14 DAY TRIAL // I am a little tired of playing these very flat stages, given that I lack a true sprinter and don’t want to tire my riders with long range attacks and final full speed escapes.
But this route, although it seems very similar to that I have seen earlier in the week, managed to introduce some excitement to the Tour by making it the first time this year when a breakaway has managed to fight for the win in the final kilometers.
Meersman, from Cannondale, is the winner of the day and he managed to edge Kittel, the leading sprinter coming from the peloton, by just a few meters, one of those real-life situations that rarely gets simulated by a video game.
Pro Cycling Manager 2013 is by no means a perfect game and the Cyanide developers sometimes rest on their laurels and fail to introduce enough innovation.
But the core concepts are clearly sound because there are moments when they manage to replicate the most interesting real -orld scenarios almost down to the second, leaving the player wondering which one of the realities he is experiencing is more emotional.
Initial PCM releases have their fair share of issues, but patches from the development team and mods created by the community manage to build up an experience that constantly evolves and gets better.
I like to see the underdogs of the escape group beat the more powerful peloton once in a while and I am also happy to report the fact that my own team managed to stay safe during the entire stage and conserved their energy for the coming showdown in the high mountains.
I want to go on the attack when I can and I will try to gain a win in the coming days even if I fail to make up time on the Yellow Jersey favorites.
