Fantasy Le Tour 2006 Game Tips

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BBB's BSG-23 Winner Quick-Step World Champion glasses

With just over a week until the 2006 Tour de France kicks off, now is a good time to start thinking about your strategy for your team selection for the Le Tour Fantasy Game. Here's what one of last year's top ten winners, manager "Wanna B. Fasta", had to say on his winning 2005 selection:

"I first started by looking at all of the stage profiles to see how many stages favoured the sprinters, rouleurs, and the GC contenders. Once I broke that down, I then weighted my team of fifteen accordingly. With the sprinters, there was no way I could afford the dream team of Boonen, McEwen, O'Grady, and Hushovd - so I decided to save some points by not choosing Boonen and going with Hushovd and McEwen."

"While I love the Aussie riders, Stuey was just way too expensive. I filled out the other sprinter spots with bargain basement sprinters like Eisel, Wrolich, Förster, et al., being careful to skip over repetitive non-finishers or riders who seem to be entering the twilight of their careers like Kirsipuu. For the GC contenders, the first couple of selections were a no-brainer. Armstrong and Basso were must haves. I skipped Ullrich because I didn't have a ton of confidence in how he would do, and his results in races leading up to the Tour didn't impress me too much. There were a handful of riders that I passed over because they seemed to find their form much too soon-guys like Michael Rogers. Instead, I went with proven performers over the last few ToursVino, Pereiro."

The Grand Prize will be announced shortly and you can read on to find out about our runner up prizes. Registration has already begun.Be a professional team manager for the 2006 Le Tour and create your own dream team from any of the real life riders in this year's Tour. Based on the live racing action, you will take up the challenge of using your knowledge and tactical skill as a race team manager to compete with other virtual managers from around the world. Follow the races live and use your skill and knowledge to win some great prizes.

Three Giro Atmos helmets. Winners will have a choice of three new edition helmets: Discovery Team Atmos, a Livestrong Atmos or a Polka Dots Atmos helmet. The Atmos is the most aggressive silhouette Giro has ever created; a state of the art cycling helmet equipped with cutting-edge features. In-mold shell and carbon fiber reinforcements, as well as Super Fit Sizing, a Roc Loc4 adjustable fit system, 26 vents with Giro's proprietary Wind Tunnel internal channels and the full internal Roll Cage reinforcement. With all of these features, the Giro Atmos Team Issue helmet weighs in at an incredible 240 grams. No wonder it's worn by the best.

Three sets of Speedplay's Zero pedals. Speedplay are continuing to support the Fantasy game with three more sets of their Zero pedals - the same style of pedal used by ProTour teams such as Team CSC and Phonak. The stainless steel model is on offer and it will provide years of faithful service. It allows you to choose either a fixed position or up to 15 degrees of float. Zero pedals maintain the traditional feel of a fixed system while incorporating all the well-known advantages of Speedplay X Pedal Systems.

Remember you can play for free for the first 5 stages! Try the game out and see how best to play. It's easy to play the Tour games - all you need to do is pick your dream team of 15 from the riders racing in this year's Le Tour start list. Then each day pick 9 riders to race for your fantasy team from these 15. You'll need a good combination of climbers, sprinters and general classification riders.