Summary: Marcus Bettinelli's first clean sheet of the season is aided by goals from Russell York and Aboubakar Kamara (2). Greg Cross crossed in two assists. Fulham leads the league with eight goals in two games.

Rating: 7.1 - Not a dazzling debut, but this was a great team win.

Player of Game: Greg Cross, Fulham (8.7)

Summary: Fulham's high-powered offense covers up a spotty defense by blasting in four more goals: Kamara (2), Abraham (1) and Healy (1). The game was last tied at 2-2 before Abraham capitalized on a bad back pass to score what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Fulham's undefeated march continues.

Rating: 6.9 - Coach has me playing more of a CDM role right now since he doesn't want to mess with the current dynamic of the offense. I get it. We are scoring in bunches right now. Why change something that is clearly working?

Player of Game: Aboubakar Kamara, Fulham (8.8)

Summary: Not as convincing as some hardcore fans might have liked, but it's still a 4-1 win for Fulham nonetheless. The defense was, for a lack of a better word, bad at times but the offense was unmatched yet again with four different goal scorers: Cross, Kamara (pen.), Ajeti and Abraham. Kamara (6) and Abraham (4) are the top two goal scorers in the league through four games.

Fulham will lose Aaron Healy for a few weeks due to a sprained ankle.

Rating: 7.2 - Staying out of the spotlight for now. Team is doing great!

Player of Game: Timmy Abraham, Fulham (8.6)

Summary: There isn't a team in the world playing as great as Fulham right now. It's another dominating performance that features four goals. Kamara continues his great run of form with eight goals (3-for-3 on penalties) in five games.

Rating: 7.8 - Keeping my head down and making the right passes. I'm usually the guy passing the ball to the guy who gets the assist. As long as my teammates are scoring, that takes the pressure off me to be a go-to playmaker.

Player of Game: Aboubakar Kamara, Fulham (9.4)

Summary: Fulham had to crash back down to reality eventually. Although doing so by giving up the game-tying goal in the 79th minute and the game-winning goal in the 81st minute is a tad harsh. Kamara's 4th goal from the spot this season wasn't enough to keep the perfect season alive. Diamond also picked up his first yellow card of the season in the 56th minute.

Rating: 6.5 - I want to make excuses, like still getting use to my new club. But, I'm more mature than that. I just have to play better, period.

Player of Game: Benik Afobe, Birmingham City (8.9)

- Each member gets 8.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.

Summary: The home crowd goes wild as Copponi wins the first sprint. Diamond, Vogel and Hoover collect the other points. Lots of laps to go!


There is a reason why Diamond won the green jersey in the Tour de France. It's extremely close but the Brit moves into the overall lead by besting Gee, Martins and Paternoster on the second sprint.


Sevcikova breaks away from the field to get the five points at the third sprint point. Paternoster takes second ahead of Staniszewski and Hoover. That's the halfway point.


Veteran Hansen shows his face to win the fourth sprint. Diamond comes from behind to beat home favourite Copponi for second. Consistent Paternoster takes fourth.


Three get away for the major points on the final intermediate sprint point. Martins wins her first sprint, followed by Hoover and Hansen. Copponi comes across in fourth for another point. She trails leader Diamond 11-8 going into the final sprint.


Lasse Norman Hansen gets the double 10 points at the finish. Kay, who didn't contest the sprint points, settles for second with Diamond taking third. After the first event, Hansen leads the way with 17 points. Diamond two points back.

Result: 2nd - Great first event! Solid points haul.

Summary: No breakaway attempts in a rather boring scratch race. So, we go to a mass sprint. The bell rings as Miliaeva leads the field to the line for the last lap.


From the back to the front, Alex Vogel rockets around the outside for the win! Kay and Dens follow for second and third. Hansen held up enough riders up front, like Diamond, to take fourth and keep the overall lead.

Result: 7th, 3rd overall - Boxed in. But congrats to Alex! Huge for her!

Summary: Mariia Miliaeva (10.490 seconds), narrowly beats Paternoster (10.497) and Dens (10.516) for the victory. Hansen with another solid showing in 7th to keep his overall lead going into the final event.

Result: 14th, 8th overall - Curse my poor time trialing abilities.

Summary: We pick up the action with 10 cyclists left. Some notable names have already bowed out. The first elimination took out 3rd overall Letizia Pasternoster, ruining her chance at a medal.

