Short announcement regarding recent lack of activity and season remainder:
Due to recurring AI issues and a quickly increasing number of unrealistic developments for various riders wrecking the gameplay, I've decided to do some changes to get to the end of the season as quickly as possible.
Therefore, I've taken us out of a couple of races we were originally scheduled to participate in - for example the Vuelta. Instead, I'll write up a short summary of our final races, plus a recap from the Vuelta in the same layout as the two earlier GTs.
I know that this is a bit disappointing and perhaps not an optimal way to proceed, but I just don't see any point in spending time reporting from races where the AI completely screwed up and caused unrealistic results.
And there's good news as well. I've renewed my contract as manager of the team for another year, meaning that we'll be back for a 3rd season when PCM13 is out.
But before then, the final few reports from this season!
I thought the "We'll be back for a 3rd season when PCM13 is out" made that obvious, Ian!
But yeah, I'll be continuing with PCM13.
Vuelta a España
Like so many times before, the season's third and last Grand Tour was all about who was still fresh at the end of the year. Four riders excelled particularly, all thanks to entering the race with a relatively light number of race days.
In all fairness, the startlist was relatively weak - despite the presence of 2008 winner and Tour runner-up Alberto Contador. The Spaniard was never even in contention here however, clearly tired from a heavy racing schedule. He eventually ended up in 9th place, his worst result in a GT since 2006.
Instead, it was 2011 world time trial champion Tony Martin who seized the red leader's jersey on the 26 km opening time trial. The German spent the first 8 days of the race in the lead, and more impressively showcased a new level of climbing that took him as far as a 4th place in the overall.
Just 48 seconds ahead was the final spot on the podium, which went to Haimar Zubeldia. An unexpected result for the veteran Spaniard, who also won the race's three hardest mountain stages. Definitely a surprise to see him back on a level not seen since his Euskaltel days.
26 seconds further up the final overall ranking, but still almost three minutes behind the dominant winner, we find Damiano Cunego. The Italian has had a relatively quiet season, but really comes out of top with this Vuelta along with 6th at the Tour. Perhaps he can still win another GT?
Finally, the winner. *drumroll*
Spoiler
Carlos Betancur!
The Colombian wins a GT in his first year on Worldtour level. He dominated the mid week and pulled big time out of his rivals on various occasions. Not even a quite hefty fallback in the final week could stop him. The fact that he also takes the points, KoM and U25 classifications tells you a bit about the domination!
I didn't find the results that surprising, tbh. Weak field + overtired Contador was always going to give other riders a chance.
Also, all riders in the top 5 have more than 77 MO. Piedra was more surprising, but that's what few race days + top form + nationality bonus does.
World Time Trial Championships
Clearly still carrying the form that took him to a surprising 4th overall in the recent Vuelta, Tony Martin stormed through the TT in Florence to take the gold medal for a second time in his career.
Before the race, the media talked about the usual battle between Martin and his main rival Fabian Cancellara, but the Swiss rider looked out of form and almost got caught on the climb up to Fiesole. Nothing more than an anonymous 6th place for him, whereas Bradley Wiggins did even worse in 20th.
Their lack of form led to a number of unexpected names snatching big results. Most notable revelation was USA's Lawson Craddock, who led the race all the way until last starter Martin arrived at the finish. Admittedly far away from the gold medal, but surely more than the youngster had even dreamed of.
The bronze medal also went to an unexpected name, and a rider I think you know quite well by now - Yoann Paillot!
Despite the fact that he has done well in various time trials during the past two seasons and finishing 15th in Valkenburg a year ago, this came as a shock even to me. Gives us a good idea of his competitiveness also on the big stage, if we were to receive a WT license for 2014.
1
Tony Martin
Germany
1h06'30
2
Lawson Craddock
USA
+ 32
3
Yoann Paillot
France
+ 36
4
Anton Vorobyev
Russia
+ 51
5
Mattia Cattaneo
Italy
+ 1'07
6
Fabian Cancellara
Switzerland
+ 1'08
7
Taylor Phinney
USA
+ 1'27
8
Richie Porte
Australia
+ 1'32
9
Jakob Steigmiller
Germany
+ 1'33
10
Peter Velits
Slovakia
+ 1'35
World Road Championships
The road race was just as exciting. Italy were hugely tipped to add another victory to their tally with a team including Nibali (82 HI), Cunego (80), Scarponi (80), Palini (80), Pozzovivo (77), Cominelli (77), Reda (75) and Moser (75).
