How to play road.cc Fantasy Cycling

The basics

You pick a team of riders to compete in various races over the year. You score points based on how well they do during the race. You can change your team along the way to pick the best riders for different races and types of stage.

Currently there is a free tier, and you can play up to eight competitions. From the Giro d'Italia 2024 we will be turning off the free game, so you will need to be a road.cc susbcriber in order to continue to play Fantasy Cycling.

Getting started

First, you need to register on road.cc, if you haven't already. Then you'll need to come back to the game and set up your team. If you're logged in to the main site, the game should set your account up automatically. You can choose a team name when you first log in, and you can change it at any time by clicking on [my account] in the top bar when you're logged in.

Selecting a competition

Competitions that are open will appear as boxes on your dashboard, and you can choose whether to play them or not. Many tours will have multiple competitions running.

Your team and different types of rider

Your team consists of up to eight riders, depending on the competition. For most competitions it's eight, although some specific competitions may have less.

The riders in the game are classified as star riders and domestiques. You can pick any riders within your competition budget, but only two riders from any one team. The budget for your riders will vary depending on the competition; you'll have more to spend in the bigger races where there are more star riders to choose from.

The star riders are the stars of the professional teams. They fall into four categories:

• General Classification (GC) riders are the ones best equipped to do well overall in the longer, multi-stage races. They tend to be good at everything, with an emphasis on climbing and time trialling, which are the disciplines that allow you to gain most time over your rivals in a big tour.
• Sprinters (PC, or Points Classification) are the men to back on flat stages where there's likely to be a bunch sprint.
• Climbers (KM, or King of the Mountains) will come to the fore on the hilly stages.
• All rounders (AR) are good at everything. They're certainly capable of winning individual tour stages, shorter tours and one-day races.

The Domestiques (DS) are the workhorses of the peloton. Their role is to support the star riders from their team. They also tend to make up the breakaway groups that are a feature of all professional bike racing.

Each rider is classified and valued for a competition based on their game scores from the past 12 months. Their values are weighted based on the type of competition; for example sprinters will be more expensive in competitions with a high proportion of flat stages. Rider values are calculated from a rider's ranking based on their weighted score for a competition. All the riders from the participating teams in a competition are considered. The highest possible value is 40 credits and the lowest is 3 credits.

The different types of stage

Stages are categorised in the game as follows:

• FL - flat stages; these normally (but not always) favour the sprinters. Some smaller climbs.
• MM - medium mountains; lumpy stages with plenty of climbing but smaller categorised climbs
• HM - high mountains; over at least two high categorised climbs, and often more
• SF - summit finish; the last categorised climb ends at the finish line. Normally one for the big GC riders
• IT - individual time trial; single riders against the clock. Check the profile; some ITs are flat, some very hilly or a summit finish.
• TT - team time trial; the whole team goes at once and the time is normally taken at the fifth rider over the line.

On occasion a stage with a climb at the end will not be catregorised as a summit finish stage, depending on the severity of the climb.

Picking your team

Go to the Pick team page. It'll look something like this:

1. The stage you're picking a team for is shown at the top, along with the distance and type of terrain, which is handy for picking the right sorts of rider. Click on the button to view the stage profile.
2. The deadline ticker shows you how long you have left to complete any changes before the start of the stage.
3. These two boxes show you:
   • How much you have left to spend on riders
   • How many free transfers you have left (more on this below)
4. This is where you build your team of riders, by selecting riders from the right hand window.
5. The rider list shows you which riders are available, click Add to add them to your team.
6. You can use the rider options menus to narrow your choices, or search for a particular rider.
7. The strengths and weaknesses pie chart shows how your team has performed overall in the last 12 months in different types of stages.
8. When you have a valid team, the confirm button will turn green. Click it to commit your changes.
9. Before the first stage of a competition you can elect to randomly fill your team with riders. If you don't know who to pick it'll give you a team to start from!

Rider stats

Clicking on a rider's name in the right hand bar, or in your team, will bring up a screen with their statistics for the game.