That was followed by Kluge (10th overall), Miliaeva (2nd), Dens (5th), Sevcikova (9th) and Roseman-Gannon (16th overall).

So, that leaves Hansen, Vogel, Kay, Copponi and Diamond in contention for the Olympic medals this evening.


The next elimination is so close between Copponi and leader Hansen. The timers say Copponi was last, much to the dismay of the home supporters. Hansen continues on!


No question this time. Kay, 6th overall, is out. Her medal dreams gone.


This is the end of Vogel's run, 8th place. But she might have enough points in the bank to secure a medal behind Hansen. Time will tell.


Martins bows out in 7th place. Not many left now.


Diamond defeated. 6th. Lots of math being done around the velodrome.


There is no confusion on who wins the gold medal. It's the winner of the Elimination Race: Lasse Norman Hansen! The 32-year-old used his experience to his advantage to bring home the gold medal.

Joining him on the podium: Alex Vogel and Marcus Diamond.

Result: 6th, 3rd overall - Speechless. I'm an Olympic medalist! Doing so next to one of my best friends. I don't believe it. This is amazing!

Summary: The men's elite XC winner 20 years ago on this circuit was Bart Wellens, as Belgium swept the podium places. The women's elite race was won by former three-time Olympian Laurence Leboucher.

While Leboucher has disappeared from the spotlight, Wellens is a cyclocross team manager and was been training one of his star riders, Yara Kastelijn, for moments like today. We also wish her a belated Happy Birthday as Kastelijn turned 27 yesterday.


The gun goes off and we are going. Eight cyclists crowded the front row:

Marion Norbert-Riberolle
Mathieu van der Poel
Eli Iserbyt
Yara Kastelijn
Marcus Diamond
Ruby West
Nadja Heigl
Ryan Kamp

A long straight sprint out of the gate is led by this year's Tour de France green jersey winner and bronze medalist yesterday in the Omnium: Marcus Diamond. They then take the sweeping left turn into the mud. Diamond is in the rough now.

When they turn back the other way, race favourite Iserbyt has taken control of the front with Van der Poel and Kamp staying close by.

Iserbyt is setting a hard tempo and manages to stay on his bike over the first challenging incline. Multiple riders in the middle of the pack haven't gained enough speed to stay on their bike and are forced to run.

Notables falling behind early are Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, Thomas Pidcock, Clara Honsinger and Antoine Benoist.

Iserbyt looks back at his chasers as we pass the pit area. The front three have already started to pull out a little gap.

Zig-zagging through the center of the course and we have our first causality. Riding just outside the Top 10, Nadja Heigl takes a tumble. Ruby West and Timon Ruegg narrowly avoid her.

The Top 10 remains single-file as we reach the staircase. The order:

Eli Iserbyt
Mathieu van der Poel
Ryan Kamp
Yara Kastelijn
Marcus Diamond
Inge van der Heijden
Marion Norbert-Riberolle
Lars van der Haar
Anna Kay
Eric Brunner

On climb to the finish line, Kastelijn and Diamond close the gap to the three leaders. Brunner slips outside of the Top 10 and is passed by Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, who is making up for her early struggles.

A very entertaining opening lap!


We approach the staircase for the third time. Eli Iserbyt and Mathieu van der Poel have been taking turns leading the race. Both look incredibly strong today. Ryan Kamp has just been along for the ride.

Behind them, about five seconds, is the group of Yara Kastelijn, Inge van der Heijden and home favourite Marion Norbert-Riberolle.

Tough luck for Great Britain. Marcus Diamond has dropped back to the third group on the road, which contains roughly 10 riders. And Anna Kay crashed out in second sector as the mud is thick and sloppy.


Then there were two: Eli Iserbyt and Mathieu van der Poel.

They have over 30 seconds on their nearest rivals and have started eliminating some of the back markers in today's event. Both haven't shown any signs of weakness yet.

In the battle of the final spot on the podium, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado has bridged the gap up to Yara Kastelijn and Inge van der Heijden. While Marion Norbert-Riberolle has been dropped from this group and the next group.

The third chase group has thinned out to include Ryan Kamp, Lars van der Haar, Thomas Pidcock and Timon Ruegg.

Notables lapped and eliminated so far: Ruby West and Noemi Ruegg, Timon's younger sister. 41 cyclists remaining.


No changes to the Top 5 riders. Eli Iserbyt and Mathieu van der Poel have stretched their advantage to 45 seconds over the Dutch trio of Ceylin del Carmen, Yara Kastelijn and Inge van der Heijden.

