Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Vien is alive. Hello.
Check Avenir thread, we had a team there together.
Yeah I followed it My presence here didn't really feel appreciated anymore. So I'd rather lurk than cause more problems. Thanks for arranging that, though.
The finish of the Tour de Faso also marked the end of our regular season. A season that didn't start very well for us, but we have recovered significantly. The riders will keep training for the national championships, And although we don't expect too many good results against the PT riders, it will give our youngsters some valuable experience, and -if we're lucky with the profiles- maybe a surprise result or two.
Since I'm finally blessed with some free time, you can expect a preview for the national champs and an evatuation of the goals we set prior to the season soon.
Now that our regular season has finished, our focus will switch to the national championships. Since we are an international team, we got 13 (!) separate chances to win a shiny jersey. Multiply that by two (the time trials) and we got 26 chances to increase our market value by a bit. Let’s start off with the 4 countries we don’t expect too much from.
Note: I’m using the 2012 profiles. Of course some routes may be different, but it's the best assumption I can make.
Italy
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Emanuele Rizza
Sprinter
2
2
The last race for Emanuele Rizza before he returns to BCR. The Italian has set some decent results for us, but even though he can climb pretty well this profile is way too hilly for him. Should the pack stay together for an unknown reason, I don’t see him getting a top 10 in a mass sprint either. Sorry man, but you were born in the wrong country!
Unless the TT will be shortened to less than 1km for some weird reasons, Rizza has no chance to do well in the TT.
Ukraine
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Andrii Bratashcuk
Fighter
1
4
Andrii is a fighter with nice attacking stats. But Ukraine is a small country in terms of cycling in this odd universe. With this profile and riders like Popovych being at least three times better in climbing, I’m expecting some huge gaps after a lap or two, and not enough interest for a serious breakaway. Maybe he can surprise if the riders have to ride with other countries as well. That would be his only hope.
As for the TT.. Same thing as Rizza. His chances are non-existant.
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Leonardo Duque
Sprinter
4
2
Carlos Alberto Ospina
Fighter
3
1
I remember that route. Only national champs I can keep playing for years without getting bored (actually pcm2006 had an even more brutal one, good old days!). I’m pretty sure we’re the only team that’s unhappy with this profile. Duque and Ospina are riders who could compete for a NC win in both flat and hilly races, so pretty much all over the world except in Colombia. Although they both beat Arroyo in some mountenous stages, they simply lack the MO stats to do anything here. And I don’t see the bunch letting Duque get a 20-minute lead either.
I’d say their chances in the TT are a bit higher than in the road race, but a miracle has to happen (aka: cobbles) if they want to get a top 5 there.
Spain
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
David Arroyo
Climber
2
4
Antton Ibarguren
Climber
2
2
It’s kinda sad to have to put Spain here already, but the hard truth is that our leader isn’t world-class anymore. CT riders have nothing to search for in HC and higher. Maybe if the race finished on a hill he would’ve been able to surprise some people, but his failure to get top 30 last season proves enough to me. Maybe Ibarguren could help him a little bit, or maybe he will go for an early break. I’d say the profile fits him a bit better than Arroyo.
Aand here are 4 more countries. I’m not expecting to win these national championships, but I hope to get a little bit of media attention through breakaways and top 10s.
Kazakhstan
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Mikhail Kochetkov
Sprinter
3
5
Speaking of top 10s, the Kazakh championships only had ten riders last year. Quite surprisingly, the “pack” stayed together and Bazayev sprinted to first place. Kochetkov is a nice sprinter/TTer, so should this race become a surprise “mass” sprint again, I can see him getting top 5 here. However, with the small speedbumps, I don’t see how he can have enough energy left in the tank to get even close to victory.
Mikhail is a youngster with the potential to become a TTer as well, depending on how his team will train him. Right now he is just a bit too weak to really have an impact. But it will give him some nice experience for the future championships. Although I’m afraid he won’t be in our team anymore by then.
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Igor Abakoumov
Sprinter
2
6
Kevin de Weert
Climber
2
3
Frederik Frison
Time Trialer
4
2
First of all I would like to apologize to Igor and I hope his morale won’t suffer too hard from this. But if you are up against Boonen, Vantomme and Roelandts… Our 33-year old Abakoumov is simply too weak. I hope he’s experienced enough to understand that and hope that he will sprint for a top-10 instead. I’m sure De Weert and Frison will help him as much as possible, as he hasn’t decided whether he will retire after this season or not.
If so, the TT will simply become a march to the finish line for him. Frison is a time trailer, but right now he’s a bit too inexperienced. I guess every TT will make him a bit better, so I hope he enjoys it.
