So I have decided to start a story, beginning with the second year of my Wisenhof Felt team, with whom I comfortably won the Continental Tour last year. A very productive offseason has lead to the signings of Alejandro Valverde, Paolo Bettini, and Robbie McEwen to lead the team.
A few quick notes - This is played on a horrible computer, so the graphics in the Screenshots will be horrible, but hopefully the story will be satisfactory. Secondly, I don't know how to add screenshots in the body of the text, so I will attach one for this post, and hopefully Crommy's guide will touch on it soon, or someone will help me on it. So here it goes...
To: Sponsor
From: Team Manager
Subject: Season 08
Gentleman, Here are some notes for you consumption for the second season in which I shall be managing the team you have been kind enough to sponsor. As you are no doubt aware, we have reached the Protour this season, and have signed veteran riders Robbie McEwen, Alejandro Valverde, and Paolo Bettini to lead the team this year. To support them we have various talents, built around a strong core of German Domestique's. Attached to this file will be a chart listing our riders and their abilities. The rest of the director's and myself sat down and discussed the plan for this year. I shall lead in all Protour events when I am not managing another race, and the other Director's shall lead for the rest of the races. I also note that I will occasionally take over the team for a smaller race.
Here is a quick listing of the goals you have given us - (Three Stars) Tour de France, Vattenfall Cyclassics, (Two Stars) Giro d' Italia, La Fleche Wallone, (One Star) Tour of Germany, Rund um den Henniger Turm. Finish in the top 5: La Fleche Wallone, Stage Win(s): Giro d' Italia, Finish in the top 10: Giro d' Italia, Wear the leaders jersey: Tour de France, Finish in the top 5: Vattenfall Cyclassics.
We will attempt to complete those to the best of our ability.
Next, here is a listing of all ProTour teams, and their top riders:
AG2R: Samuel Sanchez (77), John Gadret (74), Rinaldo Nocentini (73)
Agritubel: Jose Azevedo (71), Oliver Zaugg (71)
Caisse D'Epargne: J.A. Gomez Marchante (76), Vladimir Karpets (75), L.L. Sanchez (75), J.I. Gutierrez (75), Oscar Pereiro (75), Joaquim Rodriguez (75)
Cofidis: Nick Nuyens (75), Leonardo Duque (73), Sylvain Chavanel (73)
Credit Agricole: Thor Hushovd (76), Frank Schleck (76, The lesser of the brothers), William Bonnet (73)
Discovery Channel: Michael Rassmussen (77), Janez Brajkovic (76), Vladimir Gusev (76), George Hincapie (76), Yaroslav Popovich (76)
Euskatel: Igor Anton (74), Allan Davis (73), Tom Veelers (73)
FDJ: Phillipe Gilbert (76), Sebastian Joly (74), Thomas Lovkvist (74)
Gerolsteiner: Herinrich Haussler (75), Davide Rebellin (75), Johan Vansummeren (74)
Lampre-Fondital: Allesandro Ballan (79), Damiano Cunego (78), Andreas Kloden (75)
Liquigas: Danilo Di Luca (80), Roman Kreuziger (76), Pipo Pozzato (76), Vicienzo Nibali (76)
Predictor Lotto: Leif Hoste (78), Chris Horner (75, and WORLD RR CHAMPION), Bjorn Leukemans (75)
Quickstep: Tom Boonen (80), Stefan Schumacher (76), Juamma Garate (73), Santiago Botero (73)
Rabobank: Thomas Dekker (77), J.A. Flecha (77), Robert Gesink (76), Denis Menchov (76)
Team Wisenhof: Alejandro Valverde (80, and Spanish RR Champion), Paolo Bettini (77), Robbie McEwen (73)
Free Agents: Alberto Contador (78), Levi Leipheimer (78)
If you wish to know the stats and team of any other riders, simply send a reply.
Also, besides the Aussie Championships, which Robbie did not do well in, Robbie took an eighth place in the Down Under Classic, after losing the wheel of his lead-out man.
So here is the attached list of our team, minus a young rider, rated at an average of 61, please reply if you need anything, thanks.
I decided to get my feet wet before Paris-Nice, and so I have chosen two races to personally manage, the GP d'Ouverture La Marsillaise, and the Milano-Torino, and first up was the French classic:
Sorry about not having a picture of the terrain, but you can see it in the other screenshots
I chose a team of Paolo Bettini, Pieter Vanspeybrouck to get in the early attack, and a number of domestiques.
Not long after the gun, Vansperbrouck countered an attack, and when the dust had cleared, a small group had gotten away.
However, a number of attacks followed, and before long, the group had swelled to 20 riders
They had a long day, with approx. 14 riders working, and the other 6 (including Vanspeybrouck, as Bettini was the favorite) sitting on the back.
As the pack, led by Predictor and Credit Agricole, brought the escapees back in, a number of attacks were launched, and Vanspeybrouck, having not worked hard at all, was able to counter, and then pass to get a small gap.
He later hooking up with a Bretange rider who had bridged to him from the remainder of the breakaway.
At around 13 Km to go, the pack had the break down to a 30 sec advantage. I told Bettini to attack, but he was too far back in the peloton, and only managed to get about half the distance i wanted him to get on the pack, and strong counter-moves, led by FDJ rider Fedrigo, were able to catch, and pass him (sorry, accidentally deleted the pic).
