Since there are active stories in all the other PCM games on this forum, I think it's a good idea to have one here too. I don't really know how many of you are still playing PCM06, but I'm still playing it almost everyday and I'm still having a lot of fun.
I've been using Ruben and Camerluca's CRDB v2, started with Tinkoff and I am now in my 9th season with the team, so I think there aren't any crashes and errors that would prevent me from continuing my story.
Also, most of the riders have very high and maximized skills, so it's even harder to beat them, although I have a good team and I am pretty consistent.
So, would you be interested in following such a story?Edited by arthon on 19-02-2010 13:20
Since it's the year 2016, I'll do some reporting of important races from past years too, just to give you an insight who's a contender, a winner or even a legend. I'll do one for every grand tour, one for the cobbled classics, hilly classics and the RR and ITT WCH. My career started in 2008, so I'll use details from the histories just up to 2008.
P.S. Have fun reading and I'm open to any suggestions.
Edited by arthon on 19-02-2010 15:33
Le Tour de France - The Spanish and Czech Domination
With his overall win in 2007, Alberto Contador cemented his place as the stage racer to watch for the next decade. After team Discovery Channel disbanded, he moved to Astana, together with DS Johan Bruyneel and some other team-mates. Team new team Astana continued being a force to be reckoned with, despite being a totally different team after the 2007 season, with new staff members and new riders.
Already the best climber in the world and ever improving in the time trials, Contador had an almost perfect team around him, a team who would surely help him conquer at least another overall title. Although there were plenty of strong riders, two super-domestiques stood out: Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer.
Kloden was already known as an excelent all-rounder, and at the age of 33, one of the most experienced riders. His top results were 2nd overall in the 2004 and 2006 Tours.
Leipheimer on the other hand finally fulfilled his potential, finishing 3rd in the 2007 Tour and was the best time-trialist out of the GC contenders. And they did not dissapoint.
But there were others teams to watch too.
Team CSC had a very strong lineup which featured Carlos Sastre (3rd overall in 2006 and 4th in 2007), the Schleck brothers, and other notables as world ITT champ Fabian Cancellara and breakaway master Jens Voigt.
Rabobank also had a strong lineup, featuring three GC contenders: Denis Menchov, Thomas Dekker and Robert Gesink. Menchov was their main bet, though.
Silence - Lotto had Cadel Evans as team leader, 2nd in the 2007 Tour, maybe not one of the most aggressive, but definitely one of the most consistent. His right hand was Yaroslav Popovych, an excelent domestique, who had a big contribution to Contador's victory in 2007.
And there were the two spanish teams, Caisse D'Epargne and Euskaltel, with their leaders Alejandro Valverde and Samuel Sanchez. Valverde was, besides an excellent puncheur, a good all-rounder, but he couldn't keep his consistency in GTs before. Samuel Sanchez on the other hand had no such trouble and was ready to show what's he made of.
2008 Tour de France:
GC: Alberto Contador
Points: Alejandro Valverde
KOM: Alberto Contador
Youth: Alberto Contador
Team: Astana
Not surprisingly, Contador dominated the Tour, winning 5 stages. Although he wasn't the best time-trialist, he even managed victory in the race's final time trial, 24 hours before Paris and the Champs-Elysees. He also managed to win the KOM classification and the youth classification.
Astana also dominated the Tour, winning the team classification and having three riders in the Tour top 5: Contador 1st, Kloden 3rd and Leipheimer 5th.
Somewhat of a surprise was Valverde's victory in the points classification, his consistency being quite the opposite of his reputation.
Cadel Evans wasn't at his best, finishing 12th, one place behind another GC contender who was a dissapointment - Menchov. On the other hand, Silence - Lotto must have been pleased about Popovych's performance, who finished 6th overall.
Samuel Sanchez managed a marvelous 4th place, while the top 10 was completed by Sastre (7th), Tadej Valjavec of Ag2R (8th), Kanstantin Siutsou of Team Columbia (9th) and Andy Schleck (10th).
Edited by arthon on 19-02-2010 14:54
2009 Tour de France:
GC: Roman Kreuziger
Points: Matti Breschel
KOM: Alberto Contador
Youth: Roman Kreuziger
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
During the off-season, Astana's trio of GC contenders split up. Contador joined Quick Step, Levi Leipheimer joined Liquigas and Kloden remained at Astana.
As somewhat of a surprise, Liquigas' Roman Kreuziger won the overall. He was already a GC contender, everybody knew he'll make it into the top 10 with ease, but winning the Tour and finishing in the top 10 are two totally different things. He also won the youth competition. He also won two stages, amongst which was the final time-trial.
