Hi and welcome.

I'm assuming that if you bought this game, you know a thing or two about cycling. If you don't, then make sure you get an idea on how the sport works in general. The Tour De France is coming up, watching it completely would be a good start if you aren't familiar with the sport itself.

Now when it comes to the game itself, Kentaurus's guide is really good. It helped me set my first steps into the game. If this is your first Pro Cycling Manager game, then learning all the aspects will take a while. I can recommend taking them on one at a time.

For your first experience, you should not jump straight to carreer mode. Instead, start by trying out single races in single player. This way, you can familiarize yourself with all the buttons and actions that you can do during a race. Learn how to control a team in-game. Also, learn how the stats work: this way you know which rider to pick for each race, who will be your race leader etc. Finally, make sure to learn how the AI responds to all the various situations.

I recommend you start by practicing completely flat sprint stages. The stage itself is quite boring if nothing happens, but practicing a successful mass sprint win can be very tricky. Also, try getting into the breakaway to see how that works. Pick a WorldTour team and play low-tier (2.1/1.1) races. When you feel like things are going too easy, move on to 2.HC/1.HC races and finally start practicing WT races.

When you're done or bored with flat sprint races, move on to hilly races. When you're done with those, move to cobbled races. Next are mountain races and finally time trials. When you've done them all, try practicing a race with multiple stages, and go for the General Classification. Again move up from flat and easy stage races to the Vuelta, Giro or Tour.

Practicing every stage type until you can win or have a good result will be tricky. As such, always look for tips on the forums. Using the search function will get loads of your questions answered. When you feel like you know how to play the game, start a carreer. Make sure you plan your entire season before you actually start it.

This entire process took me about 3-4 months. Depending on how often you play and how quick you learn, that can be done much quicker. Don't worry though, practicing stages itself is also loads of fun, especially when you get the gratification of a win.