1. Basic stats show the rider's team, nationality, age, value in the current competition and current form (average points scored over last five stages they contested).
2. Points breakdown shows a rider's scoring breakdown, giving you a better idea of what type of rider they are.
3. The top scoring stages lists the rider's best results, so you can see which tours and types of stage they've done well in.

Starred riders in the list

Some riders will have stars next to their name in the list; they can help you make selections based on how riders are doing. Here's what they mean:

Popular rider: in 15% or more teams for the last stage
In-form: has a form average of 8 or above for the previous 5 scoring stages
Dream team: in the dream team for the last stage, ie the nine highest scoring riders

Scoring and gameplay

When a stage is complete, the riders will be scored according to how well they performed.

The scoring criteria change from competition to competition, and sometimes from stage to stage. To find out specific scoring information for a particular stage, click on Stages in the menu and click on a stage to see its information. You can also click on the scoring info link in the stage information at the top of the game's home page.

Scoring information

These are the things that can be scored. Not all competitions will be scored on all criteria.

• A top 20 finish in a stage (or top 10 in a team time trial):
  • 35, 30, 25, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the first 20 riders across the line in a multi-stage race;
  • 50, 40, 30, 25, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the first 20 riders across the line in a one-day race;
  • 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 points for each participating member of the top ten teams in a team time trial;
• Wearing a jersey in one of the grand tours
  • 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top ten in the general classification
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the points competition
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the sprints competition
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the mountains competition
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the top five in the young rider competition
• Being in a breakaway
  • 10 points for each rider in a breakaway of ten riders or less that's more than one minute ahead of the peloton at the halfway stage in a race. This is usually for one day races where no mountain or sprint points are scored.
• Scoring mountains points in a stage
  • Varies from competition to competition. Default is that the maximum points available on a climb is the same as the number of scoring riders. So if five riders score, the points available in the game are 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for the first five riders
• Scoring intermediate sprint points in a stage
  • Varies from competition to competition. Default is 6, 4, 2 points for the first three riders in each intermediate sprint
• Being in the same team as the stage winner
  • 5 points for each participating rider from the same team
• Getting a combativity award
  • 10 points for a stage combativity award
• Rolling in dead last on a stage.
  • 10 points for last place on a stage (note: this is last on the day, not last overall in a tour)

Scoring criteria for each competition will be posted in the run-up to each competition, and they will be available on each stage description page in the Stages list. Once a competition has started the scoring criteria will not be changed for any stage within the competition (E&OE).

If a rider starts a stage or a single day race then any points they score for that stage will count, even if they abandon the stage. That includes team bonus points.

Achievement badges (premium only)

Players can unlock different achievement badges during each competition. Every competition will have a set of badges drawn from the following:

	Tour Top 20 Top 20 finish in one of the game competitions
	Stage top ten Top ten placing on any game stage
	High roller Top ten placing at any time in a competition
	High stage score (100) A score of 100 or over on any stage
	High stage score (200) A score of 200 or over on any stage
	Team effort All riders scoring on any one stage (excludes team time trials)
	Podium Picking the first three riders on any stage
	First & Last Picking the winner and the last placed rider on any stage
	Lanterne Rouge Picking the last man home on any stage
	Sprinter Picking the winner on a flat stage
	Summit Picking the winner on a summit finish
	Puncheur Picking the winner of a hilly (MM) or mountain (HM) stage
	Time Trialler Picking the winner of an individual time trial stage
	Stage winner Picking the winner on any stage in the competition
	Points award: 250 A competition score of 250 or over
	Points award: 500 A competition score of 500 or over
	Points award: 750 A competition score of 750 or over
	Points award: 1k A competition score of 1000 or over
	Points award: 2k A competition score of 2000 or over

Each competition will have its own set of badges, which will vary depending on the length of the competition and the types of stages it contains.

Disqualified riders

If a rider is disqualified or suspended then they won't score any points for the stage in which they were disqualified. Their other points from other stages will remain in the game.

Making changes to your team

Standard competitions allow you to make changes to your team as the competition progresses. You'll get a set number of transfers for the competition.

You can use as many transfers as you like on any stage, but once they're gone, they're gone. Use them wisely!

I messed up my transfers, can I reset them?

Not after you've pressed the big green Commit button, no. Press with care...

