Time for another cobbled race! After my amazing streak through West-Flanders, I have made the start list at Nokere Koerse as a "dangerous outsider" and made the team sheet as "leader". I want to grab this chance with both hands and make something of it!
It feels a bit strange, I admit. Being a team leader over guys who are your senior, like Willems and De Clercq, but I wanted to make this a great race.
De Clercq layed out the fundamentals today by going in the 10 man break. I was pretty happy, our team was relieved of doing the work in the background.
But when the break was 2 minutes away, I came next to Willems and asked if he had the legs to go after them. He said he was feeling good, went to the front and tried to make the jump.
He found his way to the ten leaders just in time. The peloton gave them a maximum of 6 minutes.
With 20 kilometers to go, Willems and De Clercq went off on a Trofeo Baracchi. This is an old Italian cycling race, consisting of a two-men time trial.
Meanwhile, the weather stirred up the race in the background. In the peloton, I was hanging on for dear life as the peloton split into pieces. I found myself at the front.
We picked up the breakaway riders and De Clercq. We suddenly saw Willems in the distance, still going strong. But there was no time to speculate, I would have to sprint, so I prepared my sprint!
Passing under the Flamme Rouge, Willems still had a decent lead. I noticed I still had some punch left. With a team mate up the road, I limited myself to following another sprinter, though.
Willems made it! Our plan worked out perfectly and I, too, raised my arms in joy! I came in third, as icing on the cake!
This is what I love. The race turned hard with the weather conditions and in the end, the entire peloton got blown to pieces. I'm very happy to a victory in my first race as a team leader. I might not have won myself, or wasn't the fastest of the remainder of the peloton, but I made the right call by sending a team mate up the road, and he finished it off.
My third place also shows my form is still high. We have the Flanders' Classics coming up and I'm very keen to show myself. Lotto has shown its confidence in me today. Things are going very well!
Perfectly executed race for the team aaaaaaaaannnnnnd *checks banana-meter reading* it merits
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Thanks for the comments, guys!
I'd really like to continue this, but the game is giving me some obstacles, for example refusing to save my settings in the memory, or the inability to go in the breakaway of the day...
I've done some tests regarding gameplay with PCM 11, 12 and 13 and actually PCM 13 is giving me the best gameplay at the moment.
So I'm not sure what this means for the future of Flamme Rouge. If I could transfer it to PCM 13, that would be perfect, but that's not possible unfortunately for obvious reasons.
If you want 13 and believe it will get you optimal performance and enjoyment then I would transfer. Will follow whatever you do!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Up to you Ian. Maybe you could start a new season on 13 and just have like a flashback at the start and put in the races you have done and then start from whatever his next race is..if that makes sense,
Well, that idea had popped in my head, too. But the problem there is that it would be 2013 suddenly That's a 1 year difference.
I might have a solution, though.
Let me think on it some more.
Okay I have 2 possible solutions. Keep in mind that both of those options will include a slow and irregular pace, though. Lots of things going on both on the site but also in real life (moving soon, school, work...) so there may be weeks without an update. However, I hope to make it a long-term project for the future.
So here are the two options, I'd love to hear your opinion on them as I really like both ideas and have a hard time choosing:
1. Transfer this to PCM 13: quickly move through this season on the pretext that both Stijn & Willy have a hard time finding time to blog properly. Highlighting their season ups and downs and then start again with a new career on PCM 13 in 2013, which would be their 2nd season in the story.
2. An entire new thing. I've had this idea for a while now, but not 100% sure on it so I'd ask it here. A sort of story with a new Bernard Hinault. A (probably) French rider, very gifted, active on multiple fronts, both in the mountains, time trial and also the (hilly) classics. A bit like Valverde but also possible to win the Giro/Tour or something.
Let me know what you think of both ideas. PCM 13 makes for the best gameplay, though it's a bit slower than 11. There are positives and negatives on both games but at the moment 11 proves a bit of a dealbreaker with some annoying things (like the memory thing...). 13 would move a bit slower but makes for more interesting 3D racing.
I'm fine with either, personally I'd like to see this story fulfilled rather than a new one when we had only just started.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
That's a 1 year difference.