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Jíri Hochmann
Sprinter
3
5
I have to admit that I gave Hochmann zero chance to survive the speedbumps when I started writing this, but after reading last years’ Kazakh championships, I believe there’s some hope for him. There won’t be a lot of participants, and if the pack stays together for some weird reason only Cyanide could explain, he’s easily the best sprinter CZE has to offer. He was very unlucky with falls and flat tyres this season and couldn’t perform as expected, so I think he wants some sweet revenge. It will be either first or last place for him. Will be fun to watch.
Hochmann isn’t the worst time trialist in the world, but he lacks a decent FL stat to ever achieve something in a TT.
The Netherlands
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Rick Flens
Time Trialer
5
2
Thijs Zonneveld
Climber
2
2
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Cobbler
3
4
And we’re back home!
Despite being a Dutch team, we were pretty unlucky signing the Dutchies in the transfer window, so we only have two riders in the Die Berg-jersey here: Rick Flens and the leader of the Die Berg-project, Thijs Zonneveld, who is finally racing again, just to make Flens feel a bit less lonely. Last year’s race involved cobbles and the Cauberg, two things Flens doesn’t like. If the race will be the same this year, with the same weather conditions, I think he will see this just as a preparation for the time trial. Maybe he will go for the break and just drop out once the peloton caught them.
Flens is one of the best time trailers from the Netherlands, However, some crazy fools decided that the TT should go over the Cauberg, and most Dutch TTers have the ability to climb as well. He finished 8th last season, but this year he did quite well in some C2 races. I really think he can get a surprise top 5 here.
However, we do have the only loaned out rider as well – Bert-Jan Lindeman. I’m really excited to see his return, because I think he and Østergaard can become a lethal duo on the cobbles. His hilly stats aren’t extremely good, but if the road race gets decided on the cobbles, I think he can follow the big guns here. And with his sprint stats, I’d say the odds to get a top 10 are pretty high. I can’t wait!
Niki is a really good CT cobbler who did pretty well throughout the entire season – he certainly didn’t let us down during the cobbled races this year. His major problem is his ability to finish; he isn’t strong enough to jump away from the favorites and he can’t sprint very well. That’s why I hope he and Lindeman can play some strong tactical games if they stay together next season. Due to his sprints and the strong competition a miracle has to happen if he wants to win this race, but he did finish 4th last season, maybe he can do that again?
Østergaard isn’t a strong TTer, and after such a long season, I don’t think he will try too hard in the TT.
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Sébastien Chavanel
Sprinter
1
7
Regis Caminiti
Fighter
1
2
One would think that a CT team has nothing to search for in one of the biggest cycling countries of the world, but a quick look at the 2013 database proves otherwise. France doesn’t seem to have a lot of good sprinters, and our good old Chavanel is arguably one of the best pure sprinters France has to offer right now. The race ended in a mass sprint last year, and I’m not expecting to see any other scenarios this year. Chavanel will easily be one of the outsiders this year, if not more. This will be his last year with a decent SP rating, so this will probably be his last chance for national glory as well. Our stagaire Regis Caminiti will bring him the waterbottles during the race and hopefully bring him in a good position for the sprint. This race will be very important for him, because some good media attention will mean he might secure himself a pro contract for next season.
Sébastien’s TT stat Is 57. Yep, just 57. He and Regis will probably battle it out for second last.
Iran
Name
Type
Time Trial
Road Race
Rudolf Zhilenko
Fighter
3
6
Last but not least, our Iranian stagaire Rudolf Zhilenko. He doesn’t really stand out in a field with riders such as Alizadeh and Nateghi (75+ sprinter with a better HI), but heck, the defending champion is always a favorite! The only reason he got on our radar was the jersey he is wearing, and I think he understands that a good result once again will be the difference between a pro contract or some amateur races. The Iranians will most likely ride together with some other countries, so it will have to happen in an early break again.
Zhilenko won’t do well in the TT, so he can fully focus on the road race.
That's the end of my previews for the national championships, I hope you liked it. I'm halfway done with a month-by-month season review, but I will wait until the end of the season with posting that.
A short race, but a race that will always go to the best climber. Therefore a top 5 should always be reachable, especially because we'll have one of the best climbers in the CT.
The Tasol Tour To The Sun marked a turning point in my season. It was the moment that Arroyo HAD to deliver, otherwise his season would turn out to be a flop. And thank God he did. He won both the first stage and the TT. The latter really surprises me because I thought there were some downhills or at least flat parts on the TT, which can really screw up the AI (I remember some cases were Flens won the Giro del Capo TT over some top climbers, which was the reason I wanted to do that race). Looking back, I should've used my win goal here. But of course, I didn't know I would have the arguebly strongest climber in the CT, so I went for a race where I didn't expect too much competition. Won't happen again.
C2 Race Top 5: Clasico RCN
Result: Win (David Arroyo)
Spoiler
An 8-day stage race with a lot of clashes, which means that not a lot of teams would like to go here. The only risk is the TT, but there are plenty of mountain stages to make up for that, so we should gain enough time to keep in the top 5 after the final (hilly) stage.
