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Team Columbia Gran Turismo Season 4
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 15-01-2009 11:05
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Hello all!
This is a continuation of my career with Team Columbia as featured in the ‘Your Career’ thread (link below). I’m playing using the Plus Package DB, on ‘hard’ setting.
My first ever post....ahhh
It was suggested that as I am now in my 4th season, and the team has evolved quite a bit, I might do a story. Well, I’m too impatient to write a story covering the whole season (I’d much rather just get on with racing the races), but I did receive great support (thanks guys  ) for a mini-story covering this season’s Grand Tours. So here goes………
First of all, 3 full seasons is a long time for a team to evolve in cycling, so who currently rides for Team Columbia in 2011?…..
As you can see, it’s a pretty hefty squad. Some big names are still there, such as Kim Kirchen and Linus Gerdemann, and Cavendish and Ciolek are obviously two of my main men, but there are newer stars as well: Gesink, Pardilla, Pliuschin have all joined, and further down the list there have been major overhauls.
My season’s sponsor goals include winning the Tour de France, and winning the sprint jersey in the Vuelta, but my personal goals include defending Linus Gerdemann’s 2010 Vuelta win, and gaining a podium place in the Giro for either John Devine or Robert Gesink.
Sergio Pardilla will be trying to better his 2nd place in last year’s Tour, and if he does win the TdF this year he will add that title to his 2009 Vuelta victory.
Mark Cavendish will try to gain some stage victories in the Tour, and Francisco Pacheco will hopefully add to his tally in both the Giro and the Vuelta.
In addition, we have had excellent results in GT King of the Mountain competitions over the years, and this season we will endeavour to win some more!
Next up I will discuss my Giro, Tour and Vuelta plans, and start to summarize the season so far. I've just finished the Tirreno Adriatico, so will be racing through the classics and short stage races over the next few days to get to the Giro as quickly as possible. 
Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy playing it..... |
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| Biathlon |
Posted on 15-01-2009 13:36
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Sprinter
Posts: 1813
Joined: 15-06-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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Nice it will be fun to read Good Luck
Words to live by
"What would Lance do?"
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-12-2024 18:17
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 15-01-2009 14:56
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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The season so far
I'll give a brief summary of the season so far, with screenies to liven up the text here and there. I’ll only cover the important races for us, rather than all of the ‘training’ races which serve only to increase fitness.
The Wizard of Oz
The season started, as always, with the Aussie Championships. This is a good race for me, as Mike Rogers, Jai Crawford and Adam Hansen are all good riders, and indeed Hansen is the defending Champion. This year’s race was a good one, with Rogers, Crawford and Cadel Evans breaking away on the big hill with 2 laps to go. The Columbia men worked well together, and Crawford’s better downhill ability gave him the strength to pull away in the final kilometers for the victory. Go Columbia!
Next up came the Tour down Under. Always a good race for Columbia, this is where we can get the sprint train going for the first time in the season. This year, though, we only won 1 stage!  However, Mark Cavendish took the final stage with a blistering sprint finish (It helped that he was on a +5 rating for the day!).
In earlier stages he had finished 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd, and this victory sealed the sprinters’ jersey for him for the third year running. Not only that, but a big crash earlier in the race had put some of the hill climbers at a time disadvantage on Willunga Hill, meaning that with his accumulated time bonuses, Cav was able to hang on to the overall Leader’s Jersey ahead of Steegmans and Bennati! Hurrah! As you can see from the top 10, it was a sprinter’s race, and Willunga Hill did not affect the overall standings.
Crawford also won the Mountain jersey for the 3rd year in succession!
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| p3druh |
Posted on 15-01-2009 14:56
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2667
Joined: 28-09-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Wow, Pacheco has turned into a decent sprinter. Nice to see it. The best part is that he can climb also... Nice move taking him to the Giro and Vuelta
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 15-01-2009 16:59
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World Champion
Posts: 13924
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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where is Lewis. In my career he started with 67-68 mo-hill and he already has 70 in both, in only a few months without training camps. But i think that he has a mythical trainer
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 09:51
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Lewis didn't improve at all in my first season, so I binned him for some better riders! Harsh, I know.....
California dreaming
The Tour of Malaysia came next, and although it was really a training ride for the upcoming Tour of California, Cavendish was again spectacularly successful, winning stages and the overall race again! What a start!
The Tour of California, in contrast was a bit of a letdown. We have won this race each season so far, Hincapie taking the win twice in succession, and Popovych winning last year. This year, Mike Rogers fancied his chances but couldn’t quite make it.
The good news though, was that we did manage to pick up the sprinters’ jersey and KOM jersey, which was nice
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 09:57
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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All heads turn towards the Mediterranean
The rest of February and early March was spent preparing for the Paris-Nice and the Tirreno Adriatico. Winning the TA was a sponsor goal, so my strongest riders went there, although the PN team wasn’t exactly poor!
The first prep race was the Vuelta Valenciana, and Vanoverschelde was hoping to start off his season with a stage win. We weren’t disappointed as he took 2!
Second shot taken by a quick fingered member of the crowd!
Sergio Pardilla also took part and here you can see him in the yellow jersey leading Linus Gerdemann, in the red KOM jersey, Levi Leipheimer of Garmin Chipotle, and a Lampre rider up an 11% gradient mountain towards the end of a stage!
The Tour of Murcia gave my TA team a chance to ride together, and here you can see Yaroslav Popovych, in his National Champions jersey, leading Sergio Pardilla (in yellow…again!) and Jai Crawford (in the silver KOM jersey) on a steep downhill, chased by Niermann of Gerolsteiner.
Jai Crawford is seen here gaining more mountain points on a solo break in the blistering Spanish heat.
