After hesitating for a long time, I finally decided to start a story and share it with you.
And I think that after all, I'll have more challenge since someone will look upon my results ^^
Before anything, please excuse me for my english but it's not my native language, anyway when you see mistakes, don't hesitate to tell it so that I can correct them.
So let me introduce my team: Razer Pro Gaming Cycling Team, created in 2009.
DB: ElectroZenshu DB with progression at 0.1
Level: Difficult
History
2009:
Originally a new continental team, with a low budget (120k), created on January 2009, a north-american oriented team with 2 american leaders, Van Garderen and Stetina, and a canadian, Lacombe. To assist them, two more experimented riders : Zirbel and O'Bee. The rest of the team was composed of young american riders.
Results were good despite the small size of the team, but not enough to go up to Pro Tour. The team end at the 3rd continental place, not far from Vacansoleil, but more than 1k points behind ISD.
One leader left end 2009: Van Garderen was recruited by Columbia, so a leader role was free for 2010...
I'm also in charge of the USA national team, but with no real success that year, except the 4th place of Zirbel in TT WC.
TT WC: Andreas Klöden
Road WC: Damiano Cunego
2010
To replace Van Garderen, I had two main choices: Gerdemann or Langeveld. I thought that the dutch guy was a decent bet for the future, and I already had signed two other german riders to give more strength to the team: Ronny Scholz and Sebastian Lang.
The 2010 team:
Leaders: Lacombe, Langeveld, Stetina
Recruits: Van Winden, Scholz, Lang, Kristkiy, Gusev, Baugnies, Nordhaug
Langeveld performed quite well, but not where I was expecting him to: he won the Grand Prix Pino Cerami, the Grand Prix d'Isbergues, and the youth rankings of the Trois Jours de La Panne (3rd in GC). Paris-Roubaix could have been better, but a puncture ruined his day... Anyway I was happy having him in my team.
Concerning Stetina, he was a bit disappointing compared to 2009: no victory, never really in shape, he was supposed to do what Van Garderen did before, but he seriously lacked of punch.
The statement was worse for Lacombe, better than in 2009, but in two years, no win, incredible lack of resistance in massive sprints despite a nice speed.
Zirbel was always the most the robust guy of the original team, with a lot of win, thanks to his talents in TT.
In fact, the two good surprises were Kritskiy and Van Winden, winning both several times (Nokere-Koerse, Grand Prix de Llodio, 4 Jours de Dunkerque... etc), and contributing a lot in the issue of the 2010 season: acess to Pro Tour! Kritskiy even got the Cont. 1st place, some points ahead Bonnet (BBox).
TT WC: Fabian Cancellara
Road WC: Greg Van Avermaet
A better year for USA team, with the 3rd place of Zwisanski in TT, and 7th on road with Hincapie, but really far from what we expected.
2011
Since the team was going to Pro Tour, I had to reinforce it a lot to be sure not to fall again at the end of the season. Lacombe was not renewed, neither O'bee, and 3 young american riders were realeased.
I wanted the team to perform both on classics and tours, so we did things well, and we recruited a lot of great riders:
-Bos, our new sprinter, and Christian Vandevelde, who are now both leaders.
-Boasson Hagen, Knees, Sagan, and Monfort to assist or replace them
-a lot of strong and polyvalent riders I'll introduce later.
We are now at the beginning of a new and important year, I'll try to make this team a considered one, and enter the 10 best PT Teams.
I don't already know if I'll continue with the difficult level, or the extreme one... I never really saw the difference between them, and I find the hard one well balanced.
The team presentation to follow...
Edited by Lorkan on 14-06-2010 14:39
Leaders Sebastian Langeveld: our leader for cobbles classics, I hope he'll be able to catch a top 10 in G-W or P-R. Anyway, his qualities make him also a nice puncher, and he may try to catch some stages, for example in Vuelta.
Theo Bos: a pure plain sprinter, his role will be to win stages on Tour de France and Vuelta, and maybe thinking about the WC if the profile suits him well.
Peter Stetina: maybe weaker than the other leaders, he's still a nice rider on hilly stages, and will probably lead the team for the Ardennaises.
