Hi guys, I'm pretty new to the forums, and new to PCM in general after only playing my first game during the final week of the 2011 Tour de France.
Even though I've watched cycling since I was about 5 years old (1995), I didn't watch much at all between 2003 and 2010, so I am only just getting used to the real strategic depth of this great sport.
After a month or so of PCM, I'm slowly getting to grips with it, and I hope you will follow my fortunes in this story based on Team Sky.
There probably won't be much in the way of fancy pictures and graphics, but hopefully anyone who reads this will enjoy it and give me some hints and tips along the way.
So without further a do...
Top 5: Wiggins, Voeckler, Sanchez, Boasson Hagen, Thomas
My story starts mid-season, in fact, with the prestigious Paris-Nice race:
My team for the event is:
Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)
Ben Swift (GBR)
Christian Knees (GER)
Thomas Lofkvist (SWE)
Rigoberto Uran (COL)
Ian Stannard (GBR)
Geraint Thomas (GBR)
Kurt-Asle Arvesen (NOR)
Stage 1 was pretty much flat with one mountain sprint (taken by Uran for Sky) early on, and a fairly large breakaway got away including among others, David Veilleux (Europcar). The break got a lead of around 4 minutes before they were reeled in with about 6km to go. It was at this point that I seized the chance to attack with Boasson Hagen, the Norwegian winning on his 2011 debut, and taking a valuable 20 second advantage into the remainder of the 9-stage event.
All Sky riders finished in the top 32, with Swift in second place, taking the best Young Rider's jersey in the process.
Boasson Hagen is not considered a favourite for the Paris-Nice, considering that this is his first event of the season, however you never know what the talented rider will be capable of here. Not the best climber, but excellent on hilly sections, EBH will probably look towards a couple of sprint wins, and not worry too much about the General Classification due to his fitness level. It won't stop him trying to win it all however!. Lofkvist and Uran are considered Sky's strongest challengers for yellow by the end of this prestigious early season Tour.
I was writing that pretty much off the top of my head, but for the future stages I will write down the Results and Classifications for eveyone to look through.
Any feedback would be brilliant!
Top 5: Wiggins, Voeckler, Sanchez, Boasson Hagen, Thomas
Stage 2 was even flatter than Stage 1, and it would most likely turn out as a day for the sprinters to make some headway in the General Classification, with bonus seconds on offer at the finish.
Edvald Boasson Hagen looked resplendent in Yellow after his victory yesterday, and he would fancy his chances for a second win today, however his relatively poor level of condition may prevent him from taking two in a row.
The breakaway consisted of several riders, including Veilleux (again), Beppu (Radioshack) and Velits (HTC). They opened up a gap of 3 and a half minutes before they were reeled in with about 15km to go.
This left Geraint Thomas leading out Swift and Boasson Hagen for Sky, and Vacansoleil doing most of the work on the other side of the road. Thomas with a good lead out, put EBH and Swift in a good position, however Boasson Hagen didn't have much in the sprint, and had to settle for 10th, only fractionally ahead of Thomas. EBH held up Swift, and as a result the Englishman finished 12th behind his two colleagues.
Denis Galimzyanov took a close sprint for Katusha, in front of the in-form Grega Bole (Lampre), Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil), Samuel Doumoulin (Cofidis), and the consistent Belgian, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).
A lack of concentration at the end meant that all the other Sky riders ended up getting caught by a split in the peleton, and our main contenders as far as the GC is concerned - Uran and Lofkvist, ended up losing 35 seconds. A schoolboy error by me as I was concentrating too hard on the front and forgot to make sure my other riders were within the bunch.
Stage 2 Result:
1. Denis GALIMZYANOV (Katusha) - 4hr 30:44
2. Grega BOLE (Lampre), same time
3. Romain FEILLU (Vacansoleil)
4. Samuel DUMOULIN (Cofidis)
5. Greg VAN AVERMAET (BMC)
6. Assan BAZAYEV (Astana)
7. Mauro FINETTO (Liquigas)
8. Lloyd MONDORY (AG2R)
9. Theo BOS (Rabobank) 10. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN (Sky)
11. Geraint THOMAS, same time
12. Ben SWIFT
68. Thomas LOFKVIST, +35"
79. Rigoberto URAN
86. Kurt-Asle ARVESEN
97. Christian KNEES
100. Ian STANNARD
Some pictures would be nice, hard to get the "feel" for your story without any pictures and such. You can take pictures with CTRL+T and they will go to the My Documents/Pro Cycling Manager 2011 folder i think.
hillis91 wrote:
Some pictures would be nice, hard to get the "feel" for your story without any pictures and such. You can take pictures with CTRL+T and they will go to the My Documents/Pro Cycling Manager 2011 folder i think.
