miggi133 wrote:
Id like an addition of a smaller New Zealand Calendar... That way you could introduce so more teams like Kenian Airways, which for obvious reasons wont be a constant part of the NRS...

(Sorry, I missed a day or two )

By the way: The Pictures of the Philips Island GP Circuit look terrific! I expect a lot of wide angled screenshots for that stage!

tsmoha wrote:
New Zealand does have a nice little Series and that's definitely something i will have in mind once this Aussie-season is finished. Especially given my ManGame background/connection, which may cause a longer break between the seasons. Need more jerseys then

tsmoha wrote:
@miggi: NZ-shirt looks indeed cool! There's always something nice to fill the voids, so should be fine with the ManGame - even though it's pace is quite slow at the moment. Well, let's wait and see Oceanian championships are definitely on my list, btw, as they do exist irl.

miggi133 wrote:


You are joking... That was something I came up with off the top of my head in order to what could fill the gap... Never thought it actually existed!

Ian Butler wrote:
When is the next race, may I ask?

Tour of Gippsland (Preview #2)

NOTE/ So I will give it a go with PCM13 here. If the gameplay is fine, I will stick to it. If it ain't satisfying I may wait for a next patch and continue with PCM12 til then. So I'll keep the thread in the 12-section for now.

Tour of Gippsland (Day 1, two flat crits)

The Tour of Gippsland kicks off with two short stages, with the latter being one of the highlights: held on Philip Island GP Circuit! Let's get the action started in iconic San Remo though:

STAGE 1 - SAN REMO CRITERIUM/


The pace was tough and several breakaway attempts faded short-lived, as the the bunch was in total control here in the opening criterium! Especially Drapac (for top-favorite Davison) and Oz Cycling (for Grenda) shared most of this work.


And so it came to the bunch-sprint, which was won by Ben Grenda (Oz)! A great start for Grenda, who's one of the most dangerous contenders, if the sprinters survive those hilly stages.

Young gun Jesse Kerrison (Budget) and a surprising Jordan Kerby (Jayco) completed the podium, while Luke Davison (6th) couldn't fullfill the high expectations yet.

STAGE 2 - PHILIPP ISLAND GP CIRCUIT/


Early escapees Riley Maule (Data#3) and Oliver Kent-Spark (Target) were joined by three more riders late in the race, including well-known attacker Alex Wohler (Budget)!

With only 17km to go, the group held on to a 1'15"-lead on the bunch, which already paced hard though.


And so we saw another bunch-sprint, as the breakaway was caught with 4km remaining!

Some pure sprinters looked in trouble with the finish approaching, the short climb might have hurt their legs more than expected..


..and this makes for a rather surprising result: puncheur Bradley Hall (Satalyst) took out the 2nd stage with an awesome finish, just ahead of Talbot (Kangaroos) and Donnelly (Huon)!

The sprinters Palmer, Law, Beckinsale and Kerrison made the Top-10, while Grenda (17th) or Davison (11th) couldn't join the front of the pack in the final sprint.


Thanks to some bonus seconds won in intermediate sprints, Ben Grenda (Oz) will wear the leader shirt on 2nd day! He leads the race by 4" ahead of Hall, with Kerrison sitting on third.

Some GC-contenders lost more than 2 minutes today! The slick roads and tricky route on Philip Island GP Circuit may be the reason, but anyway, here's the most prominent "victims":

Neil and Paul Van der Ploeg (search2/Satalyst)
Mark O'Brien (NRS-leader, Budget)
Nathan Elliott (Target)
Rhys Gillett (our blogger, African Wildlife)
as well as Peter Herzig, Marc Williams (Budget) or Patrick Shaw (Huon)

with already more than 2 minutes behind the race-leader, this is horrible news for those guys. They definitely need to attack on the hilly stages!

sutty68 wrote:
Nice to see Ben in yellow

miggi133 wrote:


Id say say the bigger news is that Mark o`brien lost 2 minutes on stage 2!!!

Tour of Gippsland (Day 2, hilly crit and flat 55km road race)

Second day of Tour of Gippsland and it may be one of the decisive days: with the hilly criterium in Moe, the stage-racers do have a chance to distance the sprinters.

Especially pre-race favorites like O'Brien or the Van der Ploegs, who all lost more than two minutes yesterday, will have to try at least.

STAGE 3 - MOE CRITERIUM/


Halfway through the race (21km to go), our blogger Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife) tries to solo away from the bunch, which caught an early break a few moments before.

As well as O'Brien, Gillett also lost minutes on yesterday, so he's going all-in today!


It's a close race, he couldn't create a bigger gap with now one lap (7km) to go!

But he got some strong companions in NRS-leader O'Brien and Lapthorne (Drapac)!


And it's a good looking attack, joined by Neil Van der Ploeg (search2), just another rider who lost time yesterday.

Gillett couldn't follow, so it's Lapthorne, O'Brien and VdP entering the bell lap with a small advantage on the bunch!


But they struggle to hold on to their lead: the pack catches up to the leading trio on the final ascent! No crucial gaps yet, but who's going to win?

Huon's duo Earle/Haig close up to leading O'Brien, with Clark (Charter Mason) and also Cupitt (Budget) trying to follow!


And the winner is... Nathan Earle! A very close finish, but he beats his young teammate Haig by a small margin!

Former NRS-leader Semple 3rd, O'Brien 4th and Bradley Hall (Satalyst) completes today's Top-5. But there's bad news for all of them: No gaps were given, as the sprint was to close. 68 riders managed to finish within Earle's time, including race-leader Ben Grenda (Oz)!

STAGE 4 - MORWELL TO YINNAR ROAD RACE/


Time for the first road race to kick off: and it's again Rhys Gillett, who attacks the bunch halfway through the race, easily dropping the early break!

Will he succeed today?


Nope. He fought hard, but the final 25km were rather flat and so an easy task for the chasing bunch!

4km remaining and search2retain leads the pack to a bunch sprint..


..and Neil Van der Ploeg seems to pay back for this team's hard work: he leads by a few bike lengths with only 1km to go!


But oh well, tough luck for VdP.. Scott Law (GPM) had a super-strong sprint to the line, overtaking VdP on final metres! A great win.

Beckinsale (Huon) completes the podium, while Grenda (6th) and Luke Davison (7th) couldn't deliver.

Anyway, Grenda keeps the race-lead with 4 of 9 stages done. Hall (Satalyst), Law and Earle (all + 0.06) follow close behind, as we haven't seen the expected gaps in the hilly crit!