Ryan Kamp is doing his best to bridge the gap to make it four Dutch riders fighting for the final podium spot.

Down to 33 cyclists. Biggest surprise to be caught so far is Michael van den Ham, a seven-time Canadian Cyclocross Champion.


Eli Iserbyt has tried multiple accelerations to shake Mathieu van der Poel, but nothing has worked. Across the staircase, the two rivals climb side-by-side. Van der Poel mounts his bike first and takes the lead... for good. Iserbyt can't match Mathieu up the final incline.

It's gold for the five-time XC World Champion: Mathieu van der Poel!

Eli Iserbyt settles for a hard-fought sliver.

The sprint for bronze is won by Ceylin del Carmen ahead of Yara Kastelijn, Ryan Kamp and Inge van der Heijden.

In total, only 25 riders or, better said, half of the field finishes - battered and bruised. Hard to make out the race numbers on the muddy kits.

Result: 19th - Started strong, but faded throughout the event. At least I finished. I didn't expect a great result given my lack of experience. Regardless, it was a lot of fun! Congrats to my SEG teammate Mathieu van der Poel on the gold medal. An absolute legend in this sport.

Also, nice Top 10 for Lars van der Haar, husband to Lucy van der Haar, which of course is my girlfriend's sister. We all had a nice family dinner after the race. Fuel for the Olympic Road Race tomorrow.

Summary: For those that were looking for a thrilling day of action, look away now. A standard sprint finish decides the gold medal. Fernando Gaviria was the fastest ahead of Mickaël Jaquier and Caleb Ewan.

(No detailed report because of too many in-game crashes to get the DB to work in the single player, one-off race mode. Sorry. The race was Quick Simmed.)

Result: 66th - Way too many fast sprinters for me to contest anything. Plus, I'm extremely tired after racing hard the last two days. That said, Lucy van der Haar (97th) and I did gain a few extra euros from Christopher Lawless for being his leadout train. Lawless flopped, only managing 40th. Alex Vogel, on the other hand, got more bragging rights over me by finishing 47th. Although, she isn't one to brag much.

Well, that concludes the 2024 Olympics. Lots of fun and excitement.

I'm officially an Olympic bronze medalist and... Wait, I'll save that major announcement for the next update. I'll recap the rest of August too.

Date	Race	Winner
2-Aug	Road: Time Trial	Mikkel Bjerg
3-Aug	Track: Keirin	Nikita Nisha
4-Aug	Track: Elimination Race	Nicholas Paul
5-Aug	Track: Sprint	Anton Hohne
6-Aug	Track: Time Trial	Sam Ligtlee
7-Aug	Track: Points Race	Silvia Zanardi
8-Aug	Track: Scratch	Minata Soro
9-Aug	Track: Omnium	Lasse Norman Hansen
10-Aug	Mountain Bike: Cyclocross	Mathieu van der Poel
11-Aug	Road: Race	Fernando Gaviria

