will turn red to indicate that you can now watch that team's progress in the WATCH TEAMS screen. After stage 7 you will be able to quickly link to their daily rider selections of 9 riders each for stage 1-21, GC, PTS and MTNs.

Manager "Dr Do Little" from Jacksonville, Florida USA was the Grande Prize winner of this year's Spring Classics game.

Here's what he had to say about his team strategy:

"As to my "secrets", as you know, there is much luck involved in winning this game.

1. First, you have to not do badly so you don't have to play "catch up" and get desperate too early. Mostly, you have to select riders who don't crash or are not sick. (Luck #1)
2. Next, you almost have to play 5 teams each race (or at least 3 teams). This is because you can’t select all the best riders on the same team, as they are too expensive. So you must distribute those riders amongst your teams, so you at least have a good chance of having a team with the winning rider.
3. Third, you need to select a team that few others have, so if you’re right, you leap way up the leader board. (Luck #2) My “luck” was selecting Ballan for Flanders; although he was expensive, he was afforded one of the 5 “favorite” team slots. Ballan won, and few others had him, so up the leader board I went!
4. Fourth, you somehow need to keep your lead; since this was a year where mostly favorites scored well, playing the favorites, the normal thing to do, turned out well. (Luck #3)If a dark horse won, I likely would have lost.
5. Fifth, last minute news doesn’t ruin your selections; the US team managers are at a disadvantage, as the morning “news” comes out (e.g. Cyclingnews late editions) after the selection deadline, while the Euros get to know the latest. 4p.m. EDT is 10 a.m. in most of Europe, and often there is news of note. We usually make our selections knowing little or none of the latest info on rider health, team intentions and the like. It’s hard to create a level playing field, so you have to hope the additional info is not important and/or relevant. (Luck #4)"

Manager 'Suts the Mut' from the UK, who came third in last year's Fantasy Tour game, shares some of his tactics for this year's game...

"Keep an eye on as much cycling news as possible in the run up to the Tour de France, be it websites, magazines or TV coverage. This will ensure you're up to date with who's hot and who's not. If you want to do well in the competition you'll have to find a 'dark horse' who will score well. Picking Armstrong, Ullrich and McEwen is sensible but commonplace. For me last year, my dark horses were Andreas Kloden, who had convincingly won his national championship, and Jose Azevedo. Both were acting as 'lieutenants' to their team leaders, and were economical purchases.

"Unfortunately in this year's competition many of the 'lieutenants' are a little more expensive, but are still worthy of consideration. The balance of the team should favour GC contenders, as they'll also score well on the Points and Mountains competitions. Indeed, given that stage points go all the way down to 15th position this year its not inconceivable that GC contenders trying to stay out of trouble in the sprints may pick up a few points here as well.

"Finally, my secret weapon last year was lots of time to consider my selections. At the time I was stuck in bed with a triple fracture to my left leg. I wouldn't recommend going that far, but don't leave it till the last minute! Darren" (Darren is from Solihull, West Midlands, UK).

Manager 'Gianmarco' from the USA, who came 4th and won a pair of Bontrager Race X lite wheels in last year's game...

I have always used the formula of 10 GC men and 5 sprinters. If I can't fit in 10 solid GC riders, then I start looking for guys who don't cost a lot of points and have already scored points. With 8 stages of racing before you have to finalize your team, you should have a pretty good idea of who is out of the GC already and who is sprinting well. It's easy to find guys who have already scored. The difference between the winners and the losers can be as few as 1-3 riders. There will be the guys that everyone picks (Armstrong, Ullrich, Boonen, etc) but it's the less obvious ones that will determine the fate of your team. A lot of that selection is just luck. There's always a surprise in the GC, there's always someone who will get hurt and have to abandon, and there's always someone who will suddenly pop and lose tons of time. People like me who picked Kloden last year got really lucky. He was on the cheap for points, and then he finished second overall. I picked him as a space filler who happened to be the German road race champ. He's probably not such a good pick this year because he costs a lot more points and his form is questionable.

It's important to remember that the teams that are ranked very high in the beginning of the game usually drop in the rankings later on. Don't be discouraged if your seemingly great and well-thought-out team begins ranked pretty low. You will move up as the race progresses.

Your Points riders should be your sprinters and GC riders that might win multiple stages (Lance Armstrong).

Your Mountains riders should be your GC riders. It's not worth picking someone who will not do well in GC and only goes for the polka dot jersey. Without Virenque this year, there's no telling who that might be anyway. Best of luck! Gianmarco (USA).

Wondering who to pick this year?...

You can tailor these for any of the previous races in the last four years by using the dropdown menu and clicking on the column headings to re-order the riders by "gc", "mtn", "pts", "Total" (the total points a rider scored across all the elements of the game) and importantly "Value" (this is the number of points a rider scores in relation to how much he costs you in UCI points to hadd him to your 15).

Manager "Hofgaard" from Oslo in Norway came 1st place runner-up with 7004 points winning a pair of HED's Stinger wheels...