The sequel to my TdF story from last year and hopefully it will be better than last year. For those that needed to be reminded about that story and what it made it unique is the fact that it moves away from the traditional Pro Cycling Manager games and uses the Console games instead (in my case the PlayStation 3). Instead of the usual video stories that the Console game has gotten I’m also doing the classic style of reporting. A actual written report for those who don’t want to watch a video.
Like last year the rider I’ll be using mostly will be Thibault Pinot and his FDJ team. Thanks to the new gameplay mechanics I’ll be able to actually participate in the sprint finishes with one of the teams sprinters instead of the one sentence telling who won. With the main goal again being the youth classification after winning it by 20 minutes difference to number two. However the eye is focused on more things than just that white jersey, after last year 3rd place in the Mountain rankings, Thibault is ready to take on the challenge of taking that King of the Mountains jersey. stage wins are also high on his list.
So how about we get this thing started by meeting the riders in the next post Edited by SSJ2Luigi on 28-07-2014 02:44
last years winner: Cadel Evans is back for winning three in a row
main favorites
Astana: Vincenzo Nibali
BMC Cycling Team: Cadel Evans
Euskaltel: Samuel Sánchez
Katusha: Joaquim Rodriguez
Movistar: Alejandro Valverde
Saxo-Tinkoff: Alberto Contador
Team Sky: Bradley Wiggins
can surprise the main favorites
Blanco Pro Cycling: Bauke Mollema
Blanco Pro Cycling: Robert Gesink
Cannondale: Ivan Basso
Europcar: Pierre Rolland
Europcar: Thomas Voeckler
Euskaltel: Mikel Nieve FDJ: Thibault Pinot
Garmin: Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin: Daniel Martin
Katusha: Daniel Moreno
Lampre-Merida: Damiano Cunego
Lampre-Merida: Michele Scarponi
Movistar: Nairo Quintana
RadioShack: Andy Schleck
RadioShack: Andreas Klöden
Saxo-Tinkoff: Roman Kreuziger
Team Sky: Chris Froome
Vacansleil: Thomas de Gendt
risky bets
AG2R La Modiale: Dominico Pozzovivo
BMC Cycling Team: Tejay van Garderen
Blanco Pro Cycling: Steven Kruijswijk
Cofidis: Christophe Le Mevel
Cofidis: Rein Taaramae
Euskaltel: Igor Anton
Garmin: Andrew Talansky
Katusha: Denis Menchov
Lampre-Merida: Przemyslaw Niemiec
Movistar: Juan Jose Cobo
Movistar: Rui Costa
RadioShack: Chris Horner
RadioShack: Maxime Monfort
Saxo-Tinkoff: Nicolas Roche
Saxo-Tinkoff: Rafal Majka
Team Sky: Richie Porte
Vacansoleil: Wout Poels
The Sprinters
The Manx Missile is also back for his third consecutive points jersey
The fastest man alive
Team Argos-Shimano: Marcel Kittel
Cannondale: Peter Sagan FDJ: Nacer Bouhanni
Lotto-Belisol: André Greipel
Omega-Pharma: Mark Cavendish
The slipstreamers
Team Argos-Shimano: John Degenkolb
Garmin: Tyler Farrar
Lampre-Merida: Alessandro Petacchi
Orica: Matthew Goss
Team Sky: Ben Swift
Team Sky: Edvald Boassen Hagen
Vacansoleil: Romain Feillu
The surprises
BMC Cycling Team: Thor Hushovd
BMC: Philippe Gilbert
Blanco Pro Cycling: Mark Renshaw
Cannondale: Elia Viviani
Movistar: Juan Jose Rojas
Note: based on who I think the game can put high in the GC/Sprints, these riders results will be added in the result screen in their respective classifications.
I've heard that descents might be difficult in this game
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
A stage without major difficulties, which should be favourable to the sprinters.
