It's all been building to this moment. You've watched every spring and cobbled classic. You've watched the Giro, the Dauphine, and every minor stage race in between. You've spent months following every racer's trajectory. Now it's finally time to cash in on the hours and hours (and hours and hours) of envy-inducing images of pastoral european countrysides, and of suffering through Carlton Kirby's insufferable commentary.

Or Maybe you have no idea what any of that means and you just finished watching 8 hours of unchained.

Whichever kind of fan you are, It's time for Fantasy Tour De France.

Bienvenue to friends, old and new. Whether you've been a long time watcher of the Tour, or just recently watched Tour De France: Unchained and fell in love with the characters and emotions of our sport, the chance at glory in the TBD Tour De France Fantasy league can be yours. Block your calendars off until at least 11:30AM every day between July 1 and 23, the biggest bike race is here.

THE GAME: The Official Fantasy Tour De France game by Tissot.

THE PRIZE: A jersey of your choice from our kit sponsor Castelli.

For those who hate reading rules:

You get 120 credits to build a team by “buying” riders. You can make 8 changes (transfers) during the race. But! If you sell a rider worth 8 credits, you can only buy someone worth 8 credits. That's it. That's the whole game. If you’re looking for something more exciting or complicated, might I recommend watching David Gaudu win the video game version of the Tour De France with his own virtual avatar on Pro Cycling Manager on twitch.

A few quick tips:

• You must have a full race roster to score points! Remember to double check your team before the game starts to account for any last minute changes to teams.

• Select a road captain every day - they will score double points. This should be someone who could potentially win, or at least come in top 10 on the stage. A stage result gets more points than leading the GC on the day.

• Log in to the site now to take the quiz and score points that you can use to make more transfers during the race.

• Use your transfers wisely! Don’t start trading on the first or second day because there are always more abandons than you expect. Remember this year’s Giro? Which is a joke I made last year and didn’t have to even update for this post. Yeesh.

The game is open (finalized roster to come soon!), so go ahead and start building the squad of your couch Directeur Sportif dreams. Do you want to bet on a reliable, consistent GC contender to lead your squad, or a dark horse contender? A farmer's son from Belgium,  or a former fish factory worker? Maybe you prefer a tactical rider, a chess player on a bike to a romantic rider, lost in the modern world? Are you the type of DS who plays with their heart, who will sing songs of victory and defeat with their riders, or are you a strategic DS, pouring over VeloViewer for every detail about the route?

Whichever tactic you use to go for the fantasy leader’s jersey, remember, the peloton never stops moving, and if you're in the peloton you're alive.

If the above link doesn’t work (blame the TDF site designer), join the fantasy TDF game, and search leagues for The TBD Castelli Fantasy TDF 2023.

Huge thanks as always to our sponsors Castelli Cycling.