Last week we launched the 2012 version of our in-house Directeur Sportif yearlong fantasy game, welcoming our new sponsor, Full Speed Ahead. A week into the competition, I can't reveal too much, but I can tell you a few things:

• There are some 400 teams either submitted or in progress so far. That's mostly on the dudes side. Don't forget, once you have set up a login, you don't need anything more to make a women's team too.
• Of the 1156 riders listed, y'all have collectively picked 437 different dudes from 42 countries. On the women's side, you've gone with 146 of the 809 riders listed.
• Team Somarriba leads the women's competition in the Past Performance is No Indication category, with Revolutions out to an early lead on the dudes side. Smy Team holds the distinction of having 18 guys in the 1-2 point category, a record (for now).
• The Contador Affair will have no impact on the game. I suppose we could have reconsidered his price, but it's too late, and honestly I don't know that it would come down much. The salient point is, unlike the UCI, once we launch our competitions, we're not too inclined to revise the rules.
• Deadline Day for the FSA-DS is February 24 at Noon Pacific time. That's two weeks from this Friday, a/k/a Omloop Eve. Plenty of time if you haven't gotten started, but don't snooze too long. Remember, just because you made your roster doesn't mean you're in. For that, you have to take the formal step of submitting it.
• Any other questions? Read more in our intro post or check out the rules page.

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Welcome to the sixth season of the Podium Cafe's in-house, one-of-a-kind year-long pro cycling fantasy game! Formerly known as the Virtual Directeur Sportif, we are changing the name to welcome sponsor for the 2012 season, Full Speed Ahead!

Better known as FSA, the company has been putting out great components and wheels for eons -- just ask the good folks at Liquigas. We've featured some of their products here before, so it is especially gratifying to have them come on as a partner for our year-long game. Here is a direct message from the FSA guys:

Let's Play! FSA is excited to sponsor the Virtual Director Sportif fantasy season on Podium Cafe. As makers of world class bicycle components for many Pro Tour teams, club riders and people who just like to ride their bikes, we are fans of the sport too. This season ought to be a lot of fun.

Best of luck!

FSA USA staff

Look for FSA USA staff to join the competition. Maybe they can goad their Italy office into taking part. They may know great components, but do they know which Katusha-Itera graduates from the one-pointer list are ready to break out? Possibly. I don't. Anyway, it'll add to the fun around here.

The other big, big BIG news is that the Official FSA Directeur Sportif Website is ready and waiting for you to play the Men's and the Women's games! Last year, you may recall, was the inaugural Women's competition, which was operated by sending a spreadsheet to Jens, who then copied it by hand into his master spreadsheet. Every two weeks Jens would mark the points next to each rider's name for each team in the master spreadsheet, hop a ferry to Copenhagen where he would have it scanned and emailed to me, which was then posted to the site for standings updates. However, Superted has come to the rescue, cut out the middleman (Jens), and automated the entire game -- team selection, submission, standings, etc. Just like the Men's game! At the official site, you can toggle back and forth between the M and W games by use of the selection tool at the top of the page.

OK, to get things started, let's run down the basics:

What Is It?

The FSA Directeur Sportif is our yearlong cycling game reminiscent of fantasy sports, without the creepy name. You assemble riders onto your team, then follow them throughout the season as they accumulate points for your team. If you're like majorly wicked lucky good at picking your team and you finish on the podium at season's end, you're in line for some awesome Podium Cafe swag. [Last year: Capo-produced Podium Cafe jerseys. This year... something else you can wear? And as always, the respect of your peers, or at least their bitter envy.] And if you don't technically win, you'll still have a great time and probably learn a lot about the riders you picked... or ditched at the last second, just before they embarked on their historic campaign.

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It's time for prizes!

At long last it's time to give out the prizes for our inaugural women's racing VDS competition. In the end it was a very tight race, only decided in the very last races of the season.

Our winner, Chuck Martel gets a Podiumcafe Jersey and first pick from our shwag-collection, put together at the races this year by the Artist formerly known as Pigeons. There are six team-themed packs to chose from: Nederland Bloeit, Garmin-Cervélo, HTC, Horizon, AA Drink and a Mixed pack.

