1. GC contenders, in their prime: 2.
2. Future GC contenders may win shorter stage races or support current contenders: 3.
3. Hill specialists: 4. these will compete for the major classics and short hilly tours (Paris-Nice, Pays Vasco, Benelux, Poland, all the Jan-Feb tours).
4. Cobblestone specialists: 2. there are very few of these races and they're concentrated in a short season so it's best if these guys can do something else.
5. TT specialists: 2. Crucial because they can help you win a stage and meet a sponsor goal in a big race where you otherwise have no chance at a stage win. Also useful for the TTT Eindhoven race and in stage races b/c they can do a lot of pulling if there are TTTs.
6. Sprinters: 4. Sprinters tend to want to race a lot of races, so I have a mix of in their prime (79-83) and young (75-79) sprinters who I spread out among different races
7. Support riders for hills, and future hill specialists: 4, ranging from 72 for support future stars.
8. Support riders for mountains: 6. the future GC contenders also function here.
Scouts
I have at most two scouts. Only have scouts international or better. For me at least it's worth the trouble to be able to trust my scout's reports. You only need 2-3 new riders a year, maybe even fewer depending on how they develop and what your team looks like. You'll find a 70 sprinter quite easily.
Hiring older riders
-- Hilly classics and hilly/flat stage races require a rider with above 80 hills to have a good chance. Breakaways are very unlikely but you can sometimes win a short stage race with a breakaway on one day. Otherwise your GC contender in a hilly/flat stage race should build a lead in the hills days following the strategies below, and stay with the pack on flat days. Your team for these should include 2-3 (for classics) or 3-4 (for stage races) riders with high hill scores (72 or higher) to protect your contender for as long as possible.
-- All stage races with mountains require a strong mtn rider (80plus) with good time trial skills (75plus), and support for that rider, meaning 3-4 riders with 72plus mountain skill. Races with TTTs (the Giro; the TdF in alternating years) also require picking a team with decent TT skills since you can gain/loss minutes in those situations.
Training
The AI does a good job picking what to emphasize in a rider's training. But you may want to contradict it. For instance Basso has 83 mtn but 75 tt, meaning that he is vulnerable in TTs in stage races. I set his training to TT to bring that score up faster. You need to think, therefore, of how training affects a rider over the course of a career. With an older rider focus on the most important skills right away b/c there is little time to improve. Always train your best riders and youngest riders with your best trainers. And make sure you keep your riders' moods good b/c that increases the rate at which they learn. Also, for young riders: be sure to give them experience in low-level races so that their talents increase. I sign up for 2 or 3 tours a year that is just tours to give those riders experience. Remember: T.1 and C.1 races give riders experience at level 1, while HC races give riders experience at level 2.
Form
For long stage races, you should start with about 70/80 and 7/20 for GC contenders (similar for support riders, but less important) -- their form will build to 95plus over the race. For green jersey contenders you may want to start higher to win the early flat stages. Hill racers: Most of the important hilly classics are in April, so prepare your hill racers for that period (they can also win a few of the small tours, and even Paris-Nice, in that period). Also, two mid-major tours, ENECO and Poland, happen late in the season and have no mountain stages, so are winnable by hill specialists.
Cobblestone racers: The season goes from end of February to end of April
3. during the race.
(A) For mountain stages protect your best rider second best rider; on the 2nd to last or last mountain, move the 2nd best rider (and whoever else is left) to protect the top rider.
(B) In all cases recognize your rider's relative skill level and form in relation to other races. If you are 2nd best, aim to finish 1st or 2nd; but if you are 4th or 5th best, try to finish 2nd or 3rd. Trying to finish 1st when you are not a real contender will usually result in your losing completely.
(C) In all races FORM is the most important feature of a rider's performance (after skills, of course). A 76 sprinter with above 90 forms can beat an 83-84 sprinter with 60 forms, easily.