The many strong cards may have played against them however, as they failed to come out of the race with the wanted victory. Cunego, Scarponi and Pozzovivo all featured in the finale, but all missed the decisive attack and had to settle for silver, bronze and an 8th place, respectively.
The man denying Cunego victory was, once again, Carlos Betancur! One distinct attack around a kilometer from the summit of Fiesole was enough to gap everyone else and roll home to a solo victory on the streets of Florence.
Cunego will thus have to continue trying to take the rainbow jersey he has been so close to so many times. Like Betancur, he reached the finish alone - having destroyed the rest with an amazing attack on Via Salviati.
As already mentioned, the sprint behind went to Scarponi. Zubeldia, Gerrans, Iglinskiy, Jeannesson and Pozzovivo also finished in that group, while Clement was the best from our team - 12th, after helping French captain Jeannesson.
Betancur is certainly having an awesome end to the season. More from him coming up in this recap of our last races.
Tour de l'Ain
After a 2nd place behind Michael Matthews from Evaldas on the opening stage, the race turned from good to amazing for us when Clement jumped his four breakaway companions to win stage 2 solo, gaining 5 minutes on the main field. His GC lead then grew even bigger when we Yoann led us to a a 2nd win in a row on stage 3's team time trial.
The mountains followed, and so began our attempts to defend the jersey. Clement finished with the lead group on stage 4 and thus only lost some bonus seconds, but really struggled on the mountain top finish in Septmoncel - coming home in 10th, almost three minutes back on stage winner Alexandre Geniez.
Basically the same scenario played out again on the final stage, to our dismay. Geniez went ballistic on Col du Menthières and tore the peloton to pieces, while escaping together with Guillaume Levarlet (Cofidis). Clement battled hard further back, but eventually conceded over two minutes and the overall victory to Geniez. By the slim margin of 16 seconds!
Maintaining the good form built in Ain, Gatis made a late jump on the relatively flat first stage to win the stage a few meters ahead of the sprinters. Evaldas finished 7th, which he then improved to 5th on stage 2.
Onto the chaotic final stage, where the sprinter teams struggled to organize the finish. This opened the opportunity for attacks, which Clement quickly grabbed and jumped away to win the stage and take the overall as revenge for losing Ain. Even a 1-2 for us, as Gatis held thanks to some bonus seconds.
Coming straight from Florence and the worlds, Carlos Betancur showcased his rainbow jersey in the best possible way by winning his first race wearing it, having dumped everyone else on the slopes of Colle di Superga.
Clement put up a brave fight, but couldn't quite handle the long, steep climb. 8th place is still a respectable result, and better than i.e. Sagan.
1
Carlos Betancur
AG2R La Mondiale
4h36'50
2
Cristian Cominelli
Team Idea
+ 11
3
Franco Pellizotti
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
s.t.
4
Jonathan Hivert
Team Sojasun
+ 31
5
Mattia Cattaneo
Lampre - Merida
+ 58
Giro del Piemonte
Not much changed the next day, and the next Italian classic. Betancur put in another monster attack on the late climb to Favaro and extended his advantage to almost a minute in the descent down to Biella.
Some of those who tried to follow the Colombian's attack came home for place two through four, with Matti Breschel (Saxo) topping Evaldas in the sprint from the peloton for 5th place.
1
Carlos Betancur
AG2R La Mondiale
4h34'09
2
Jan Barta
Team NetApp - Endura
+ 54
3
Oscar Gatto
Vini Fantini - Selle Italia
s.t.
4
Sylvain Chavanel
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
+ 1'38
5
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
+ 2'16
And with that, our season has come to an end. Still to come is a summary of the whole season, with rankings and results from the biggest races.
Will you continue this with the new game, then?
Vuelta a España
Mark Cavendish
Nick Nuyens
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Fabian Cancellara
Ryder Hesjedal
Przemyslaw Niemiec
