Written by Don Hamstre of don hamstre team
  
  Some say that the Awards Gala was delayed because of technical difficulties. Some say it happened because the host way kidnapped by aliens. Some say that the Awards Gala had already taken place, but was kept secret by the NSA. But this is the true story. This is my story.
  
  The big evening was about to kick off. The preparations went unusually well. The guests were arriving in a nice little castle in the beautiful Italian countryside. A very nice location indeed. The locals were very excited, with multiple Italians among the nominees. Everyone was ready for a spectacular evening. But then something happened.
  
  Suddenly, the lights were all switched off. We heard a voice: 'You are all going to play a little game. During the day, nothing special will happen to you. You can enjoy the food and luxury of my castle if you like, be my guest. But at night, things change. One person will disappear every night. This will happen 13 times. If you haven't figured out the logic of the disappearances before the fourteenth day, you will never leave this castle again!'
  
  The first night was very scary. We all had to go to separate rooms, or the mysterious voice said we wouldn't get a desert the next day. Everyone was very afraid. The next day at the dinner table, we figured out that we indeed missed someone. Benedict Guerrero was missing. With his glamorous appearance, it didn't take us long to figure that out. We were too tired to look for clues. It always looked like this was going to be an uphill battle, so why spoil all your brainpower to think of a solution on the first day?
  The sun went down and rose again. At breakfast, we missed Axel Ravn. But our road to the solution didn't seen to be paved very well, and we were still left without a clue of why those two people disappeared.
  
  The sun went down and rose again. The next morning was a big shock. Sir Sandro was missing. But we figured that he could as well have an appointment with his speech therapist. Although we didn't have much time, we figured trial and error wouldn't

get us anywhere. What if we answered wrong and The Voice would lock us up for ever, while we could also wait until we had more clues?
  The sun went down and rose again. No Ko. Another huge blow to our morals. This didn't help our thinking process either. It seemed impossible to find logic in this random mess of disappearances. We didn't think we would sprint to the answer in the first place, but neither had we thought that it would be so hard.
  
  The sun went down and rose again. At first, we thought everyone was still around. But in the evening, slico realised he was missing his rider Venancio Bento. Some people got fed up with the game. They climbed the stairs of the castle tower and searched everywhere for the mysterious owner, who put them into their misery. But the search was fruitless.
  The sun went down and rose again. The breakfast turned out not to be fruitless. We has some very nice apples, mandarins and even a pear. Suddenly, we heart the voice again: 'Someone has gone to Hell to visit his Granny'. This game is getting more strange by the day. We were missing a manager this time, but that didn't seem to give us the breakthrough we were hoping for.
  
  The sun went down and rose again. Still no breakthrough in our search for logic. This time, Antonio Gabrielli wasn't to be found anywhere. We discovered even his pink pyjama’s were missing. Realising how far the mysterious voice was willing to go, we quickly went to bed that evening.
  The sun went down and rose again. We had been making bets on who would be the next to disappear, but Domink Ucinski certainly wasn't at the top of our list. This confused us even more and we were becoming increasingly worried we wouldn't figure out the logic at the end of the 'game'.
  The sun went down and rose again. That morning, Otto Beier went missing. Old as he is, we worried about what this would do to him. We had to hurry finding this logic, but no-one seemed to have figured it out yet.
  
  The sun went down and rose again. We woke up with the sound of a mother crying. 'My little Melvynator, he has gone

missing!'. The women was inconsolable. 'He was way too young for this', she said in tears. We told her he was going to be all right and that we would do everything to find him again. Surprisingly enough, we did. He appeared again at dinner, but he said he couldn't say what happened to him, or he wouldn't be allowed to drink his usual hot-cocoa for that evening.
  
  The sun went down and rose again. This time, we were really shocked. Melvynator had disappeared again. His mother had disappeared too this time. That evening, we heart screaming. 'Help us, we are in Le Tour!'. After we rescued them from the tower, they said they couldn't tell us anything, or we wouldn't be allowed to watch television next day.
  
  The sun went down and rose again. Déjà-vu. Melvynator gone again. We became really angry now. We shouted: 'We know he's our best rider, but kidnapping him three times is just bullying!' We realised we had just one night left and we were still clueless. Just as we were about to give up, Delion stood up. ' My friends, I think I have cracked it! Everyone who disappeared has won an award! It all makes sense to me now: Guerroro is Best Hiller, Ravn is Best Cobbler, Sandro is Best TT'er, Tadaki got Best Sprinter, Venancio got Best Climber, Hells Grannies is the best Breakthrough Team, Antonio Breakthrough Rider. Ucinski is best Rider Outside Top Division, Otto is Best Old Rider and Melvynator gets three awards: Best Young, Tour and Best overall Rider!'
  
  This was an utterly brilliant though. We therefore decided that Delion should get the Award for best Manager.
  The sun went down and rose again. And indeed, no trace of Delion. He had cracked the code and paid the ultimate price for it. Well, not really the ultimate price. The doors of the castle unlocked, we were free. We met the Awards winners there too, they looked unharmed. We decided to have a party. It was great fun.
  
  But, I hear you asking, who is this maniac who locks up all the OCM-greats in an Italian castle and lets people disappear for fun?
  It was me. See you next season at the Awards Gala! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!