Tour Pool entry form now live

The 2015 Tour Pool entry form is now live, and you can find it here.

But before you barge in there and start entering riders willy-nilly, a note of caution: the Tour de France has yet to publish its start list: all we know officially is the names of the teams that will be lining up next Saturday in Utrecht.

That means the names of all the riders who ride for those teams are in the form — that’s right, all 591 of them, not just the 198 who will start the Tour.

Once the official start list has been put out the form will be updated and the list of riders shortened, but it’s a tedious process that will be done only once. If you are entering before then make sure you try not to pick riders who aren’t going to start.

If you do end up picking someone who doesn’t start, you can replace them at any time during the Tour, with an important caveat: you can’t pick someone who has scored points in the Pool.

So, good luck, and if you notice any issues with the form please send an email to ottawatdf@gmail.com.

One week to the Grand Depart

We’re just a week away from the Grand Depart of the 2015 Tour de France, so if you want to be a contender in the Tour Pool it’s time to start studying up on the pro peloton.

It looks to be one of the most open Tours in recent years, so sharpen your pencil. Defending champion Daniele Nibali benefited last year from crashes that took out both Alberto Contador (winner in 2007 and 2009) and Chris Froome (the 2013 winner). Both of them are back so we’ll have three past champions on the start line — all of the other former winners since 2007 have retired.

The Tour Pool returns for 2015

The Ottawa Tour de France Pool is back once again for 2015.

The first Tour de France gets underway in 1903.

2014 was yet another successful year for the Pool, which raised $1,200 for the National Capital Region Cycling Bursary, and we’re hoping to raise even more in 2015.

Before we get into what’s new with the Tour Pool this year, a quick word about last year’s bursary winners — after all, this is what the Pool and the bursary are all about.

Thanks in large part to the 2014 Tour Pool, the bursary handed out $1,000 each to four area cyclists:

• Conor O’Brien
• Emily Flynn
• Connor Byway
• Derek Gee

All four are worthy winners, with both Byway and Gee representing Canada at the junior world championships; Flynn ripping it up on the Ontario road race calendar, and O’Brien steadily progressing throughout the season and aiming even higher for this year.

These winners are only the latest to receive part of the more than $40,000 that bursary has awarded since 2000, and the Tour Pool crew is proud that we’ve been a significant contributor over the last several years.

With that in mind, we’re looking to raise even more this year, so there will be some changes to the Tour Pool. Some of the rules have changed (click here for details) but the most noticeable difference is the entry fees have gone up: it will now cost $20 to enter the Pool.

However, we do recognize that there are a lot of people who like to put two or more entries into the Pool each year, so for those of you with multiple entries, we’re rewarding your support with a sliding scale of entry fees, as follows:

• One entry: $20
• Two entries: $30
• Three entries: $35
• Four entries: $40

The Tour Pool entry form will be available soon, and we’re building up a great list of prizes from the likes of The Cyclery, Outdoor Gear Canada and Mavic Canada. So stay tuned for updates and start studying — it’s going to be a great Tour de France and a great Tour Pool!