This is episode 18 of the San Marino challenge (aka build a nation) with Iceland in the Pro Cycling Manager 2025 game. It is a passion project so likes, comments and subscribes are greatly appreciated but definitely not mandatory.
Link to training improvement data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nZ68CtmOStISgrAJbDH0AEJGTtzEZZ_jvAQE7ibFZxc/edit?usp=sharing
Link to the episode playlist:
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Welcome back to Pro Cycling Manager. We are still in Deva Espña and we are going to try to finish this race today. I’m not sure how many of the races I will show you, probably only the ones in which we do well. I think I’m going to try to continue attacking with Brumson to get a good result in the final standings to get even more points. And then also with the others, I’m still going to try to win a race because what we’ve seen last time, if you win a race in the Valta Espña, there’s a small chance that you will get a popularity increase to six, which is one below the highest we can get. Only a win in the tour of to France can get it to seven. So without further ado, let’s get into it. Let’s start racing. Right, we started the race here. She’s going to be a sprint race. Even though I did put Johnson in the front, I’m going to probably dropping back to our other team members because the other teams are going to ride. Bit of a rest day for our team except of course for the finish where we’ll try to win with either Arnason or I think Sigu sorry Jesus. Okay, it does seem like Arnason has the better day. So, let’s try to win with him today. The finish is kind of uphill. So, it really depends on how our team does at the end there. It’s quite a wide road, so I doubt that we make a chance to be honest. Now, I don’t think we need to focus on Brumson anymore for the points to make sure that he’s in the top 50. I I’m pretty sure we already made sure we got those. So, what I’m going to do, I’m just going to try to focus on uh getting good results in the sprints here. And so I’m going to use Braamson in the preparation of that sprint in the sprint train just using his flat stat basically. So just the top 10. We tried to get our train in front but due to the small uphill at the end we timed it wrongly. Still with this we get some point that leads then and again a top 10. Not at all bad. There’s a lot of teams that are happy with that. Definitely with our kind of star power. We shouldn’t be annoyed by that. We’ve had already a very good VALA Espña. So, a few of these less good results are not too bad at all. Definitely if you compare who we are fighting. Okay, next race. I forgot to record this one. Uh, rookie mistake, but if you look at the result, holy [ __ ] this was a hard one. We didn’t go for the attack. We just waited. But they went so fast through this bit that by the time we started at the mountain, all of our riders were already half energy. Even though they were at 85, they got protected by the right riders. It’s insane. And we lost a bit of time with Bramson uh here at the end. I let Engulson go since he was still still had some energy left. And while we are still in the red jersey, if this keeps happening, we are going to lose it. Of course, the next stage is basically a copy of this one. So I expect a tough stage for Brmson again. I think it’s that medium mountain stat here that [ __ ] us basically. So stage 10 is a tough one. Stage 11 on the other hand, we might have a chance to get a result there. All our riders are in a fitness peak right now. So that’s amazing for us. It does seem like Brumson is having some freshness troubles. It’s not going to go away very quickly, unfortunately. So, we might be well, for that first place, we’re definitely [ __ ] but we might lose some more spots. Engulson, on the other hand, is feeling excellent. Uh, so let’s try to race and see where we end up today. Another mountain stage. The attack is not going to get us anywhere, so we’ll just have to hold on once more. And I’m very afraid that it might be one of our last days in red. So yeah, not the perfect day today once more. There’s these kind of finishes is just super tough for us. We’re not not very good at it, it seems. But a top 20 with some smart management of energy was possible. Unfortunately, only 37 seconds left on the second one. And uh in the young riders, we’re doing okay. So maybe we can save that one cuz he here is the other one that’s fighting for the young rider GC. So yeah, not not perfect, but we’re definitely still in contention for that. The other ones are going to be quite a bit harder. I’m afraid that this is probably a lost cause, but I’m definitely fighting to keep two of our riders in the top 20. Okay, let’s go for the next race. Okay. Uh this one then unfortunately our sprinter Arnoldson who does have a decent hill stat due to his pace that I said was uh like not following the pelaton anymore at this kind of hill which is a bit unfortunate because I think with him we could have won or at least done very well and uh yeah that resulted in Engulson having to sprint with 58 8 sprint set. I mean, obviously all of these guys have a better sprint set. They all passed him quite easily at the end. Did a perfect lead out with Brumson. We focused on trying to get that win, not necessarily, you know, getting point for Brson anymore. Since we were in the first group, I knew we couldn’t win with him anyway. So, we’re still in the lead. Brason still in the lead of the green jersey as