Stage Favorites
Mark Cavendish (OPQ)
Andre Greipel (LTB)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
GM: Oke guys, it’s the start of the 2013 Tour. The first stage in Corsica holds no major difficulty. The stage will be played out between the sprinters
Thibault Pinot: todays stage is a easy one for me, is actually all about Nacer (Bouhanni) today with the intermediate sprint and the final sprint as point of interest.
The first hour was riding hard to no one’s surprise. A lot of teams wanted to get in the breakaway today because the first KOM jersey was on the table. The first one to open the attack was Vorganov (KAT) but he never really got away. I asked Arnold (Jeannesson) and Arthur (Vichot) that if they saw the opportunity to counter the attacks and get into the break aswell. They didn’t manage to find the chance and so we had a group of 4 in today’s break of the day. they were Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun), Stuart O’Grady (Orica), Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) and Juan Jose Cobo (Movistar) but I’ll give the word to Nacer for the intermediate and final sprint.
Hivert starting the break on the left side of the road
Nacer Bouhanni: thanks Thibault, for the intermediate sprint I couldn’t find the right wheel so when I saw Cavendish go at 1.4 km to go, I re-acted but was already a bike length behind
Cavendish starting to sprint
Cavendish speed was unmatched so he won the intermediate sprint with some bikes lengths, although Degenkolb just managed to take the 6th place while I took 7th.
Cavendish having a gap on the left while Degenkolb on the left just passed me
For the final sprint I had a great position behind the Omega Pharma-train however I disconnected my shoe and almost crashed.
I managed to stay on the bike but I already lost the sprint. I did try to get some points out of it though but in the end I only finished 17th, Which was really disappointing. In all the excitement of the first stage of the tour, the sprinters teams forgot to reel in the breakaway. So the winner of the first stage of the tour and the first wearer of the yellow jersey is: Jonathan Hivert of Sojasun. He didn’t get a gap though so we probably get a new yellow jersey wearer tomorrow. Hopefully it will be me.
TP: I stayed out of trouble today and finished 64th today. Tomorrow is looking more eventfull but the tour only really starts on the 8th stage so until that time you’ll probably hear more from Nacer then from me.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
@547984: fixed, nice to know that people actually want to watch it
The difficulties towards the middle of the route may help to enliven the race and thus avoid a mass sprint finish
Stage Favorites
Peter Sagan (CAN)
Alejandro Valverde (MOV)
Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
GM: Today we’ll have to be wary of two climbs in the middle of the stage as well as the hill 15km from the finish.
Pinot: the start of the stage was really hard today, the fast pace to set the breakaway in addition to the early intermediate sprint lead to a really tough first few hours. The moment Sojasun took control of the peloton the pace died and Pietropolli (Lampre) attacked, Vorganov was blocked by Pierrick who returned from an earlier back attempt, Pietropolli was alone and had an journey of about 90 km alone.
the lonely escapee going away on the left
However with only one escapee today, there were some KOM points for the peloton and since I got 3rd last year. I tried to take some of those points myself. At the Col de Bellagranajo, the Col de la Serra and the Col de Vizzavona I took the remaining points but at the Côte du Salario I was boxed in by the peloton and couldn’t take any points.
taking the remaining points
However things went ugly after the small hill
can you see what’s will happen next?
That’s right, I made a mistake judging the corner and went down, good thing that there weren’t any spectators there otherwise it would mean the end of my Tour already. Time loss today seems inevitable. That all changed when I heard over the team radio that I got some support from the Dutch as Mollema crashed not soon afterwards splitting the peloton into three pieces. I was in the second group and I got reports that riders like Porte (SKY), Van den Broeck (LTB) were caught behind.