Christian Vandevelde: the grand tour leader of the team. For what could be his last year, he'll try to catch a top 5 on Tour de France, fight for win on Tour of Georgia, and maybe consider a gc goal on Vuelta. And of course, for an American team, it's the ideal leader.
To assist or repalce them when necessary, a bunch of talented riders:
Stages races specialists:
Maxime Monfort: great belgian hope, he has no weakness, and will have to help as much as he can Vandevelde on GT, but he'll also have to represent the team on Paris-Nice.
Christian Knees: another complete rider, transfered from Milram, he should participate to Giro and Vuelta, maybe we'll see him in LBL too.
Vladimir Gusev: one of the main 2010 riders, he will probably represent the team with Monfort in Paris-Nice, where he already finished 9th in last year, and after that, he'll be an important piece for stage wins and TTT for Giro and Vuelta. Note that he is the Russian Champion since June 2010 (after a long breakaway, ahead A. Efimkin).
Time Trialists: the strong point of the team, kind of a trademark
Tom Zirbel: the TT leader of the team, present since hte beginning of the adventure, and until end 2012, since I've renewed him. Since he's not that bad in mountain, he's also able to win some shorts stage races (and already has). He'll be on Giro and Vuelta probably, but more important, he'll try to catch the NC TT title, thing he never had.
Timofey Kritskiy: another russian product, a respectable fighter, with a lot of punch, he's also impressive in TT and could again be a nice surprise this year. His role will be to learn again this year on TT, so that he'll be able to succeed to Tom.
Edvald Boasson Hagen: do I really have to introduce him? I could have put him in every category since this guy has no weak point. But since our team has grown on TT, he'll be a great man for it. He should also go to Tirreno-Adriatico, Gent-Wevelgem, and after that, participate to Giro to get some stages. His last point will be the two WC: since he took the 2nd TT place, and the first place of the main bunch sprint on the road exercise (ahead Farrar and Cavendish...), he could again be a great pretendant to victory.
Stefan Schäfer and Sebastian Lang: two strong flat riders, they both will take part to Tour de France, eventually Giro for Schäfer, and WC TT.
Richie Porte: another important piece for TTT, we should see him in early season, and maybe in July.
Nelson Oliveria: young portuguese hope
Sprinters/Punchers/Fighters:
Denis Van Winden: after his win in 4 Jours de Dunkerque, I'm sure he'll be able to win some others hilly stages, and bring his help for massive sprints to Bos.
Peter Sagan: the new little pearl of the cyclism world, he'll have to perform well in Paris-Nice, Gent-Wevelgem and the Ardennaises, and could be part of the Tdf line-up.
Lars Peter Nordhaug: another great Norwegian rider, 2 wins in 2010, he could be surprising in April, and will help his leaders for TdF.
Ronny Scholz: a well known fighter, who will have a great role on Tirreno, and after that, will play the luxury team mate on Vuelta, maybe to catch a stage win.
Other Riders:
Rida Cador (HUN, 29) Joseph Cauwenberghs (BEL, 21, fict) Jean-Philippe Faye (FRA, 22, fict) Ben Gastauer (LUX, 23) Mordon Holman (USA, 21, fict) Adam Keen (USA, 20, fict) Ian McGregor (USA, 20, fict) Charly Neil (USA, 20, fict) Francis Rochard (FRA, 19, fict) Pieter Verbesselt (BEL, 21, fict)
Goals:
-Win Tour of Georgia
-Finish as leading sprinter of Tour of California
-Finish in the Tour de Belgique, Eneco Tour du Benelux and Paris-Roubaix top 10
-the last objective will be known with the last sponsor.
I also have personal objectives: since I live in Liège, I'd like to make something good in LBL, a top 15 would be ok, and I'd like to win the Tour de Picardie, the place where I was born.
Ok, I think that now we can start, just let me know what difficulty level you tend to usually play with, difficult or expert. If the expert level shows improvements in AI, I could give it a try, but if the riders are just more resistant, it won't suit me...