well. And we managed to get rid of Cozy. So, we have a one two for the white jersey at the moment, which is definitely a good sign. If Brson starts to decline due to his fitness, we still have Englesson there to uh finish the job for the white jersey. Not that it matters too much regarding money or anything or or points, but it’s just nice thing to do to get a distinctive jersey in a grand tour. Okay, the next race, the 12th one. We do have a chance here. It’s not impossible to win this one, but only our sprinters can get over the top with us over this one. So, let’s uh see what we can do. All right, last hill here. Let’s hope we can get over it with uh Arnason here as well. That would be just super awesome. Uh but it’s going to be hard definitely. Uh let’s actually make Christianson protect Arnason here so we are sure he will make it over the hill. Uh, right now he’s dropping. If we can get him over the hill, it can really be nice for our result here. There we are. Perfect. We are going to do it like this. Ramson at the front and then Arnoson right behind them. Uh let’s make sure they all have their energy gel and let’s go full gas with Brumson now with the downhill coming up here. sprinting with Engulson and then Arnason is set free now. But it’s going to be a second place, I believe. Damn it. Second place still very good for our team. Just unfortunate that the other team had a bigger train uh left over. Uh but that’s why I really try to keep Arnason to the front. As you can see, the others didn’t come close to winning. Arnason did and definitely a very good result for him. We are still in the lead even though it’s definitely dwindling. Engulson actually uh gained a spot here. There’s some of them that fell out of the top 20. Uh but a good result for our little team. We did get some points it seems, not too much, but we increase our lead just a little bit and Arnason is coming close as well. So, very happy with that. Ah, okay. This was a very tough one. We really tried our best. Maybe going into the attack with Ingles was not the best idea. Both Brahmsson and Inglesson lost time on the competitors. On the other hand, since we’re not in the front anymore, we can go for the attack on the next stages as well and maybe try to secure the points jersey if we can. And definitely what we have to try to secure is here the young riders jersey. This was a really hard race. So, yeah, it’s a bit unfortunate, but it is what it is. We knew this was coming. Since we’re not doing well anymore in the GC, I am just going to go for the attack really is the only option we have. Maybe get some points here and there and then who knows if they let us go, we might win. So attacking is now the only option. So it’s definitely what we’re going to do. Forgot to start record again. Not the greatest race condition, but we got Brahmsson in the attack even though we’re not getting a lot of time. So I’m not sure if I will maybe draw back after we’ve passed the sprint here. It’s something to consider to make sure that um he actually doesn’t lose too much energy. Okay, the sprint is coming up. Let’s make sure we’re in the front for that one. Uh there we go. Let’s go to the front. And yeah, for the climb here, we can go a little bit faster as well, just to make sure that we get the points here. Yes. Now we can sit up again. Perfect. There we go. 35th 40 seconds. Yeah, I don’t think uh even with not attacking Brason would have lost time. I think we did the right thing trying to go for the green jersey. So that’s what I’ll focus on from now on. Yeah. So that’s stage 14. It’s clear that uh right now our team is getting hammered. Our mountain stats are just not good enough. And our flat stats as well. We lose a lot of energy on the flat. So, we don’t even have anything left to go up the mountain. Uh yeah, we probably dropped a bit as well. And Engulson is now actually the lead rider for our team because I think he does have a better flat stat. So, he gets a bit further without losing too much energy. But no. Uh what I’m going to do, I’m going to try to go for the green jersey with Braum by just attacking every single time. Yeah, I I think that’s the most valid strategy right now to try and get that uh green jersey into our hands. There’s two more sprint stages and everything else is mountain or hilly stage. So I think that’s a focus for us because the green jersey actually if we go to scale points classification also gets us a lot of points. So I think that’s a good thing to focus on. Right now we’re around here in the standing. So that’s not going to go any better. Yeah, I think that’s the best thing to do. and of course try to get the best places uh in the next stages. Okay, let’s go. We are going to do stage 15 here. What I’m going to do, I’m going to try to keep Brason in that first spot for the points jersey. So, attacking is the goal. With the others, I’ll just stay behind and try to go for the finish line. All right. So, we got points in between which is very good. Then we dropped back to the pelaton and in the sprint we actually came quite close to winning. Third place is not the worst at all, but in my opinion, not the most important bit here. We got some gain on Jonathan Milan once more. So, definitely a good result there. And let’s just keep that going in the hopes that we can get away here with a jersey. All right, this is the 16th stage of the VULTA and the same tactic. Uh again, just attack with Brson in the hopes of getting points for the points jersey