Darn right he wont. Since i bet Rasmussen will end up riding both Le Tour and La Vuelta. Because for reasons unknown, my sponsors want the climbers jersey in Spain.
First off all, im playing on Normal, and while you are laughing, know this: I positively surely suck at this game.
Secondly, I want to defend my use of training camps, its really simple: Up yours gentlemen, its my story.
Lets get on with the story, it got three races and stuff...
Australian TT Championship
A boring start to the season. With Rogers, Evans and McGee being redhots favorites, i was just going to enjoy the scenery.
Rogers disappoints. In the mean while both Evans and McGee has started.
Renshaw actually races quite close to McGee's times, but with no avail. McGee smashes Evans and ultimately me.
------------------------------
Australian RR Championship
The plan is get Renshaw in the early breakaway. In the CN's, a breakaway usually brings home the bacon.
157km to go: Predictor-Lotto and Southaustralia.com sets the pace.
154km to go: Here we go, theyre attacking.
127km to go: A group of 8 has gotten a lead of 2 minutes now. Its pretty much a bunch of domistiques.
110km to go: We are now 9 riders and we got a 4 minute lead now.
106km to go: How odd, McEwen is pulling the pack.
92km to go: Baden Cooke attacks, is quickly swallowed by the pack. We got 5 minutes down.
73km to go: Lead is now 3 minutes, breakaway is getting disorganized.
55km to go: 2 minute lead. Breakaways snaps into two pieces. Renshaw is in the leading one.
37km to go: Rogers goes onto the attack while we got a minutes lead.
31km to go: Whoa McGee, Evans and O'Grady simply just step into our group with ease. 30 second lead to pack.
29km to go: Everyone has been caught. And im out of bottles and with 75% green energy left.
25km to go: I got dropped on the steep hill.
11km to go: Its over, im out of energy.
O'Grady does it solo!
Bradley McGee second, Nathan O'Neill third and Bates, Rogers and Evans following straight behind them.
-----------------------------------------
Down Under Classic, 16th of January.
Route: 48 kilometers of very flat
Team:
Sprinting anyone?
Bonnet
Furlan
Dean
Domistiques:
Engoulvent
Edaleine
Kern
Rolland
Renshaw
The Race:
40km to go: Attacks everywhere! Renshaw attacks and seems to be ahead now.
32km to go: I shut up, Renshaw couldmt keep with up with the breakaway, which are also too slow to get away from the pack.
30km to go: Oh right, time to pull the pack forward!
16km to go: Four guys actually got 1:41 on the pack! Darn!
8.5 km to go: 22 riders go down including Renshaw, another C.A. rider and Nazon! Escapees got 40 seconds. Dean can catch that.
8.0 km to go: Bonnet pulls Furlan which is to lead Dean out.
Amazing, Dean catches up with final escapee Cheula ON THE LINE! Also Furlan finishes 3rd!
And from another angle...
Right, this ends update 4 everyone! In the next one, im gonna play through all of the australian tour in one sitting! See ya!Edited by Waghlon on 27-09-2007 17:48
Update 5: Or how i learned to do time saving writing instead of making screenshots.
Im taking a slightly easier approach to this. Ive decided just to play the game, and write a short recap of the races i compete in. Start with Tour Down Under.
Only bigger races such as pro-tour events or sponsorgoals will get something with pictures.
So lets just move on the with the update.
Tour Down Under 17/1/07 to 21/1/07
Julian Dean will get leadout backup by Furlan and Bonnet, and besides Bodrogi, its only useless domistiques we bring. The aim is at least a stage win.
Stage 1: The day started quietly, a breakaway of two, including our own Rolland got away. They were soon joined by another four riders. Then they hit a sprint which broke up the group and they were quickly swallowed by the pack. The leadout crew screwed up so Dean ended up on Eckhouts wheel and opened the sprint himself. Strangely enough it worked, he won ahead of Murn and Sacchi. And oh yeah, Rolland didnt make it within the time limit.
Stage 2: Today first breakaway attempt failed, but our own pet-aussie Renshaw actually nicked 3 points in the climbers classification. So we decided just let whoever that attacked next go on. Somehow a group of 10 riders sprinted away from the pack, being stupid and forgetting, we send Renshaw out on a stupid trip to catch them. It failed. Then we realized that breakaway could actually suceed, so we started pulling hard. This in turn caused my team go into shambles, and the breakaway lasted home where Baranauskas won in front of Lancaster and D'Hollander by a 2 minute margin to Dean which won the bunch sprint.
