Do you use the U23-ranking to sign talents? I've usually tried to sign whoever came in the Top 3, but it seems like something is a bit odd?
First of all, it seems like the same riders never win two races? If you have 3 races with 5 stages each, you can easily see 12 different stage winners.
Second, because of the fact that the riders are extremely unstable, the World ranking changes after nearly every race.
There's a fine line between "psychotherapist" and "psycho the rapist"
I've seen riders dominate, especially sprinters winning 3/4 stages, and getting several top 5. I sometimes do use it, yes, although the chance of finding a good talent are a bit lower than using a (good) scout, at least from my experience.
Up until now, I just used to send scouts into random areas that were of interest to my sponsor, looking for this Future Great. I use a scout with 9/10 in every category, so he should have most of his reports accurate. I found that this was just a waste of time and money.
I found that if you go into sub-regions of a country, it often only comes up with just 5 riders scouted or so over a period of 2 months. It completely ruins your efficiency at finding a future great in that area.
I was so fed up with this, that I decided to check the DYN_young_cyclist table in the DB. I now regret doing so, but I did learn some good information from it:
-There are about 20-25 Future Greats in the DB. I am assuming this number stays the same every year, as the game perhaps creates new riders. To find a future great at random, in an area that you prefer, in a specialization that you prefer, is thereforre almost impossible.
-I am at the end of April in my second season, and by looking at the U23-results, you can already see the 25 Future Greats floating to the top. As a general rule of thumb, I'd say that the top 10 of each U23-race has at least 2 Future Greats in it, and if it's a U23-stage rage, the final GC top 10 must have at least 3 or 4 future Greats.
-Overall, these results end up in the U23 ranking, and as the season progresses, the U23 ranking becomes more and more accurate in terms of the young riders skill. Of course, skill does not equal potential but often they still go hand in hand. At the end of the season, I'd say about 50% of the top 25 in the U23-ranking is a Future Great.
If you look at the U23-list, you can send your best scouts to the countries the most prominent U23-riders are from, so they can track down the rider and get an accurate assessment on them, if they are really Future Greats or not.
I once signed an excellent sprinter who won a couple of races in U23, I think he was 2nd in the list. After only 1 year of training, he was already 75 sprinting. Another year later he was World Champion.
I never got anyone worthwhile out of scouting, though.
The U23 ranking method does work.
You can get some proper flops but ive had soooo many sucess stories
Sprinter from italy with 76sp/76acc and 3stars
Puncher from Kazakh with 78hl and 4 starts
Climber from France with 73mt and 5stars
etc.
Tips;
If you want cobbles, sign the winner of the Ronde espoirs
Puncher, the L-B-L espoirs, and combined winner from other hill stages
TT, winner of the 2 tt's
SP, most dominant sprinter
The winner of the l'Avenir is more often than not a future great, with decent starting stats