The same was the case with Andy Schleck. He finished 2nd overall, after finishing 10th last year, and won three stages. He joined Ag2R in the off-season and this improvement was possible probably just because he was their team captain, as opposed to Team CSC where he had to share captaincy with Sastre. Sastre seems to also have benefited from Schleck's departure as he finished 3rd overall.
Evans had a different stroke of luck this year and finished 4th overall, just ahead of Astana's former trio: Contador 5th, Leipheimer 6th, Kloden 7th. Pretty dissapointing results for all of them, knowing what they were able to do together. Contador managed another KOM jersey, although I'm sure we would have swapped it for the yellow jersey anytime.
The top 10 was completed by Rigoberto Uran from Tinkoff (8th), Jurgen Van den Broeck from FDJ (9th) and Janez Brajkovic from Milram (10th).
Besides Sastre's podium, CSC had another thing to celebrate and it really was something they did not expect at all: Breschel won the green jersey and the points classification.
After promotion from the Continental division to the ProTour division, I signed some good riders and the results came fast: Uran finishing 8th overall and my team winning the teams classification, thanks to some really food performances. (Nibali finished 13th, Ramon Domene 18th, Andriy Grivko 19th and Peter Velits 20th)
2010 Tour de France:
GC: Alberto Contador
Points: Mark Cavendish
KOM: Denis Menchov
Youth: Roman Kreuziger
Team: Team CSC
Contador returned to the 2010 Tour to win it again and forget about last year's bad performance, but Kreuziger was here to defend. Add some improving talents and some refreshed veterens and it turned out a spectacular Tour. Contador fought heroically, battered his enemies whenever he had the chances and finished with five stage wins. He even won the opening prologue.
Kreuziger fought back, but couldn't keep up with the spaniard, finishing 2nd and collecting another white jersey.
The surprise came in 3rd place: Andreas Kloden. He joined Team CSC after the 2009 season and managed his 4th career podium at the Tour, aided by strong domestiques Chris Anker Sorensen and Carlos Sastre.
Tinkoff's GC contender, Vincenzo Nibali, managed a brilliant 4th place, ahead of Cadel Evans who added another good Tour performance to his palmares.
Team CSC won the teams classification, placing three men in the top 10: Kloden, Sorensen (7th) and Sastre (8th).
Janez Brajkovic joined Caisse D'Epargne, continued improving and finished 6th, while the top 10 was completed by Ag2R's Thomas Dekker and Bauke Mollema of Gerolsteiner.
Mark Cavendish (Lampre) finally won his green jersey, although he always was the best sprinter in the peloton and Menchov won the KOM jersey for team Quick Step.
My team, Tinkoff, continued improving and 4th overall with Nibali was just amazing.
Edited by arthon on 19-02-2010 15:35
Thanks a lot.
I'll do race reports from the 2016 season and race reports from the past (just like the ones above) at the same time, so I hope it won't be confusing.
After the winter break, we had our first team meeting in Palma de Mallorca, on January 2nd. All the riders came back in a normal condition, no injuries or fatigue from the previous season. I planned a training camp here in Mallorca which will start on January 12th and the riders will start building fitness for the oncoming season.
Now we are in Verona, at the team presentation. Nothing to worry about, nothing too serious. The new riders will be introduced to the media, I'll have to explain the team's objectives for the season and maybe talk about the previous season.
They all get on the stage, most of the riders on the team are well known, but all of them are introduced to the journalists.
Riders on the team:
Edvald Boasson Hagen Mike Skalstad Taylor Phinney Mattia Cattaneo Ruben Parrelli Antinio Perego Mark Cavendish Gregory Van Bouwel Pierre Petosa Fred Ceulemans Michel Printant Benoit Fiard Regis Patouillard Jonathan Carlier Matthias Boudjemil Alban Perrault Jan - Paul Ackermann Slavomir Lachacz Przemyslaw Palkus Aleksander Datsyshin Herculano Rachao Avelino Chiquita Bohumil Vlasak Narciso Tornero Jagoba Sistiaga
The team leaders are introduced and they all have a turn at the mic.
The first one is Edvald Boasson Hagen, our cobbled classics captain and important part of our sprint train. Amongst the many questions, I spot one: "Are you thinking of winning a cobbled classic? Or you'll focus more on sprints in grand tours?". He calmly answers: "I'll focus more on the cobbled classics, since there are other riders in the team really good at sprints and they can handle most of the pressure."