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 12:56
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Racing for the Sun
The Paris Nice started well, with Ciolek winning an early sprint stage
As his lead out man Alexandre Pliuschin celebrates in the bunch behind
Voeckler set about using his descending skills to open a break and chase the mountain jersey,
and gained points on consecutive days,
even winning stage 4! B)
Later on in the race, Mont Ventoux appeared, but the stage did not finish on the mountain; this time there was a long descent down the other side into the finish. Linus Gerdemann, our leader, attacked to join the front group on the descent
He goes for the stage win,
But Valverde is given the win in a photo finish, with Basso in 3rd!  These three would contest the podium places on GC.
The time trial stage later on in the race was demolished by Ivan Basso (who won the overall), and although Linus came in faster than Valverde it wasn’t enough to overtake him on GC, so in the end we had to be content with a 3rd place. Voeckler did win the KOM jersey though, which was good news for him.
Paris Nice Final Standings
1st Basso (Astana)
2nd Valverde (Caisse)
3rd Gerdemann (Columbia) |
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 13:01
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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The Tirreno Adriatico – the sponsors get interested……finally!
So, on to the first sponsor race of the season, and we have some of our strongest riders there to help secure the overall win. A lot of our major rivals opted for the Paris Nice, but there is still Cadel Evans, Roman Kreuziger, Hector Gonzalez, Damiano Cunego, Carlos Sastre, Danilo Di Luca and the relatively unknown but precocious talent of Kevin Unsen of the Flaminia team to worry about.
The race was dominated by two stages, a mountain top finish on stage 4, and a 30km time trial on stage 6. The rest of the race was fairly flat, and Kobe Vanoverschelde finished well in the sprints every day, including taking a stage win, enough for him to secure the sprinters’ jersey. B)
Meanwhile, in the race for the GC, Cadel Evans of Agritubel set the pace in the mountains, monitored closely by Crawford (in the Aussie Champs jersey) and Sergio Pardilla, cheered on by a man with big green hands!
Having such good support from Crawford, Popovych and Kirchen allowed Pardilla to retain most of his energy, and he was able to attack out of the front group near the end of the climb
and take the stage win ahead of Sastre (Rabo), Cunego (Lampre) and Unsen, and with it the leader’s jersey
After that it was just a case of keeping it together in the time trial, and although he could only finish in 4th it was enough to hang on to the lead, and win the race for the second year running, ahead of Unsen and Evans! B)
A surprise though was that of Paolo Bettini winning the mountain jersey! (In this alternate reality he still hasn’t retired!!!!) He took part in two long breakaways and managed to gain enough points in the mountains…….madness! 
So there we have it, the first sponsor goal of the season achieved, and a 5-star satisfaction rating! Good news for us. 
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 13:08
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Milan San Remo
Pardilla comes in 4th behind……errr some other riders I forgot to note down last night ...ooops 
That's him just in the background, just to the left of the rider in red, in front of the sprinting peloton
Big News
Sastre will retire!
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 13:44
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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So that's about up to date with the Season so far. I'm just about to ride the big 3 cobble races and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco this weekend, and then we're almost up to the Giro. |
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 14:18
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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p3druh wrote:
Wow, Pacheco has turned into a decent sprinter. Nice to see it. The best part is that he can climb also... Nice move taking him to the Giro and Vuelta
Yeah, he's very useful on those "not quite flat"-flat stages! |
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| ember |
Posted on 16-01-2009 14:25
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Team Leader
Posts: 6867
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Good start, and great idea |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 16-01-2009 15:59
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World Champion
Posts: 13924
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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Gerdemann is the German champion in yours too
Edited by alexkr00 on 16-01-2009 16:00
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 16:40
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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alexkr00 wrote:
Gerdemann is the German champion in yours too
3 years running even when I simulated it last year!
Edited by facmanpob on 16-01-2009 16:58
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| Bosskardo |
Posted on 16-01-2009 17:00
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Sprinter
Posts: 1559
Joined: 07-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Nice going.
Could you post screenshots of best climbers, timetrialers and so on?
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 16-01-2009 17:23
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Bosskardo wrote:
Nice going.
Could you post screenshots of best climbers, timetrialers and so on?
I guess you mean from the db as a whole. Bit busy over the weekend so it might be Monday before I can post them. |
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| untal |
Posted on 16-01-2009 17:33
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Sprinter
Posts: 1727
Joined: 02-05-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Can you post Unsen's stats?
I liked the beggining. Keep it going! |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 16-01-2009 17:36
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Good luck with this!
Team Manager of Team IKEA-Bianchi
[url=(color=#0000ff] Team Info[/url]
Media Room
You'll Never Walk Alone |
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| facmanpob |
Posted on 19-01-2009 12:01
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Domestique
Posts: 426
Joined: 29-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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The Vuelta al Pais Vasco and 3 cobble classics are finished - I'll report on them once I've sorted out the screenshots (for some reason the game kept crashing when I tried to click on the Archive page). Until then, I leave you with the following screenshots of the top riders in the database. I have underlined Team Columbia riders in red.
First of all, here are the top 24 riders overall:
As you can see I only have 2 on the list (Kim Kirchen doesn't quite make it, although he does have 78 average overall). Interesting newish riders are Hector Gonzalez, David Ona, Kevin Unsen, Mikel Lund and Nino Comi (Unsen and Comi still ride for Pro-Continental Teams!)
Next up we have the Mountaineers and hill climbers, who are normally the ones challenging for the Grand Tours:
Next up the Time Triallists:
Following them we have the cobble specialists:
And finally, and most spectacularly for Team Columbia, the sprinters:
We are well represented in each list, but not overpoweringly so, except on the sprinters list. |
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