Absolute domination by Mollema.

Yes, he has a contract for 1 more year with Vacansoleil.

Transfer market update 3

Omega Pharma - Quickstep reacted quickly to their loss of Dries Devenyns and hired Andy Schleck to have another option to Denis Menchov in the GT general classifications. The Luxembourgish should also do well in the hilly classics. Schleck, who had to accept a pay cut to sign for Quickstep, had found strange the lack of a renewal offer by his current team after being their best rider in the GTs. In truth, he never lived up to the close to 1.000.000 euros he was making per year as he was the rider with the largest salary in the peloton.

Discovery Channel will be targeting the win in one of the Grand Tours next year with Mikel Nieve and have signed two great supporters for the Spaniard in Thibaut Pinot and Samuel Sanchez. The American team freed the money that they were giving to Janez Brajkovic, who was less than impressive this year, to strengthen their chances in the mountains and in the time trials.

Another team that was quick improving his squad was Team Radioshack - Nissan. They lost Talansky to HTC but have been reinforced by Andre Greipel and Philippe Gilbert. The arrival of Greipel is particularly important as he will complement Daniele Bennati to form one of the most dangerous pair of sprinters in the peloton. Meanwhile, Gilbert has been improving his abilities lately and could be one of the most important hills riders this year.

Movistar Team lost Steven Kruijswijk to Belkin, but they have soon found a replacement for the Dutch in Cadel Evans. The Spaniard team weren't able to find a quality replacement to Kruijswijk, as Evans will find it difficult to be in the top 10 of a GT. They have also announced the signing of the Russian sprinter Denis Galimzyanov.

Looks like Discovery Channel are going to be a force next season

2013 End of Season

	Race	Category		Winner
	Tour Down Under	2.WT		Peter Sagan
	Tirreno-Adriatico	2.WT		Denis Menchov
	E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke	1.HC		Bjorn Leukemans
	Gent - Wevelgem	1.HC		Tom Boonen
	Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco	2.WT		Davide Rebellin
	Paris - Roubaix	1.WT		Bjorn Leukemans
	Tour de Romandie	2.WT		Tejay van Garderen
	Giro d'Italia	GT.WT		Rob Ruijgh
	Tour de Suisse	2.WT		Frank Schleck
	Tour de Pologne	2.HC		Johan van Summeren
	Vattenfall Cyclassics	1.HC		Ben Swift
	Vuelta a España	GT.WT		Bauke Mollema
	Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec	1.WT		Joost van Leijen
	Road World Championship	WC		Alessandro Ballan
	Giro di Lombardia	1.WT		Bauke Mollema

Mollema and Leukemans had enjoyable seasons

This just keep going and going, respect for you my friend! Mollema was pretty unstoppable once he got going there. Now lets bring on the new season, again

Mollema did really great this season. Really looking forward to the next

Mollema seems to have displaced Weening as the most loved rider in the peloton

As you may know I am moving the story to PCM 2012 for the following seasons, so expect a couple of weeks of work while I calculate the new stats for the riders, season fitness and move databases. It will be back sooner than you expect

That's nice to know

I am getting there with the new database, so here is a reminder of what is coming in terms of races for 2014.

2014 Calendar

	Race	Date	Category
	Paris - Nice	02/03/2014 - 09/03/2014	2.WT
	Tirreno-Adriatico	12/03/2014 - 18/03/2014	2.WT
	Milano - Sanremo	22/03/2014	1.WT
	Volta a Catalunya	24/03/2014 - 30/03/2014	2.HC
	Gent - Wevelgem	02/04/2014	1.WT
	Ronde van Vlaanderen	06/04/2014	1.WT
	Amstel Gold Race	20/04/2014	1.WT
	Liege - Bastogne - Liege	27/04/2014	1.WT
	Criterium du Dauhpine	08/06/2014 - 15/06/2014	2.WT
	Tour de France	28/06/2014 - 20/07/2014	GT.WT
	Clasica de San Sebastian	27/07/2014	1.WT
	Tour de Pologne	29/07/2014 - 04/08/2014	2.HC
	Eneco Tour	11/08/2014 - 17/08/2014	2.WT
	Vuelta a España	23/08/2014 - 14/09/2014	GT.WT
	GP Ouest France - Plouay	17/09/2014	1.WT
	Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal	21/09/2014	1.HC
	Road World Championship	28/09/2014	WC
	Tour of Beijing	08/10/2014 - 12/10/2014	2.HC

Spanish WC... I heard Mollema quite likes Spanish roads

I can't remember - do the HC races work any differently, or is it just less points?

