so the tour has been run and won and this year we have a different winner but the same result.  whilst the quick-step and bora teams had the run of the stages, the final classification belonged to the gc riders.  with two riders in the top 3, team sky again took the lion’s share of the prize pool.  in fact, not just the lion, but the tiger, giraffe and half the damn savannah.  team sunweb had a good finish with dumoulin and lotto nl had two in the top 5.  after that it is getting pretty thin.  movistar jumped up a bit, but overall there were less winners than….

since this is based on real winnings, the dollar amounts from our prize pool equate to just over $700,000 for team sky, whilst my team, lotto soudal, walked away with $16,000.  not a  lot of money to run a team for 3 weeks.  honestly, it sounds like it wouldn’t even feed greipel for a week.

so, the team winnings are listed below and the final classifications can be found on the leaderboard page. as usual, send an email with your bank details and we will deposit your winnings.  if you want to donate your “winnings” back to the club, let me know.

there are only a few days to the most popular sleep deprived 3 weeks of the year for most of us.  the tour de france starts in mont-saint-michel and begins it’s anti-clockwise trek around france.  again we will be running a sweepstakes (as opposed to a full tipping comp) to make the tour a little more exciting for you.  sorry for the lateness of organising this, there has been a bit on leading up to this week.

our sweepstakes are a little different in the way that they distribute the prize money. as usual, teams will be randomly drawn out once all entries are in.  however, instead of just the usual stage win, yellow jersey win etc we will be tracking the actual prize money that the teams win.  the percentage of the total prize pool that each team wins, will be what your entry wins from the total prize pool of the sweepstakes.

in the tour, money is awarded for sprints, mountains, teams, wearing leaders jerseys and final positions.  basically every team will receive something from the prize pool. the actual winner of the tour will receive 500,000€ out of the 2,295,850€ prize pool which is 21.77%.  in our sweepstakes the entry that has the winning team will receive 21.77% of the sweepstakes prize pool, in this case approx $140.  however, every top 20 finish, intermediate sprint, mountain points and even days in a leaders jersey will also see your team accumulating money.

so, you do not have to do anything but purchase your entry and hope you get a good team.  then you just follow that team and pray that they have someone in the break to collect money along the way.

entries are $30 and there is only 22 teams in the tour so get in fast.  all money from the entries will be returned to the prize pool.  for more information, see the tipping home and rules pages linked below and click the link to enter.  you can also access the home page via the menu above.

tipping home – tipping contest rules – tour tipping leaderboard

CLICK HERE TO ENTER 

there is less than 2 weeks to the most popular sleep deprived 3 weeks of the year for most of us.  the tour de france starts in utrecht and begins it’s anti-clockwise trek around france.  in previous years we have run a full tipping comp where people had to tip a new rider every night.  unfortunately this did not run last year due to lack of interest (too hard) so this year we will run a sweepstakes instead.

however, just to be interesting, this sweepstakes will be a little different in the way that it distributes the prize money. as usual, teams will be randomly drawn out once all entries are in.  however, instead of just the usual stage win, yellow jersey win etc we will be tracking the actual prize money that the teams win.  the percentage of the total prize pool that each team wins, will be what your entry wins from the total prize pool of the sweepstakes.

in the tour, money is awarded for sprints, mountains, teams, wearing leaders jerseys and final positions.  basically every team will receive something from the prize pool.  the actual winner of the tour will receive 450,000€ out of the 2,030,150€ prize pool which is 22.166%.  in our sweepstakes the entry that has the winning team will receive 22.166% of the sweepstakes prize pool, in this case approx $140.  however, every top 20 finish, intermediate sprint, mountain points and even days in a leaders jersey will also see your team accumulating money.

so, unlike other years, you do not have to do anything but purchase your entry and hope you get a good team.  then you just follow that team and hope that they have someone in the break to collect money along the way.