Quick!, pick up that bike
While Pietropolli was celebrating his stage win after an amazing 109 km solo, taking advantage of the crashes and holds the peloton off with a 27 second gap Bouhanni sprinted towards a nice 8th place finish and I was sprinting to get time equel with the rest of the peloton. It was all in vain though, as the ASO decided to give everybody but a group of 3 riders the same time (Levarlet-COF, Niemiec!-LAM, Tuft-OGE)
@The Schleck Fan; thanks, I'll be happy if I can improve myself along the way of the story. both in reporting the races and in playing the game. if you don't try to improve yourself, you're going backwards
@The Rider: last year/story, Thibaut lost the jersey by 20 points or so. he doesn't want to make that same mistake again.
last year/story we had twice stage wins (in a row), so we won't be 100% with only one stage win though
I must apologize for the lack of updates the past few days, I had a school assignment that needed to be finished today. not really hard but lengthy though I'm finally done with school and got full attention to the story. there's some catching up to do
The last climb sits close enough to the finish to allow the best punchers to pull away at the head of the race
Stage Favorites
Peter Sagan (CAN)
Sylvain Chavanel (OPQ)
Alejandro Valverde (MOV)
GM: The Stage is fairly short today guys. It could be pretty hectic, especially as it rises from the start! Watch out for attacks!
Thibault Pinot: it’s a day were you could lose some time if you’re not careful. An attack on the Col de Marsolino could mean a stage win. As a bonus after yesterday’s offensive riding, I got to wear the mountain jersey today as Pietropolli wore the yellow jersey.
me in the KOM jersey, next to the yellow jersey. Pietropolli
We got a few riders up the road: Christophe Le Mével (Cofidis), Simon Spilak (Katusha), Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Greg van Avermaet (BMC). Behind them Bouhanni won the intermediate peloton sprint, quite easily actually (His words, not mine )
Nacer taking the intermediate sprint
However, the break didn’t last long. There were catch before the Col de San Martino. David Le Lay did try to make a break but got nobody with him. I took charge over the top of the climb for 100 m just to take the 3 points.
classic point grabbing
However when the front of the peloton overtook me I looked back and saw nothing. What I did see was Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Luis Leon Sánchez (Blanco), Fabian Wegmann (Garmin), Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil) and Blel Kadri (AG2R). these riders were really dangerous for the stage win and letting them go this early would end up in a breakaway win but I also didn’t want to waste much energy for the later stages that are more important in the GC. Sprinting up the climb less exhausting then actually doing big relays. I saved myself from doing much work by just going up the climb in my own pace, that’s sort of doing relays right?
the emptiness of the unexpected break and the second break of the day
Basically happened after that until the Col de Marsolino, we haven’t even started and already big groups were getting dropped. The guys that were with me in the second break did try several attempts to get away (Sagan and Sánchez most of the time). Together with Fédrigo we worked together by countering the breaks. We weren’t letting anyone getting away without either of us. Sagan did take the most points on the climb but I got second.
Sagan taking first place
Fédrigo then countered the attack Hivert put in after the climb. Where Sagan stopped Hivert continued sort of speak. The three of us got a small gap after the decent but it wasn’t enough, Saxo-Tinkoff brought us back and with 3 to go we were all together. Until Philippe Gilbert (BMC) attacked.
Perhaps the best puncher in the world goes for victory
And he did it, he got his stage win by beating Valverde. . I eventually got 12th place today because I started my sprint to early and faded at the end. I did officially take the polka dot jersey from Pietropolli.
Gilbert celebrating in the far distance, showing how powerful he really is and me on the podium
Disclaimer- Most of my posts are me thinking aloud. And most of what I think is rubbish.
Winner of a FIFA Prediction Fair Play Award (a phrase becoming increasingly ironic) "... Because he (me) has a sound tactical mind in general..." jandal7, at 9:30 am GMT on 12th May 2016
Yep, Pinot wasn't putting in too many turns when he did get into the breakaways. But, perhaps being a moralist won't win you the polka dots! All in all a decent stage for Pinot, moving into the lead in the polka dots (out-right) and still able to be in the mix up at the finish.
What was that @ 24:46! .... I suppose it was to be expected!
@weirdskyfan64: mmm, usually the trains of Omega Pharma or Argos . don't really use a lead-out
@The Rider: I was pretty sure that if Pinot didn't follow that break they would make it to the end and if Pinot did join the break wouldn't make it. better not to waste energy in a pointless effort.
the disadvantage of uploading the full stage, everybody can see your mistakes little to slow into the corner and didn't correct it
a rather flat route and somewhat technical with a finish on the Promeande des Anglais. Teams with good rouleurs are favorites.