Bettini was able to pass Vanspeybrouck, and shed the other leaders who were following him, but was not able to bridge to Fedrigo, who had around a 25 sec. advantage on him (Bettini is at 47 fitness). So, Fedrigo would go on to capture the day, with Bettini not far behind in second, a good start to his year with the German outfit (Note: Vanspeybrouck is about to be caught by the pack in the picture, and would finish eighth).
Hopefully Milano-Torino will find us a victory, but the rest of the month will have two races in store for us. The Mallorca Challenge, in which Spanish RR Champion Valverde will make his debut. And the Trofeo Laigueglia, where Bettini hopes to get victory number 1 in his new Wisenhof jersey. Both of those will be led by the Assistant Managers.
Edited by Deadpool on 13-04-2008 00:07
I forgot this, I am playing with the PCM.daily 07 DB.
For difficulty level, I am starting on normal, but will probably go to hard. Sometimes I play on Normal, and then it is so easy I go to Hard, and other times I start on Hard, and I can't win and go to Normal, it just depends on how much I have played recently, so expect that to fluctuate.
Although managed by an assistant manager (so simmed) here are the results for the team in the Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca:
Team - Alejandro Valverde, Francesco Belloti, Tony Martin, Daniel Musiol, Robert Retschke, Torsten Schmidt, Stefan Van Dijk, Peter Velits, Robert Wagner.
We hope for Valverde, helped by Belloti, Martin, and Velits, will be able to manage a top-10 finish, with his fitness starting at 57, and a strong field, that is all we could ask for.
Stage 1 - 100 km, dead-flat, Van Dijk manages a 6th in the mass sprint, with Fran Ventoso of Saunier Duval winning.
Stage 2 - 160 km, flat, Pablo Lastras of Caisse D' Epargne solos to victory, 52 seconds ahead of the pack, led in by Fran Ventoso, Van Dijk is the top placed Wisenhof rider in 13th.
Stage 3 - 166 km, hilly, a large section of mountains in the cmiddle of the route, with a short uphill finish. Won by Joaquin Rodriguez of Caisse D' Epargne, ahead of Ezequiel Mosquera of Karpin Galicia, and L.L. Sanchez, also of GCE. Valverder leads in a chase group, taking fourth, 21 seconds back.
Stage 4 - 150 km, hilly, the main feature is a large mountain 17 km to the line, followed by a sharp decent to the finish. Won by Herrero of Karpin Galicia, ahead of 4 other riders in his group. Belloti finished last in the first chase group, 38 seconds back, while Valverde finished in the next group 58 seconds back.
Stage 5 - 148 km, hilly, a number of short hills dot the landscape, with a descent down to the finish. L.L. Sanchez of GCE wins the stage, 31 sec. ahead of Quickstep's Stefan Schumacher, and takes the overall. Valverde would finish 2:04 down, in 23rd place.
Although we hoped for more, Valverde completed our goal, the next race to report on will be the Trofeo Laigueglia, which will be led by an assistant manager.
Have you tried to get Levi Liephiemer? good story by the way, and nice to see your trying to win even the smaller races, its always good to see. And dont worry i always race on normal, so id rather watch a race were its more possible to win than less.
Valverde was the cheapest, and I didn't want to go far over the salary cap (it is a good basis for how much you can pay your riders and have a budget out of the red at the end of the year). I am fine with 4000 over
The 183 km hilly classic is dominated by three long, difficult climbs, with flat run up to the finish. Led by an assistant manager, the team gained another top-10 finish.
Team: Paolo Bettini, Baoquing Song, Sergei Lagutin, Felix Odebrecht, Martin Velits, Bastiaan Giling, Christian Leben, Ulf Faulstich.
Paolo Bettini was only at 53 form, so not much was expected.
04/03: Kuurne-Brussles-Kuurne - 1.1 - Assistant Director
10/03: Milano-Torino - 1.HC - Me
11/03 - 18/03: Paris-Nice - UPT - Me
14/03 - 20/03: Tirreno-Adriatico - UPT - Assistant Director, will have full report
15/03 - 18/03: Istrian Spring Trophy - 2.2 - Assistant Director
21/03: Nokere-Koerse - Me
24/03: Milano-Sanremo - Me
Possibly one more race
The cobbled 1.1 race was the first chance for the underpowered cobble team to get out onto the road together, but with a tough field, and low fitness, nothing was expected, or delivered for that matter. The team was lead by an Assistant Manager
Team - Paolo Bettini, Pieter Vanspeybrouck, Daniel Musiol, Stefan Van Dijk, Baastian Giling, Ulf Faulstich, Martin Velits, Artur Gajek.
The 181 km route has a number of steep cobbled hills, mainly in the center of the route, with a flat, cobble-less run up to the finish.
Won by Juan Antonio Flecha (who won, thanks to cya-logic, as he had just taken 2nd in a hard Oomlop Het Volk the day before), ahead of Marcus Burghardt, 2nd, and Nick Nuyens, 3rd, both 46 seconds back.
Paolo Bettini and Pieter Vanspeybrouck were my top riders, taking 33rd and 35th respectively, 3'40 back of Flecha.
Hopefully a combination of better form and my leadership will guide us to a top-10 in one of the three UPT cobbled classics in April, that is all we can really ask for.
WARNING - My plan is to have Jamie Staff ride the Paris-Nice, to try to win the first stage, which is a flat 8 km time-trial. If he were to win it (possible with a TT stat of 76), the universe may be torn apart, with the impossibility of a British rider leading the UCI Protour upon us. I am warning you to make peace with whatever deities you worship, and if neccesary, go on a My Name is Earl-esqe adventure.
Edited by Deadpool on 14-04-2008 01:20
