Did a major database update (finally switched to the Daily post-TdF update and tweaked a lot of stuff). Started a career with RadioShack on extreme, which is quite challenging. So far, Tony Gallopin is the star of the team with a stage win and second in the GC of Tour Down Under, followed by two stage wins and a fourth place in Paris-Nice. In Tirreno-Adriatico, Andy Schleck ended up fourth and RadioShack won the team time trial, as well as the individual time trial (Cancellara). Now heading towards the classics with high hopes for Cancellara, while Horner is supposed to shine in the Spanish stage races. Catalunya has a sucky parcours though...
Still managed to get 4th in Catalunya with Horner, while Bakelants took a stage win from a breakaway. Not unhappy about that.
In the classics, life is much harder though. Cancellara's attack on the Poggio wasn't strong enough in Milan-Sanremo, so a small peloton caught up with him and he ended 8th (Sagan won). Then in the E3 Prijs, Van Avermaet won with a daring attack from 40 km, followed by Vanmarcke and Cancellara. No success in Gent-Wevelgem either: couldn't avoid a group sprint and due to several failed attempts to attack, Cancellara wasn't able to get a top-10 result anymore. Ronde van Vlaanderen was better though. Cancellara and Boonen battled it out together and Boonen won the sprint, but I'm satisfied with the race. Hopefully, Cancellara will be able to beat Boonen in Roubaix, but first I'll be trying to get a podium result in Pais Vasco with Horner.
Well, Cancellara did beat Boonen in Roubaix, but still got outsprinted by an amazingly strong Vanmarcke, so another second place was achieved. However, podium hunting in Pais Vasco failed miserably with Horner only ending 11th. The hilly classics were "interesting" too: Horner got 12th in Amstel Gold Race, 3rd in Fleche Wallonne and 22nd in Liege-Bastogne-Liege (winners were Scarponi, D. Martin & Valverde). All this was followed by a 10th place in Romandie and an 11th place in the Giro for Kiserlovski. Kinda hoping for a decent win again, hasn't happened since Bakelants' Catalunya stage...
Finally managed to finish an entire season with Katusha. Was having a hard time in the spring classics, but the grand tours went well and in the late season the team was more than dominant in the World Tour.
Of course, the season started in the Tour Down Under, where Kristoff won two stages and Paolini took a stage, as well as the GC. Perfect season start. Paolini also looked on his way to win the Tirreno-Adriatico after winning a stage, but the combination of boring parcours and successful breakaway made him end up second behind Diego Rosa. Paris-Nice went much worse: Menchov only ended 9th and no stages were won.
On to the classics. In Milano-Sanremo, Paolini saw a late attack fail and Kristoff got dropped from the first peloton, so no success there. In the E3 Prijs, Paolini strongly rode to 4th place, while he set up Kristoff for the sprint win in Gent-Wevelgem two days. The Ronde van Vlaanderen ended up as a battle between 9 outsiders from a relatively early attack and Sagan winning. Katusha wasn't in that group and Paolini had to settle for 14th place, just like in Sanremo. Disillusioned, he decided to be Kristoff's helper in Paris-Roubaix and our Norwegian sprinter rode to a nice 7th place on the cobblestones.
In the meantime in Spain, Alejandro Valverde was on his way to win Catalunya, but crashed and Rodriguez could profit to take the GC. In Pais Vasco, Purito also performed strongly with two stage wins, but couldn't follow an impressive attack by Nibali and Valverde and ended third. In the Amstel Gold Race, he couldn't really impress and sprinted to 8th place on the Cauberg, but in Fleche Wallonne he was the strongest man on the Mur de Huy. Then in Liège, he had to admit defeat against Gilbert and Gerrans, but still ended up on the podium.