Stage Favorites
Team Sky
RadioShack
Omega Pharma
GM: The route isn’t too tricky, lads. The most important thing is to stay together. It’s the time of the fifth rider that’s taken into account.
Jeremy Roy: you would expect Thibaut here but he thought it would be appropriate if I would do this report because I was the guy pulling the team today. The team went on great until the intermediate timing. With 5 km to go we suddenly lost 4 guys and Jeannesson was saying that he wouldn’t be able to stay with us until the end if we kept going at this pace. I gave the lead to Pinot as he has a lower normal speed and we might be able to limit our losses. Jeannesson kept hanging on thanks to the lead change so we limited the losses today. We finished in 12th place. Team Sky eventually won the stage while Wiggins takes over the yellow jersey.
The Team Time Trial, before the results since the race is so short
Stage results
Place
Country
Team
Time
1.
Sky Pro Cycling
27’02”
2.
Omega Pharma – QuickStep
+8”
3.
Movistar Team
+23”
4.
RadioShack Leopard
+31”
5.
BMC Cycling Team
+33’’
6.
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
+34”
7.
Blanco Pro Cycling Team
+41”
8.
Astana Pro Team
+42”
9.
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
+46”
10.
Katusha Team
+1’06”
12.
FDJ
+1’10”
The General Classification
Place
Country
Rider
Team
Time
1
Bradley Wiggins
Sky
12h03'42"
2
Richie Porte
Sky
+0"
3
Sebastian Henao
Sky
+0"
4
Vasil Kiryienka
Sky
+0"
5
Sebastian Chavanel
Omega Pharma
+9"
6
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma
+9"
7
Kevin de Weert
Omega Pharma
+9"
8
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma
+9"
9
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar
+24"
10
Beñat Intxausti
Movistar
+24"
57
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+1'11"
Spoiler
11
Rui Costa
Movistar
+24"
12
Nairo Quintana
Movistar
+24"
17
Andy Schleck
RadioShack
+31"
20
Andreas Klöden
RadioShack
+31"
24
Tejay van Garderen
BMC
+33"
28
Nicolas Roche
Saxo
+34"
29
Roman Kreuziger
Saxo
+34"
31
Alberto Contador
Saxo
+34"
34
Rafal Majka
Saxo
+34"
35
Bauke Mollema
Blanco
+41"
37
Robert Gesink
Blanco
+41"
38
Steven Kruijswijk
Blanco
+41"
41
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil
+47"
43
Wout Poels
Vacansoleil
+47"
48
Joaquin Rodriguez
Katusha
+1'06"
51
Denis Menchov
Katusha
+1'06"
54
Thomas Voeckler
Europcar
+1'11"
55
Pierre Rolland
Europcar
+1'11"
56
Pierrick Fédrigo
FDJ
+1'11"
57
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+1'11"
59
Arnold Jeannesson
FDJ
+1'11"
60
Jérémy Roy
FDJ
+1'11"
62
Damiano Cunego
Lampre
+1'17"
63
Michele Scarponi
Lampre
+1'17"
68
Arthur Vichot
FDJ
+1'17"
70
Dominico Pozzovivo
AG2R
+1'23"
80
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel
+1'42"
82
Mikel Nieve
Euskaltel
+1'42"
89
Chris Froome
Sky
+1'51"
91
Ivan Basso
Cannondale
+2'07"
93
Christophe Le Mével
Cofidis
+2'08"
95
Maxime Monfort
RadioShack
+2'22"
96
Chris Horner
RadioShack
+2'22"
98
Cadel Evans
BMC
+2'24"
108
Daniel Moreno
Katusha
+2'57"
119
Juan Jose Cobo
Movistar
+3'08"
120
Alexandre Geniez
FDJ
+3'08"
122
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Lotto
+3'11"
127
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin
+3'19"
128
Daniel Martin
Garmin
+3'19"
137
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana
+3'25"
140
Janez Brajkovic
Astana
+3'25"
157
Przemysław Niemiec
Lampre
+3'52"
157
William Bonnet
FDJ
+3'54"
164
Rein Taaramae
Cofidis
+3'59"
167
Murilo Fischer
FDJ
+4'02"
175
Nacer Bouhanni
FDJ
+4'04"
181
Andrew Talansky
Garmin
+4'11"
184
Igor Anton
Euskaltel
+4'25"
Youth Classification
Place
Country
Rider
Team
Time
1
Nairo Quintana