I'll add new riders from time to time (like I did for Sagan), the next one will be Keukeleire, but if you'd like to see others, just let me know Edited by Lorkan on 22-05-2010 22:13
Little up: presentation done.
The two next weeks will be quite difficult for me, since I have a lot of exams, but I'll try to start the Tour Down Under anyway, at least the first stage.
Here we go, first Pro Tour race: The Tour Down Under.
We don't go there with our leaders, but with our two hopes: Nordhaug and Kritskiy.
So here is the first stage summary:
A flat short stage, extremely nervous at the beginning. With the intermediate sprint at 30 km, everyone tried to get the bonus seconds. So we sent Cador in the breakaway. He attacked several times, and reached to get the 6 seconds, but it was said that he couldn't escape. The bunch got them all, and another breakaway went, with another rider of the team, another new one: Stefan Schäfer.
But it's unusual on TDU not to see the stages ending with a massive sprint.
About 15 km from the end of the stage, there was no one left ahead.
We have not real sprinters there, but since nobody is really in shape, we tried to work for Timofey, who has a nice speed.
He did well, but lacked a bit of resistance in the end.
Anyway, it's still a good result to start the season. The next stage will probably be better for us, with an hilly end.
Stage Classification:
1. R. Ferrari (LPR)
2. R. Feillu (BBO) s.t.
3. I. Abakoumov (SIL) -
4. J. Dean (GAR) -
5. M. Bandiera (QST) - 6. T. Kritskiy (RAZ) -
7. M. Renshaw (HTC) -
8. B. Bozic (VAC) -
9. S. Dumoulin (COF) - 10. L.P. Nordhaug (RAZ) -
Next stage, maybe tomorrow, but I'm not sure, lot of work...
Tell me if there's anything that is wrong, I'll try to correct it.
Edited by Lorkan on 22-05-2010 21:24
valverde321 wrote:
Is Richie Porte in your cdb/ save game? IF not could you add him.
BTW you have good graphics therefore making your screens even better.
He's already in. You can see him on the screen showing the sprint train, he's the first relay of the team.
Second stage, not as flat as the previous, so we hoped to catch a first great result for the team, and we haven't been deceived.
Immediatly after the start, O'Grady launched an attack. Nobody seemed like wanting to follow him, but he didn't stop his efforts and went for a long solo raid.
He reached to quickly get 4 minutes, but a succession of little attacks prevented him to get more.
Logically, he got caught about 20 kilometers from the end, and then the pace was extremely high.
In the last hill, the scheme was the same than on the previous stage for us: Nordhaug had to lead the hilly sprint for Kritskiy. He did his job well, but it looked like Timofey wasn't able to do much than following him.
Lars tried to resist ahead, but it was a bit too long for him, and he got passed by Bertolini just before the line: deceiving but still a nice result.
Stage Classification:
1. A. Bertolini (SDA) 3h58'47" 2. L.P. Nordhaug (RAZ) s.t.
3. F. Amorison (COF) - 4. T. Kristkiy (RAZ) -
5. L.L. Sanchez (GCE) -
6. D. Colli (LAM) -
7. R. Perez Moreno (EUS) -
8. D. Pietropolli (LPR) -
9. D. Cataldo (SDA) -
10. A. Engels (QST) -
General Classification:
1. A. Bertolini (SDA) 7h32'01" 2. L.P. Nordhaug (RAZ) +2"
3. R. Feuillu (BBO) -
4. I. Abakoumov (SIL) +3"
5. F. Amorison (COF) +4"
Kritskiy and Lars share the sprint classification lead, but since the places of the russian are better, he'll be the one who wear the jersey tomorrow, and he's also 6th in GC, at 6".
The good new is that the first 26 riders ended the stage about 30" ahead the main bunch, so it's already a nice advantage for the two riders of the team who aim a good GC.
Oh, and I after the stage, I've had a nice surprise. With the second place of Nordhaug, combined to Kritskiy jersey, we scored our first PT points, and enough to take the lead of the PT classification. I'm not sure it will last (to tell you the truth, I'm even pretty sure it won't ), so I decided to immortalize this moment:
For its first season, even if it's just the start, it's nice to see this kind of result.
