Tour De France Sweepstakes Update 2011

UPDATED (7/10/11): If you are looking for Tour de France Sweepstakes info, welcome back. This year's sweepstakes has changed to IZOD Race for the Podium . If you know the current stage's code word beofre I get to update this blog, please post them in the comments and I will add them to the list below as soon as possible.

Here's a few tips and observations: The sweepstakes game has typically been time-sensitive, awarding prizes to the person who comes closest to spinning at a predefined (and ever changing) time. You can guess at words, or look at the past code words on this blog (They recycle them well. After all, there are only so many cycling words that make sense.) however, there is a limit to how many entries you can have per email address (technically "per Household"), so don't waist all you turns before the first Rest Day. For all my years of playing, I have only won once, but it was a sweet T-Shirt.

Thanks for checking in and leaving your comments.  If you need to purchase anything from Amazon or any other advertisers, I would appreciate it if you would click through from this site. Vive La Tour!

UPDATE: I've posted another article below for anyone who wants to track the Spot Clean Bottle contest too. Leave your sighting info in the comments. Thanks for the suggestion.

STAGE 1: breakaway
STAGE 2: aerodynamic
STAGE 3: sprint
STAGE 4: peloton
STAGE 5: lead out train
STAGE 6: watts
STAGE 7: speed
STAGE 8: cervelo
STAGE 9: pedal
REST DAY: echelon
STAGE 10: izod
STAGE 11: cadence
STAGE 12: domestique
STAGE 13: feed zone
STAGE 14: team director
STAGE 15: green jersey
REST DAY: podium
STAGE 16: descent
STAGE 17: polka dot jersey
STAGE 18: attack
STAGE 19: switchbacks
STAGE 20: time clock
STAGE 21: paris

THANKS for visiting again this Tour and thanks to those who helped submit code words! Come back next year for your missing code words.

Tour De France 2011- Spot Clean Bottle Mascot Contest

Adding this as at the suggestion of another follower. If you are playing the Spot Clean Bottle Mascot on the side of the road at the Tour de France, please leave a comment below. I will not update the list myself or be able to answer questions, so review the comments below for updates and if you post a sighting please be sure to specify the Stage or Date and exact answer for the contest (ie beginning of the intermediate Sprint, Slope of ______ mountain, Feed Zone, etc.) Thanks in advance for the contributions!

Here's the contest link: Spot Clean Bottle!

Introducing: Tighty Whitey's "Skid Markx"

Skid Markx Blog

In response the popularity of this blog each July (over 31,000 visits so far this month) I will moving all my Tour de France and Sweepstakes Code Words to a new blog, called SKID MARKX after this year's Tour.  You're all welcome to keep visiting TightyWhitey if you'd like, but I wanted to offer a place dedicated to cycling and the TDF Sweepstakes Code Words.  This will also you to subscribe to the Blog and RSS Feeds without having to get updates about my family and friend during the other 11 months of the year.  Check out my first post on SKID MARKX, take the poll, and subscribe now and I'll see you all there in 2011.  Thanks for visiting this year!

TDF Cadillac Lead The Pack Sweepstakes Code Words

Last Year (2009) I posted the Code Words for the Tour de France Cadillac Ride of Your Life Sweepstakes and received a tremendous number of visitors and comments on this blog. So, even though Cadillac changed the name in 2010 to Lead the Pack Sweepstakes , I'm going to try to do it again . I will try to post the daily the code words shown during the Versus telecasts, Bicycling.com, and Twitter Also, I included the two code words from Versuswap (which apparently do not change.)

If you're a visitor and know a code word before I get to review my DVR and post an update, feel free to leave a comment with the code word, stage number, and where you found it (especially if it's from some other source). Also, I've noticed over the years that this sweepstakes recycles code words, so feel free to look back at last year's words and try them out. Older Code Words from previous years or from commenters to this blog can be found by clicking here. Good Luck Playing and thanks for visiting.

Prologue (7/3/2010) PODIUM - ROTTERDAM - SPEED

Stage 1 (7/4/2010) ENERGY - SPRINT - DRIVER'S CAR

Stage 2 (7/5/2010) SADDLE - LEAD THE PACK - CTS SPORT SEDAN

Stage 3 (7/6/2010) DOMESTIQUE - COBBLESTONES - SRX LUXURY CROSSOVER
Stage 4 (7/7/2010) POWER - LEADOUT TRAIN - AUTHENTICITY (Correction Tweeted late)
Stage 5 (7/8/2010) GAP - HELMET - CTS SPORT WAGON

Stage 6 (7/9/2010) PELOTON - DRIVING DYNAMICS - SUPERCHARGED V8
Versuswap Code Words (7/9/2010) MOBILE - TEAM RADIOSHACK

Stage 7 (7/10/2010) TEAM CAR - CERVELO - HIGH DEFINITION

Stage 8 (7/11/2010) ECHELON - CLIMB - HANGING ON

Rest Day (7/12/2010) PEDAL - DRAFTING - VERSUS

Stage 9 (7/13/2010) ONSTAR - DISC WHEEL - ICONIC BRAND

Stage 10 (7/14/2010) TEAM DIRECTOR - BREAKAWAY - BICYCLING

Stage 11 (7/15/2010) GRADIENT - EPIC CYCLE - 556 HORSEPOWER

Stage 12 (7/16/2010) DIRECT INJECTION V6 - GEARS - CADILLAC

Stage 13 (7/17/2010) PROVEN PERFORMANCE - CTS COUPE - SPOKES

Stage 14 (7/18/2010) FEED ZONE - HYDRATION - HAMMERING

Stage 15 (7/19/2010) CRAFTSMANSHIP - DESIGN INNOVATION - (no Twitter or FB word today)