Movistar
12h10'06
2
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack
+7"
3
Tejay van Garderen
BMC
+9"
4
Rafal Majka
Saxo
+10"
5
John Degenkolb
Argos
+45"
6
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+47"
7
Arthur Vichot
FDJ
+54"
8
Peter Sagan
Cannondale
+1'43
9
Marcel Kittel
Argos
+2'36"
10
Alexandre Geniez
FDJ
+2'44"
12
Nacer Bouhanni
FDJ
+3'40"
13
Andrew Talansky
Garmin
+3'47"
Team Classification
Place
Country
Team
Time
1
Sky Pro Cycling
35h35'02"
2
Omega Pharma - Quickstep
+8"
3
Movistar Team
+23"
4
RadioShack Leopard
+27"
5
BMC Cycling Team
+33"
6
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
+34"
7
Blanco Pro Cycling Team
+41"
8
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
+46"
9
Lampre - Merida
+50"
10
Katusha Team
+1'06"
11
FDJ
+1'10"
Points: Hivert (Sojasun)
KOM: Pinot (FDJ)
sorry for this small report, but the stage was small too!. it evens each other out
Any chance of beating the sprinters will require an attack on the last climb of the day
Stage Favorites
Mark Cavendish (OPQ)
Andre Greipel (LTB)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
GM: We’ll soon be in the thick of it, guys. We climb the Col de Châteauneuf Grasse right from the start. It’s not very steep
Thibaut Pinot: like the GM just said, we almost immediately start with an climb and no real break got over it. Some riders did tried though including Fischer and Geniez from my team. The peloton was pretty much together so I didn’t try to pick up the points today as there wasn’t really much to gain there. just after the climb and the downhill of said climb; we got a group of 7 in the break with Iglinskiy (Astana), Gallopin (RadioShack) and Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) as the most notable names. The only had a maximum gap of 1 minute and when the gap was 15 seconds I told Fedrigo that he should attack. He did better than I expected. He went over the original break and took a massive 8 minute gap. We did have some problems at the intermediate sprint. Bouhanni got a mechanical so he couldn’t sprint there. Vichot did try to limit the point losses for the points jersey but he just doesn’t have the punch to be able to beat the big sprinters. Vichot just isn’t strong enough to beat the big guns
Fedrigo still had a 1 minute gap going over the Col de la Gineste when disaster struck for the peloton. A collective fall including Brajkovic (Astana), Schleck (RadioShack), Basso (Cannondale) and our own Vichot and Geniez. I wasn’t caught behind the crash so I didn’t lose any time. We couldn’t waste any time waisting for the other guys. With only 10 kilometer to go, we were getting ready for the sprint. We were a little hesitate to start the sprint because Fedrigo still had a gap, which was 1 minute going in the final kilometer, our first stage win was looking close. The sprinters reacted to this and started sprinting early, with almost 2 km to go. Bouhanni didn’t expect this and needed to play catch up. In the end he got far and got 11th place after over taking Van Avermaet. Not bad after starting 150 meter too late. the battle for 11th
It would have been 10th place if the break didn’t make it to the end again. I still have no idea how the sprinters this tour keep letting the break go until the end. He was alone for 162 km and still was stronger than the Omega Pharma, Lotto and Argos. I normally wouldn’t have made a big deal out of this but this time it’s different since the breakaway rider was named Pierrick Fedrigo A double trip to the Podium for FDJ. As stage winner and as Mountain classification leader.
little to slow into the corner and didn't correct it 