Date	Race	Winner
1-Aug	Volta a Portugal	Warren Barguil
1-Aug	PostNord Danmark Rundt	Logan Owen
4-Aug	Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian	Simon Yates
4-Aug	Tour de Pologne	Urtzi Dominguez
4-Aug	Hansa Bygg Kalmar Road Race	Ben Swift
5-Aug	La Poly Normande	Bryan Coquard
6-Aug	The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah	Brandon McNulty
7-Aug	Vuelta a Burgos	Wout Poels
9-Aug	Czech Cycling Tour	Luke Durbridge
11-Aug	KOGA Slag om Norg	Jan-Willem Van Schip
13-Aug	BinckBank Tour	Alberto Bettiol
15-Aug	Tour du Limousin - Nouvelle Aquitaine	Harry Zuurman
16-Aug	Arctic Race of Norway	Michal Schlegel
16-Aug	Colorado Pro Classic	André Savino
19-Aug	EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg	Danny Van Poppel
21-Aug	GP Stad Zottegem	Alan Banaszek
21-Aug	Baltic Chain Tour	Abderahmane Mansouri
22-Aug	Arnhem-Veenendaal Classic	Bram Welten
23-Aug	Deutschland Tour	George Bennett
25-Aug	Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde	Alan Banaszek
25-Aug	Bretagne Classic-Ouest France	Caleb Ewan
25-Aug	Vuelta a España
26-Aug	Croatia-Slovenia	Matvei Mamykin
26-Aug	Ronde van Midden Nederland	Bram De Kort
29-Aug	Druivenkoers - Overijse	Edward Theuns
1-Sep	Brussels Cycling Classic
2-Sep	Schaal Sels
2-Sep	Circuit de Fourmies
2-Sep	OVO Energy Tour of Britain
5-Sep	Tour of South Bohemia
7-Sep	Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
8-Sep	De Kustpijl
9-Sep	Chrono Champenois
9-Sep	Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
9-Sep	Tour du Doubs
12-Sep	Grand Prix de Wallonie
14-Sep	Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen	Marcus Diamond In
15-Sep	Primus Classic
15-Sep	Coppa Agostoni - Giro delle Brianze
16-Sep	GP Judendorf-Strassengel
16-Sep	GP Jef Scherens - Rondom Leuven
16-Sep	Coppa Bernocchi
18-Sep	Giro della Toscana
18-Sep	GP Industria e Commercio di Prato
20-Sep	Coppa Sabatini
21-Sep	Omloop van de Westhoek
22-Sep	Memorial Marco Pantani
22-Sep	Tour de l'Eurométropole
23-Sep	Grand Prix d'Isberques
23-Sep	Trofeo Matteotti
23-Sep	Gooikse Pijl
26-Sep	World Championships ITT
27-Sep	Famenne Ardennes Classic	Marcus Diamond In
30-Sep	World Championships	Marcus Diamond In

- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
- Comment below to provide stat upgrades

Summary: The fans love it. The manager tolerates it. This Fulham team plays with reckless abandon. Who needs to prevent goals when you can score at-will? Two goals for Timmy Abraham and Simon Wolfenden.

Rating: 7.1 - Bystander. Then I wasn't called up for either of the two African Nations qualifying games (Nigeria won both to stay undefeated in the group: 2-0 over Benin and 4-1 over Rwanda).

Also, missed Match Day #7 at Crystal Palace because I was racing in the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen. Fulham's offense finally went flat, getting shutout 3-0. Fulham's first shutout defeat since April 27, 2024.

Player of Game: Xavier Amaechi, Sheffield Wednesday (8.9)

Summary: All the scoring happening in the first 15 minutes. Timmy Abraham with a brace to give him a league-leading 8 goals in 8 games this season. Off to a flying start.

Rating: 7.0 - Still not comfortable in my role yet. Asked coach James Coppinger if I could move further up the field, and he didn't seemed to thrilled about that. I don't blame him, the team is scoring goals at a record-breaking pace. My offensive input hasn't been exactly needed.

Player of Game: Timmy Abraham, Fulham (8.8)

Summary: Sheffield United puts up a hell of fight with 10-men throughout the second half after defender Ben Ashby was sent off for taking Timmy Abraham down in the penalty box in the 48th minute. Kamara buried the PK for his 150th career league goal. Diamond finally scored his first goal for his new club and Abraham scored two more goals to fend off United's late push despite being down a man.

Rating: 7.2 - Finally got that first goal for Fulham. Great ball by Abraham to find me lurking on the back post. Looking at the replay for the first time, lucky the ref didn't call offsides.


Player of Game: Davy Klaassen, Sheffield United (8.8)

Summary: A nervy first half featured a corner-kick goal for Fulham followed by an instant reply on a stunning strike outside the box by Dennis Adeniran for Barnsley. A terrible defensive miscue for Fulham on the end line allowed Barnsley to take a 2-1 lead early into the second half. Adam Harper headed home a third goal and slotted in the fourth goal two minutes later to complete his hat trick, and knock Fulham out of the competition. Both teams scored once more to cap the score at 5-2.

Rating: 6.5 - Not nearly good enough. Home supporters walked home disappointed, wet and angry after suffering through this one.

Player of Game: Adam Harper, Barnsley (9.7)

Summary: It goes down as a win, but losing Greg Cross for 2-4 weeks with a twisted ankle will be seen as a loss. Aboubakar Kamara scores twice while Timmy Abraham only once to tighten the race for the league golden boot: Abraham (11 goals) and Kamara (10).

Rating: 6.8 - Fatigue got the best of me in this game. Not a good sign when I have the cycling World RR Championship in two days. Glad I got subbed off in the 77th minute when Kamara put the game out of reach.

Player of Game: Aboubakar Kamara, Fulham (8.8)

- Each member gets 8.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.