I missed the deadline/my transfers didn't go through/etc

In approaching 100% of cases, players who email saying that their transfers didn't go through actually just missed the deadline, and made them for the next stage. Making and checking your transfers in good time is your responsibility as a player. Deadlines in a tour aren't the same each day, because start times aren't the same each day. All the deadlines are shown on your dashboard.

Purist competitions

Many tours will have a purist competition running alongside the main competition. There are no transfers available once the competition has started, you play the whole competition with the team you originally picked.

Greyed out riders

If you pick riders who subsequently retire from (or don't start) the race then they'll be greyed out. You can replace them using your transfers if you want. It doesn't matter if some of your riders are greyed out for the purposes of scoring: they won't score any points, but you'll still score for your other riders. You don't get a free transfer to sub them out.

During a Competition, retired riders will be removed as soon as we know they're out of the race. If a rider you've picked is removed, and you've elected to receive emails about roster changes, we'll email you to let you know.

Cancelled stages/neutralised stages

If a stage of a race gets cancelled, everyone will score zero points for that stage. Any transfers you've made for the stage will stand. Sometimes stages are neutralised, and depending on the situation these may be scored or zeroed.

Leagues

When you score points in a competition you'll automatically be entered into a number of leagues for that competition:

• The overall league for the competition
• The league for the stage

As well as those leagues there are multi-competition leagues:

• The season league: your cumulative total across all standard competitions
• The season purist league: your cumulative total across all standard competitions

User leagues

You can set up your own leagues to play against your friends, or people in your office. Go to the My Team page and press the Create a new league button in the Leagues box on the right hand side.

You can make your league private; if you do, other people who join will have to be approved by you as the league creator. When they ask to join you'll receive a notification on your leagues page.

If you want to join a league you'll need to know the league ID. Ask the league creator for the league ID, press the Join a league button on your team page and enter the league ID when prompted.

You can manage your leagues and remove users from your account page.

Prizes

If there are prizes for a competition, they will be announced before the competition starts. Employees of Farrelly Atkinson Ltd and of sponsors of the game, and their relatives and agents, are not eligible for prizes. There's no cash alternative for any prize offered.

In the event of a tie, the following criteria, where applicable, will be used to determine the winner:

Stage prizes

• Highest scoring individual rider on the stage
• Most scoring riders on the stage
• Coin toss

Overall prizes

• Highest single stage score posted within the competition
• Final stage score
• Coin toss

Updating of the game

Scores will be posted and the game updated on the evening of the stage wherever possible. The allocation of points by the road.cc adjudicators will be deemed as final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the rider scores. Once a stage is completed the points for each rider will be shown on its corresponding stage page in the stages list

Some small print

Terms and Conditions: road.cc Fantasy Cycling ("the game") is promoted by Farrelly Atkinson Ltd. Employees of Farrelly Atkinson and their families and agents are excluded from winning prizes. Users of the game are responsible for ensuring that changes to their team are registered and no correspondence will be entered into concerning missed deadlines or transfers for any reason whatsoever. Farrelly Atkinson will take precautions to ensure that the game functions correctly at all times and is available at all times when competitions are in progress, but cannot be held responsible for any unavailability of the game or issues affecting game play. By taking part in the game you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions, the game rules and the decisions of Farrelly Atkinson which are final in all matters relating to the game. Prizes referred to as "schwag" or a "pack" or "bundle" will be selected to the stated value, and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the composition of a prize. Postage within the UK is included, with postage elsewhere in the world at the discretion of Farrelly Atkinson. Farrelly Atkinson shall not be liable for any issues regarding the condition of a prize on receipt. If you are a winner in the game you acknowledge and agree that neither Farrelly Atkinson, nor any of their officers, employees, agents or subcontractors shall have any liability to you whatsoever in connection with your use and/or possession of your prize. You agree to indemnify Farrelly Atkinson against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses suffered or incurred arising out of or in connection with any breach of these competition rules. No correspondence will be entered into. These competition rules are governed by English law. Any disputes arising shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England, save that Farrelly Atkinson shall be entitled to take action against a third party in any other jurisdiction.