How to play

The basics

You pick a team of riders to compete in the Tour de France. You score points based on how well they do during the race. You can change your team along the way to pick the best riders for different races and types of stage.

Getting started

First, you need to register, if you haven't already. Then you'll need to come back here and set up your team. Once you're logged in the game should set your account up automatically. You can choose a team name when you first log in, and you can change it at any time by clicking on [my account] in the top bar.

Your team and different types of rider

Your team consists of eight riders. The riders in the game are classified as star riders and domestiques. You can pick any riders within the competition budget, but only two riders from any one team.

The star riders are the stars of the professional teams. They fall into four categories:

• General Classification (GC) riders are the ones best equipped to do well in the overall race. They tend to be good at everything, with an emphasis on climbing and time trialling, which are the disciplines that allow you to gain most time over your rivals in a big tour.
• Sprinters (PC, or Points Classification) are the men to back on flat stages where there's likely to be a bunch sprint.
• Climbers (KM, or King of the Mountains) will come to the fore on the hilly stages.
• All rounders (AR) are good at everything. They're certainly capable of winning individual tour stages.

The Domestiques (DS) are the workhorses of the peloton. Their role is to support the star riders from their team. They also tend to make up the breakaway groups that are a feature of professional bike racing.

Each rider is classified and valued based on their UCI ranking and race results. The highest possible value is 37 credits and the lowest is 3 credits.

The different types of stage

Stages are categorised in the game as follows:

• FL - flat stages; these normally (but not always) favour the sprinters. Some smaller climbs.
• MM - medium mountains; lumpy stages with plenty of climbing but smaller categorised climbs
• HM - high mountains; over at least two high categorised climbs, and often more
• SF - summit finish; the last categorised climb ends at the finish line. Normally one for the big GC riders
• IT - individual time trial; single riders against the clock. Check the profile; some ITs are flat, some very hilly or a summit finish.
• TT - team time trial; the whole team goes at once and the time is normally taken at the fifth rider over the line.

On occasion a stage with a climb at the end will not be catregorised as a summit finish stage, depending on the severity of the climb.

Picking your team

Go to the Pick team page. It'll look something like this:

1. The stage you're picking a team for is shown at the top, along with the distance and type of terrain, which is handy for picking the right sorts of rider. Click on the button to view the stage profile.
2. The deadline ticker shows you how long you have left to complete any changes before the start of the stage.
3. These two boxes show you:
   • How much you have left to spend on riders
   • How many free transfers you have left (more on this below)
4. This is where you build your team of riders, by selecting riders from the right hand window.
5. The rider list shows you which riders are available, click Add to add them to your team.
6. You can use the rider options menus to narrow your choices, or search for a particular rider.
7. The strengths and weaknesses pie chart shows your current team makeup-.
8. When you have a valid team, the confirm button will turn green. Click it to commit your changes.
9. Before the first stage of a competition you can elect to randomly fill your team with riders. If you don't know who to pick it'll give you a team to start from!

Rider stats

Clicking on a rider's name in the right hand bar, or in your team, will bring up a screen with their statistics for the game.

1. Basic stats show the rider's team, nationality, age, value in the current competition and current form (average points scored over last five stages they contested).
2. Points breakdown shows a rider's scoring breakdown, giving you a better idea of what type of rider they are

Starred riders in the list

Some riders will have stars next to their name in the list; they can help you make selections based on how riders are doing. Here's what they mean:

Popular rider: in 15% or more teams for the last stage
In-form: has a form average of 8 or above for the previous 5 scoring stages
Dream team: in the dream team for the last stage, ie the nine highest scoring riders

Scoring and gameplay

When a stage is complete, the riders will be scored according to how well they performed. These are the things that will be scored:

• A top 20 finish in a stage (or top 10 in a team time trial):
  • 35, 30, 25, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the first 20 riders across the line
• Wearing a jersey:
  • 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top ten in the general classification
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the points competition
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the mountains competition
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the young rider competition
• Scoring mountains points in a stage
  • Category 4: 3 points for the first rider
  • Category 3: 5, 3 points for the first two riders
  • Category 2: 8, 6, 4, 2 for the first four riders
  • Category 1: 10, 6, 4, 2, 1 for the first five riders
  • Hors Catergorie: 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 for the first eight riders
• Scoring intermediate sprint points in a stage
  • 15 points down to 1 point for the first 15 riders over the line.
• Team bonus
  • 5 points for each participating rider from the same team as the winner not including the winner
• Getting a combativity award
  • 10 points for a stage combativity award
• Rolling in dead last on a stage.
  • 10 points for last place on a stage (note: this is last on the day, not last overall in a tour)

If a rider starts a stage or a single day race then any points they score for that stage will count, even if they abandon the stage. That includes team bonus points.

Achievement badges

Players can unlock different achievement badges. The competition will have a set of badges drawn from the following:

	Tour Top 20 Top 20 finish in one of the game competitions
	Stage top ten Top ten placing on any game stage
	High roller Top ten placing at any time in a competition
	High stage score (100) A score of 100 or over on any stage
	High stage score (200) A score of 200 or over on any stage
	Team effort All riders scoring on any one stage (excludes team time trials)
	Podium Picking the first three riders on any stage
	First & Last Picking the winner and the last placed rider on any stage
	Lanterne Rouge Picking the last man home on any stage
	Sprinter Picking the winner on a flat stage
	Summit Picking the winner on a summit finish
	Puncheur Picking the winner of a hilly (MM) or mountain (HM) stage
	Time Trialler Picking the winner of an individual time trial stage
	Points award: 1k A competition score of 1000 or over
	Points award: 2k A competition score of 2000 or over

Disqualified riders

If a rider is disqualified or suspended then they won't score any points for the stage in which they were disqualified. Their other points from other stages will remain in the game.

Making changes to your team

You'll get a set number of transfers for the competition. You can use as many transfers as you like on any stage, but once they're gone, they're gone. Use them wisely!

I messed up my transfers, can I reset them?

Not after you've pressed the big green Commit button, no. Press with care...

I missed the deadline/my transfers didn't go through/etc

In approaching 100% of cases, players who email saying that their transfers didn't go through actually just missed the deadline, and made them for the next stage. Making and checking your transfers in good time is your responsibility as a player. Deadlines in a tour aren't the same each day, because start times aren't the same each day. All the deadlines are shown on your dashboard.

Greyed out riders

If you pick riders who subsequently retire from (or don't start) the race then they'll be greyed out. You can replace them using your transfers if you want. It doesn't matter if some of your riders are greyed out for the purposes of scoring: they won't score any points, but you'll still score for your other riders. You don't get a free transfer to sub them out.

During a Competition, retired riders will be removed as soon as we know they're out of the race. If a rider you've picked is removed, and you've elected to receive emails about roster changes, we'll email you to let you know.

Cancelled stages/neutralised stages

If a stage of a race gets cancelled, everyone will score zero points for that stage. Any transfers you've made for the stage will stand.

Sometimes stages are neutralised because of a crash, rider action or unforseen circumstances. If a stage is partly or fully neutralised, no finish line points or team bonus will be awarded. All intermediate points scored before neutralisation will be awarded, as well as GC, jersey points, and combativity if applicable.

Updating of the game

Scores will be posted and the game updated on the evening of the stage wherever possible. The allocation of points by the game adjudicators will be deemed as final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the rider scores. Once a stage is completed the points for each rider will be shown on its corresponding stage page in the stages list