VELOGAMES FANTASY CLASSICS - RULES
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 12 riders to compete in the seven major Spring Classics - the historic one-day races that form the spine of the early-season cycling calendar.
Directeurs must select their 12 riders based on a budget, and can change their team at various times between races. The better the ridrs perform during each event, the more points they will accumulate for their fantasy directeur sportif.
To bring in an additional tactical element to team selection, directuers with premium access may also select a Captain and Lieutenant for their squad in each event, who they think will score the highest out of the riders in their squad. The Captain and Lieutenant will gain percentage bonus of 50% and 25% to any points gained during the race.
Team Entry
Players must use the Official Entry Form to submit their team. Team entries must be submitted before the entry cut-off for each Game Period, else they will only become effective at the next available deadline.
The entry cut-off for the first race of the main Fantasy Spring Classics Series will be 09:00 CET on Saturday 19th March 2011, shortly before the riders roll out of Milan to begin Milano - Sanremo.
Team Selection Criteria
In order that each directeur creates a balanced team for each race, standard team directeurs are given 100 velocredits (the Velogames currency) to select their team of 12 riders.
Premium team directors are given slightly more budget with which to select their squad, as they have 110 velocredits to spend on each Premium Team.
Each rider is given a value in velocredits, 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 previous editions of the Spring Classics.
Rider credit values will not change for the duration of the main Fantasy Classics spring series.
For the Velogames Fantasy Classics series, there are no other team selection criteria apart from staying within the velocredit limit and selecting a squad of 12 riders.
Scoring Points
Points are allocated to riders based on their real-life performance in each event, subject to the Velogames Fantasy Classics Scoring System.
Points are awarded in three categories: Finishing Positions, Assists and Breakaways.
Points for Finishing Positions make up the major amount of points available, and are awarded to the top 20 classified finishers in the race.
Points for Assists are awarded to the real-life team-mates of riders who finish in the top three, to recognise the efforts that go into putting a team's rider into a winning position.
In order to score assist points, a rider must start the race - but they do not have to complete the course.
Points for Breakaways are awarded to the riders who animate the race in its early stages and also those involved at the head of affairs during the crunch moments leading up the the finale.
There are four nominated Breakaway Points Sectors during each event, where the riders in the leading group on the road will all score points.
The first Breakaway Points Sector is based around half-distance, and the remaining Breakaway Points Sectors are located in the famous areas where each race is usually decided.
Breakaway Points Sectors will be published in good time before the deadline for each event, based on the final race routes that are published.
Please check the Race Calendar for full details of where each Brekaway Points Sector is located for each event.
For the purposes of points scoring, a "leading group" of riders is a group of 20 riders or less, with a gap of more than five seconds to the next rider or group of riders on the road.
Velogames will review video footage and race reports to ensure an accurate distribution of Breakaway Points, but in all cases the decison of Velogames is final.
For a full breakdown of how to score points in Velogames Fantasy Classics, please visit the Scoring System page.
Captains and Lieutenants
New for Velogames Fantasy Classics this season, directeurs with premium access (and all directeurs during training camp events) can now select a Captain and Lieutenant for their squad in each race, bringing in an additional tactical consideration for the competing directeurs.
These "protected riders" are the designated stars of the team, and should be selected because the directeur predicts they will score highly in the upcoming race.
The Captain receives a +50% points bonus (rounded up to the nearest whole number) on top of all points they earn during the race.
The Lieutenant receives a +25% points bonus (also rounded up to the nearest while number) to all points they earn during the race.
The Captain and Lieutenant selection and bonus scoring is available for all teams during the two Training Camp races, and all Premium teams for the main Fantasy Classics spring series.
When entering rider selections on the official entry form, the Captain and Lieutenant slots are the first two slots in the team selection form. Therefore, when a team is initially selected, the top two riders listed on the form will be designated the Captain and Lieutenant.
During the main season game, directeurs will be able to use a link on their main team screen to visit the CHANGE CAPTAINS page, where they will be able to select any riders within the squad of 12 to be the Captain and Lieutenant for the upcoming race.
There is a deadline ahead of each race for which Captains and Lieutenants must be set. If a change to the Captain or Lieutenant selection is made after these publsihed deadlines, the change will not take effect until the following race deadline. So make sure to get your changes in ahead of the deadline for each race!
Race Selection Deadlines
Training Camp 1 - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - 11:00 CET on Saturday 26th February 2011.
Training Camp 2 - Montepaschi Strade Bianche - 10:00 CET on Saturday 5th March 2011.
Main Race 1 - Milano - Sanremo - 09:00 CET on Saturday 19th March 2011
Main Race 2 - Gent - Wevelgem - 10:00 CEST on Sunday 27th March.
Main Race 3 - Ronde van Vlaanderen - 09:30 CEST on Sunday 3rd April.