(D) If you lose to breakaways, try putting someone in a breakaway next time. That will guarantee that the pack chases it down! Plus it gives you something to look at and hope for while the race is happening. A good rule of thumb for breakaways is that the peloton can make up 10kms in 1 minute, so if the breakaway is 9 minutes away and you only have 85 kms to go, time to start chasing.
-- Sprints, (a) Set up your own train with two riders in front of your rider, one with high sprint (77plus), one with high flat (74 plus). 5-7km from the finish put the high flat in front, 99 effort, put the second one behind him; 2km from the finish have the 2nd one sprint, 1km from finish have the 3rd one (your best sprinter) sprint.
-- Sprints (b) follow someone else's train. Crucial that you are not behind more than 1 very strong rider (stronger or equal to you). Set your rider to follow at 11.9km, and choose one of the favorites. But sometimes the favorites get caught too far back in a train (the 5th or 6th rider -- this is a problem for everyone except an 84-85 sprinter). Be ready to switch trains if you have to. If you are the 4th or 5th best sprinter, you can often finish second simply by following the best sprinter. Be sure to eat at around 17km to go if your green bar is low. Be sure to set your sprint mode to aggressive.
-- Hills, classics: Classics with many short sharp hills are very hard to win. Stay near the front so that if the peloton breaks (which it often will in the last 1/3rd of a race) you will stick with the leaders. Don't be afraid to use the short relay button to keep up with the leaders. Escapes work more often in these races than in others, especially escapes by strong riders with 30-60km to go. You can try to get into one of these escapes, but it's often difficult to know which ones to go in because there are frequently 4-5 legitimate favorites, and escaping at the wrong moment will cost you the race as you will be caught. I have had some luck with escapes but I've also had luck staying with the peloton and attacking on the last or next-to-last hill.
-- Hills, stage races: Wait till the 2nd to last or last hill, and attack with 2-3km to go; or, if the hill is long enough, with 5-8km to climb set free effort to 95 or even 99 and simply ride away. Hilly stages in stage races tend to involve a lot of flat and then one or two final hills, making this strategy fairly easy to adopt; the peloton will chase down most breakaways. Strong hill riders (81 and up) should be able to win these one-third to one-half of the time.
-- Mountains: Make sure you protect your rider (see above). At some point on the 2nd-to-last or last mountain the favorites will attack. Do not follow them unless you have the green bar flashing, but even then, be careful -- in general do not attack on mountains because you will lose energy too quickly. This will cripple you later. Instead, 15-20kmkm from the top set free effort to a level that puts your heart rate somewhere between 166 and 173. Basically, you want to climb as quickly as you can without cracking and while saving energy for the finishing straight/downhill/sprint. You will catch most other riders, sometimes all of them, without attacking.
The AI has a tendency to have the leaders attack on the second-to-last climb. Knowing this, you need to consider whether you will follow that attack, pre-empt it by riding away under free effort, or catch the riders later by chasing them down. What you do should depend on your assessment of the relative strength of the field against which you're racing, and on your personal preferences--all strategies can win. But if for example Cunego has been very strong letting him get away on the next-to-last climb means quite simply that you won't catch him. You're better off trying to get away slowly via free effort and making him work to catch you. On the other hand, if the other GC contenders have shown weakness then you should attack (either via the attack button or free effort) early -- I've even done so on the third-to-last climb -- in order to put them in difficulty. Even if you are losing, do not put so much effort that you crack completely. Save your effort for another day, for the TT, etc. .
-- Cobblestones. If you don't have above 77/78 in cobblestones, you won't finish with the first group, so don't feel bad. Protect your rider, use short relay to stay near the front during cobbled sections (the peloton WILL break). Feel free to try escapes with 20-30km to go, but in general the best you can hope for is to finish 2nd to Boonen.
-- Time Trials. I don't even try when I have one rider in a TT, I just simulate. But if it's a big stage race and I have a leader, I use all the previous riders to figure out the optimal race style. In general I try to keep my riders at a single percentage effort (not a single heartbeat, but a percentage). This effort varies according to rider, of course, depending on TT skill and flat/mountain skill, but you can use your first eight riders to figure out the ideal strategy for your GC contender. (Added later: In hilly time trials, it's actually important to adjust your rider's effort, increasing it to 99 percent on downhills, for instance.)