and apart from that we just try to follow the best we can. So yeah, not the best day today. Basically what happened is on the ste bit here close to the end we got as the entire team got dropped uh the pace was just super high and we tried to get back on the downhill here the best we could but in total our first rider lost 8 minutes and yeah so we lost some spots once more. The only thing that went kind of well is we got again some points for Brahmsson here who went into the attack. I dropped him back because we only at the time had like 1 minute and a half on the palaton. And of course, as soon as I dropped back, they let the attackers go. So maybe I could have done better with Brumson here, but in the end, I don’t think it matters much, at least for our for our general classifications. It’s not that we could jump back in top 10 or anything. So anyway, let’s go to the next one. Okay, we are at number 17, I think, and I got in the attack again with Brumson. And as you can see down here, 9 minutes 30 with only 90 kilometers to go. I’m saying only 90. But in general, if this happens, they don’t catch us back. Of course, here at the end, we will have to survive this to make a chance. If I check out the other riders in this group, basically, there’s a bunch of them that are good, good climbers, definitely. So, getting a win will be tough, but we’re going to try our best to at least hold on as long as we can and make sure we get those points down here. If we get over the hill, we have to do it on our own pace. Although, maybe we could make sure that we push on a bit just to stay there. I don’t know if that was the best idea, but considering that our energy is almost done there. Maybe it is rather impossible to keep following them. So, yeah, that’s it for us. Unfortunate, but it is what it is. Yeah. Okay, 15th place. Not too shabby for our little team here. Anyone else is basically [ __ ] And as you can see, as you did see, the first ones in the group of favorites also got [ __ ] there. So, no worries. We did get points once more. So yeah, on this stage, uh, they let us go, but I couldn’t hold on in the first group. They were just too strong. I mean, the riders who were in the attack with us clearly have very good climbing stats. Yeah. And then also right at the end, some of the people that are in top position actually pauses. But once more, we got a lot of points this time. So, we’re concluding this race with hopefully Brahmsson doing very well. I’m just going to assim that time trial doesn’t really matter for us anymore and then going to do the last three races. This is stage 19 and once more I’m going to try to attack with Brumson here and the others can stay. There we go. We get the points and then we sit down again. People do not want to relay anymore, which of course makes total sense. I am the same. Uh, but I’m expecting an attack. There we go. And nobody is joining. So maybe Zimmer follow Zimmerman here. in an attempt to get back to the front. Let’s calm down again. Yeah, I’m not going to be able to follow that. We will just have to React as we go. Ah, maybe that was not the brightest ID. They are now gone with some some of them. Ah, that’s unfortunate. It’s always gambling a bit. And this means that the victory has gone away for us. But again, we want to go for just a decent result here to get some more points on Milan. So in theory we already succeeded actually more than anything. And there we go with the sprint which I couldn’t win. Ninth place. Not the worst but not the best either. We got our points definitely. We look at the stage today and we are now almost 100 points ahead. I am hoping this will be enough. This was 19. So there’s still 20 20 40 and then 70. So 100 something points to go. which means the only thing we to do we have to do is go ahead tomorrow and make sure we get some results. Uh when it come to the sprint because of the fact that I got into attack with Brumson, we did skip some of the competition which is definitely nice up into 17th. We’ll see if we can hold on to that tomorrow. The fitness peaks are basically done. So we are not even going to try to get that good result anymore. But just hold on to what we have is the most important part right now. There we go. I think we have the entire thing secured now. Let’s count at the end of the race. But just finishing should be enough for our team to get that green jersey and more importantly the points that come along with it. It’s 125 if I’m correct. The most we could got I feel like out of this VA in the end we couldn’t hold on to our position here. It’s all our team is just super exhausted and against this level of AI, we again dropped some. So hopefully it’s not too much different between a top 20 place and a top 25 place. Let’s check out how many points we got later. But I think we did end up during our final result in the points classification. We now have a 150 point advantage. And in the last one, you can only get 70 points. So, we do win the green jersey, which is awesome. And it’s to be honest more than we could hope for. We got the green jersey and we got some victories as well in the beginning. The only thing that rests us now is finish the Vela, the last stage, uh, which will be a sprint stage. So, let’s try to get a result there. We’ll probably won’t win, but you never know. So, we’re not going to go into the attack anymore, but Sigorson here does have the chance to get a good result by sprinting for us here at the end. Let’s just make sure we do