It started with an idea. I run an online football pool just for fun. Basically, try and pick the winner of each game. You have a 50/50 shot to pick the winner out of two teams.
I also like cycling and to apply the same idea to a cycling race or race stages has proven to be difficult and discouraging to pick one winner out of a hundred or more riders. So I began to think about a way to make picks or predictions in a fun way to keep and/or peak an interest in the sport of bicycle racing.
Contrary to popular belief, cycling is a team sport. So I decided that maybe one pick was not enough, but multiple picks with the results of those picks being collected as a team.
Here's my idea:
Pick 5 riders you expect to finish well for the race or stage.
For each correctly picked stage winner, you get 5 points, if the rider you picked finishes in second place, you get four points, down to 1 point for fifth place. With one-day races or classics, the points triple: 15 for a correctly picked winner, 3 points if your rider finishes in fifth place.
Also each rider is given a time of where they finish, the winner gets a time of 00:00 and other riders are given times based on the number of minutes and/or seconds they finish behind the winner. The accumulated time of your 5 rider picks is your "score" for the race/stage.
Each rider's sprinting points and climbing points can also be accumulated. So you could pick your riders with the intention of accumlating sprint points, KOM points, or lowering your accumlated time. So to this affect, it is kind of a "Fantasy" cycling team your building, as much as it is a 'pool'. Just as each rider may have different goals in mind, so can each user have different goals: wins (place points), time, Sprint points, or mountain climbing points.
See the rules page here. (The rules page is a constant work in progress.)
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May 18th, 2012 · Georges wins stage, Zabriskie leads Tour of California
May 17th, 2012 · Zabriskie wins individual time trial, takes lead
May 17th, 2012 · Lars Bak powers to victory on 12th stage of Giro
May 16th, 2012 · Chris Horner finding form at Tour of California
May 15th, 2012 · Sagan increases lead in Tour of California
May 15th, 2012 · Spain's Rodriguez wins 10th stage, takes Giro lead
May 14th, 2012 · Ventoso wins Giro d'Italia sprint after other racers fall
May 14th, 2012 · Lance Armstrong 'done' with doping debate
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