-- Team Time Trials. I've had some luck with the following strategy: increase everyone's effort to 85-88. Put your best riders on 15-17 second relays, your worst on 5-second ones. If a rider's blue bar is lower than his green bar, feel free to cancel his relay -- you can win a TTT with most of the relays done by 5-6 riders, and the last few done by 3 riders. You will lose a rider or two this way but the team will do well. (Note: at effort 88 2 or more riders will not finish with the group, which may be fine if they have no GC hopes).
4. Winning jerseys
-- Leader's jersey requires a sprinter for purely flat races (Tour of Qatar), a hill rider (78plus) for hill/flat stage races (Pays Vasco, e.g.), and a very strong (80plus) mountain rider with good TT skills (75plus) for a long stage race. It's important to know before the race, if it has a TT, how long the TT is. In a short prologue-style TT even a fairly weak TT rider will lost very little time, making that skill less relevant to winning the whole race. But in a long TT you can lose quite a few minutes. NB: A stage race with even just ONE mountain stage (e.g. Paris-Nice in 2007) will be very hard to win without finishing high in that stage -- you cannot underestimate the time gap possibilities in the mountains.
-- Sprinter's jersey requires consistent effort. You can win the sprinter's jersey in the late stages of a long stage race if you work your form well, coming from behind to win several stages and catch up with the early leaders. To win the sprinter's jersey requires playing almost all flat stages b/c one bad day (out of the top 10) can cost you. (If you are dominating a tour, it's possible to have the same rider win a series of mountain-top finishes and thereby earn the green jersey, especially if the points in the early stages have been spread out among several riders.)
-- Mountain jersey requires committing one rider simply to this task (unless you will just win it with your GC leader, easy enough to do if you are strong enough b/c you will win mountain-top finishes consistently). After that, two choices: 2 or 3 times early breakaways to build up lots of points, then staying near the GC contenders in the really high mountain stages so as to not get passed by a Basso or Ulrich who wins 3-4 stages. Or, 4-5 breakaways and forget about finishing in the top 10 in the really hard mountain stages.
-- Winning breakaways (from Shimouma): Just like in real life, the peloton will usually let breaks go in stages after mountains. Save some of your riders in the mountains to get into the breaks. Also, in breakaways watch when riders drink. If your guy is drinking last he's going to be the strongest and might be able to ride away from the break. He stands a good chance in the sprint too. If he's not drinking last the you need to lower your effort or give up on winning the break. Finally, it's possible to win mountain stages with a good breakaway from a rider 10" or more down in the GC, if he has a high (78plus) mountain skill. Stay with your breakaway group till the second-to-last climb, then power away and hope you don't get caught.
5. Money
Make sure you have enough of it. Simple math will tell you if you do; don't forget to account for sponsor revenues and race winnings (a very good year on the Pro Tour can get you 2 million or so, but obviously you have to be careful not to gamble, b/c if your strongest rider is injured, you're broke). A good strategy is to invest money in crucial things (trainers first, one or two extra riders, equipment) at the beginning of the year and then, in the hopes that your sponsor will increase your budget, take out a loan to cover the shortfall this creates at the end of the year, knowing that your budget will increase to cover it
8. Winning the Grand Tours
Riders racing in their home country get a slight (1 percent?) bonus. If you can, try to have your GC contenders be from the country of the GT. The Vuelta is the easiest grand tour to win. The AI manages its rider fatigue poorly so your competition will already have done at least one other big tour (and sometimes even both!). It is possible to create 10-minute time gaps in the mountain stages. You can win this race with an 82plus mountain rider, even if he has only 65 in time trialing, as long as he's in top form. Depending on the course, saving a rider for the Vuelta is useful because it also allows you to have a good chance at the World Championships, which follow it immediately.