Stage 3: After yesterdays embarrasment, ive decided to start pulling from the beginning in an attempt to let no one go. On a sidenote: Renshaw holds the climbers jersey somehow, i might try to keep it simply to add some results to my reputation. Despite the fact a breakaway did get off the ground, i kept them tight so we could have a mass-sprint. In the sprint, Dean had such good legs that he soloed it without any leadout men. He won in front of Sacchi, Murn and Geslin which all three came in on a dead-straight line.
Stage 4: Uh-oh, a big hill is in our path, we must keep the peloton quiet so Dean can sprint finish again. In a moment of idiocy, i send Dean on a counter-attack whoops! Anyhoo, no harm no foul really as he rejoins the peloton. Apparently Robert Hunter attacks too seeing how Dean did it, only he continues with his apparently evil plan of something. But a group of 8 (includin Hunter and Renshaw) is off. The AI shows a great deal of something that resembles intelligence and actually catches the breakaway right before the big hill. But wheres Renshaw? He attacked to secure his climbers jersey. Obviously that failed as he exploded a mile before the line. Just as the bookmakers predicted though, Nicki Sørensen from CSC counter-attack and took home the bacon. Everyone got confused though, so noone really got some accurate timing here.
Stage 5: Its flat and only 96kms long. Were gonna let Dean take a victory here. Simply to complete the australian campaign and satisfy our sponsor (which actually liked the two first victories). Boring stage though, some AI attacked and then the AI caught them again. *yawn* To entertain ourselves we had Bodrogi attack with 20kms to go. And well, he got caught. So Dean latched himself on Geslin's wheel and won! Hunter came 2nd and Nicki Sørensen crashed. How nice of everyone to help me like that.
Final results:
Remainder of January
Julian Dean is awarded the rider of the month award and Hushovd tells the press just how much he wants to win the Vattenfall CyClassics thingy race.
Sergei Ivanov won Tour Of Qatar.
This is the continental standings for teams as of 3/02/07
And the Superprestige standings for individuals
Go me
In the next update we tackle February and a lot of french races, again in text. Bye.
Waghlon wrote:
Right, is there any interest in me continuing the story?
yes there is
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
Right, ill get over with the final two races i need to complete February in a couple of hours. And i will write an update of sorts (actually its half done already sooo...).
Yapper yapper yapper, Bos is still 53 in flat, Rasmussen still gets paid 110,000 a month for doing nothing and Chris Hoy got 8 in fitness. Everythings fine.
This month we attend all french races whilst building up Hushovd's and Coucchioli's fitness levels.
GP d'Ouverture La Marselliases – 6/2/07
We just load on useless french people leaded by Bonnet and then we sim it. That causes him to finish 5th. This suffices.
Etoille du Besseges – 7/2/07-11/2/07
Time to whip Hushovd into shape. We bring along Dean for practicing leadouts and Bodrogi because we can! Team Useless is also brought along.
Stage 1: There was a breakaway which was quite ordinarily caught.
Bodrogi leads Dean which lead bloody Gerald Ciolek which got Thor on his wheel. That and a bloody belgian inched in between Ciolek and Thor! WTF! So we jump on another guys wheel and his the big S with 3 km to go.
Victory for Tor Ysord! Dean is number 5. Although i wasnt sure Thor was going to win the sprint, and i didnt get to test leadouts, im happy.
Stage 2: Christ, 112kms. Lets just cut to the sprint finish already (I would like to point out the Stephane Auge was attacking constantly though). Thor is on Dean's wheel and again Dean proves to lovingly useless as someone mooches in front of Thor. Thor grabs a spare rear wheel from T-Mobile and hammers down a solo sprint which he quite miserably fails at.
Stage 3: Right, ”hilly” stage. I sim it and puts everyone but Dean on pulling duty. Seeing how a lone puncheur makes it home reminds me not to sim important stages in the future. Thor is still only 35 seconds behind though.
Stage 4: I decide to fish for some bonus seconds today, but two seperate breakaways take them all. Our new lead out tactic seems to be that Hushovd sticks to Dean wheel which then sticks onto whoever is nearest, then when Hushovd spots a nice wheel, he take it. It worked and Thor won. He is now 15 seconds behind and he will most likely get 20 seconds tommorow. Wink wink if you know what i mean.
Also, Team Useless member Hivert crashed and got a minor injury.
Stage 5: Team Useless member Lemoine starts a breakaway. Not that it will matter though. He proves his membership of Team Useless by running out of energy on flat road... Tsk tsk...
A paperwork mistake means the Dean is in the middle of the pack when we reach the leadout kinda place. So Thor grabs some idiots wheel for some sprinting fun.
