That 300-400 missed points from TdF hurts quite a lot, but it doesn't seem to be a too big problem in the end as I should be completely safe in Pro Tour for the next season how it is looking. But it is quite a pity, that the gap to teams at the top is bigger for me than the gap to teams which are right behind me.
But still, my hopes for a lot of points coming are quite high, except of Tour of Norway and final race in Lombardia, I should be in hunt for points in every race left.
dave92 wrote:
6 points back is definitely closer than I expected, but i see a slide in the standings coming.
For now, I do enjoy being 1-2 with mattias from the inaugural CT season.
At the bottom, Bacardi have really surprised me this season as I figured them for a top half finish. Depending on B&O's use of Pluchkin they could be in real danger.
I can reveal that I also enjoy sharing the top honors with you, but only as long you remain behind.
I think it's going to be close between Wikipedia and Koenigsegg in the end. Wikipedia has the slight edge in top talent in almost every field but Koenigsegg has the unbelievable depth.
Wouldn't it be great to see the PT standings being decided by the oldest argument in the ManGame? Depth vs Higher end talent?
Slightly worse than I expected. Some 200 points more from Bennati would make this much more enjoyable.
I agree Bacardi and Venchi will go down. Heineken needs Pozzato to overperform in fall as he did in spring, but I don't see that happening.
So I see it's between Pendleton's, B&O and us. Gesink should score enough for 1t4i, but if he lives up to his reputation...
Bennati has 3 classics left where I expect him to score good (+ToNE), VDB has 3 promising stage races plus Liechtenstein and Lombardia, and Nuyens wouldn't be a bad bet for ToNE if it wasn't for his awful classics season.
Pendleton's rely on their dribs and drabs-strategy and B&O on their sub-par secondary leaders as I can't see Pluchkin having enough race days left to lift them to a safe position.
Usually, I'm the pessimistic guy, but I actually have a rather good feeling about this...
I know it's quite selfish to say, but I actually quite like seeing active managers have to fight for survival (well, not fight, but voice their concerns, strategies, etc) compared to previous seasons where the only managers getting demoted have seemed to have been inactive or managers who don't post.
It's not just the ones who win that make this game a great one, it's those who stick around for season after season come thick and thin.
I'm also glad I'm not fighting for survival currently!
rjc_43 wrote:
I know it's quite selfish to say, but I actually quite like seeing active managers have to fight for survival (well, not fight, but voice their concerns, strategies, etc) compared to previous seasons where the only managers getting demoted have seemed to have been inactive or managers who don't post.
It's not just the ones who win that make this game a great one, it's those who stick around for season after season come thick and thin.
I'm also glad I'm not fighting for survival currently!
rjc_43 wrote:
I know it's quite selfish to say, but I actually quite like seeing active managers have to fight for survival (well, not fight, but voice their concerns, strategies, etc) compared to previous seasons where the only managers getting demoted have seemed to have been inactive or managers who don't post.
It's not just the ones who win that make this game a great one, it's those who stick around for season after season come thick and thin.
I'm also glad I'm not fighting for survival currently!
rjc_43 wrote:
I know it's quite selfish to say, but I actually quite like seeing active managers have to fight for survival (well, not fight, but voice their concerns, strategies, etc) compared to previous seasons where the only managers getting demoted have seemed to have been inactive or managers who don't post.
It's not just the ones who win that make this game a great one, it's those who stick around for season after season come thick and thin.
I'm also glad I'm not fighting for survival currently!
Agreed. The activity makes the game much more a live and realistic.
Hopefully I can soon gain a couple of positions and a few extra points to ensure another season. This has been my worst season by far in the game! But okay, it was also a transition season where I spent 25-40% of my budget on talents, I haven't done that before.
As I see it relegation might even be fun, you might have to gut some of your team but you also get to experience another part of the game with having to chose HC-races and races in general, which is a really important part of the PCT (Where I suck :-p).
I don't know if it would be fun, but it would definately be challenging - I'm quite confident that I wouldn't promote straight away if I relegated. The Pro Tour is fairly easy to "read", as you pretty much know what to expect. You know exactly how strong your riders are compared to the opponents, and with a fairly small margin of error you can pick out the other teams leaders aswell, hence you can guess what you can expect.
In the CT divisions you can face tough competition out of nowhere, and other places you are kicking yourself for bringing your B-squad, as your A-squad could've reeled in a shitloads of points.
I'm very fearful of relegation, that's why I didn't dare changing too much of my team, and kept Fothen, Ulissi, Contador and Steurs in the end. I knew that with those I should be able to stay up, especially if I got a top sprinter. I didn't but I made him one
Next season I'm looking to remake my team even more, and I really don't know what to expect. I fear relegation could be a serious theme for next season. Ulissi is almost surely going away, Fothen is leaving, and Steurs is probably leaving aswell, leaving me with Contador, Guerao and a lot of poor helpers. Hopefully a lot of money for training also though.
rjc_43 wrote:
I know it's quite selfish to say, but I actually quite like seeing active managers have to fight for survival (well, not fight, but voice their concerns, strategies, etc) compared to previous seasons where the only managers getting demoted have seemed to have been inactive or managers who don't post.
It's not just the ones who win that make this game a great one, it's those who stick around for season after season come thick and thin.
I'm also glad I'm not fighting for survival currently!
