The Tour de France of give-aways and competitions

Image 1 of 8

93rd Tour de France, July 1-23, 2006

The digest of largesse continues!

Our resident freebies expert, Rufus Staffordshire, has stayed glued to his screen wanting to finish this Tour with a juicy bone or two, so here he shares his round-up of what's being offered during Tour-time. There's over US$600,000 worth of prizes on offer, so dig in.

Even without Lance racing, or Ivan or Jan or Vino for that matter, the Tour de France is still the race that marketers invariably use to promote their wares. For the keen web-surfer, it's also a great opportunity to win an incredible range of prizes and competitions on offer from manufacturers, publishers and distributors.

Many of our sponsors are offering Cyclingnews readers this schwag-fest of give-aways during the lap-around-France. The prizes on offer range from cycling products to and vaccum cleaners through to trips to Paris for the 2007 TdF, as well as actual kit being used by top pros in the Tour.

First cab off the rank, is of course our own Fantasy Game, where we offer the very best in pro cycling kit. The top prize is a Giant TCR Advanced composite road bike (painted in T-Mobile team colours)Also in the Fantasy Game you can win a pair of BBB's BSG-23 Winner Quick-Step World Champion glasses designed for Tom Boonen, Santini Pro-Tour team replica clothing, Speedplay pedals, fi'zi:k team edition saddles, special edition Giro helmets, a set of Reynolds Cirro SV KOM carbon wheels, DedaTre RS Corsa clincher tyres, a set of Dedaelementi - Alanera Integrated full carbon fibre handlebars and socks from the Sock Guy.

However, entries for the Fantasy Game have closed but we had to plug it - sorry - because the prize sponsors rock.

But wait! There's more!

Below we present - in alpha order - a cross-section of the array of competitions our sponsors are offering Cyclingnews readers. Many are free to enter, some are restricted to particular territories, while others do require purchase of a cycling-related product, and then there are the TdF-deals that are also on offer.

Avanti - choice bikes, bro

Avanti: If you're from Australia and New Zealand, you can enter to win a trip to the 2007 Tour de France, provided by New Zealand's leading bike maker, Avanti. Simply enter your details and you're in the draw. You can also go in the yellow jersey competition. By picking the winning team for each stage of the Tour de France you earn yourself more chances to win the trip and other prizes from Avanti. Also, during July, Avanti is offering a free Specialized helmet and eyewear to purchasers of certain brands, and $300 off the RRP.

See: Avanti bikes

Ride into the Blue

Blue Competition Bicycles - in association with the Pro Series Sweepstake - is giving away a RC.5AL frameset as one of the prizes in a comprehensive Tour de France sweepstake.

Blue is an emerging USA-based bike company that sponsors the Colavita/Cooking Light Women’s Cycling Team, featuring riders such as super-sprinter Tina Pic and New Zealand's Olympics legend, Sarah Ulmer. The Blue bikes are also ridden by many other teams in the USA and Canada. On offfer in the Pro Series Sweepstake is the RC.5AL frameset, which is made from 7005 Series Aluminum for the main frame, with an Aerus Composites Conquest carbon seatstay, Aerus Composites carbon fork and Aerus integrated headset .

The Pro Series sweepstake is giving away 23 prizes daily for a total of 500 prizes overall. Each time you enter for the daily prizes, your entry is added to the Grand Prize drawing.

See: Pro Series Sweepstake page

Get A HED-start in your next TT

Cyclingnews and HED Cycling have come together to help you become a better time trailist. In this competition, you can win a set of H3 Carbon wheels, as well as Flip-Lite time trial bars and Hed Aero bars, all by answering a few simple questions. The prize booty for this free-to-enter competion - and open to all cyclists in all territories - comes to a total value of $2,250 USD

See: HED competition page

Win another trip to le Tour - only open to Americans

The "France - Let's Tour Again" competition offers a schwag of travel prizes in the le Tour's host country. Presented by Maison de La France (the French Government Tourist Office), in association with Air France and Rail Europe, there is a prize for each day of the Tour de France, ranging from travel gift packages, Air France tickets between the US and France, France Rail tickets and then there's le grande prize of a trip for two to see the finale of the 2007 Tour de France.

The grand prize comes from Cyclomundo Travel, which will offer a trip to France to the winner of the last stage of the "France - Let's Tour Again" game. The Cyclomundo gift-package is valid for two persons and includes: two nights in a three-star hotel in Paris; dinners, breakfasts, and VIP seating on the Champs-Elysees to see the final stage into Paris. The grand prize includes the two Air France roundtrip tickets from the US to France, as well as two, first class 4-day France Rail passes. Head to France

See: Maison de La France

Maxxis kicks off MTB kit competition

During the Tour de France, tyre company Maxxis started its latest 'Team Maxxis' giveaway, providing readers with the chance to win products from the sponsors of its MTB team.

For every two weeks from now until September, prizes will be made available from leading companies such as Chris King, Jagwire, Fox Racing Shox, Sugoi, Lazer, Fender, Cloudveil with the grand prize being a team edition Turner Flux Frame.

See: Maxxis

And Powerbars for all - well, much cheaper than usual

Online retailer, Performance Bike, is offering Cyclingnews readers a range of special deals on nutrition/hydration products, such as PowerBar gels and drinks.

See: Performance Bike

Speedplay offers the 'schwag packs', plus autographed jerseys and Zero pedals

As pedal sponsor of the Phonak and CSC teams in this year's Tour, Californian company Speedplay is once again hosting a special competition during this year's Tour de France.

There are two Grand Prizes on offer: one winner will be awarded a Phonak jersey autographed by Floyd Landis, plus a set of Zero Stainless pedals, and the other Grand Prize winner will be awarded a Team CSC jersey autographed by Dave Zabriskie, plus Zero Stainless pedals.

In addition, Speedplay is also offering weekly prizes of its 'Schwag Packs' that include a bunch of Speedplay goodies, such as a T Shirt with the Speedplay variable float graphic, a Speedplay logo hat, plus a backpack, water-bottle, and key-ring with bottle-opener.

See: Speedplay

Scratch and win with Trek

Trek has continued with its 'scratch and win' game that can be played over the Internet. Thanks to the 'miracle' (ahem) of Flash technology, as Macromedia might say, this unique game allows you to grab hold of Bob Roll's head and use it like a mop to wipe away the grey muk covering the prizes. That could be incentive enough for some people!

This year it's called Trek 'Tour Mania' and it follows the popular 'scratchie' approach, like those 'scratch-and-win' lottery tickets, but you can play over the Web.

And the prizes Trek has on offer again are significant as the total prize pool comes in at US$561,450, and there's a one-in-27 chance of winning. Very generous. Where do you sign up? Read on.

Some of the prizes on offer include two "Rides with Lance" from Trek Travel, two Trek Madone 5.2 bicycles, 10 Trek 1500 bikes, 50 HP laptop computers (yes, fifty), 25 Bontrager RaceXlite wheelsets, 50 pairs of Shimano Dura-Ace pedals, 150 Bissell vacuum cleaners (Why? They are a team sponsor, that's why), and then well over 100,000 supplementary prizes including Discovery Channel jerseys,tee-shirts, and 75,000 Powerbars, etc, etc.

The game - which is also available at Trek dealers in the USA - allows players to scratch away at grey panels placed over three 'cards', each card revealing the name of the prize. Match them up and hey presto - you've won. It's free to enter and if anything, a great example of clever use of the Internet to engage players.

See: Trek

2006 Tour home