Hi everyone! Last year Fantasy Tour de France ended up not by my thoughts. I have bought PS4, PS3 has been cleared, so I couldn't continue the project. I had some riders already finished TdF, but I didn't do any screenshots. Cycling season has ended, I couldn't play anymore... so I decided to end that project.
However, now I have Tour de France 2016 on PS4 and I want to do another version of this project. This time with this year route. Goal is the same. 198 riders, 9 from each team. My own general classification.
With better riders I will fight for the highest possible GC place (most with mountains 70+). With sprinters for points classificaction. But with unclassed riders just to finish TdF as fast as possible. You can't fight for good GC place with riders with ~60 MO, or for PC with 65 SPR. Each rider will be selected completely random.
So... Let the party begin again! Game is already downloading so later today I will start first Tour de France. I will post updates if any rider will finish Tour de France. Also, sorry for any mistakes in English .
List of teams:
AG2R La Mondiale
Astana Pro Team
BMC Racing Team
Bora-Argon 18
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team
Cofidis, Solutions Credits
Dimension Data
Direct Energie
Etixx - Quick Step
FDJ
Fortuneo - Vital Concept
IAM Cycling
Lampre - Merida
Lotto Soudal
Movistar Team
Orica GreenEDGE
Team Giant - Alpecin
Team Katusha
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
Team Sky
Tinkoff
Trek - Segafredo
I deleted all tables. Why? To keep this mysterious...
Edited by dominox on 11-08-2017 12:27
1 stage - 2nd (Well, my first flat finish wasn't that hard, lvl professional and seriously, even with Gerrans that wasn't that hard, I lost only to Greipel on last meters.)
2 stage - 3rd (Funny last 10 km, Alaphilippe attacks at the beginning of second climb to last, Valverde was only one to follow, Gerrans finished 3rd after long finish 1,5km to go.)
3 stage - 2nd (Sprint stages are really weird, on last years game it was not so easy even on professional, but if you are finishing with Gerrans second, only after Sagan, and Alaphilippe, Pinot, Froome are made it also inside top 10... you know there is something wrong here.)
4 stage - 2nd (Yeah, I don't understand sprint stages... E. Boasson Hagen won it, I came second with Gerrans...)
5 stage - 23rd (Finally something harder, drop in a GC from 2nd to 18th place, Valverde is new leader.)
6 stage - 3rd (17th in GC.)
7 stage - 28th
8 stage - 28th
9 stage - 39th
10 stage - 17th
11 stage - 10th
12 stage - 34th
13 stage - 198th (Yep, on ITT I was last with 2'40" behind..., [197th was 2'20"] it was my first ITT here, long one so I'm not surprised, almost 1/3 blue bar left so I was really slow. Next time I will know to ride a little faster, also, I lose 40" of this time on first climb... dumb me .)
14 stage - 5th (Sprint stages now aren't so easy, but still possible to finish inside top 10.)
15 stage - 49th
16 stage - 7th
17 stage - 44th
18 stage - 133rd (Much better result than in first ITT, but I think I could get better time.)
19 stage - 43rd
20 stage - 50th
21 stage - 3rd (Very good finish, started first, was able to get 3rd place.)
So... My first Tour de France is over. I really like this year route. Its so much funnier than 2015. No ITT at the beginning, no TTT. I'm okay with this. Gerrans was fun rider. Not very good in big mountains, but still fun.
play on champion difficulty if it's too easy
of course you begin with easy or profesional to acomodate with the team com but after you go just on champion
Pierre Latour have 77 MO, 77 HI. But that's it. Nothing really more. He is not a sprinter so on flat stages it's hard to make good place (but possible if you have enough energy and you are riding at the front of peloton). He is not really also a good puncheur, because on hilly stages he's been left behind 40-50 km to go... Also on mountain stages with 77 MO you really can't do much more. Backup stats are horrific, with only 70 stamina you are struggling on any harder stage. After just those 4 first stages I had only 3 full bars of energy at the beginning of next stages so low recovery and endurance also... I was trying to do my best, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I prefer riders like Gerrans, 71 in MO (if I remember), but a lot higher stamina and other backup stats, so 36th place was really good result. Pierre Latour have 77 MO and you are finishing on 33th place thanks to third week. And its really all you can do. Below you can see my results.
1 stage - 19th
2 stage - 19th
3 stage - 38th
4 stage - 10th
5 stage - 34th
6 stage - 25th
7 stage - 61st
8 stage - 44th
9 stage - 42nd
10 stage - 21st
11 stage - 85th (Yep... Backup stats are mading the game, 2 stages after rest day? No problem! You will have only 3 bars before Mont Ventoux stage!)
12 stage - 26th (Okay, I'm quite surprised with my effort on Mont Ventoux, if only Latour could have better backup stats...)