The Giro is harder than the Vuelta, but setting up a rider to race either Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adratico, Pays Vasco, and some of the fall classics followed by a mountain stage will put you in a good position to have 100 form during the race. The TdF is the toughest race to win and requires perfect preparation and a complete rider and team. In the TdF especially, a good recovery is crucial to be successful in late mountain stages and the final TT.
Edited by CrueTrue on 05-04-2011 09:19
Fairly helpful but it would be nice if you bolded all the headings. I just see a wall of text and if I was a noob I woudn't want to read through all of that.
GC riders in their peak: 2 - Contador, Menchov, arguably Schleck (even though i don't consider 25/26 as peak for a rider), S Sanchez, Basso - there's 5
Cobblers: 2 - Boonen, Cancellara, Flecha, Breschel (to an extent) - there's 4
TTers: 2 - Cancellara, Martin, Millar/Wiggins, Porte - also 4
also recommend: for Pro-Conti, you NEED a sprinter that can climb hills (Visconti, Enrico Rossi being 2)
oh, and the Eindhoven TTT is no more
other than that though, good guide
Edited by samdiatmh on 06-04-2011 14:03
I'm new to cicling manager game. I play pro cicling manager 2010 for 1 mounth now and is a pretty good game. But stil i have some questions...if enybody stil play this game offcorse.
1. Soryy for my bad english.
2. My first career whas whith CBM Team ( Cadel Evans ). Is a continental team. After the end of february i quite because don't win nothing else but climber jersey in Austalian and Besinger Tours. In Austalian toar was first overal until the 5th stage when my sprinter crack ( is a very hilly stage ). In the end a finish 5 overall. Then i took Astana team ( a veryy good team, Contador, Vinocurov, Pereiro, Bazayev, Allan Davis ( sprinter ). I won Australian Championship and Australian Tour whit Davis, Vuelta Mallorca whit Bazayez, and every climber jersey. Anyway Astana have good riders and the game have tendency to be quite simple...Allan Davis won 5/6 stage in Australian tour. Even now i play whit AStana, i am in march before Tireno - Adriatico, but now begin my questions.
1a. Is the trainers veryy important in this game? I ask that because in the mounth of july you can sign new riders. If i have a team form 100% whith riders aged between 25-26 and 30-32, trainers is stil important? In this moment ( first season ) a have 2 rider aged 22 and 23. For them i supose the trainer is very important, but for a 28 age rider? My opinion is that the trainers dosn't worth in a 28-30 aged team.
2a. In this game you can buy a ciclist for another team? or only the rider who enter in last year contract? If a team want to buy a rider from my team i receive money for that rider?
3a. If i sign a rider aged 18 whit ( future great ), i train him whith international trainer, in how manny season he become a contender for big tour?
4a. If i decide to make a team 100% with young rider aged between 18 and 20, and every young rider to be future great, it is worth, or not to spend my time doing this. I supose the first season will be annoyng, but then?
5a. In my Astana game a want to have Contador ready for winning TdF. How manny days or race must have Contador to be in optimum form for TdF? 20 Days or 2-3 WEEK Tours ( like Tireno ) is ok?
Thanks in advance...and best regard from a cicling fun.
weird, nobody play this game? Or non of you don't want to respond? Or non of you don't know to play this game for real.. I watch video and tutorial on the internet, youtube, and i observed that few of you know how to play. So, maybe i expect to much from you guys. If 99% of you don't know to play, i expected too much. On youtube i found tutorials made by peple who say that they are master in PCM. In reality they compete alone and always out number 2. Shame, no?
Nevermind, a took the answers from another site, from another forum whitch people much friendly with newcomers. But, if you want to mantain good atmosphere and to welcome well the new comers on this forum, you sould have the pleasure to reply...at least.
I've only just seen this now, and I think that can be said for many of the other people on here. The forum is predominately European, so posting at times when the forum is active can help with this. Due to only 5 posts being shown on the home page, it is very easy for new/updated posts (especially from an older game that doesn't have the support it used to) to disappear amongst the likes of newer stories etc.
