Our Tour Pool entrants are intelligent, creative people, all capable of charting their own course through life.
Despite this, they also possess a herd mentality, nowhere more evident than in picking Julian Alaphilippe. No fewer than 51 of 62 entrants chose the whiskered Frenchman — a good choice, but not a creative one. Who chose Alexander Kristoff? Just one entrant. Who chose Marc Hirschi? Just one entrant. Who chose Benoit Cosnefroy? That’s right — also just one entrant. Continue reading
In a stage tailor made for Julian Alaphillipe, Julian Alaphilippe attacked over the final climb, claimed victory in a three-up sprint, and took the yellow jersey.
The French — who haven’t had a Tour winner since 1985 — will be ecstatic as on paper this looks like a repeat of 2019, when Alaphilippe took the Tour lead early and held it up to the penultimate stage, despite Alaphilippe’s insistence that he is not targeting the overall this year. Continue reading
Here we go again — the Tour is underway, the results are coming in, and we get our first glimpse at how this year’s Tour Pool is going to shake out.
After the chaotic first stage, Chiroman drew first blood by winning the stage by a fair margin over the misnamed super awesome winning team. Six teams — Beginner’s Luck, JDub, REM, TEAMGLRC, Slider and The Sharke of Kanata — tied for third, and given the number of Tour contenders affected by crashes today, the rest of the pool entrants scored quite low — and eight scored no points at all. Continue reading
Alexander Kristoff won the first stage of the coronavirus edition of the Tour de France, earning the classy Norwegian his first-ever yellow jersey in his eighth Tour start.
Kristoff beat Mads Pedersen to the line in a field that had been dramatically reduced by the crashes that marred the stage. Crashes are normal in the nervous early stages of the Tour, but this was next level as it seemed no team was spared from the carnage. Continue reading
OK, here we go — you can now enter the 2020 Ottawa Tour Pool using the online form here.
Before you do, make sure to acquaint yourself with the Tour Pool rules: you will notice that stage wins and wearing jerseys are worth a lot of points compared to winning the Tour overall. That’s deliberate — otherwise, everyone would just pick the same top GC riders and the Pool would be pretty boring.
Instead, a risky pick can really pay off if they luck into an early stage win and end up leading one of the classifications for a few days. Sprinters and “puncheurs” are good choices too — the kinds of riders who are in the mix when the finishes get a little complicated.
We’re also fortunate that the Tour is wide open this year, with no fewer than seven past podium finishers but just one past winner on the start line. To add to this, there are only a handful of pure sprint stages, so the racing will be less formulaic than in the past. And thanks to the compressed season due to the coronavirus pandemic, everyone’s form is a little uncertain.
The one bummer is Mike Woods won’t be on the start line this year. Hugo Houle will be Canada’s sole representative, and he’s riding a support role for Astana so may not get many opportunities to chase stages.
But I’m not here to do your research for you — there is plenty of information on cyclingnews, VeloNews, ProCyclingStats, letour.fr, inrng, and many other websites.
Keep in mind also that the start list I’ve used to build the entry form is provisional — it could change right up to Friday night. So just because a rider is on the list doesn’t necessarily mean they will start, and likewise some starters may not yet be on the list. I’ll be ready to make adjustments to entries accordingly — just let me know.
As for prizes, that’s a work in progress and they will be announced in due course. But more important is the sense of personal pride at besting your personal rivals — who doesn’t want to yell “In your FACE!” at your spouse/parent/child/friend/frenemy/ex?
And of course, the whole point of this is to raise funds for the National Capital Region cycling bursary, which has given out nearly $60,000 over the years to up-and-coming cyclists in the region. Among the alumni are current national team members Mike Woods, Ariane Bonhomme, Derek Gee, Carson Miles, Matteo Dal-Cin, Lauren Webber, Jérémie La Grenade and Juliette Tetreault. More info on the bursary can be found here.
Feel free to share this with anyone you thing might be interested, and good luck in this year’s pool
Thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in taking part in this year’s Tour Pool: there is enough demand that I will get it up and running for a special coronavirus edition!
Stay tuned for updated rules and entry forms. You have five days to study this year’s Tour and decide on your picks …
As you may have noticed, everything has been affected by the pandemic.
That includes the 2020 Tour de France, which has been rescheduled for Aug. 29 to Sept. 20.
Most other events have been cancelled this year, significantly affecting our ability to raise funds for the National Capital Region Cycling Bursary.
Given that the pandemic has also seriously curtailed my travel schedule,it has become feasible for me to revive the Ottawa Tour de France Pool for this year; I will do so if enough people are interested in entering.
Entry will be $20 per team, and every penny will go to the bursary.
Please indicate your interest on this form and I will let you know by the weekend if the Tour Pool will be going ahead this year.
Thank you!
— Kris Westwood
The Ottawa Tour de France Pool 