Main Race 4 - Paris - Roubaix - 10:00 CEST on Sunday 10th April.
Main Race 5 - Amstel Gold Race - 09:30 CEST on Sunday 17th April 2011.
Main Race 6 - La Fleche Wallonne - 11:00 CEST on Wednesday 20th April 2011.
Main Race 7 - Liege - Bastogne - Liege - 09:30 CEST on Sunday 24th April.
Note that all times listed above are local time in Western Europe, which is usualy one hour ahead of British time and 5 hours ahead of US Eastern Time. It is the repsonisbilty of directeurs to make sure they submit their selections on time. Remember that European Summer Time begins on 27th March 2011 and that not all territories around the World change their clocks on the same day!
Pre-Game Team Changes
Main Fantasy Classics Season
Training Team rosters, where applicable, are carried over ahead of the entry period opening for the main Fantasy Classics game.
Each directeur can select, and then make unlimited changes to, their squad of 12 riders prior to the entry deadline for the first official race of the season, Milano - Sanremo. The entry deadline for Milano - Sanremo is set at 09:00 CET (Central European Time) on Saturday 19th March 2011. Once the deadline has passed, the 12 riders set for each team at the deadline will be used for scoring purposes until the next Transfer Window.
In-Game Team Changes / Transfer Windows
Velogames Fantasy Classics allows directeurs to change their roster of 12 riders at each Transfer Window. This allows direceurs to select a team most suitable for the upcoming races and prevents the potential problem where a direceteur may find himself with a squad of riders who are not competing in a particular event.
The main Fantasy Classics series game allows for two Transfer Windows for Standard teams and an additional bonus Transfer Window for Premium teams, ahead of the final race of the season!
Standard Teams - Two Transfer Windows ahead of (a) Ronde van Vlaanderen and (b) Amstel Gold Race
The first Transfer Window will open after the scoring update following Gent - Wevelgem on Sunday 27th March, and run until the deadline for changes ahead of the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Transfer Window deadline for the Ronde van Vlaanderen is set at 09:30 CET on Sunday 3rd April.
The second Transfer Window will open after the scoring update following Paris - Roubaix on Sunday 10th April, and run until the deadline for changes ahead of the Amstel Gold Race. The Transfer Window deadline for the Amstel Gold Race is set at 09:30 CET on Sunday 17th April 2011.
Each directeur can make unlimited changes to their squad of 12 riders during each Transfer Window. Once the deadline has passed, the 12 riders set for each team at the deadline will be used for scoring purposes up until the next changes interval.
Premium Teams - A bonus Transfer Window!
As part of the Premium team package, directeurs will be able to change their teams an additional time during the main Fantasy Classics spring series, to gear up for the series finale at Liege - Bastogne - Liege! This additional Transfer Window is in addition to the Transfer Windows ahead of Ronde van Vlaanderen and Amstel Gold Race.
The bonus Premium Transfer Window will open after La Fleche Wallone on Wednesday 20th April and remain open until the entry deadline for Liege - Bastogne - Liege, which is set at 09:30 CET (Central European Time) on Sunday 24th April. Once the deadline has passed, the 12 riders set for each team at the deadline will be used for scoring purposes until the end of the game.
Leaderboards
Each leaderboard is formed from the total points gained by each team.
There are two main types of leaderboard: the Overall Leaderboard and Race Leaderboards.
The Overall Leaderboard is made up of the cumulative points total gained across the seven races that make up the Velogames Fantasy Classics spring series, and is the main leaderboard in the game.
Individual Race Leaderboards are for the lesser glory of winning each of the seven events that make up the series.
There are also Individual Race Leaderboards for each of the Training Camp event. Points gained in the Training Camp events are NOT carried forward to the main series that starts with Milano - Sanremo on Saturday 19th March.
Entry Fees and Prizes
The Velogames Fantasy Classics series is a free-to-play game, with all users entitle to one Standard Team that will compete for them.
Premium Teams are also available at a cost of £2.50 per team. Premium Teams have the advantage of an extra Transfer Window, the ability to select Captains and Lieutenants for each race and a bonus 10 velocredits of budget to allow a total team budget of 110 velocredits.
Users who subscribed to Premium Access for the 2010 Velogames Fantasy Tour de France will automatically receive a Premium Team entry as thanks for their patience during some delays to scoring updates during the 2010 tour game.
During Training Camp events, all users will have access to the Premium features, and the ability to purchase Premium Teams for the main spring series will be available after the training camp events have finished.
Entry money gained will be put towards the costs of running the site and also a prize for the best-performing teams in the main Fantasy Classics spring series.
The main prize for the overall winner of the Fantasy Classics Spring Series is £120. Second place will win £60 and third place will win £30.
Additional race prizes may be announced if take up to Premium Access is higher than expected.