The next one is home favourite, italian sprinter Mattia Cattaneo, already two times green jersey at the Tour. An italian journalist stands out from the crowd: "Will you target the green jersey at the Tour or will you do the Giro as well?". Cattaneo answers: "I'm still not sure about the Giro, but the Tour is a sure thing". The italians are clearly unsatisfied.
Another home favourite gets his turn to answer questions: Ruben Parrelli, our hilly classics captain. With some top 10s in the Ardennes classics, he is expected to win one this year, but the journalists have other things on their minds: "Is Giro di Lombardia your prime objective?". He gives it a bit of a thought "I'm sure about my racing calendar yet, but I'll probably give it a go."
Cattaneo goes back to his spot, as fresh signing Mark Cavendish steps up. The british media have been all over him for the past years and now it's no different. "How do you feel knowing that you're not the team's top sprinter?". Cavendish gives a very short answer: "It's fine. The road will decide who's better".
Next is our main GC contender: Gregory Van Bouwel. At the age of 24, he's Belgium's biggest all-rounder and their biggest hope for a Tour de France victory. "Do you think you'll ever win the Tour de France?". He has the expression of supreme confience. "I've never doubted of myself. Maybe not this year or the next one, but I'm sure I'll win it some day. The team is wonderful and they are 100% dedicated to supporting me and delivering a Tour victory".
Last, but not least: Taylor Phinney, one of the best time-trialists of the world and current silver medallist at the WCHs. "What are your objectives this season?". He knows what he wants. "Winning the ITT at the world championship and delivering a good performance throughout the season".
Finally, it's my turn. I start talking: "Last season was a good year, but there always is space for improvement...". And I go on for hours. But the objectives are quite simple: The Green jersey at the Tour de France
Top 5 in Tour de France
Top 5 in Liege - Bastogne - Liege
Top 5 in Paris - Roubaix
Stage wins at the Giro
The presentation is over. We can now start the serious preparation.
You will probably notice I've got pretty good riders on almost every category, but the only things I dominate are the sprints. In races which don't end up in bunch sprints, I'm just there for the top10 at most.
Edited by arthon on 20-02-2010 16:42
I think I've talked enough about my database, so it's time to start racing.
After a succesful training camp in January, Ruta del Sol is one of the first races for our team. I'm not going to send any important riders, just some youngsters to get some more racing experience and a couple of domestiques.
Our team for Ruta del Sol:
Bohumil Vlasak Fred Ceulemans Avelino Chiquita Przemyslaw Palkus Alban Perrault Jagoba Sistiaga Mike Skalstad
The route of the race is hilly, but with no big mountains for our best climber Sistiaga, so Palkus will be our main sprinter and Chiquita, a new recruit, will be our main hope for the hilly stages.
Some teams came here with better squads than ours.
Quick Step came with 4 potential sprinters: Pozzato, Van Avermaet, Nikolay Trussov and Tom Veelers.
Caisse D'Epargne also came with a good team: Enrico Gasparotto and J.J. Rojas for the sprints, while Soler, just like our best climber, won't have any chances to attack.
Other notables include world ITT champ Tony Martin of Team Milram and Saunier Duval belgian duo Kevin Seeldrayers and Niels Albert.
While heading to the start of the stage, we discussed the tactics for the day. Four categorized climbs meant somebody would go for the points, but we decided not to. Since there still were 60 kms from the last climb to the finish, the stage would probably end in a bunch sprint, so our protected rider for the day was polish sprinter Palkus.
The stage got under way and attacks started after just 5 kms.
The break of the day, containing such notables as Vasil Kiryienka of Silence - Lotto and Trussov of Quick Step.
The break extended it's lead to about 7 and a half minutes, while a Caisse D'Epargne led peloton were chasing them.
The last riders in the breakaway were caught 5 kms from the line. Now it would surely end in a bunch sprint.
Unfortunately, the hilly terrain didn't suit our sprinter Palkus. On the other hand, it suited Chiquita perfectly, so he started the sprint, with Pozzato being the only one capable of competing with him.
In the end, Pozzato took the stage on the line, while Chiquita took an unexpected second place on the stage, already looking promising for the rest of the season.
Stage 1 results & General Classification:
KOM Classification:
1. Vasil Kiryienka Silence Lotto 26
Young Rider Classification: 1. Avelino Chiquita Tinkoff 4h21'07"
Teams Classification:
1. Saunier Duval - Scott
Today was like any other day, nothing special, but I'm really glad it ended so well. Chiquita will now wear the blue jersey and will have another shot at victory in tomorrow's hilly stage.
Edited by arthon on 20-02-2010 17:42