13 stage - 190th (2'03" with better TT than Gerrans, 70 in TT, but I still don't know exactly how to do good ITT, little more practise! At least not last.)
14 stage - 14th
15 stage - 11th (That was my best mountain stage by Latour so far. But, my condition on that day was +2 so basically it was like being 79 in MO/HI and 72 ST. Brilliant one.)
16 stage - 37th
17 stage - 45th
18 stage - 80th (Finally not bad ITT, could be better but -1 on day condition.)
19 stage - 18th (Pretty good stage for me, again positive condition which gives a lot better place.)
20 stage - 11th (Wow, that was pretty amazing, third week mountain stages were really good. On last mountain I was fighting with Meintjes for 2nd place in YC and I completely drop him on last descent. Also on last descent I made amazing effort and almost made into top 10. Last two stages were brilliant.)
21 stage - 10th
What can I say... On mountain stages you can't do many things. But it's possible to ride on some 50-70th place. On flat stages or not so hilly one, could fight for pretty nice place, even top 5 if position before sprint is good. But we all know that Vanmarcke is cobbles specialist, so where are cobbles?
Any changes in "Fantasy" Tour de France can be found on first post.
Well, Haussler is Peter Sagan of Tour de France. You can win points classification without stage victory. Still waiting for one to come. After 4 TdF already 6-time 2nd and 7-time 3rd place. Stage victory still to go. It was a bit of luck, because before last stage I was losing about 30 points to Degenkolb. I managed to came 2nd, John was out of top 10 which gave me a PC winner!
Also I was really surprised about riding on 3rd week with Haussler. He's is not really a climber, but as you can see with my results, I could manage to get 40-70th place on last mountain stages. Was trying to do everything to get Frank on top 15, but failed. Diego Ulissi ended on 13th place which is surprise to me. He is yet another rider who can end Tour de France on top 15.
Yet another Australian! What a start from them. And yeah, I finally learned how to do screenshots . So from now you will see all photos with really high quality! Pretty fast TdF, less than 79 hours when already were races with almost 81h. Finally also a stage win. Even two! Sure PC winner without of doubt. Also I made Adam Yates to finish on 14th place. But I used a fact that on some stages the breakaway rides to the finish line before a peloton. On one mountain stage (Yates had been 10 minutes behind of top 15, about 32nd place in GC) I made Adam go to early breakaway. Well, he finished 2nd after Rolland and went up on 20th place on GC, only 3 minutes after top 15. Last week was great and Adam Yates finished Tour on 14th place. I'm happy with my results here .
I don't remember exactly at what stage those things happen so I'm gonna say it here. I was playing with Kangert but doing on team comm everything I could do for Nibali and Aru to get the highest possible GC place. After one stage Aru was 2nd, Nibali 4th. After yet another Aru/Nibali chnges places between each other. Vincenzo was 2nd, Fabio 4th. Tanel Kangert at some moment 17th...
1 stage - 11th
2 stage - 9th
3 stage - 41st
4 stage - 12th
5 stage - 31st
6 stage - 28th
7 stage - 11th
8 stage - 20th
9 stage - 23rd
10 stage - 22nd
11 stage - 22nd (Still Nibali 2nd, Aru 4th)
12 stage - 15th (Little changes in a GC, Nibali 3rd, Aru 4th, Kangert 15th; top 15, Yay!)
13 stage - 70th (Wow, finally not bad ITT but still a lot to learn; Nibali 3rd [+2'06"], Aru 4th [+5'05"])
14 stage - 10th
15 stage - 22nd (-2 in daily condition... That said me everything at the beginning of the stage. I also had a crash at the last descent; Nibali 3rd [+2'06"], Aru 6th [+5'18"])
16 stage - 73rd
17 stage - 30th (Not a good stage for me and my leaders, both Nibali/Aru lost a lot of time. It will be a hard 3rd week; Nibali 3rd [+3'18"], Aru 5th [+7'35"], Kangert 17th)
18 stage - 47th (47th in a ITT? That's good.)
19 stage - 25th (Nibali 3rd [+3'41"], Aru 5th [+8'45"], Kangert 17th)
20 stage - 12th (Sooo, Nibali 3rd, but Aru will finish Tour on 5th place, Tangert 17th)
21 stage - 8th
Last year 21st place, this year 17th. There is a progress . Glad that I could made Aru finish on 5th place, a little bit disappointed of Nibali performance, but 3rd place isn't that bad.
Another rider which was fighting for points classification. Or at least for a highest possible place. Or at least trying to score some points... Any points?
Also, how do you like this type of results? Something like in ProCyclingStats.
