2020 Tour Pool entry form up and running

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