VDS - Giro Donne mini competition - Barbie Barbie presents the Grand prizes!!!

One of my tasks for the year was to collect swag to give away as grand prizes for the season-long Virtual Directeur Sportif competition.  I thought it was about time I showed you what we had, as there is going to be a mini competition - with prizes for the 3 Virtual DSs whose teams do best in the Giro Donne! 

So, who could I ask to help present the prizes?  There was only 1 choice!  Step forward, Barbie Barbie!

Massive thanks to all the teams & riders who've donated prizes - and to Majope for helping me show them off!

If you're wondering who Barbie Barbie is, check out his website

So, what IS in the pink box of swag, that grins at me from the corner of my living room?

Well, the prizes on offer are:

Nederland Bloeit cap signed by the team from the Luxembourg races - Marianne  Vos, Annemiek van Vleuten, Loes Gunnewijk, Patricia Schwager, Emilie Aubry (please note!  This is reserved as a prize for the end of the whole competition!)

Lointek cap signed by Eneritz Iturriagaetxebarria Mazaga

2 x Team Australia caps, signed by the team at the Luxembourg races - Shara Gillow, Rowena Fry,  Amanda Spratt, Alex Carle, Lauren Kitchen

Bidon signed by Horizon Fitness -  Helen Wyman, Dani King, Jo Rowsell, Annie Simpson, Nancy Arreola & Claire Thomas

Race numbers from the Luxembourg races:

2 x Amanda Miller's number, signed by some of the HTC-Highroad team - Judith Arndt, Emilia Fahlin, Adrie Visser,  Amanda Miller, Charlotte Becker

Set of numbers from Nederland Bloeit, individually signed by Marianne Vos, Annemiek van Vleuten, Loes Gunnewijk

Set of numbers from AA Drink-Leontien.nl, individually signed by Chantal Blaak, Trixi Worrack, Irene van den Broek, Marlen Johrend & Lucinda Brand

Set of numbers from Horizon Fitness, individually signed by Helen Wyman, Dani King, Jo Rowsell, Annie Simpson, Nancy Arreola & Claire Thomas

Individual numbers from Luxembourg signed by

* Marianne Vos
* Annemiek van Vleuten
* Loes Gunnewijk
* Lizzie Armitstead (number 1!)
* Sharon Laws
* Carla Ryan
* Jessie Daams
* Chantal Blaak
* Trixi Worrack
* Irene van den Broek
* Marlen Johrend
* Lucinda Brand
* Martine Bras - with dirt from where she crashed in GP Nic Frantz

Martine Bras' numbers from the Ladies Tour of Qatar

(probably 1 number/set of numbers per prize from this list, but we'll see)

2 x medals from the Halfords' Tour Series (as seen here)

Set of photo cards from team AA Drink-Leotien.nl, with Chantal Blaak's signed by her

Luxembourg Cycling Festival leaflets

1 x signed by HTC GP Elsy Jacobs team: Evie Stevens, Amber Neben, Amanda Miller, Emilia Fahlin, Judith Arndt & Charlotte Becker

1 x signed by Garmin-Cervélo: Lizzie Armitstead, Carla Ryan, Jessie Daams, Sharon Laws, Iris Slappendel & Noemi Cantele

1 x signed by Grace Verbeke

1 x signed by Martine Bras

Luxembourg Cycling Festival poster, signed by Ina-Yoko Teutenberg

3 x Giro d'Italia keyrings, courtesy of Prendas

So how will it work?  Well, because she's the intermediate game winner, we have decided AckAck should choose a prize first, and then the top 3 VDSs can pick their prize from the list - everything except for the star prize of the NB cap, which is waiting for the end of the comp.  

If you want a reminder for how the race will be scored, check out the vds calendar - the race is vds 1, so points go:

Stage placing 80, 50, 35, 20, 10
Intermediate leader 20
Intermediate secondary jersey 10
Final GC 600, 450, 375, 325, 300, 275, 250, 225, 200, 175,150, 135, 120, 105, 90, 75, 60, 45, 30, 15
Final points jersey 120, 90, 60, 40, 20
Final other secondary jerseys 60, 40, 20

We'll work out how to award the final prizes for the overall competition once we see what we end up with!  Hopefully this won't be the only swag that I collect, so I'm aiming to have more by the end of the competition - so if any riders or teams are thinking "I'd LOVE to give something to the cause", there's still time!  Send me a tweet at @_pigeons_!