Our second winner was the man who managed to put together the lowest combined ranking in the VDS  and the WVDS: FrankV and his Vlammende Vedettes were 6th in the WVDS and 3rd in the VDS (among those DSs who had teams in both competitions). Very impressive and for his effort he too wins a PdC jersey and second pick from the shwag box. 

The podium finishers in the WVDS , mpw5 and Albertina both get a Podiumcafe T-shirt and one shwag-pack each for their fantastic effort. All of you who won prizes, check your email so we can get the details on how to get you your prizes.

To round things off I'd like to thank everyone for playing this season. It has been great seeing the enthusiasm and the rivalries, I even got a sweet pair of cow-slippers out of it. And last but not least I'd like to thank, Monty for the tons of work he put in, especially on the tech side, and for being a fountain of knowledge on even the obscurest of facts of women's races; and Sarah ConPigeonolly for all her help steering us right with her insight and knowledge. 

Next year the WVDS will be back, bigger and better and I look forward to even more people joining in on the fun.

Below are the full combined results :

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You've seen the standings by now, so this isn't exactly news, but it's time to officially congratulate our winners of the Podium Cafe Virtual Directeur Sportif Men's Competition! And we're not just gonna congratulate them, we're going to meet them too...

In third place, say hey to Komanda Dobrodetel, kommanded by a longtime Cafe occupant swells, a/k/a Scott. The K-Ds ranked #1 in teams employing a Gilbert Strategy, and sure enough it was Scott's big ticket items that drove home his podium place: Gilbert, J-Rod and Tony Martin gave him a 6600-point base to pad with his small-dollar pickups. But you don't get on the podium without a lot of those paying off, and sure enough, although Scott's 1-point pickups amounted to nothing, he got one solid contribution after another from the 2-8 pointers. Pretty much everyone save Ryder Hesjedal, and Koldo Fernandez exceeded his 2010 output. So, Gilbert plus an avalanche of guys coming up bigger than planned. Not too shabby.

On the flip... Scott reveals his near-winning strategy, as do the other podium guys!

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First ever winner!: Nailheads Nubile Nymphs, DS Chuck Martel

In an incredibly close finish in the end, Chuck Martel holds off mpw5 by a mere 41 points.
A huge congratulations to him and all the top finishers in this the inaugural season. 

More on the results later and we will also have a post on the prizes for our top 3 finishers, Chuck Martel, mpw5 and Albertina, once the last competition, the combined VDS - WVDS is decided. 

WVDS Final result. Top 20 riders and  full team-results below:

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Still leader: Nailhead's Nubile Nymphs, DS Chuck Martel

With just two major races to go, both the Cat 2 Worlds races , before we can crown the first ever women's racing VDS Champion the race is anything but over. Chuck Martel has a bit of a lead and second placed mpw5 might find it hard to close the gap. More threatening perhaps(???) is the Vos- team of Albertina . She has to close a 643 point gap but if Vos hits some jackpot form nothing seems impossible......

Full results: WVDS110919  , Top 20 riders and  full team-results below:

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Still leader: Nailhead's Nubile Nymphs, DS Chuck Martel

Two big stageraces since the last update. Holland Ladies, very sprinter-oriented and with a slightly stronger field, was won in a huge upset by Marianne Vos. The hillier and more varied Tour de l'Ardeche was won by Emma Pooley while Emilia Fahlin dominated the flatter stages and TTs.

Full results: WVDS110915 , Top 20 riders and  full team-results below:

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Cycling doesn't get much busier than it is at the moment, and while Cyclemania continues to put the wood to the field in the Big Game, there is still plenty of intrigue in the battle for the other two podium spots, with ten teams separated by 800 points. See the left sidebar for the full list. Sitting in third, Burgi's Glorious Bastards are about to gorge themselves on JJ Cobo's pointalanche tomorrow. So the nearby teams had better brace themselves and kick some Montreal ass.

In the Ed's League, the big news is the (almost) 200-point lead I have opened up on Ruthann for the final Top Ten spot, thanks to Denis Galimzyanov, selected two rounds after Stijn Devolder, one of two donuts on my roster. Oh, and Jens has an 8-point lead over Monty, though that won't last unless Fabian Cancellara doubles up in Copenhagen on Monty's ace, Gilbert. Enjoy that jersey while it still fits, Jens.