entries are $30 and there is only 22 teams in the tour so get in fast.  all money from the entries will be returned to the prize pool.  for more information, see the tipping home and rules pages linked below and click the link to enter.

tipping home – tipping contest rules – tour tipping leaderboard

CLICK HERE TO ENTER 

each year we run a tipping competition for the tour de france.  unlike other tipping comps or fantasy teams, this competition requires you to make a choice every day of the tour.  you also compete in four different competitions with each tip, so you can choose the prize that you are chasing.

there is a page dedicated to the comp and there are links to the rules and instructions.  basically, you choose a different rider each stage, but this resets after a rest day and you can choose the same rider that you previously selected during the first week.  all tips are manually entered in the comments section of each stage of tipping comp which means that all tips are transparent.

entry per team is $20 and you can enter as many teams as you want.  all entry money is added to the prize pool so the more people that enter, the more money you can win.

once you have entered, head to the tipping home page and add your team name to the comments.  this year bonus kudos to those that name their team with a combination of their own name and that of either a team or rider.

Click here to enter 

the vuelta starts tonight and we managed to get all 22 teams assigned to people.  if you haven’t paid yet, click here or head to the online shop to complete your entry.

there is a new page here which can be found under the tipping comps menu.  it shows which team you received in the random draw, a break down of the rules and prize money as well as a start list to you can see who is on your team.  as the stages progress, the results will be updated accordingly.

cyclingnews have published their take on the five most important stages of the vuelta.  the first one comes at the end of stage 02 and the last one is the second last stage up the angliru.  the final climb of the vuelta is as follows – “The first six kilometres are already a hard slog, but the road starts to lilt skywards in earnest around the midway point, with a ferocious 21% wall. The gradient flits between 12 and 14% for the next three kilometres or so, but the real horrors are saved for the final 2.5km, where the gradient tops out at an eye-watering 23.5%. Cruelly, the road kicks up again to 21% shortly before the red kite, before the shallow descent to the finish line.”  nothing like we have here in perth.  take a look at the article here.

so all you have to do is cheer on your team from the comfort of your couch. good luck.

with the final grand tour starting next week, i thought that we might run a variation of the tipping comp and make things a lot less complicated.  unlike the tour de france tipping comp where you have to change your tip every day, this will be a sweepstake where a team is randomly assigned to you.  unlike other sweepstakes where it is just the gc, sprint, etc winners that get all the money, we will be assigning prize money in the exact same way that the organisers do.

what this means that that when you are assigned a random team that has no hope of winning the overall, you will still get money for every intermediate sprint and mountain pass that your team collects. every stage has 2 intermediate sprints and each will add to your overall winnings.  The total prize pool of the vuelta a españa is 1,057, 890 euros.  the tipping prize pool is $440.  we will be assigning prizes based on the same percentage that the actual race uses.  this means that although an intermediate sprint may only be worth a few cents each stage, money is awarded to the following categories –

• top 20 finishes
• top 3 teams
• most combative
• team in gc leaders jersey
• team in points leaders jersey
• team in mountain leaders jersey
• team in combined leaders jersey
• top 3 in each intermediate sprint
• top 2 in each mountain pass
• stage 14 top 2 on the special climb

on top of everything your team earns in those categories across the 21 stages, there is also the following prizes awarded at the end of the race –

• overall gc top 20
• team top 8
• points top 3
• combined top 3
• mountain top 3
• most combative

so, you see that even though your daily prize may not be much, at the end of the vuelta a españa, every person, should receive some winnings.  also, the hardest thing you have to do is enter.  all the work is done behind the scenes to determine just how much you have won.

so, to enter go to the shop and purchase a vuelta a españa sweepstakes entry for $20.  i have put a 22 item limit on the purchase, so once all the teams have been sold, that will be it.  the teams will be randomly assigned at the coffeeshop next saturday 24th august the day that the vuelta a españa starts.

good luck.

