Sportpools

Game rules

On this page you will find the rules of our grand cycling tour games. If you have questions, you can search our Frequently Asked Questions or contact us via the contact form.

1. Team selection

A team exists of 15 cyclists, one secret weapon and one loser.

Black points
Each cyclist has a number of black points, varying from zero to five. The best cyclists get 5 black points. The less good cyclists get no black points. A team can have a maximum of 20 black points (for exceptions, see the loser rule). The reason for this is to prevent choosing the best cyclists, whereby puzzling is required.

The loser
The loser is a special cyclist in your team. This cyclist leads to negative points, if the cyclist performs strongly or doesn't finish the tour (see score). If you choose a loser with black points, these black points can be spend extra to your other 14 cyclists.

Example
Cyclist X has 3 black points and is chosen as a loser. For the remaining 14 cyclists 20+3=23 black points can be used. It is up to you to take this risk, to choose a better team on paper ;-).

Secret Weapon
The secret weapon is the secret cyclist of your team. This cyclist is only visible to other users when the game is finished. Scored points of your secret weapon will be applied when the game is finished and summed up to the total points of your team.

A secret weapon may not have any black points.

Reserve cyclist
Right before the game starts shifts can occur in the starting list of cyclists. Due to these shifts teams can become invalid right before the start of the game. To overcome this problem, reserve cyclists can be selected. Sportpools uses these reserve cyclists to make any invalid team valid.

2. Score

Basic points
A cyclist can score points in each stage except in team time trial stages ⁽⁴⁾. He can also score points for his final jersey standings. The points which can be earned by a cyclist are displayed in the next table:

Pos.	Stage ⁽¹⁾	Overall ⁽²⁾	Climb ⁽²⁾	Sprint ⁽²⁾	Youth ⁽²⁾
1.	25	60	50	40	30
2.	20	55	45	35	28
3.	18	50	40	30	26
4.	16	45	35	25	24
5.	14	40	30	22	22
6.	12	35	25	20	20
7.	10	30	20	18	18
8.	8	25	17	16	16
9.	7	20	14	14	14
10.	6	15	12	12	12
11.	5	10	10	10	10
12.	4	8	8	8	8
13.	3	6	6	6	6
14.	2	4	4	4	4
15	1	2 ⁽⁵⁾	2	2 ⁽⁵⁾	2

⁽¹⁾ Counts for each stage.
⁽²⁾ Only once, but are updated virtually each stage
⁽³⁾ When points are the same, we do not look at the mutual result between the two riders
⁽⁴⁾ No points can be scored in team time trials (TTT)
⁽⁵⁾ When a rider at position 16, 17 and so forth in these standings scores the same points according the official classifications, this rider will also get 2 points

Abandoned cyclists
When a cyclist abandons, you will lose points. The amount of points lost differs per cyclist. For a normal rider and secret weapon you will lose 5 points. For a loser you will lose 100 points minus 3 per finished stage. The penalty points are tracked during the game.

Secret Weapon
The secret weapon can earn the same points as a normal cyclist. However these points will be added to the total points when the game has ended. A secret weapon may not have any black points.

Loser
A loser can score points like a normal cyclist. However these points will be subtracted from the total score. When a loser abandons during the event, you will lose 100 points minus 3 points per finished stage. So for example if your loser abandons in the final stage, then you will lose 40 points. 100 minus 60 for finishing 20 stages.

3. Career

After a game has finished, a participant earns career points. These points are calculated as follows:

2 times ( X+1 - overall-ranking) + ( X+1 - overall-jersey-ranking ) + ( X+1 - sprint-jersey-ranking ) + 
( X+1 - climb-jersey-ranking ) + ( X+1 - youth-jersey-ranking )
Multiplied by
(X - overall-ranking) / X
Plus a bonus for stage victories
X times Y / 10

X = total number of game participants.<br>
overall-jersey-ranking = ranking in the overall jersey standings.
sprint-jersey-ranking = ranking in the sprint jersey standings.
climb-jersey-ranking = ranking in the climb jersey standings.
youth-jersey-ranking = ranking in the Youth jersey standings.
Y = number of stage victories.

At first sight it looks like a complicated formula. At the end the participant scores career points depending on the overall ranking in the game, as well as the overall ranking in the jersey standings. The ranking in the overall standings counts heavier than the ranking in the jersey standings. As a bonus, points are dealt for stage victories. The number of the maximum career points depends on the number of participants. More career points can be earned when there are more participants.