1 stage
9
9
2 stage
119
53
3 stage
14
35
4 stage
49
37
5 stage
182
152
6 stage
12
150
7 stage
162
151
8 stage
94
122
9 stage
120
120
10 stage
94
120
11 stage
13
120
12 stage
103
119
13 stage
198
123
14 stage
67
119
15 stage
108
122
16 stage
33
122
17 stage
47
113
18 stage
155
118
19 stage
58
110
20 stage
89
108
21 stage
6
108
Also a sneakpeak on riders which finished Tour de France inside top 15 to this moment (you know, "Fantasy General Points Classification"; 1st - 15pts, 2nd - 14pts, ..., 15th - 1pt)
Okay, first of all. This TdF was restarted after first stage, why? Because I didn't realise that Quintana crashed earlier on and lost 30 minutes on the finish . Yep...
Andrey Amador, well, this year route is much more fun to play to me, and almost every rider with MO/HIL more than 75/75 gives a lot of fun. I don't like hilly stages, cause I lose a lot of energy, and most unlikely, time. But for overall, pretty nice rider. I only gets frustrated, when I couldn't simulated some moments because in every 2 seconds game wanted from me to do something with Quintana/Valverde. That was frustrating. Also at some moment I stopped doing everything to get highest possible GC place with Valverde, 100% attention on Quintana. After stage 17, only 8 seconds after Froome in a GC with 2nd place. Very close.
After stage 17: 1. Froome - 2. Quintana +8"
After stage 18: 1. Quintana - 2. Froome +22"
After stage 19: 1. Quintana - 2. Froome +20"
After stage 20: 1. Froome - 2. Quintana +4"
It was very close...
1 stage
21
21
2 stage
6
9
3 stage
14
10
4 stage
7
11
5 stage
27
23
6 stage
9
23
7 stage
43
29
8 stage
20
22
9 stage
41
24
10 stage
20
24
11 stage
31
24
12 stage
17
24
13 stage
95
24
14 stage
15
24
15 stage
26
23
16 stage
11
23
17 stage
17
22
18 stage
73
22
19 stage
20
21
20 stage
16
21
21 stage
13
21
If anyone is wondering how I'm choosing riders to play:
- 1 number from 1-22 (randomly, because there are 22 teams); then
- 1 number from 1-2 (randomly, selecting teams counting from left, or right side in team choosing menu); then
- 1 number from 1-9 (randomly, if had chosen number 4, I will play rider with 4th highest AVG in team, 9 because 9 riders from each team are starting)
So if someone have TdF 2016, you can easily find a rider which will be next: 11 - 2 - 3, wish me luck .
I love it maggle! In first week I was trying to gain as many time as possible against Froome, Quintana and others. 80 in MO versus 84 is a big difference. So what should I do? Attack! 3 stage victories, one 2nd place, and 3 minutes ahead before 2nd week.
Pretty nice victory.
Hey, look at that guy above the road.
Another victory.
3rd one! That's why I love finishes after long downhills.
GC after 1st week.
Then in 2nd week... First hard stage was one on Mont Ventoux. Froome attacks early on, but I managed to lose to him only 10 seconds at the finish line, also came 2nd on the stage. And an ITT. This was my 10th TdF but I still don't exactly know how to do good effort on ITT. 62 in TT? 4 minutes ahead Froome in GC? -1 in daily condition? Okay then, you will lose 5 minutes to him! Just kidding, at least only a "minute".
Next tough stage? Stage 15, 2 very hard downhills, but it's brilliant place to attack and gain some time against all favourites. But with 80 MO you will not beat Froome with 84. 12 stages in yellow, maillot jaune and that's all. Stage 17 was bad, -1 in daily condition and barely finished 10th. Even Ten Dam finished that stage 9th. Also yet another ITT and 73rd place. I didn't want to say how much time I lost on Froome there. On last two stages it was just fighting to hold 4th place, or get 3rd and a podium.
At least won last mountain stage, this also gave me 2nd place in GC (first one is stage 15):
Not only Youth Classification Winner (not really a big problem), but also a PC Winner!
Slightly strange situation with Richie Porte. In the first stage after intermediate sprint was formed a group of 26 riders that came to the finish line 6 minutes before all. Mainly sprinters, but van Garderen and Sanchez somehow kept there. Van Garderen was one which wasn't able to hold his GC place on those mountain stages in first week. Yes. Sanchez was first after first week, van Garderen 24th, Porte 3rd:
Next hard stage, Mont Ventoux, Sanchez lost his yellow jersey there, van Garderen finished 4th, Porte 6th. GC looked very interesting there. Look at the time difference between first 6 riders:
Finally not bad ITT and the yellow jersey! But honestly I still think I could get better time on that TT.
Well, at least I managed to get 3rd place. I don't want to say what was happening on stage 19... Also Samuel Sanchez 14th!