TBD X Castelli Tour De France Fantasy Challenge: 5th Edition
Welcome journal readers to the 5th Annual TBD TDF Fantasy Challenge and happy Unchained release day! Your opportunity to prove you have been paying the most, or perhaps the least, attention to the state of the professional peloton for this season. The game is open and ready for you to begin picking your team and the choices you make will define you for the next three weeks.
This is our fourth year running a TBD TDF Fantasy Challenge and once again we’re paying out Castelli prizes thanks to their ongoing support of the Journal. Good luck to all competitors, especially chrispal who has a remarkable record in these competitions
THE GAME: The Official Fantasy Tour De France game by Tissot.
THE PRIZE: $100 Castelli gift card
The Rules
You get 120 credits to build a team by “buying” 8 riders. Your team cannot exceed 5 all-rounders, 3 climbers, 3 sprinters , or 3 leaders - basically , you can’t stack your team with only GC contenders. You can make 8 changes (transfers) during the race. But! If you sell a rider worth 8 credits, you can only buy someone worth 8 credits. That's it. That's (basically) the whole game.
Pro Tips from a professional amateur TDF Fantasy Enthusiast
Open your work calendar and block out 10:30 - 11:30AM EDT for the entire month of July so you never have to look away at the end of a stage.
Double check your team the night before stage 1 to ensure there haven’t been any withdrawals. If you lose that random 5 point player you picked to fill out your roster, then you’ve lost before we even started.
Don’t forget to select a road captain every day - they will score double points. This should be someone who could potentially win, or at least come in top 10 on the stage. A stage result gets more points than leading the GC on the day. Or you could probably just pick Pogacar every day, I guess, if you are boring and hoping for a boring tour.
Use your transfers wisely! Don’t start trading on the first or second day because there are always more abandons than you expect.
The game is open and rosters are almost finalized. Do you also think that everything the light touches is Tadej’s kingdom? Is it worth spending on Primoz, knowing you’ll need to trade him after the first week when he inevitably falls down? (oops!). Do you want to honor G’s (which is still Geraint, not Derek Gee, at least not yet) final hurrah by giving him a coveted place on your roster? Was Wout really sick before belgie nats or is he just taking extra time to be at his best self for the tour? Who is the best sprinter and will MVDP take the green jersey? (You heard me). What will the cast of the breakaway be wearing every day?
If the above link doesn’t work (blame the TDF site designer), join the fantasy TDF game, and search leagues for league no.75403 : TBD x TDF Fantasy League.