After the Tour, Paolini ended 9th and won a stage in the Eneco Tour, while Rodriguez showed increasing form in San Sebastian, where he ended 4th. Then the Katusha era came: Kristoff sprinted to victory in Hamburg and an amazing Paolini won Plouay, Quebec and Montreal! If that wasn't enough yet, Rodriguez won 9 stages, the GC and the points & mountain classifications in the Vuelta. Also, Katusha won the team time trial and Vorganov won a stage from a breakaway.
While Katusha failed to impress in the time trial world championship (Spilak 7th, Chernetskiy 8th), the team rode very strongly in the road race. In the end, a very dangerous attack with Valverde and Horner seemed to make it, but in an ultimate effort Kolobnev closed the gap. This cost him too much energy to sprint for the win himself, but the Spanish Katusha riders could profit and Moreno outsprinted Rodriguez to become world champion! Inspired by his rainbow jersey, Moreno sprinted to the win in Lombardia too and finished off his season by winning the Tour of Beijing, ahead of his team mate Belkov.
Of course, Katusha team has been active on the transfer market too. Menchov and Florencio retired, while Selig, Kozontchuk, Kritskiy and Vicioso had to leave. Their replacements are all young talents: Voronin (scouted/sprinter), Kolesnikov (scouted/time trial), Villella (free), Rovny (Flaminia), Foliforov (free) and Samoilau (free). This means that the team will be a little bit weaker next year, but we have enforced ourselves for a bright future.
Having a pretty good start to the 2014 season so far.
The Tour Down Under didn't go so well, because the parcours was too easy and Kristoff sucked in the sprints. Fortunately, Paolini won the only hilly stage and ended 6th in the GC, but this was a race to forget about quickly. Except for Ian Stannard, who will be happy to remember his lucky breakaway GC victory, beating Sagan and Meersman into second and third. In Paris-Nice things were going much better already. On a challenging parcours, Simon Spilak was competing with the best and ended on the final podium, behind Luis Leon Sanchez and Alejandro Valverde. In the meantime, in Tirreno-Adriatico, Russian youngster Sergei Chernetskiy surprised the world by winning the opening time trial and ending second in the GC behind a superior Alberto Contador. Paolini won a stage too and Nocentini completed the podium.
Milano-Sanremo was a pretty interesting race this year. A very high pace on Cipressa & Poggio weeded out the sprinters, including Kristoff, so the punchers were battling it out on the Via Roma. Gilbert finally made his dream come true by winning the group sprint ahead of Paolini and Van Avermaet. While last year Alexander Kristoff was mainly supporting Luca Paolini in the cobbled classics, this year their roles have turned. In the E3 Prijs, this resulted in Kristoff making the final break after a powerful attack by Boonen. Kristoff managed to beat Boonen and Vanmarcke in the sprint, but Van Avermaet was even faster and took the win. In Gent-Wevelgem, Kristoff took his revenge quickly: after getting a perfect lead-out from Paolini, he easily outsprinted a small peloton ahead of Gallopin and Bennati. The Ronde van Vlaanderen was once again a failure though: Paolini attacked too early, leaving Kristoff isolated in the finale, unable to do much against attacking rivals without blowing himself up. Cancellara finished off perfect OPQS teamwork and won 5 minutes ahead of his team mate Niki Terpstra. Lars Boom completed the podium, Kristoff ended 12th. Hopefully, we can do a better job in Roubaix (sponsor wants top-5), although we have no hopes of beating ridiculously strong OPQS team.
During the classics, Katusha Team was also racing in Spain. Joaquim Rodriguez looked to be on his way to win the Volta a Catalunya, but a tactical mistake in the last hilly stage made him lose minutes. World champion Dani Moreno, who has been helping Rodriguez until then, tried to resolve the situation, but missed the final podium by one second. Valverde won the race, followed by Colombians Henao and Betancur. In PaÃs Vasco, it was Katusha time though: Rodriguez took three stage wins and won the GC ahead of the Movistar duo Valverde/Costa. Moreno won a stage too, but lost his GC chances by sacrificing himself for his captain. Both Spaniards seem to be ready for the Ardennes, where we want to defend our Fleche Wallonne title and the sponsor expects us to win in Liège.