You said that your questions had been answered; that's great to hear. But if you have any more questions, then feel free to ask. A new thread (not per question, but other than this one) specifically titled that you are looking for help, might be beneficial. People see the title of this and assume any posts now are more related to the guide, as opposed to seeking help with things that aren't necessarily guide related.
have fun!
[url=https://www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=28495]PCM DAILY CHAMPIONSHIPS - LIKE WORLDS EXCEPT BETTER
NOMINATIONS NOW CLOSED[/url]
Well, There aren't that many guys who are still playing it, but there's an opportunity that this topic is simply overlooked.
Not a lot of guys look in the PCM 2010 section anymore.
Me? I never played PCM 2010 and don't get a lot on this section of the site
I only saw this post since it's one of the latest posts.
But seeing you've got answers already, there's no big problem I think
And btw, it's never too late to welcome you, Welcome on this site!
Edited by Jesleyh on 19-03-2013 07:26
ReimToast wrote:
I've only just seen this now, and I think that can be said for many of the other people on here. The forum is predominately European, so posting at times when the forum is active can help with this. Due to only 5 posts being shown on the home page, it is very easy for new/updated posts (especially from an older game that doesn't have the support it used to) to disappear amongst the likes of newer stories etc.
You said that your questions had been answered; that's great to hear. But if you have any more questions, then feel free to ask. A new thread (not per question, but other than this one) specifically titled that you are looking for help, might be beneficial. People see the title of this and assume any posts now are more related to the guide, as opposed to seeking help with things that aren't necessarily guide related.
have fun!
Sorry, but for PCM 2010 isn't any help thread and i dont know where to post...so i decide to post here. The game I play is colled PCM 2010, so i made this post in PCM 2010 forum. I know that threads isn't interesting anymore, but I hesitate to post a PCM 2010 question in PCM 2012 thread. Sorry for that. Yes, my questions had been answered, except one. It is bad if I have riders with more than 60 race day in a season? I made a calendar and I chose riders for every race in a season but a have 3-4 riders with more than 60 days to race in a entire season.
For further questions may I make this post in PCM 2012 section?
It's not a big problem if your riders go over 60 racedays.
Their maximum race fitness will slowly go down(1 per 2 extra race days). You can let your helpers race about 90 days if necassary, since their form isn't that important.
Your leaders can have about 70 days too if you want, but if you want them to be able to reach their peak form, keep it under 60 days in your important races.
So for example don't start the Vuelta(if you want to win it) with more than, let's say, 44 days. After 60 race days, their form gets slightly reduced each day.
If you don't have big goals in the last part of the season, you can still have your leaders around 75 race days. If they don't aim to win the big races like the WC or Lombardia, then they will still do fine, since most other leaders(The CPU guys) have about 80 race days most of the time, and you can still win.
This is what applies to PCM 12 btw, but it will probably be the same
And keep it in the PCM 2010 section, but posting at the end of the afternoon/evening helps a bit.
In my astana game a have Contador, Vino, Bazayev, Allan Davis ( good sprinter ). My goals are ( at least for 3 big tours ) mountain jerseys in Giro, win in TDF and top 10 in Vuelta.
My strategy is to sent Vinokourov in Giro ( hoo knows, maybe he can win there ). Contador in TDF...a easy task because in my opinion PCM 2010 is a easy game if you have a very good team ( and I have it ). In Vuelta I have a problem...the goal is top 10. For that I want to sent Contador. Another option are Oscar Pereiro or Bazayev ( but this 2...I'M not sure 100% for a top 10 finish. Thats way I want to sent Contador. The problem is somewone from another forum tell me Contador is best to have at least 20 race days until his main objectives ( TDF ). Thus TDF ( 21 days ) means 41 days race for Contador after TDF. I'm not sure if he can make a top 10 in Vuelta in that condition and another rider capable to finish in top 10 in a main tour I haven't.
Gasparoto, V Iglinsky and M Iglinsky isn't capable. They are capable to win tour like Paris Nice, Tireno, Lombardia, etc.
Edited by Cosmin on 19-03-2013 17:07
. Shame, no?