Anyhoo, since Feillu won we can look at the postive sides of this:
We did win the sprinter jersey
Hushovd did get two victories and some fitness
We coined the term ”Team Useless”
Related sidenote: Why do we pay Rasmussen 110,000?
Tour Mediterrain (eh spelling my arse) – 13/2/07-18/2/07
Right, this being a liked race by the sponsors we bring following people:
Bodrogi to corner stage 1 time trial
Dean to lovingly corner the three sprint finishes
Caucchilo (who cares about the spelling?) to gain some preparation for Paris-Nice
Bonnet: To help Dean somehow
Bos with 39 fitness: For kicks!
Stage 1: Its a safety dance/ team time trial today. I leave a note on my desk saying i wont touch it even if my life was at stake. We finish #10 a minute down.
Stage 2: 107kms on the flat, Bos is made three-star favorite and boy do we laugh. Except for Bos which i think is crying. Other than that, we gotta beat Napolitano.
Maybe we were underestimating Theo! He have almost survived halfway, then again, he have yet to meet serious resistance, but he's actually keeping up with say Bodrogi and his 75 flat. Let it be noted that both Dean and Bos got three helpers.
With 25 to go, Bos is still in the front of the pack. Long lived joy, shortly after writing that, the pack snaps back on him and falls down to the rear. With 12 to go he says goodbye to the pack. Imagine if he was in a better shape! He would end up sprinting so fast he caught the rear of the pack and lost no time at all!
In the mean while Dean had an off-day in the front so Geslin won.
Stage 3: 158kms of bumps and knacks, a short climb 7 kms before goal could ruin a lot for everyone. Its good for Dean and his 68 HI so he might still have some blue energy left at the sprint.
Bos barely survived the first climb. Im not giving him much hope. And at the second 10kms long climb he gets two red bars filled and drops off on the downhill section.
Despite making over last hill as the first sprinter, Dean couldnt capitalize on it. Fischer won today.
Stage 4: Today its time to climb Mont Faron which comes at the end of a 95 km stage. Caucchilio is a two-star favorite and we shall the best we can ensure a podium place at least. But with -4 for the day he was useless. Sylvain Chavanel won on the top. Our own Caucchilio was number 9.
Stage 5: Flatty one again. I sim it and Nazon wins. Im not bothered though.
Stage 6: Im an idiot, so i sim at and find that Dean finishes number 3 on the stage. I dont care who wins it though.
Lessons learned: 53 flat, a lot more than you might think.
Tour du Haut Var 25/2/07
We finish February win a lightly hilly stage. With a downhill finish, Hushovd might get his heavy arse first across the line.
The other exotic meat, Chris Hoy and Tamayo gets some firing practice by partaking.
With 40km to go, Boogerd, a three-star favorite took off, i decided that he wouldnt make it home. Besides, Hushov seemed rather impossible to get rid off on the hills today.
Actually, gently caress, everyone is attacking and Boogerd got a 2½ minute with 25 km left.
Two mass crashes would cause more chaos as Hushovd past some breakaway guys. But with no avail, Boogerd came in as the winner and Garzelli was second. Hushovd was sixth.
Situation on 1/3/07
Money: A-ok
Sponsor confidence: Good
Injuries: None
Races in March: Paris-Nice (sponsor goal is top 5 in GC), Tirreno Adriatico (sp?), Milano San-Remo, Criterium International and maybe a small french race too.
Exceptional warning note: Training camps. Live with it until the 2008 season.
First order of business today is make a doping ”suspicion” policy: Two times noted with strange numbers and such and its outta here. We of course also intend to sack anyone caught doping.
So, i mentioned training camps. Right, Hushovd and Dean (and heh, Bos) goes to a hill camp for 10 days in order to make their attempt at Milano-San Remo a bit less embarrasing. Then we arse Caucchilio, Botcharov and Halgand to a TT camp on Mallorca so we can avoid making a horrible Protour start this year. Bodrogi also goes to Mallorca so he could be a redhot favorite for the prologue.
Also on 3/3/07, Boasson Hagen gains a level much to everyone's pleasure.
Paris – Nice
The Protour opener is same blasted route you can remember from playing the game yourself. So is the date.
Our team is: Caucchilio, Halgand, Botcharov, Bodrogi, Bellotti, Le Mevel, Raisin and Renshaw.
Our sponsors wants us to finish in the top 5, and we darn right intend to do so!
Stage 1:
Today's short prologue was driven in a bloody storm or so. Cancellara was tipped to win this reenactment of Waterworld whilst Bodrogi was a two-star kinda guy, just behind Gutierrez and Zabriskie.