I'm in 2014 with MTN Qhubeka and find PCM 2012 with all the patches still perfect for me. I don't play that often but prefer the slowish progress. I find playing with a smaller team a bit more realistic than the bigger teams. My results are actually very similar to MTN's real life results. I'm pro continental but I have not received an invite to a grand tour yet
I really battle with TT as my riders are just not good enough and my budget is too small for big stars. This is a problem but also makes it feel real. Climbers are also a problem and any World Tour races see my team struggle a bit with some great results now and then.
I will have to change the face of the team a lot in years to come if I want to be competitive. Or I'll wait and see what sponsors will do for me...
I've signed Rudiger Selig who seems to be a promising sprinter. I also have Andriato of Brazil I think and Magnus Nielsen who looks good. But the really good riders that wants new contracts are very expensive for this team's budget still. I will see if I stay African in future or go for the big sponsors with a complete change of face. I hope to carry on with an African based team if possible.
Edited by Johanndup on 04-07-2014 12:31
Johanndup wrote:
I'm in 2014 with MTN Qhubeka and find PCM 2012 with all the patches still perfect for me. I don't play that often but prefer the slowish progress. I find playing with a smaller team a bit more realistic than the bigger teams. My results are actually very similar to MTN's real life results. I'm pro continental but I have not received an invite to a grand tour yet
i don't know about. i am playing as An Post and i am tossing a coin about whether my team would be accused of financial fraud or sporting fraud with the results they pick up
although in fairness, i think the world tour points by my original riders is only 1 point this season (2014 too. i had a 6 month sabbatical without a pc)
i am doing it as a world tour team on a budget of €550,000 but my contract with *shivers* Guinness starts next year.
2019 season will be an interesting one for Omega-Tax and me. I have been learning as I go in career mode. Made a lot of mistakes, suffered growing pains, but still had a blast.
Did not win a TDF until 2017 with T. Martin, and also won my first PR in 2017 with Andrew Funn. Martin left as FA (FA= Free agent= Transfer), as did Heir apparent P. Rolland! M. Kittel came in on one year contract though!
So far in 2018 - Funn repeated with 2nd win at PR (caught Cancellara/ Carbonara in the Velodrome) with the help of young gun K Reiher (7 POT BEL COB), and R. Taaramae squeaked out the win in the TDF by 13 seconds. Kittel took 4 stages in TDF (lost 2 to P Sagan where there was a rolling hill leading up to sprint) and has 12 wins as of Aug 1.
Now both sponsors are leaving, as are Kittel and Taaramae, despite the results and generous contract offers. I got caught flat footed (I thought "mulling over" meant I was still in the running, and not "Screw you, I am leaving!" ) and scrambled to sign a couple of mid tier guys mid-July, in hopes that they can "help" a young guy that will step up as GC contender. (One of the signees is not a GC contender but has 81 in MO, so I hope he can protect my GC contender in climbs and help haul him up. MY new sprinter is maxed out at 81 SPR and 78 ACC, so my train better be good for him.
Hopes for a 3rd straight TDF are pretty dim.
I have been grooming a 7 POT stage racer (A. Eager) and signed another young gun in FA last season (Barone) but they are both 75 AVG in August 2018. Hopefully they grow some more over the next 11 months.
Anyway, thinking of instituting a new rule: I can manually extend one riders contract every 3 seasons (for 15% above his asking price), and cannot do the same guy more than once.
I like a challenge, but it seems pretty unrealistic that I can never keep my top guys while the CPU rattles off 5 straight TDF wins with A. Stark on the same team. Thoughts?
Anyway, pretty interested in seeing how things turn out with sponsors leaving and both top guys leaving.
Edited by Morgan63 on 15-07-2014 03:18
So I'm back in this thread too. PCM13 is no fun to play, and I just wanna enjoy some solid PCM gameplay now and then.
