Winners of Vuelta a Espana Fantasy Cycling-Games 2008 confirmed!

We are delighted to confirm the winners of the Vuelta a Espana 2008 game here at Fantasy Cycling-Games.

Grand Prize - Manager "CY-KOTICS" from Colorado Springs, USA

With ~200 players taking part in this year's game, manager "CY-KOTICS" won 347.50 Euros ($475 USD) with his team "JOEYBIKE" scoring 6693 points overall.

Here's what he had to say about his selection strategy: "My 18 year old son and I pick the teams together. 9 GC and 6 sprinters seems to be a great combination depending on the stages and that worked this time. This was the easiest selection for the GC as there were very few quality riders that could really contend for the GC. The other challenge was deciding which riders were going to drop out for the worlds. This impacted our sprinter selection as well as our points competition selection. That actually was the difference in our winning margin. Our "wildcard" for this team was Joaquin Rodriguez. He actually did a better than we had anticipated. Managing the team was a bit challenging. We actually missed more points in the stages this year than in most tours. Thanks for putting on such a fun competition! Al & Joey Alvares "

2nd Place - Manager "zelaitxo" Aramaio, Spain

Missing the top place by just six points, manager "zelaitxo" won 183.50 Euros ($250 USD) with his team "oihan eta egoi" scoring 6687 points overall.

Here's what he had to say about his selection strategy: "1. Look what was happening in the first 5 stages. 2. having in mind that the Vuelta was in Spain, I thought that Spanish cyclists must be in majority. 3. Choose 9 cyclists for the general clasification and 6 for the stages That's all"

3rd Place - Manager "y barrankas" from Spain

Beating manager Joao Marques (4th place) by just 1 point, manager "y barrankas" won 104 Euros ($145 USD) with her team "serranillos" scoring 6595 points overall.

Here's what she had to say about her selection strategy: "We (my husband and I) have always used the same tactic : 9 riders for the general classification and 6 sprinters. 3 riders of de Caisse d´Epargne (strong team of the Vuelta), and strongs general riders: Contador and Leipheimer (of course), Anton, Sastre, Gesink, Mosquera... We have been lucky."

Daily Stage Winners

We are pleased to confirm the following winners of the daily stage prizes. To win each manager's team had the highest cumulative Stage Points in the given stage (note - this excludes any points gained in the GC, PTS and MTN elements of the game). They win free 21 credits towards their 2009 teams:

Stage 1   - Manager "ready kilawatt", Team "fun", USA
Stage 2   - Manager "damatdave", Team "ToCMarshals1", USA
Stage 3   - Manager "Probert al…", Team "Torro's H…ight", USA
Stage 4   - Manager "Where's Erik", Team "Evan knows", GBR
Stage 5   - Manager "Gann", Team "asper", AUS
Stage 6   - Manager "Cicltron", Team "Guanapay", USA
Stage 7   - Manager "Texasjaz Texas", Team "RoadRash", USA
Stage 8   - Manager "Bandit Racers", Team "Bbandits", USA
Stage 9   - Manager "St Domingo", Team "Blue 2", GBR
Stage 10 - Manager "Joao Marques", Team "Joaomark1", ESP
Stage 11 - Manager "Cat Lady", Team "Catatonic", USA
Stage 12 - Manager "HOOGS2", Team "Pedros Sweet Ride", USA
Stage 13 - Manager "Dannow Bay", Team "silence-dano", GBR
Stage 14 - Manager "Pinocchio", Team "Vuelta003", DEN
Stage 15 - Manager "Rolf Pruijsen", Team "Superkadavers", NED
Stage 16 - Manager "Mountain to Climb", Team "Luz Ardiden", GBR
Stage 17 - Manager "Jeffrey Dahmer", Team "Aspire", ESP
Stage 18 - Manager "GrayStratus", Team "GrayStratus I", USA
Stage 19 - Manager "Java Slugs", Team "mort mort", USA
Stage 20 - Manager "zelaitxo", Team "oihan eta egoi", ESP
Stage 21 - Manager "Panoramix", Team "Les Gaulois", CAN