The Sound: Why join the Man-Game?

Kagemusha: My dad was a keen cyclist and I grew up with professional cycling. During my formative years I witnessed the fantastic and the devastating in terms of what was happening in the peleton of the 90's. It was a world that enthralled me, but there were so few people who were really into the world of lycra that it was very frustrating not to have anyone to share my enjoyment of the sport with. Cycling Manager (including the original version) was a way to engage with that world. It was and is great, but it is still a solitary pursuit. Man-Game brings a social aspect to proceedings.

TS: You certainly seemed to have put some thought into your team. What are you looking to achieve in your first season?

KM: Thanks for saying so. I think the primary objective for the team this season is to to be active and get mentioned in race reports as often as possible. Bear with me as I switch between real world and In-game here, but running a cycling team is all about exposure for the sponsors. Without having had the chance to form the squad yet, it's hard to pin down specific objectives, but so long as we've animated proceedings that's a solid start.

As stated in the team's homepage, the primary objective of the team is to develop young Swiss riders into future stars, so hopefully we can succeed in bringing some local talent to the team in our first year of racing. That much should be obvious.

TS: Being primarily Swiss in focus is it safe to assume Mountains will be you main focus?

KM: Yes I anticipate that in the mountains is where we'll be seeing most of our success, but we've still to begin negotiations with potential signings, so it's hard to say exactly how the team will look when all is said and done. But yes... we're aiming to feature in the mountains.

TS: Leading on from that do you have a multi-year plan at all?

KM: I think the first two years will be all about forming the nucleus, the core of the team, rather than results per say. Once we have the core of the team sorted out, then we can start to try and build success over the next few years. I'll be bold and say we want to be in the PCT within five years, so hopefully I don't get fired before then...

The Sound: At the time of this interview you hvn't made an HQ, but have confirmed sponsors. So tell us about your team.

Jihardy: Well, my team is a Hungarian - Slovakian hybrid team. OTP Bank is the main sponsor and Slovnaft is the secondary. The team’s main aim is to sign puncheurs, breakaway specialists and Hungarian and Slovak riders in order to build a strong base to hopefully build on in the future.

TS: There's a few new Eastern European teams in the CT this year, seeing any as particular rivals or interest?

JH: Not particular, the other team have decided to concentrate on other parts of Eastern Europe so they won’t annoy me too much. Hopefully…

TS: In the 2014 season you reported a couple of races, will you be doing more again this season?

JH: I will definitely report way more races, I wasn’t very confident last year with my reports since I thought my reports were sub-par, but my confidence has grown since and now I am ready to report!

And like last year we asked the managers to pick their favorite from the following choices:
PT, PCT or CT? PCTx4!
MSR, Roubaix or LBL? Ian+Kagemusha Roubaix, Felix+Jihardy LBL
Giro, Tour or Vuelta? Jihardy+Felix Tour, Kagemusha+Ian Giro