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Time to Say Goodbye
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| Roman |
Posted on 20-06-2025 20:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4421
Joined: 29-05-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Time to Say Goodbye
I’ve been thinking about stepping away from the Man-Game for some time now – and I believe this is the right moment. I still have a lot of respect and affection for MG, but I’ve reached a point where the desire to continue just isn’t there anymore. Sometimes, even with things you really enjoy, it’s healthy to take a break – or to let go altogether.
Man-Game has been with me for 15 seasons – a surprisingly long stretch of time. Even though I haven’t been very active in recent years, this game still gave me something meaningful to hold on to. My personal life also meant I didn’t always have the time to post or reply as much as I’d have liked – though I’ve always kept an eye on what was going on. Especially during some of the harder moments in my personal life, MG helped me get through it.
I’ll be honest – my team’s relegation was deserved – a clear reflection of how my motivation had faded in recent years. It wasn’t the results that made me lose interest – it’s the other way around. For the last few years, my main goal was to finally win a Grand Tour – and once that was achieved, I felt like my story was complete.
Looking back, I’m proud of what my team has achieved. We’ve won almost everything there was to win – all five Monuments, the World Championships, several major stage races, countless classics, and finally, in our last season, the biggest prize of all: the Tour de France. Giro, Vuelta, and the overall title slipped away – but you can’t have it all. From a results perspective, it’s hard to leave feeling anything but satisfied. 
The heart of the experience, though, was always the riders. Some names will stay with me for years: Merhawi Kudus, Peter Sagan, Sam Bewley – legends in this game, and in my team. But also so many others I enjoyed managing: Sergio Luis Henao Montoya, Jerome Coppel, Leigh Howard, Peter Velits, Warren Barguil, Jan Hirt… and those who were with me briefly, but whom I truly appreciated – Simone Ponzi, Fernando Gaviria, Thor Hushovd. Even the unsung heroes – domestiques like Zdeněk Štybar, Michael Boroš, and Josef Hošek – deserve a mention.
And these are just a few names out of many. I bet some lesser-known real riders would be amused to know they became legends in an internet game. 
Beyond the team, it’s been an honour to be part of the community – not just as a manager, but also by trying to contribute. I only wrote a few race reports, but I tried to help make the game better in small ways.
A special shout-out to the few who’ve been around just as long or longer than I have: SportingNonsense, Gustavovskiy, alexkr00, Bushwackers, and SotD – it’s crazy to see shared passion for something unique like Man-Game after all these years.
Huge thanks to all the reporters and organizers behind the scenes. Special thanks as well to Roturn and SN for keeping the MG running. And of course, I want to mention some of you who I played with for so long – ember, beagle, knockout, jph27, cio93, TheManxMissile… and I’m sure I’m forgetting others, especially newer guys!  Hope you guys will have fun for many more years.
Good luck, have fun, and may your spreadsheets always balance – especially at the end of transfers.
– Roman
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 20-06-2025 20:52
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3024
Joined: 07-08-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Incredibly sad to see you go Roman, would have loved to see you tackle the PCT madness!
Thank you so much for your contributions and negotations over the years, you will be welcomed back with open arms at any point if you wish so
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 20-06-2025 21:02
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16682
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 11838.70
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Very sad to see you go Roman! You were always a great manager to chat with during transfers, and your team had such a strong identity through the years. Personally, I'll always associate Moser/Becherkova with Sam Bewley. The greatest to ever do it, year in and year out. But now both he and his team are gone.
Wish you the best in the future, and please stop by from time to time!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| ivaneurope |
Posted on 20-06-2025 21:05
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3058
Joined: 09-05-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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It sucks to see a longtime manager leaving. We've had some good transfer relations as I've been loning in riders like Schlegel, Toupalik, Kukrle and Otruba between 2018 and 2020.
Thank you very much for your contributions within the MGUCI family.
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| SotD |
Posted on 20-06-2025 21:29
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World Champion
Posts: 12442
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 2980.00
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It has been an absolute honor and joy to play the game with you (I deliberately say with and not against) for so many years. Even when we both kept on fighting for the top spots in the PT (quite some years in a row) it was always a respectful battle, with a lot of long evenings of chatting along the way! In particular I have loves our never ending talks mixed with personal stuff aswell as talent development and training paths, where we enjoyed battling over who could sell for most. I must admit, that despite being quite competent in that regards, you were the better one!
The memories of top riders getting to results for multiple years, and still being able to help eachother out with tips, tricks and tweaks has been among my most enjoyable part of playing this game!
I’m not surprised with you stopping the game, but I still find it very very sad! An era has come to a hault, in the most bizarre fashion, with you relegating - but most importantly ending with FINALLY getting the Tour de France win!
Thanks for all the years mate! I hope to see you back some day!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 20-06-2025 21:31
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9122
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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What a sad way to see you go  I salute your amazing teambuilding and character! You've been a great manager and a great person both in talks concerning the game and outside of it.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 10-07-2025 06:53
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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| knockout |
Posted on 20-06-2025 21:46
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7964
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 500.00
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Thank you for lots of great years as a manager. Always been a pleasure playing with you.