Stage 16 (7/20/2010) CADENCE - HEART RATE - DESCENT
Rest Day (7/21/2010) V-SERIES - TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED - TOUR

Stage 17 (7/22/2010) WATTS - ATTACK - (repeated Twitter and FB words today)

Stage 18 (7/23/2010) AERODYNAMIC - GREEN JERSEY - RPM

Stage 19 (7/24/2010) ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE - TIME CLOCK - WHITE JERSEY

Stage 20 (7/25/2010) YELLOW JERSEY - PARIS - CHAMPAGNE

Sweepstakes Issues Acknowledged by ePrize

The following email was sent this morning to those who logged their issues on the Cadillac Lead The Pack Sweepstakes website:

Hello,
We are currently working to resolve the issue.  We will email once the
issue is resolved.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
ePrize Customer Service

UPDATE: Later today the following email was broadcast out:

Hello,
We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced. The promotion should now be functioning correctly.
Thank you for contacting us regarding this promotion. Should you need additional clarification, or have any other questions regarding this promotion, please reply to this email.
Sincerely,
ePrize Customer Service

Hopefully, this has resolved everyone's technical problems.  Good Luck!

Technical Problems Plague Versus Cadillac "Lead the Pack" Sweepstakes

SCROLL OR CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST OF CODE WORDS

Many people participating in the Versus 2010 Cadillac "Lead the Pack Sweepstakes" are experiencing problems with the online sweepstakes application, which runs as a promotional campaign during the 3 week Tour de France event.  Despite the sweepstake's terms of a 74 Code Word limit, contestants are being denied submission of valid code words after the entry of only 37 valid code words (exactly HALF of the allowable words), with a mesage stating "You've entered all the code words you can."  With this year's Tour de France only halfway completed, it will be interesting to see if if Versus and/or Cadillac will get this corrected before the peloton arrive in Paris on July 25th.  If not, the problems will increase as more viewers/contestants hit the limit and become disenchanted which will no doubt have a negative impact on Versus viewership and web stats, not to mention poor marketing ROI for Cadillac.

I have personally played this sweepstakes during the Tour for years without error.  However, early Wednesday (9/14/2010) I hit my 37 word limit too.  Like many of you, I have submitted my issue to the sweepstakes administrator and received an email stating that I would be contacted within 3 business days (as of 7/17 I have still not been contacted).  Based on the comments left on this blog by others, that may not actually happen, so I've re-registered with an alternate email address.  Based on my interpretation of the rules, as long as you don't play a code word twice for the same individual or exceed the 74 code word limit, this should be OK.  I hope that under the circumstances Versus and Cadillac will permit it.

If anyone else has any insight, recommendations, or has received feedback from the sweepstakes administrator, please leave your comments below.

OTHER TDF Cadillac Sweepstakes Code Words

Many people now visit my blog during July for the TDF Code Words and many commenters add words they've guessed or found elsewhere.  To make searching for these easier, I've decided to maintain a seperate list of them here.  Reminder, my main interest is keeping the daily list updated with each day's code words from Versus TV, Bicycling.com, and VSCycling Twitter feed (3 sources I'm checking daily).  Any others are welcome, although I have no way of verifying them.  Finally, although I know that the Code Words can be submitted at any time durring the Tour, I cannot confirm or deny that timing of their entry has an affect on your chances to win.

ADDITIONAL CODES FROM 2010 COMMENTERS TO THIS BLOG:
IGNITION (possibly the word in the August edition of Bicycling Magazing)
FRANCE - CADILLAC - CERVELO - BICYCLING - CTS Sport Wagon

LAST YEARS CODE WORDS (2009):
Independence Day - Monaco - Sprint - Accelerate - Energy - CTS - Chain - Saddle - Team Time Trial - Garmin Slipstream - Domestique - Peloton - Power - Pace Line - RPM - Team Columbia - Gap - Ascent - Astana - Musette - Climb - High Definition - Team Car - Cervelo - Hanging On - Echelon - Versus - Drafting - Peddle - Performance - Disc Wheel - Breakaway - Bicycling - Saxo Bank - Team Director - Bobke - Gears - Gradient - Pursuit - Shift - Epic Cycle - Chasers - Throttle - Hydration - Hammering - Feed Zone - Gear - Rest Day - Hydration - Fuel - Descent - Cadence - Heart Rate - Cadillac - Spokes - Bonk - White Jersey - Watts - Time Clock - Green Jersey - Lead out - Aerodynamic - Attack - Polka Dot Jersey - Ventoux - Yellow Jersey - Paris - Champagne

SOME OTHER OLDER YEARS CODES (including some unverified codes):
Alp D' Huez - Alps - Arch De Triomphe - Armstrong - Born Fron Jets (this was an OLD name for the SAAB sweepstakes) - Brunyl - Cervelo - Champs Elysses - Climb - Contador - Crash - CSC - Cyclism - Drafting - Efficiency - Etapes - Fans - Feed Zone - Finish - First Class - Fly to the Finish (this was an OLD name for the SAAB sweepstakes) - Garmin - Helmet - High Road - Hors Category - Jet Engine - Jet Inspired - King of the Mountains - KOM - Lance - Ligget - Livestrong - Mobile - Monaco - Peloton - Podium - Polka Dot Jersey - Power - Prologue - Pyrennes - Ride of Your Life (this was an OLD name for the sweepstakes) - Road Rash - RPM - Saxo Bank - Slipstream - Spain - SportCombi - Sprinter - Stage - Summit - Swiss - Team Director - Team Time Trial - Throttle - Time Bonus - Time Clock - Time Trial - Winner