I was running the first stage of a small race that started in early July with some secondary riders. Mostly flat stage with a few hills for mountain points.
I usually like to establish a rider as my "mountain jersey guy"... so I had an okay climber in the breakaway group.
Normally about halfway through the state the pelaton starts pulling the break back... but nobody bothered. It just grew and grew... I ended up winning the stage by 5 minutes over the rest of the breakaway by pulling away over some small late hills and 20 minutes over the pelaton.
I just don't know WHY they didn't chase. I can understand it happening after a mountain stage, but not in the first stage of a race.
Anyone have any insights on why this might have happened? The race has a pretty weak field (no pro-tour teams, just continentals like mine... and no big name continental riders).
Edited by KurtinSC on 05-10-2007 15:28
That's why. The other teams might have thought that your team had the top contender. And since no one had the yellow jersey, the AI /the computer) thinks that it's you who should chase down the breakaway. They just forget that you have a rider in the breakaway
Also you have to look the the larger picture - Early July = TDF you're in a race where the riders can't chase down a break. I'm sure the AI tried but any team that had a rider in the break wasn't going to chase down the group especially if none of those riders were a threat to the overall GC for the race as a whole.
So you have a peleton where only a few teams were chasing the break - also you had mountains (or else you wouldn't have sent your mountian guy in the break) so the sprint teams were hurting and couldn't get the chase started. I'm guessing the peleton fell apart over the "small hills" trying to chase you down. There comes a point in every race where the peleton must chase the break - if you break that rubberband then the breakaway will gain huge times on the pack just like in real life. (It doesn't happen very often)
I'd use this race as a learning tool - actually I'm interested to see the profile and a quick breakdown to see what transpired (ie rider stats in the breakaway, chasing riders, wind conditions, daily fitness and finishing times) I'm sure I could learn more about how the AI works.....
In the meantime use the 20min GC lead and go win the tour now.....
Well, I've sinced moved on to a new career so I can't provide too many details. From what I remember there were a series of early hills that had mountain points... but not what anyone would call mountains. The rest of the stage was pretty flat, with a couple of small hills about 15-20km from the end of the stage.
I went with my mountain jersey guy to get the points, fully expecting him to get caught and dropped by the pelaton at the end (I like to have my mountain jersey guy behind after the first stage so he can ride with future breakaways easier to pick up more mountain points).
The field of the race was pretty weak (as you said, better riders were in the TDF). I had probably the top or second best rider (my main guy for the Giro who finished 6th... I was getting a few more races in while his fitness was still pretty high). The breakaway was extremely weak... no other climbers at all and I think they were mostly sprinters. On average, my rider in the breakaway was definitely a step above and the other breakaway riders were burning energy in the intermediate sprints while I saved up for the last hills.
The stage was about as complete a success as possible. My GC contender going in was able to break away from the pelaton on the last hill as well and gained two minutes on the pelaton.
There were several mountainous stages left, and the guy with the 20 minute lead wasn't a top climber (upper 60's MTN and HIL). I ended up focusing on my GC guy anyway and took 1-2 in the tour (the GC won, the big breakaway guy was second by 3 minutes just barely edging out the other top contenders).
It was a fun little tour... I just wish I could figure out how to replicate the circumstances of the first stage. I guess try to hit the low level tours during grand tours is the best advice.