Started a career with IAM Cycling and added a Fantasy rider with whom I sooner or later want to target all 5 monuments. However, that will be long way until then.
First off, I thoroughly enjoy playing as a pro conti team so far, and I might even start a career at one point with a conti/farm team. Anywayz, first part of season was quite a success.
I play with the 2014 DB from Luigi, though I had to adjust some stats. Chavanel was too high for my taste for example, so I downgraded him a bit. We still got a 2nd at Paris-Roubaix, only lost against Cance. He also came 2nd in Paris-Nice, lost against Ion Izagirre. Some solid riding from him (unlike real life). Haussler meanwhile scores some mighty points, won races like Brabantse Pijl and Strade Bianche. He also leads Conti Tour. So it all looks like we certainly get promoted to WT next year. Already looking out for some cheap swiss, austrian and german riders to bolster the squad. Fun times.
Morgan63 wrote:
I like a challenge, but it seems pretty unrealistic that I can never keep my top guys while the CPU rattles off 5 straight TDF wins with A. Stark on the same team. Thoughts?
Nice reports form you, and of course Blueprint. If you want to keep your top guys you should renew their contracts one year prior before they run out. For example, if the riders contract ends in 2015, you already renew it in 2014 for 2-3 years. That way they always agree and you can keep them without stupid AI. I use it this technique at 1-2 guys in each career which I want to keep and build up, whilst the rest of the guys is "dependet" on the AI moods. Edited by Shonak on 20-07-2014 13:23
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
- Shonak - I recently picked up PCM2013, the graphics are pretty good, however, I won't be playing it much, I will be sticking to PCM2011 for sure continuing on from the Qatar Optics days. (I can't really see myself EVER buying another version of PCM unless there are ginormous changes.)
- Will be interesting to hear if you keep IAM's main riders for the next season.
Thing I like most about PCM2013 is the huge amount of variants and fantasy races. Stuff like Bucaramanga classic. Wish they were for PCM12 too. But gameplay-wise, PCM13 sucks. Never played PCM11, is there a 2014DB too?
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Now, you guys made me download PCM12 again! Some really cool mini-stories above, it's always good to read them. Will see what DB/s to use when I finish downloading of the game, but PCMdaily Expansion Pack 2014 update and PCMFreaks 2006 DBs are almost certain. Edited by admirschleck on 20-07-2014 13:39
Shonak wrote:
Thing I like most about PCM2013 is the huge amount of variants and fantasy races. Stuff like Bucaramanga classic. Wish they were for PCM12 too. But gameplay-wise, PCM13 sucks. Never played PCM11, is there a 2014DB too?
Yep, one man breaks holding off the peloton and GC groups suddenly coming to a stand still are too common.
-- There is 2014db for PCM2011, but the stats, will be considered to be too far off.
End of season is sometimes too easy. I'm winning with ag2r like a superteam.
Sagan was just too strong in Ouest but my train was perfect.
But my Vuelta was great Mainly thanks to taking good riders with great form, unfortunatelly most of them were really tired by the end.
Pozzovivo started off fantastically, helped with a great daily form
And showed that he is a great climber
Even Mondory took a win thanks to great positioning and protection on the hills
I let Riblon win from a breakaway as his sending off present, he is leaving at the end of the season
And Dupont got a win too for his help in the earlier part
Pozzovivo won comfortably in the end, all big names seemed to really tired
Riblon took KOM
And the breakaways helped us to take the team classification
In the meantime, Bagdonas was in a great shape:
He got over the hills in Montreal thanks to his +5 daily form
He is sad to leave us ... for us
And Betancur had another great 3rd place (after TdF). He had great legs on the day but unfortunatelly his support didn't (a lot of -5 and -4).
My success won't probably continue in China as my main guys are tired.
If I didnt chose to start as Movistar in my 1st career, I would definetely have chosen Ag2R. Such a fun team with a lot of climbers and good opportunities for secondary placements in the GTs and breakaway wins in the mountains. Imma start with them when I am tired of this career!