We had quite a few battles whether it was in the rankings or on the cobbles or most recently even in a Grand Tour. And often you came away victorious. The Bewley dominance and being the first manager to claim all five monuments will stay in MG history.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 20-06-2025 23:38
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Team Leader
Posts: 6134
Joined: 20-07-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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A grim prospect to see you go mate. You'll always remain a legend of the game for me with your phenomenal success through the years. It's mindblowing to me that we're contemporary, given how much of a mark youve left in the game's records. Kudos for all that and mostly thanks for all your interest and participation through the years. As they say the streets will never forget. Neither will I. Hope you comeback someday, old fellow!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 21-06-2025 13:03
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World Champion
Posts: 14094
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 400.00
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Really really sad to see you go!
I know you were already consindering this in the past as well so I really hope you don't regret you hanged around long enough to see your team relegate. But winning a GT must have made up for that.
Hopefully we'll see you again in the future as it happened with a few managers that left the game and then came back!
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| ember |
Posted on 21-06-2025 13:12
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Team Leader
Posts: 7072
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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That’s an era coming to an end. Really sad to see you leave the MG universe. It has been a great privilege to get to know you through the MG, and I have appreciated all the chats we have had for several years, both MG related and those not related. You have been a great manager and a great guy to talk to.
All the best for your future and whatever life throws at you. I am sure it will be great |
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| ember |
Posted on 21-06-2025 13:14
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Team Leader
Posts: 7072
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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That’s an era coming to an end. Really sad to see you leave the MG universe. It has been a great privilege to get to know you through the MG, and I have appreciated all the chats we have had for several years, both MG related and those not related. You have been a great manager and a great guy to talk to.
All the best for your future and whatever life throws at you. I am sure it will be great |
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| Heine |
Posted on 21-06-2025 16:26
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4144
Joined: 08-04-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Really sad to see you go, even though I understand and know the feeling. Hopefully your motivation will come back some time in the future
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 22-06-2025 09:28
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2740
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Big loss for the game and community! Legendary team and manager.
Will definitely miss your presence.
Wish you all the best in your personal life and hope you return to us some day.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 22-06-2025 14:00
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Team Leader
Posts: 7370
Joined: 20-03-2010
PCM$: 900.00
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Sad to see you go, will miss our conversations during transfers! All the best for the future, as others have said it would be great to see you back some day. |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 22-06-2025 15:43
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World Champion
Posts: 11475
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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End of what I struggle to even call a 'run' or an 'era' - you didn't just participate in the Man-Game, you were part of its very fabric for over a decade as one of its most important and successful managers. It's hard to imagine the landscape of this game without Moser/Becherovka/whatever you may have named it before which I wouldn't know since I was barely in school when you started 
A great manager and teambuilder, as others who were lucky enough to have fought you for longer than I did have already eulogised. Certainly having the legend Sam Bewley (among others) made you one of my biggest inspirations when I started, and though I can't pretend to have had the close relationship with you some of the other managers got to, our chats were always enjoyable. Starting from you gently rebuffing the Kiwi kid who was asking when Bewley might become available (in my defense, I think I at least waited to first decline to ask ) and moving on to more probable transfer discussions and at least one deal too in our first PCT leader Peter Velits.
Reporting your team was always fun and notable with the successful rosters you put together. My favourite of course being getting to bring Sam Bewley's long-awaited World Championships victory to life, but also remember fondly Barguil's aggression in the 2018 TDF, and an epic Ronde van Vlaanderen loss for Bewley as GVA finally got one over on him in an amazing race. Also not sure where it happened but your jersey always makes me think of Vysna being a beast in a race I reported at some point
All the best for you and your family's future, sad to see you go but already looking forward to seeing you stop by again at some point for a short or long visit! Hope you get to go to the new Everton stadium at some point too
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."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 22-06-2025 18:23
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3018
Joined: 15-07-2007
PCM$: 300.00
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I feel like you have been here forever Roman. I have loved following your Czech-Slovakian-adventure, and also the few times we have crossed paths in the transfer season.
Sad to see you go but your MG-legacy will always be remembered |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 23-06-2025 06:19
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 12226
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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When i joined MG, Festina vs Becherovka was THE fight in the PT and Bewley vs GVA was THE fight in the classics. A lot of me following PT in the first couple of seasons revolved around these two sub plots!
I don't think we've ever had any transfers between our teams but we always spoke at length regarding them and beyond for the past few years. Very sad to see you go but I can only hope to see you back some day once you start missing this again 
All the best in real life
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| hillis91 |
Posted on 23-06-2025 07:19
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Team Leader
Posts: 5946
Joined: 30-11-2006
PCM$: 1700.00
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It's truly sad to hear that Roman is stepping away from the Man-Game after 15 incredible seasons. Your dedication, creativity, and presence have been a big part of what made the game so special for so many of us.
Thank you for everything you've contributed over the years. I wish you all the very best in your personal life and whatever comes next. You’ll be missed!
Take care and good luck on your next journey.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 23-06-2025 13:49
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World Champion
Posts: 14887
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 11400.00
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I can only echo what others already said, you'll be missed!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 23-06-2025 19:02
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2987
Joined: 11-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Sad to see you go, Roman, but a fitting ending to close it out. Thanks for all your effort with your team over the years. Bewley has given me many headaches, but he was of course also a kind of model for Pedersen to go off from, though Bewley was a superstar we'll probably never see again. Thanks again for all!
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