click here to purchase an entry

it is less than 1 week till the biggest bike race of the year starts and once again we will be running our tour de france tipping comp.  unlike other comps where you just choose a team based on a riders worth, this comp needs you to put in a daily tip.  the rider you choose will accumulate time and points which will determine your teams overall standing in 4 different categories.

there is a dedicated tipping comp section on this website which can be accessed via the menu bar at the top or via this link.  on the tipping home page there is a link to buy an entry to this years comp.  it cost $20 for every team you enter and all money will be used in the prize pool.  after you enter and pay via paypal, return to the tipping home page and add your team name to the comments.  this is usually a witty name based on some variation of the current teams, riders or their misdemeanour’s (i.e “steak for 1”, or “skytrain boringtime”).  if you register more than 1 team, please give me more than one team name.  if you do not add a team name, but do register a entry, your team will be called “Yourname Team”.  you cannot put tips in without buying an entry and all entries must go through the website.

there is a page per stage and to enter your tip you just have to add the riders name to the comments.  there are rules about who you can tip and how often (i.e no tipping the same rider till after a rest day) but that is all explained in the tipping rules page.  the comments on each stage will close off at 18:00 each night and if you miss the cut off, too bad, so sad.  you don’t totally miss out, but, as outlined in the rules, you will get the rider that comes in at the 75% of the field.  if it is a flat stage, that could mean no real loss.  if it is a mountain stage, it could mean losing 30min.  all tips must be place via the comments on the website.  if you cannot access, then get someone else to put your tip in.  we will not be excepting late tips or text messages.

the startlist will not be finalised till the last few days before, but the stage maps and profiles are available on each page.  the leaderboard will be updated after each stage and the prize pool will be calculated after all teams are registered.

it is a great way to follow the tour as you will be cheering on riders to sprint for 8th place as there could be points in there that could get you prizes.  so jump across to the tipping page and register your team now.

well the tour has been run and won so we can all look forward to a bit of a sleep in…until the olympics.  the complete domination of the sky team robots kind of took all the fun out of the event but there were some good moments from some of the minor teams.

in the tipping comp, team “C’est la Vie” took the wiggo approach and completely dominated the final week.  once he had a gap it would have taken a breakaway win to pull him back.  on GC he finished the tour a full 15min clear of his next rival.

in the sprint competition, team “Darkside” maintained a healthy lead until the final week when (i think) a missed tip cost him the lead.  he was only trailing by 4 points heading into the final stage and in an attempt to jump clear he tipped against “the cav” and actually fell to 3rd spot over all.  team “C’est la Vie” cleaned up again.

the mountains points are always a hard one to pick as the rider that usually gains the most points in a stage is not the winner, but part of a breakaway.  for most of the tour, this comp hovered around the low single digits for points until a flurry of activity in the pyrenees.  “Plan G” managed to stay that one solitary point ahead to take the victory.  with 3rd place tied on 35 points, the count back showed that “festina lente” received more points from HC climbs then team “C’est la Vie”

stage wins seem straight forward but are actually hard to pick.  this is evident by the number of times that the stage points hit a jackpot.  in the first week there was always someone picking one of the main sprinters.  in the subsequent weeks picking the breakaway was hard as even in the mountains, there was no guarantee that the gc riders would catch them before the finish.  at the end of the day the winner didn’t even pick the most stage wins, but picked the one that counted.  stage 13 when the points had hit a jackpot of 40 and were split between the top two placegetters.

now there are prizes for the top three in all categories, but unfortunately, i don’t have them all right now.  i forgot to get them off anna before she took off to france, so will get them sorted out when she returns.  there are lights, carbon handlebars and track pumps in the prize pool.

thanks to all that participated this year.  25 teams meant that we raised a further $500 towards the uci fundraiser to help get the spr reps over to south africa.

don’t forget the tour de france starts this weekend.

entries are still open for the spr tour tipping comp.

lots of prizes to be won plus you will be supporting the uci fundraiser.

head to the tour tipping home page for more info and the link to enter.