Our first rider Renshaw drove 8'39” which tied him on first together with Posthuma and a Liquigas rider.
Cancellara started right before Le Mevel AND HE WAS NO WHERE IN SIGHT... Ahem. He drove 18 seconds slower
Caucchilio was next and he drove 3 seconds faster than Cancellara. Also did Zabriskie come in 10 seconds behind Posthuma. Gutierrez was no better but still faster than Cancellara. Im starting to feel rather prick-ish for sending Bodrogi to that training camp now.
Speaking of Bodrogi:
Bodrogi took the stages by four seconds to Posthuma, that Liquigas guy and Renshaw which took the young rider classification. (I can feel that Balaverde is going to toss incredible amounts of abuse at me now)
Stage 2:
Mission: Show off Bodrogi's new white shirt and keep Caucchilio well hidden from danger.
I believe the pack is pacing seeing how several of my riders are on the borderline of disappearing in our rear mirrors. But we dont care seeing how both Bodrogi and Caucchilio makes it home with the pack. The stage top 3 is: Sacchi, Boonen and Haedo.
Stage 3:
Mission: Sitting there, watching the grass grow.
I cranked it up to x8, and took a nap/saw Boonen win in front of Cancellara and Sacchi. Today twist was when Bodrogi almost fell asleep on the bike.
Today: Hill camp is over, Bos got 59 Hilly thing.
Stage 4:
Tirrenno-Adriatico starts today. Im happy i dont care.
Mission: Stay cool, keep jersey, dont lose Caucchioli (i just noticed ive been spelling it wrong).
Random screenshot of C.A. Anyone?
...
GAH! Caucchioli got a flat! On a hill, going upwards and with 75 in hilly thingy early in the race. Didnt really matter a darn bit.
Well Bodrogi finally lost le maillot jaune today. The hills was simply too much for him and he hit the red because of them.
But Cauchcioli stayed sharp, i even dared attacking with him although that didnt really work.
Boonen, Pozzato and Ventoso turned out to be the fastest sprinters today and Posthuma climbed into the leading position with Caucchioli only 20 seconds behind.
T-A update follows after P-N[i]
Stage 5: In full color and stereo when possible
The last two climbs are stage decisive. A rider like Voigt could attack on the first one and make it home.
Mission: Caucchioli must stay with the main puncheurs (Rebellin, Boogerd et cetera) and not lose time on the top of the final climb. If he gets a good form for the day, his 84 fitness will suit him even better.
We dont know how, but our own Raisin found himself ahead of the pack on the early ups and downs. Rather stupidly. But soon he got joined by Possoni, Lovquist and Zabriskie.
Ruben Plaza and two others joined us on a downhill shortly after.
For interesting reasons Raisin and a Astana man got dropped from the breakaway. So we decide to help pull in the other riders.
Thats weak you american guy!
I noticed that a grupetto had formed already ready and that is consisted of 30 riders including Bodrogi and Renshaw.
Rabobank and Euskatel are doing their best to get to the breakaway which 70+ Hill skill might get them the win if they reach the dual climbs at the finish.
With 35kms to go, we discover that Caucchioli got a +2 day and that Wegmann just crashed. Breakaway only have 1”49' now though, so we are safe now.
We enter the first climb now
Cancellara, Mercx, Popovych, Kil and some others open up, they dont pull either Rebellin nor Boogerd so i stay in the pack for now.
We hit the bottom of the final climb in an attack for the gold.
2.8 to go. Bertognalli is going to fly past me. Other Liquigas guy is going down.
But of course, me being the idiot, Boogerd, Sanchez (the Euskatel one) and another one blew past me. Then i blew up on the sprint.
Sanchez won and here is the top 145GC afterwards:
Played properly though, we can still reach top 5
[i]I mean, its only half a minute right?
Once i bother, we tackle the final four stages of le beginning of le FarceTour, errr i mean ProTour!
Right, im putting this one on hold for now. Since this was my first story, ive obviously some rather stupid things.
These are, but not included to:
Picking a PT team, i'd up end playing so many races i wouldnt want to be in.
Bloody Credit Agricole man, except for Hushovd (or maybe Bodrogi now i think off it), you dont have any really hot riders which could score several victories in a row just like that, which is something i'd personally need to appease my PT sponsors.
Inconsistensy in ways of updating.
Incurring the wrath of so called moral crusaders who think that training camps is the work of the devil.
Hiring Rasmussen, you'd need a large budget to justify having him around.
So im pondering a bit, i want to make another story. But im not entirely sure what yet. Maybe a continental belgian team. Or taking one of those nice free agents towards glory in a small team.
