Virtual Directeur Sportif '08: How the Races Will Be Scored

Part II of today's Virtual Directeur Sportif 2008 rollout... how you'll get points! This is a totally unique points scale. Frankly, there are probably 500 points scales out there, between the official organizations, fantasy games, etc... and no two are alike. I started with Cycling Quotient, as usual, but they award points to too many minor placings for my liking, and they give more points to the Tour than the Giro (not cool) or the Vuelta (OK, I can see that). The other major difference is that I've bumped up the value of the monuments. If you've ever visited this site in April, this should come as no surprise.

Recall, your top nine riders in each event will have their points count, but as you can see below, not every category even awards points to up to nine placings. [Also, this is a little screwy, but we'll count your first nine scorings in a vacuum. In other words, during the Tour, your top 9 will get counted in the points category... and your top 9 will get counted in the day's GC... even if the nine guys in one category aren't the same nine in the other. It gets too confusing to try to cross-reference between each score set, but anyway the chances of nine guys from one VDS team scoring points in any single category is likely nil.] Take-away point: it's not worth fretting over.

Anyway, I'll make a comprehensive, handy guide to the whole system when I get a free moment, but here's the info you need for now.... on the flip:

Top Points Category: Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana)

• Final GC (top 20): 600-450-375-325-300; 275-250-225-200-175; 150-135-120-105-90; 75-60-45-30-15
  
• Final Points Jersey (top 5): 120-90-60-40-20
  
• Final Other Jerseys (top 3): 60-40-20
  
• Stage placings (top 5): 80-50-35-20-10 (TTT's: each rider finishing with team gets 20%)
  
• Jersey Holders each day: GC 20pts; others 10pts

Second Points Category: Monuments (Milan-San Remo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Giro di Lombardia)

• Final Results (top 20): 350-300-275-250-225; 200-175-150-125-100; 90-80-70-60-50; 40-30-20-10-5

Third Points Category: Top Stage Races (Paris-Nice, Tirreno - Adriatico,Tour de Romandie, Dauphine Libere, Tour de Suisse, Deutschland Tour, Vuelta a Catalunya, Vuelta a Pais Vasco)

• Final GC (top 10): 250-180-150-125-100; 80-60-40-20-10
  
• Final Lesser Jerseys (top 3): 60-40-20
  
• Stage Placings (top 3): 40-25-10
  
• Holding Leader's Jersey: 6pts

Fourth Points Category: Top Classics (Het Volk, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Gent-Wevelgem, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, Clasica San Sebastian, Gp Ouest France-Plouay, Paris-Tours, Zuri-Metzgete (if it happens), Olympic Road Race, World Championship Road Race, World Championship Time Trial)

• Final Results (top 15): 250-200-180-160-140; 120-100-90-80-70; 60-50-40-30-15

Fifth Points Category: Best of the Rest (Dwaars door Vlaanderen; Criterium International; Dreidaagse de Panne; Vattenfalls Classic; KBK; Scheldeprijs; Brabantse Pijl; Giro dell'Emilia)

• Final Results (top 10): 150-125-100-80-60; 50-40-30-20-10
  
• Stage wins (Crit Int & Dreidaagse): 40-20-10