Overview
Each player takes the role of a Directeur Sportif of a professional cycling team. The aim of the contest is to select the best possible team of 9 riders, while operating within the conditions set on team selection. The better your racers perform during the 3 week event, the more points they will accumulate for your fantasy squad.
Team Entry
You must use the Official Entry Form to submit your team. The Entry Form will be made available once the game is open for entries.
Entry into the Velogames Great Big Bike Game is free for each player, insofar as no payment is needed to enter a team. Your usual internet connection and bandwidth fees will still need to be settled with your internet service provider!
Only one team is allowed per player. Multiple team entries by a single player is not allowed and could lead to teams being disqualified from the game. If multiple teams are found, only the last team entered by the player will be accepted as the official entry.
Entry Deadline
The deadline for entries to be submitted is 13:45 CEST (Central European Summer Time) on Saturday 29th August 2020. That is 12:45 in the UK and 07:45 on US East Coast. Please make sure to check your time zone compared to CEST, so you do not miss out on entering your team!
Team Selection Criteria
In order that each player creates a balanced team, the following two important constraints are placed on team selection:
Team Budget
Teams are given 100 credits to select their riders. Credits are the Velogames currency. Each rider is given a value in credits, based on their prospective points-scoring abilities. The velocredits values are based on past results and recent form, with an emphasis towards those riders who have been successful in past editions of the race.
Rider Classes
Riders are split into 4 Rider Classes, which reflect their supposed strengths, weaknesses and role within their team. These categories are All-Rounder, Climber, Sprinter and Unclassed Riders.
Each team must contain 2 All-Rounders, 2 Climbers, 1 Sprinter, 3 Unclassed Riders and 1 Wild Card. The Wild Card selection may be from any rider category, and allows a team manager to specialise somewhat in the team they pick.
There are no other team selection criteria apart selecting 9 riders, staying within the 100 velocredit limit and making sure that the correct composition of Rider Classes is selected.
Team Changes
Once you have selected a team of 9 riders and they have started the first stage of the race, you may not replace them at any time during the contest.
There will be no rider substitutions during the contest, even if riders abandon during the race. The 9 riders that you start the tour with will be the only riders who will score you points during the contest.
You can make unlimited changes to your team up until the entry deadline of 13:45 CEST (Central European Summer Time) on Saturday 29th August 2020.
To make these team changes, simply click the Change Riders button on your team roster page and use the resultant dropdown menu to reselect your squad.
Only the last team entered by each player will be activated as an official entry.
Automatic Rider Replacements for non-starting riders
It is the responsibility of each directeur to manage their own team line-up as the entry deadline approaches.
Velogames will provide an indicator on each team roster page in the run-up to the start of the race, showing the status of each rider regarding whether or not they are on the most recent start-list.
If, for any reason, a rider does not start the race, they will be replaced in each Velogames team with a suitable replacement, determined by Velogames. This rider will be a rider of the same rider class as the non-starting rider. Where possible, this replacement will also be a rider from the same pro team as the non-starting rider, at a similar credit value. Where such a rider is not available, another rider of similar credit value (or the next available lesser price bracket) will be selected, based on the order of riders in the Velogames database. The decision of Velogames regarding which replacement riders are substituted in is final!
No automatic substitutions will be made for riders who drop out after the race begins - they are only used to ensure that each team starts the contest with a full squad of nine riders.
Scoring
Your riders score points for their real-life performances in the race, based on the Scoring System. You can also follow the link in the main menu for the detailed scores.
At the end of the 3 week event, the team whose riders have amassed the most points is declared the winner of Velogames Great Big Bike Game 2020!
Scoring cut-off
Scores become confirmed for Velogames purposes at 23:00 CEST during the evening on the day of each stage.
If a rider is removed from the standings after this deadline, for any reason, the points gained for that stage will stand.
Immediate disqualifications or declassifications (such as for irregular sprinting) will be taken into account when deciding Velogames points, as long as these penalties are announced before 23:00 CEST.
Back-dated disqualifications and reversal of results (even for doping offences) will not be taken into account after the 23:00 CET deadline, and the rider will keep his points.
This rule certainly should not be viewed as an acceptance of doping. The technical and gameplay issues surrounding back-dated scoring adjustments are difficult. Also, it is not fair to excessively punish players who have selected a rider in good faith, even if that rider is subsequently exposed as a cheater.
Neutralised and Cancelled Stages
If the race is neutralised for any reason by riders or race organisation, then no stage points (finish, sprints, summits, breaks or stage assists) will be distributed following the point of neutralisation.
If sprint, summits or the breakaway points zone have been reached prior to neutralisation, this points will be added as normal.
Classification points (including team and overall classification assists) will be added to team totals as normal at the culmination of the stage.
Daily classification points will also be awarded as normal in the event of a complete stage cancellation.
In the event of a "full-race abandonment", points gained in all the race days so far will continue to stand, and end-of-tour points will be awarded based on the overall classification positions after the last completed day of racing.
Update Schedule
A scoring update will be made on the evening of each stage, when results become available in the public domain.
A supplementary scoring adjustment could be made if there are changes in the results before the official 23:00 CEST scoring deadline.
The aim is to make a daily update. In instances where it is not possible to update the site on a daily basis, a full update will be made as soon as possible to keep the scoring information up-to-date.
Prizes
The contest is free-to-play, and no prizes are on offer except eternal pride for the winner!