It's awesome to see how this has reached the 113th page seamlessly. Wow really, congratulations Ian.

That said, onto Tekapocross: yup that was probably the best report of the year, great work

Matt has to take advantage of the favourable weather for the time being and sure as hell he is doing. I'm not even bitter about that 2nd place, I learnt not to even hope in a miracle by now hehe. Definitely it helps that Cook is not at the top of his game either. On a good day he would have just gotten away easily, but I'm pretty sure he'll find the right form soon.
Then Vague is Vague. Let's prepare for an even more monstre season guys

I need to make a few more posts.

Sylvain seems in great form but wasted energy early and had some bad luck with flat tyres, I'm happy enough with that.

Thanks for that report though Ian

I just...

New Whakapapa Cross Preview.
Though I'll wait a bit for the race itself, I want to see some reactions from Tekapo first

So no ice in the weather preview but higher up the slopes there is some permanent ice!

Well that puts an end to any interest the Americans had in the Coca-Cola Trophy beyond an odd round win attempt on a suitable course. And the trio jet off the USA for their promotional duties and some early exclusive scouting of the Worlds course far before anyone else will get the chance (home advantage is nice!).
All will be discussed and an update on Young coming soon (if i can find time over the weekend)!

Matt Payne with what is the most important race of his life so far up next in Whakapapa!

Well done, great report. Vague continues to do his thing, even on days when he's not the best in the race, which was arguably Mazzarelli. In this form, he should also be incredible hard to beat at Whakapapa. Unfortunately I won't find time until like Friday evening to respond to the win, might as well combine it with a preview then.

Just fixed my latest 2 posts in the Game Thread, making Dubois' one sound a bit more like him and getting rid of the bit that was meant to be deleted in Forcellini's post but accidentally wasn't because my Internet was playing up and I was in too much of a rush before work to fix it.

The first one is a minor change and the second one is just deleting the bit from the previous post I made that was only there because I quoted that post to get the banner link rather than trying to load Photobucket and take the link from there.

Leaving Oceania behind with the Whakapapa Challenge!

I really need to write a post...

Vague untouchable there I'm happy with Sylvain's 3rd place though, especially as he moves to second in the UCI.

Ian
Vague

Stunning report, I was smiling all the way through from start to finish. I can't imagine a greater season start than this right now, oh maybe what Van Aert has pulled off..

But also some great side action in the race, and good to see Li&Li continue their bromance through the trenches. 11 points on Cook is the news of the day though, but Superprestige is always dangerously close so there's no slip-ups allowed. I think all three other guys are focusing on Coca Cola in the long run, so maybe some of them will switch the focus to the SP in the long run So far so great though.
Whakapapa is - next to Alpe d'Huez arguably - his most perfectly suited race, so in this form and on this course, I'm glad Vague can confirm his favourite position. Thanks to LLS for this new unique cross, too!

Ian is on a roll lately, terrific report!

Well as you said in the report Matt stepped up for sure during the off-season and definitely gets along with different kinds of conditions so much better and I reckon that 5th place would have been something impossible to achieve 1 or even 2 years ago. Nice work to finish ahead of Cook too, definitely some good points for the Superprestige as well. Or actually, for the 2nd place of the Superprestige. Yup, Nouvelle is kicking our asses.

Oh no, I missed the anniversary of this thing! That was yesterday
Still, thanks to everyone for playing, it's been a fantastic season with this game. Hope we can go on for another good one One year, almost 80 race reports. So many wonderful posts and characters.

Really made this into a unique collaborative effort. Well done everybody!

Pretty much that

Li&Li bromance, sounds like a thing Also: Amazing ride from Milan! Even though I knew after a couple of paragraphs it was in the bag for Vague, he didn't do too much work trying to get him back and got a first place of the humans for his efforts!

Probably going to put Superprestige in equal esteem with Coke now after a 4th and a second, great start!

Ledoux also impressing before Perth, y'know, Milan didn't have a top ten yet, either

This! Ian Santa and his helpful elves bringing presents to read throughout the year.

Cheers guys.
Some more amazing posts by Shonak and also a great one from jandal, great one. Looks like Milan is maturing after all, good

Also, since we've never had one properly in the game, I dare anyone to make his rider come down with an illness. Happens quite often irl that a rider gets sick a bit and is below his usual level for a cross or two.
Maybe Cook is ill, could be it, though

Louis and Milan have both been mildly but into major one I remember was Vague in season one. And what in my post made you think Milan is in any way mature

Vague was an injury though.

Congrats on a year with this great game Ian

Is it a year since the start of the general thread or the game thread? Because you might still be able to catch the start of the game thread.

General Thread.
Anniversary of the Game Thread is actually tomorrow, just checked