Thanks for that mate I didn't know how to do that! Cheers
How am I doing though so far?
Top 5: Wiggins, Voeckler, Sanchez, Boasson Hagen, Thomas
Not strictly a flat stage here. The summit of the final climb comes 22km before the finish, and then it's downhill all the way to the end of the stage, which will no doubt provide a good opportunity to attack.
The main breakaway of today's stage included Mortensen (Quickstep), Lloyd (Garmin), and Chainel (FDJ). Early on, they opened up the gap to over 7 minutes.
To prevent the gap getting too big, Team Sky, lead by Lofkvist, hit the front and cut the lead in half.
With 100km to go, the lead is down to 5'49". Sky would work at the front to get the gap down to about 3 minutes, then sit back and conserve energy for the finish.
Just after the mountain sprint (again taken by Uran), Boasson Hagen attacks. His speed on the descent and strength on the finishing straight allows him to take a great victory. Roman Kreuziger (Astana) and Kurt Arvesen (Sky) are among 15 or so riders to fall with 4km to go.
The peleton again split on the descent in the final stages, which meant that Swift, Thomas, Arvesen and Stannard lost over 2 minutes. Behind Boasson Hagen, Grega Bole was again impressive in 2nd, with Mondory (AG2R), Feillu and Van Avermaet (5th again!) behind.
Stage Results:
1. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN (Sky), 13h 21'36"
2. Grega BOLE (Lampre), +24"
3. Lloyd MONDORY (AG2R), same time
4. Romain FEILLU (Vacansoleil)
5. Greg VAN AVERMAET (BMC)
6. Samuel DUMOULIN (Cofidis)
7. Denis GALIMZYANOV (Katusha)
8. Andre GREIPEL (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
9. Eduard VORGANOV (Katusha)
10. Assan BAZAYEV (Astana)
16. Rigoberto URAN, same time
45. Thomas LOFKVIST
54. Christian KNEES
88. Ben SWIFT, +2'18"
89. Geraint THOMAS, same time
105. Kurt-Asle ARVESEN, +3'57"
106. Ian STANNARD, same time
After some gentle opening stages, the peleton approaches it's first real test here, with the challenging stage 4. There are several decent climbs here, evidenced by there being seven(!) Mountain Sprints.
It will be a challenge for the sprinters to stay in touch, but if they do manage to be within the peleton after the last climb, they will find a fast descent and a pretty flat finish which will suit the fast men.
Ok, here we go then...
With a long and difficult day ahead, the peleton wasn't that concerned when an early breakaway was formed. Deignan (Radioshack), Zaugg (Leopard Trek) and Kiryienka (Movistar) are the key players here.
Rigoberto Uran was eager to push the pace with so many KOM points on offer today.
With 72km to go, two Movistar riders, Luis Pasamontes and Juan Mauricio Soler (both over 5 min down in GC), establish a lead of over 3 minutes. Their lead was still 90 seconds with just 6 km to go, but Sky were doing a lot of work on the front and the breakaway was reeled in on the finishing straight.
Boasson Hagen did some of the work to make sure the breakaway was overhauled, and this meant he wasn't a factor in the sprint.
But Greg Van Avermaet was! He ended his run of three consecutive 5th places with a great sprint to take the stage win! The Belgian is obviously in good form, and his consistency has now paid off at last.
Van Avermaet beat Mauro Finetto (Liquigas) by almost a full bike length, with Grega Bole (Lampre) third again to gain a couple of seconds in the GC.
Juan Mauricio Soler's breakaway didn't work, but the Colombian still managed a good result in 5th. As for Sky, Arvesen and Stannard lost time on the last couple of climbs, but everyone else finished in the main bunch with the same time as Van Avermaet.
STAGE 4 RESULTS:
1. Greg VAN AVERMAET (BMC), 5hrs 07'28"
2. Mauro FINETTO (Liquigas), same time
3. Grega BOLE (Lampre)
4. Samuel DUMOULIN (Cofidis)
5. Juan Mauricio SOLER (Movistar)
6. Jonathan HIVERT (Saur - Sojasun)
7. Romain FEILLU (Vacansoleil)
8. Lloyd MONDORY (AG2R)
9. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN (Sky)
10. Roman KREUZIGER (Astana)
22. URAN, same time
38. KNEES
42. LOFKVIST
43. SWIFT
48. THOMAS
78. STANNARD, +4'40"
79. ARVESEN, same time
Today is the first real opportunity for the climbers to make some headway in the GC, with two substantial climbs to tackle - one at the start of the stage and one about 15 km from the finish which will surely test the field.