Arroyo won pretty much everything after the win in the Tour to the Sun, so he would have to fall (again ) to not get a top 5 here. I sent my best possible TTT team there but Arroyo got behind quite a lot early. Thankfully the hilly stage didn't stop him from making a nice comeback and he won this race as well. With the weak field this race went perfectly as planned, though I wonder if I could've spent the race days a bit better. A smart choice to put a goal in this race.
C2 Race Top 5: Kwita Izana
Result: 5th (Leonardo Duque)
Spoiler
Probably the riskiest choice, but I decided to go for this race instead of the mountains in Austria. The best climber should win the first stage and not much will happen at the second stage, but a break might win the third one.
Whenever I'm about to cry about how much bad luck I had this season, I think about this race and put a smile on my face. Arroyo was nowhere to be seen again, but Leonardo Duque, whom I only sent here for a possible sprint in stage 2, surprised us with the top 5 we needed! I don't really know why Duque did better than Arroyo, but I can only describe this as a massive AI f**kup in our favor. I've seen this in a lot of races with only one mountenous stage; our common sense will think these ones are decisive, but the climbers simply don't perform too well because they help their "leader". PCM2012, I love you! Well, just for this race...
C2 Race Win: Tour D'Algerie
Result: 5th (David Arroyo)
Spoiler
We also had to pick a race we should be able to win, and I decided to go for the Tour d'Algerie. Since it has only one mountain stage and clashes with the Vuelta a Tachira, it might actually be more interesting for sprinters than climbers. I'm hoping for four sprint finishes that make the last stage decisive.
Auch. That was a bad start of the season. As I said when I posted the goals, I didn't expect a strong field and an easy stage win for Arroyo. But I was wrong. A lot of managers couldn't wait for the start of the season and felt like "wasting" four race days for the one mountain stage. And I was the one "wasting" my goal. I guess the team was still starting up, and we did get some experience which helped us with the rest of the season, but picking Algerie as our win goal was a critical mistake. Even though I think not a lot of CT managers reached 3/5, this cost us a lot of points and budget. I think I could've done better in picking my win goal.
Africa Tour Team Standings: Top 5
Result: X
Spoiler
We also had to choose a standings goal, and we went for the top 5 in Africa. There are not many races in Africa, so I should be able to pick my races without having to look at a certain continent, which gives me a bit more freedom.
The season will end in a few hours and I'm not entirely sure what our position in the Africa Tour will be, but I can guarantee that we won't get a top 5 spot. I thought I had the genious idea of being one of the only teams to go to Africa with about 90% setting a goal in Europe, but I was wrong. I completely underestimated the amount of points PCT teams "passing by" in C1 races acquired, and Arroyo didn't do too well in "our" C1 race, the Tour of Eritrea. I might go for a top 15 goal if I get the chance next year, but focusing on regional standings is simply not worth it right now. Unless you build a team specifically designed for a region, PCT teams will always fill the top 5 in a region, accidentally or not.
So, after just a year in the man-game, my time has come to make place for a new team.
I joined the game without any concrete plans. I was a huge fan of the Psuedo Man-Game, which I considered as even better than the "real" man-game due to its faster pace. But since it stopped, I applied for the Man-Game and I got in. All I knew is that I wanted a climber and a domestic leader, and I just wanted to have some fun. I turned out to have a great team this year, and although Arroyo didn't really deliver, we finished in a nice 4th place.
Unfortunately, ever since the season started, I had the feeling that I was getting picked on. I got threats with every action I made, seemed to break every unwritten rule, and nearly every in-depth post in the race discussions I wrote got deleted, even though I had no idea what I did wrong. I decided to stop joining discussions and follow the man-game from a distance, and only post when necessary.
Even though I feel like I'm one of the managers who spent the most time on creating and writing about their team, and one of the most enthousiastic managers, my activity was not enough to be allowed play another season.
I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to post in the Man-Game threads, so I just decided to write this here already. But I'm still planning on making some news articles to finish the story. Thanks to dev4ever and all managers I had close contact with during the season, and thanks to all the people who worked on the man-game; even though I'm forced to leave, I had a lot of fun this season. I will stick around and see if I can answer some questions for the new managers. Even though my chances will be low, I will always think of the man-game, and do my best to be a part of the man-game community again someday.
Italy
Ukraine
Spain
Kazakhstan
The Netherlands
Iran
) to not get a top 5 here. I sent my best possible TTT team there but Arroyo got behind quite a lot early. Thankfully the hilly stage didn't stop him from making a nice comeback and he won this race as well. With the weak field this race went perfectly as planned, though I wonder if I could've spent the race days a bit better. A smart choice to put a goal in this race.
