14 DAY TRIAL // Grand Tours these days have a history of starting somewhere far from their home country, trying to focus on new audiences and to globalize the brand, but it’s always fun to see the native crowds cheer and enjoy themselves when participants finally return to their traditional stomping grounds.
The fourth stage of Le Tour is the first one to take riders across France, with a course clearly designed for sprinters to shine once again, as it's a rather flat course.
Many casual cycling fans and even some veteran ones tend to see this kind of days as boring from start to finish, and some commentators actually advise the public to only tune in to see the final 10 kilometers, which see the sprinters coming to the front in order to shine.
Pro Cycling Manager 2014, the simulation created by developer Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive, is a perfect tool to show them that flat stages are actually very exciting, especially during the first hour, when a breakaway is struggling to develop and when teams decide what their tactics will be.
The plan for my own team is to stay safe today, make sure that I do not let any breaks form in the peloton and try to get as good a result as possible with Giacomo Nizzolo, who has a long real-world history of second places.
I will not put many efforts into the breakaway, as some of my riders are already pretty tired after the explosive start in England, and I do not plan to contribute to the chase, leaving the entire burden on the shoulders of Giant Shimano.
I once again tried to set up a sprint train only to discover that my designated fast finisher was following other wheels, and I ended giving some chaotic and weird orders in the final kilometers, which made it impossible for the team to be competitive.
Sprints are hard to control at the best of times and panicking is never a good idea, even if Pro Cycling Manager 2014 allows players to basically pause the action in order to sort out the situation and give the best possible instructions to their riders.
I also made the mistake of asking a bit too much of my guys over in England, and during the stage they were also in bad shape, which meant that I did not even manage to make it into the top ten in the spring finish.