It will be tough for Edvald Boasson Hagen to remain in yellow after today, but the Norwegian can climb decently and will be looking to stick to the wheels of the leaders if he can. This is surely a day for the likes of Frank Schleck and Samuel Sanchez to make their moves with 5 days of this event remaining.
^^^A breakaway made their move during the first climb, and the main protagonists were Jesus Hernandez (Saxo Bank), Vasil Kiryienka (Movistar) for the second day in a row, and Andrew Talansky (Garmin).
^^^The visual gap as the peleton closes in on the escapees.
^^^The descent of the second climb, and Boasson Hagen and Sanchez are keeping each other company. The wet conditions in the opening kilometres are causing a lot of problems for the peleton. There are 7 or 8 fallers, notably Levi Leipheimer, Jelle Vandendert and Kristof Vandewalle (9th in GC).
^^^With still over half the race remaining, Rabobank's Pieter Weening sets off alone. As the pack conserves it's energy, the Dutchman quickly opens up a gap of over 2 minutes.
^^^Pasamontes (left) tries to break free of the pack again. As there is only one man up the road, valuable KOM points are on offer, and Sky's Rigoberto Uran goes with him, and would take second place at three of the Mountain Sprints to retain the polkadot jersey.
^^^Weening is a solitary man at this point. He is riding beautifully and now has a lead of 6'23" to the peleton. He is only 4'18" behind in the GC so some work will have to be done to close the gap fairly quickly with 65km left.
^^^Not a good day for Frank Schleck. The Leopard Trek rider is seemingly not making any effort to stay with the main group, and here languishes several miuntes behind the peleton.
^^^14 kilometres to go, and Euskaltel hit the front. Nieve and Castroviejo are doing their best to help Samuel Sanchez. They sense a possibility of taking the lead after this stage.
^^^A split in the pack, and only Thomas Lofkvist is able to keep up Sky's challenge. Kreuziger and Sanchez lurk in the group, they are obviously feeling pretty good here.
^^^Boasson Hagen, the race leader seemingly has very little left, and the effort has also taken it's toll on Uran after his earlier pursuit of Pasamontes.
^^^The sprint for the line, and it's Sanchez who takes the victory! A terrific ride from the Spaniard, and he will take the yellow jersey today. Kreuziger also with a great ride for Astana in second, and Thomas Lofkvist with an excellent third for Sky.
Before taking a picture, please hit CTRL+U. Then the circles and text will disappear, so it's better to watch.
Also convert the picture with paint.net from .png to .jpg, the the pages here load quicker.
3rd one: mark your rider's names in the results list, that makes it easier for us to see them.
JD317 wrote:
i did mention ctrl + u when this story started hearing the tab suggestion as well
You did mention it but when CTRL+T worked I didn't think any more of it.
Thanks everyone for reading so far, I'll take those on board, however I'm probably not going to convert the pictures as it's time consuming enough as it is!
Why would Frank Schleck be struggling so much? Is it just a game issue or would his form have been poor?
Results will be coming soon I promise!
Top 5: Wiggins, Voeckler, Sanchez, Boasson Hagen, Thomas
Stage 6 - Individual Time Trial: Rognes - Aix-en-Provence
Unfortunately, the Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 demo was out the same day as playing this stage, so no pictures!
However it was an exciting ITT which has made the General Classification very interesting.
Roman Kreuziger's good form continued as he posted an excellent time of 38 minutes and 7 seconds. However the big story was Team Sky's Thomas Lofkvist. The Swede stormed to second place on the stage, and more importantly moved into the leader's jersey with an 18 second lead over Samuel Sanchez, who only spent one day in yellow.
1. Roman KREUZIGER (Astana), 38'07"
2. Thomas LOFKVIST (Sky), +2"
3. Geraint THOMAS (Sky), +4"
4. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN (Sky), +10"
5. Vladimir KARPETS (Katusha), +16"
6. Samuel SANCHEZ (Euskaltel), +23"
7. Tony MARTIN (HTC), +27"
8. Jens VOIGT (Leopard), +30"
9. Jonathan CASTROVIEJO (Euskaltel), +31"
10. Vladimir GUSEV (Katusha), +39"