Next stage maybe tomorrow, but it's absolutely not sure, it could be a week later... sorry.
Edited by Lorkan on 24-05-2010 08:33
Long time without news, sorry guys, but with the exams...
Anyway, here comes the third stage I played more than a week ago, but I had no time to post it.
A short stage today, perfect for the sprinters, meaning that it's not really the kind of stage where we can make a result, especially with that flat ending. But that also means that it is a good opportunity for the guys who aren't here as leader to show themselves.
The first attacker of the day is our local rider Richie Porte.
But the pack doesn't seem to let him go, even alone, so he's caught after only a few kilometers.
Baugnies was our second choice to take part in escapes, we can see him attentive at the front of the group.
This time the number of riders in the front group is more important with a dozen of them, and the pack cannot catch them back.
The kilometers quickly pass, the gap between the front and the main bunch never grows larger than 2'30", and at the 15km, the front group is less than 30 seconds ahead. So Baugnies places a first attack, followed by three others riders.
The entente is not that good between them, and at the top of the very last difficulty of the day, as the train of the sprinters nearly catches for good the four men, Baugnies attacks again, with his last forces.
Three kilometers: all the teams with a sprinter do their best and the rythmn is extremely fast. We also try to put Kristskiy and Nordhaug in good conditions for the GC.
Last kilometer: Baugnies can feel the pack rushing behind him, and he makes his best.
The sprinters fight for the win, but it seems that Baugnies still have enough ressources to pass the line in first postion, and yes, he does it, which is an excellent job, and enjoys everybody in the team, as we can see Porte as happy as his teammate while he passes across the line.
Well, third stage, first PT win and such a nice one, I couldn't have hoped better for January.
Stage Classification:
General Classification:
Kritskiy is still leading the points classification ahead Nordhaug, and he also leads the young one ahead Baugnies.
I'm extremly happy of this result, but it also makes me wonder if I should change the difficulty to extreme or not. I don't know if it is the relative weak level of the race or the early season shape that helps me, but I don't want my career to be too easy. What would you advise me?
Oh and one more point, I've posted a request to get a personal jersey in the fantasy jerseys topic, without answer for the moment (https://pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread....ost_292904), but I hope I'll be able to show you soon another jersey than this cyanide black one Edited by Lorkan on 06-06-2010 10:46
Fourth Stage!
Another short and flat stage, but it won't be a massive flat final sprint because the last kilometers are in a mid-uphill.
Like each time we talk about flat stages, Rida Cador is in his world, and he went onto the attack quite early. Just like in the first stage, he won the first intermediate sprint.
A nice group of 8 riders including Cador reached to take some minutes, followed by a quiet bunch, where S. Sanchez, one of the main favourites for the GC, was waiting in the end of the group the end of this stage.
To tell you the truth, it was an extremly boring stage until a fall happened in the front group, destroying all the men's hopes ahead.
The last 4 men still up became easy targets for the bunch, got caught some kilometers before the end, and finally a massive sprint happened, but not with the pure sprinters, unable to follow the rythm of the pure punchers in that difficult end.
Behind Hoogerland, Kritskiy did a good job another time and consolidate his point leader jersey.
No major changes in the GC, except the apparition of Hoogerland thanks to his win.
Nice new, thanks to Pazflor, I now have a custom shirt for the team, so for the next stage, I'll show you that Edited by Lorkan on 10-06-2010 18:13
5th stage on Tour Down Under, and a big mistake from me... so no replay and no screenshot.
It was the hilly stage of the TDU with the two Willunga Hill ascension.
Porte was in the breakaway, and resist until the 2nd passage on Willunga Hill, where it was absolutely mad: all the favourites attacked... for nothing, since in the downhill after, hte pack was complete.
So it was another sprint of punchers, won by..... Timofey Kritskiy!!! ahead Nordhaug, meaning that Kritskiy will keep his point leader jersey until the end, and Nordhaug takes the lead in the GC!
Here are the results (I export them, I think it's better no?)
), so I decided to immortalize this moment:
