The 105th edition of the Tour de France rolls away on Saturday 7 July, so it’s time to slip into your fanciest yellow lycra and get your head into two-wheeled mode with our Superbru Tour de France Fantasy game. If this is all new to you we’ll cover the basics of game, along with some more insights on the top riders to pick.

Bands

As is the case in our 'Superstars' or '5-a-side' games in other tournaments such as Super Rugby, the Premier League and the World Cup, the aim of the game when playing Tour de France at Superbru is to pick the rider you believe will be most successful from four different lists of riders known as 'bands'.

Essentially, rather than having a full list of the 176 riders set to start the race, we draw up four bands of riders containing the top riders for each stage. These include the General Classification (GC) riders to compete for the yellow jersey, Sprinters, Climbers and some Wildcard riders - typically all-rounders, puncheurs, or baroudeurs who don’t fall into the overt sprinters or climbers categories. The mix of the bands will differ somewhat for each stage to cater for the unique route for the day. For example, on the flat stage 1 there will be more sprinters to pick from, whereas for the mountainous stage 12 up Alpe d'Huez there will be more climbers to pick. By selecting one rider from each band, you are left with a four-rider team for each stage of the Tour and you will score points based on how well each of those riders perform.

Scoring

The game is designed to reward riders who perform well during each stage. This includes points for the top 40 riders to cross the finish line (with diminishing returns from first to 40th), the jersey wearers for each stage and the top riders through each of the classified climbs and sprints of the stage.

Climbs

Each climb along the route is categorized in terms of difficulty. Category 4 being the smallest and easiest (not so much for us mortal human beings), through to Category 1 being the more challenging. A few climbs along the way are just obscene to grind up and are beyond classification, or as the French like to say, Hors Catégorie (HC).

Intermediate and Bonus Sprints

Each stage (except for time trials) has an intermediate sprint along the way for which we award points for the first classified riders through the sprint line. Similarly the Tour organizers have included a new Bonus Sprint for stages 1-9 this year. The first riders through these sprints will earn time bonuses which could make the early GC battle pretty interesting. We’ll award points for this on the same grounds as the normal intermediate sprint.

The full scoring breakdown is available here.

Top 5 General Classification Contenders

With 176 riders taking to the tarmac, there can be only one rider to walk away with the over honours of the coveted yellow jersey or maillot jaune. Here are the top 5 riders I expect to win. It's by no means an exhaustive list of all those who stand a realistic chance as there are a few other big names who could defy my expectations and take the title - feel free to add your own favourites in the comments below.

1. Chris Froome:

After a topsy-turvy few days for Froome - having been banned from the race on Sunday, then cleared of doping allegations against him by WADA and the UCI on Monday, the reigning champion will be the hot favourite to win a record equalling 5th Tour de France title this year.

Why I think he will win:

Froome and Team Sky have a serious winning formula which is near impossible to beat when it all comes together as planned. They have proven time and time again that their methods of analyzing the finest details and focusing on all the possible marginal gains works superbly.

A perfect example of this was Froome’s unbelievable effort in this year’s Giro d’Italia stage 19 when he converted a 4th place ranking 03’ 22” behind the leader (Simon Yates) to a 40” overall lead ahead of Tom Dumoulin. This BBC article gives some great insight into the detail of the planning which went into the amazing win. With lots of potential challengers for the title this year, I’m really hoping for another epic showdown like that!

Should Froome manage to pull off the TdF win he’ll be the first rider to win the Giro and Tour de France double in the same year since Marco Pantani did so way back in 1998. It’s a tall order, but if anyone can do it, it’s Froome!

Why he might not win:

Froome’s bound to still be feeling the after effects of racing and winning the Giro in May. With just 6 weeks of recovery and preparation time between the end of the Giro and the start of the Tour de France that’s a lot for even the most well trained body to handle. Add into the mix that this will be Froome’s 4th consecutive Grand Tour in a calendar year (having won the 2017 TdF and Vuelta a España as well as the latest Giro) then it’s clear to see that it’s a bit of a tall order for him to pull off yet another Tour win.

2. Vincenzo Nibali:

Why I think he will win:

Nibali is the only other rider aside from Froome amongst the peloton to have actually won the Tour de France in 2014 (when Froome crashed and had to withdraw). With a total of 10 Grand Tour podiums in his career he’s a serious challenger to be wary of. With his superb climbing abilities and typically one of the best descenders in the pack he’s always going to be eager to cause a stir amongst the GC riders - watch out for an attack from him on any stage with a technical descent near the end.

Why he might not win:

He’s a great climber, but can be outshone by some of the other GC contenders on the biggest of climbs and his eagerness to attack could also lead to his downfall at times. Nonetheless, discount him at your peril!

3. Nairo Quintana:

Why I think he will win:

The Movistar rider is one of the best climbers out there. He’s shown real promise over the years having finished 2nd behind Froome in the 2013 and 2015 Tours, aside from winning the Giro (2014) and Vuelta (2016) General Classification. He’s got the goods to win the Tour de France and having skipped the Giro this year specifically to target the TdF he’ll almost certainly be a podium contender and will be right relishing his prospects for this year’s route with a lot of climbs to suite his abilities.

Why he might not win:

Quintana is not a good time trialist. With a Team Time Trial early on in stage 3 and an Individual Time Trial as the penultimate stage he could potentially lose a lot of time if the other competitors ride as well as one would expect them to. If things don’t go well for Quintana, Movistar have two other hopefuls who are almost equally as capable in Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde.

4. Tom Dumoulin:

Why I think he will win:

Over the last couple years Dumoulin has morphed from a typical time trial specialist to a serious GC contender, having won the 2017 Giro and finishing 2nd behind Froome this year. I rate Dumoulin as probably the best all-round rider in the race with his brilliant time trial abilities (he’s the current World Champion in the discipline), Classics-style dominance and much improved climbing potential. He’s not necessarily as good here as the smaller framed riders like Quintana and Yates (to name only two of many) but he’s certainly no slouch and isn’t likely to be far behind even on the toughest of climbs. With the combination of an early Team Time Trial and late Individual Time Trial in this year’s Tour things could shape up really well for Dumoulin - he’s bound to make up any time he’s lost in the big mountains in that penultimate stage.

Why he might not win:

There’s very little going against Dumoulin to be honest. His all-round abilities would suggest that he’s up for a podium finish at the very least, but can he climb well enough throughout all the big mountainous stages to claim the overall win? There’s potentially a lot resting on his time trialing abilities and will that be enough?

5. Adam Yates:

Why I think he will win:

When Yates last raced the Tour de France in 2016 he won the best young rider classification and finished 4th overall. With two years more experience behind his name the chances are high that he can improve on that past performance. His twin brother Simon Yates showed some thrilling riding during this year’s Giro when he held the lead with some powerful stage performances up until the spectacular Froome effort on stage 19 when Simon completely and utterly cracked. I expect some exciting similar attacks from Adam in this year’s Tour, especially on the hillier stages where his short sharp power output could prove a real winner.

Why he might not win:

But what if this Yates brother suffers the same fate? There is no doubting Adam Yates’ climbing abilities, but with no shortage of climbs and eager GC contenders will he be able to sustain the big efforts required to win the yellow jersey?

>>> Click here to play Tour de France Fantasy at Superbru

We hope you enjoy playing our Tour de France Fantasy game and feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments below. Be sure to get your pools set up and invite friends and family members to get involved as soon as possible ahead of the flat and fast first stage on Saturday.

Good luck!