It's just less points, nothing too weird.

It looks like a good season ahead

2014 squads

Ag2r - La Mondiale


Astana Pro Team


Belkin Pro Cycling Team


BMC Racing Team


Cannondale Pro Cycling


Discovery Channel


Euskaltel - Euskadi


Garmin - Sharp


HTC - High Road


Katusha Team


Lampre - Merida


Lotto - Belisol


Movistar Team


Omega Pharma - Quickstep


Radioshack - Leopard


Sky Procycling


Team Saxo - Tinkoff


Vacansoleil - DMC

Looking forward to another Great season

After two years absent from the World Tour, the Paris - Nice comes back to the calendar to open the 2014 season. The race runs from the north of France towards the Mediterranean having the medium montain as a characteristic. However, the route this year is very conditioned by the final time trial in the Col d'Eze in the last day of racing. Only the opening prologue, the climb to La Croix Neuve in Mende and that last stage seem capable of opening differences among the favorites. We would need very combative riders to avoid this scenario.

In terms of winners, the Paris - Nice has seen only 2 in the story so far. Hubert Dupont won at home in the opening race of the story, while Peter Sagan is the defending champion after winning a very strange race three years ago. The Slovak is not expected to defend his overall win, as having Mollema in his team he will be looking for stage wins.

Favorites:

- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC): Bauke Mollema was the absolute dominator of the end of last season, so he earned the right to be among the favorites for every stage race he starts this year. The time trial abilities of the Dutch, almost on par with some of the specialists, will probably play a role in the prologue and makes him one of the biggest favorites for the climb to the Col d'Eze.
- Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team): Tejay van Garderen is another very good time trialist that can climb with the best, as his 2nd place in last year's Giro confirms. However, it might be that the American concentrates in the time trials while leaving the GC to his teammate Peter Stetina, as Van Garderen seems to be preparing harder for the Tirreno - Adriatico.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): Mollema won the WT classification last year, Tejay was second and, to complete the podium, David Lopez was the third. The Spaniard had a great season, with even a third place in the Giro, and the only criticism that he took was that he was "scared" of winning. He only had one win throughout the season, a stage in the Basque Country. He gets to Paris determined to get an important win in his career.
- Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team): The last of the pre-race favorites is another BMC rider. The strength of the American outfit seems to be ever increasing in the last years and they proved it by winning the World Tour classification last year ahead of the clear favorites Omega Pharma - Quickstep. Stetina is the designated leader on the team, but if he fails at some point Tejay van Garderen should be there to take the role.

Other notable riders who might play a role in the GC of the Paris - Nice are Denis Menchov (Omega Pharma - Quickstep), Robert Gesink (Belkin Pro Cycling Team), Samuel Sanchez (Discovery Channel), Levi Leipheimer (HTC - Highroad), Rigoberto Uran (Lotto - Belisol) and Roman Kreuziger (Radioshack - Leopard).

Among the sprinters there will be a good representation, including Marcel Kittel (Discovery Channel), Simone Ponzi (Katusha Team), Andre Greipel (Radioshack - Leopard), Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad), Tony Gallopin (BMC Racing Team) and Sacha Modolo (Euskaltel - Euskadi).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2009	Hubert Dupont	Tony Martin	Lloyd Mondory
2011	Peter Sagan	Janez Brajkovic	Sylvain Chavanel

Startlist

Nice to see Paris-Nice back

It's going to be nice to see how PCM copes with this low stats.

To be honest, it worked well with PCM09 but in PCM12 the AI just didn't work well with such low stats and I have to increase the values for it to work. However, I will only do that behind the scenes to be consistent with the data I have been showing in the past.

The main problem with the AI is that no one risked attacking in the early parts of the stages and there was rarely a break.