For sprint trains, I almost literally follow Kentaurus' 2011 guide.
My LTB sprint train is: Hansen, Sieberg, Roelandts, Henderson, Greipel.
On easy and normal I can easily get a 1-2-3 and on hard I rarely lose as well, but on extreme it's just ridiculous. I get beaten by guys who are almost 10 points worse in sprinting. Even getting a top 5 result now seems to be impossible, when sprinting against guys like Meersman, Marcato, Steegmans etc. in Handzame Classic.
Here's exactly what I do:
I make sure my guys are at the front and have water before the tempo gets too high. I also make sure they're close to each other, so they don't have to burn energy trying to catch each other's wheel when I form the train.
At 18km, I pause the game and form the train. I make my train follow another team mate like Lars Bak and as soon as the train is complete, I set Bak on dot at 84 or whatever effort is needed to keep them at the front without burning (too much) energy. Meanwhile, I set Hansen and Sieberg to 92/93 effort and Roelandts, Henderson and Greipel to 99 effort while still sprint following each other.
At 10km, I set Hansen to dot and make sure the entire train is passed Bak before I let Bak drop.
At 7km, I set Sieberg to dot and let Hansen drop without interrupting my train. I also let my last three riders eat their energy bar.
At 4km, I set Roelandts to dot and let Sieberg drop.
At 3km, I sprint with Roelandts.
When Roelandts is almost tired out (somewhere between 2,5km and 2km) I let Henderson sprint. When I notice another rider is about to pass Greipel, I let him follow that rider instead.
Then, between 1,2km and 0,8km, I let Greipel sprint. He usually still has 3/4 of his red bar left when I do this, but he gets passed by by far worse sprinters.
BTW, Henderson and Roelandts have equal sprinting ability (76) with Henderson having the better acceleration (77 vs 75).
What should I do to get better results?
Also, I read somewhere that the energy bar will start working 3km after eating it. Though, it seems to me this doesn't apply for sprints, maybe because of the fast pace. When do you eat your energy bar in a sprint?
Maybe it's a fitness issue? Others have commented that fitness play a much bigger part on the harder difficulties.
Sprinting is not my strength, but if it's not fitness I'm guessing they are passing you because he's lost so much energy that he doesn't sprint at his maximum speed.
First off, if you are the lead train at 3km and no one looks to pass you immediately I don't think you should start sprinting. Wait until either a train is starting to go past you or someone else starts sprinting. Starting at 2.3-1.8 and letting your sprinter go at 1.5-1km he will have more energy and sprint at full speed for most if not all the distance.
I start everything at a later point too. 8-10km, sometimes even later if it's not moving all that fast.
Maybe I'm way off.. I have only played on normal, but maybe worth a try?
eple wrote:
First off, if you are the lead train at 3km and no one looks to pass you immediately I don't think you should start sprinting. Wait until either a train is starting to go past you or someone else starts sprinting. Starting at 2.3-1.8 and letting your sprinter go at 1.5-1km he will have more energy and sprint at full speed for most if not all the distance.
I agree on that. You should try to start the sprint with Greipel earlier. According to my experience, the acceleration is slower on extreme, therefore, if you only pass your leadout in the final kilometer, you don't have enough time to get to your top speed and catch the other sprinters that may have accelerated with 1,8kms or so and are already on top speed when they pass you. Just try different timings.
I tried sprinting earlier and did manage to get the win with Cavendish. He had +5 daily form, though, and it was a very close sprint against Poulhiès. When sprinting against the likes of Greipel, Goss etc., I probably would've lost even with the +5 form.
I guess I'll have to keep practising. =D
BTW, everything is in Classic mode, not career, so every one has the same fitness.
Edited by MartijnVDD on 11-02-2013 13:19
That's strange, with someone like Cavendish, you could be a bike length in front of Poulhies, even on extreme. Here's how I usually do the sprints:
First of all, my sprint train is much shorter. Three men (plus one). For instance, with 2012 Sky: I had a rouleur kinda guy like Flecha as my first guy, a lead out (Boasson Hagen) and the the main sprinter (Cav). Flecha was protected by someone like Stannard or so.
He goes close to the front with some 9 kms to go. Full speed (90-95 dot) with 4-5 kms to go, depending on the behaviour of the other sprint trains. Generally, the later the better, but not later than ~3.7kms to go. Stannard falls back.
In general, the others don't start to sprint with 3kms to go. I open the sprint with Boasson Hagen with around 2.5, 2.4 kms to go. Cav takes over with 1.2, 1.3 kms to go. Those values can vary of course, but that's about it.
I think the main thing is that the differences between the top speeds shouldn't be too high. Therefore, Flecha has to go on top speed for a while before releasing EBH. But two lead out sprinters have never worked out very well for me.
Edited by cunego59 on 11-02-2013 14:18
the other posters pretty much hit all the main points here but ill see if i can help as i only play on extreme mode.
the first and biggest thing is getting your train organized and at the front before the pace gets crazy. it seems you have a good handle on that already.
next you really need to start sprinting earlier. you want your sprinter (especially a guy like the gorilla) to be total spent once he hits that line. take full advantage of his high sprint skill and let the others drain there red bars.
choice of leadout man is huge!! henderson is so so and really the best option if your playing lotto so theres not much to it there. in my custom teams i will always choose lead out man with super high flat stats, and good sprints of course but ACC is less important for them.
stay calm during the sprint and dont be afraid to pause alot and take stock. if your main sprinter is getting passed by other sprinters and its within 2k of the finish youve most likely messed up and wont be able to catch back no matter how good you are. keep your chosen man as far up front as possible and observe whos coming up behind you. reacting to others sprints is never the best way to go and youll end up boxed in.
dont be afraid to steal someone elses leadout! if its too much work keeping your guy up front watch your rivals and pick a good wheel to follow, then get the jump on em in the last 2k.
also be aware of the fact that when your far up front the other teams will take cues to as to when to sprint. if your man is super strong but ur leadout isnt it may be best to not sprint with ur leadout man but actually dot him at 99. this will make the other teams delay there sprint to the point where when you go at 1.5k they cant react fast enough.
extreme mode is fun and much more challenging than the other modes so dont give up playing it yet! sprints are def. not the cakewalk they are in hard mode thats for sure. be dynamic follow wheels if your leadout falls apart and dont wait for that 1k to go cause youll fall flat.
edit: when following other sprinters, especially once you get a nice gap, the rules for waiting to sprint change. lets say your on cavs wheel and he goes at 1.5 to go. you can either a)follow him and hope he runs out of red bar before you do, or b) sprint at the same time and hope you can accelerate faster than him. both these methods arent super successful but if cav launches at 2.5 and you can follow, youll have him beat by draining his red bar first. only works if he launches early though
fitness is a big issue but like you said doesnt matter in classic mode. best of luck and have fun! hopefully you can rack up the wins for the gorilla!
Edited by CosmicOsmo on 11-02-2013 21:30
top 10 of all time in no particular order, not including the cannibal cause hes automatically #1:
-Gemininani -Nencini -Anquetil -Coppi
-Kelly -Hinault -Zabel -Bettini -Rebellin -Magni
..and honorable mention to Tom Simpson whos career was cut short.
Top 5 noobs most likely to tear it up this season:
-Phinney -Moser -TJ -Guardini -DURBO!