the right thing here. Six and a half. Let’s go full 99 and then make sure that all of them have their shell. Come on, Christian. So, try to get to the front. He’s done for 4.6 to go. I don’t know why we are trying to go back here. Yeah, we might have [ __ ] up. No, no, no, no. This is not it. Oh, well, we tried our best once more. Hoy wins the last stage. We got a 12 position. Not the worst. Uh but we did win the points classification in a grand tour. As said here, we got a good position in the final results concerning our actual stats. So that’s not bad at all and a good result in the youth sending as well. And when it comes to team actually not doing that bad. So, I am happy for our team. The only thing we have to watch out now is what that gets us. Oh, and we also got a popularity increase. I just saw it now. So, let’s stop the simulation there and check how much it is. Price money. Not that of fitness peak media. We are now at five points. So, we increased by one point again. I assume that if you get a jersey, not the the final one, but maybe green jersey for example, we can get an increase to five. So the only thing that get get us up to a six now is a win in the Vela Espña or the Jirro or a win in the tour to France. So we are very happy that we did this year. We got our popularity up from three to a five, which means that for the next year’s on, we won’t have trouble finding any talent in Iceland anymore. So, I’m super happy at that. We can only increase it by two in comparison anymore. And with that comes also uh the frame for next year. I always want to do an R&D. So maybe Canondale is an option here and Kago as well. just renewal. Maybe check if there’s another or canyon. Let’s try Canyon. Let’s try Canyon once again. Canyon. There we go. Let’s sign with them. And we jumped up to 24th place in the ranking. I don’t think that’s going to be enough to get to the world tour, unfortunately. Uh let’s see. No, I assume we need like a top 17 or something or top 18 something like that. So, we would need like,500 points more. That’s not going to happen this year, but I’m already very happy that we could get on to the world tour stage. So, let’s see what that will get us. And also actually I’m going to check the classifications here. A 19th position for Brahmsson. And even our other riders are getting close at top 50. Just one grand tour can do so much for our team. So definitely going to keep an eye on that. I hope next year we’ll get invited to that as well. When it comes to Iceland 10, also got into 16. So definitely should update that uh country ranking here. Maybe we can get more of our riders into the worlds. A bigger team also means more opportunity to protect our better riders so they can get into the final. And that means we only have a few races to go. The world time trial I’m going to simulate, but then the world championships here I’m going to ride. and also the euros. If you don’t see me back, that means we didn’t do terribly well. If you do, we might be in for a big surprise. Okay, not too bad, but also not the best result either. Brason got into 23rd with the sprint. The other ones of our team did finish in the front group, but they were all out of energy, unfortunately. at 23rd. I think it get us some points but not a lot. Uh so let’s look at the rules here again. Uh World Championships 23rd 30 points not nothing but in comparison to what we got at the VA definitely I mean we’ve got a lot more there. So, let’s get to the final race of this episode, which is the European Championships. I’m going to skip the tour deankawi. Um, we’re not going to get enough points to get into the world tour, so I’m going to leave it at that. So, we got 39th and a 40th place. It was an extremely hard race. All of our riders are just done for. I think it’s more or less the most we could have gotten out of it to be honest. Both of our riders were completely empty at the top of the last hill. So, just trying to follow the other teams. They let them do the work for us and then try to sprint. That’s the best we could have done. And as you can see, we’re still 9 minutes behind the winner, which is surprise surprise with those stats. TAD Pogach. Okay, that settles it. This time we’re again Continental Pro, so hopefully we will get again invites next year. Our team should be better every season. And now we have three new riders with I’m not going to say the best chance of getting decent rating, but at least they will improve quite quickly hopefully. Our team is not too big for the same reasons as last time. We don’t need that much riders if we’re not getting a lot of invites. One thing some of you suggested is that we get rid of Largebuck because he’s only international and we get legendary potential. Hopefully that can let our riders improve a bit quicker. That’s definitely what I’m going to do. So, I’m going to fire him now. He doesn’t have a long time to go anymore. But since our new rider is coming, I would like to switch our focus a bit. So, let’s get rid of Larbach and hire a groundbreaking legendary trainer. Let’s see who we can get that would make sense for our team. There’s no Nordic kind of trainer, so let’s go with Kazak trainer maybe or a Ukrainian one. Let’s go with Papovic and then we can assign him to our team. Let’s simulate until the end of December here and then save because we definitely got enough points to get that improvement in training structures. We are at the 31st of December. So that means we look at the evolution. So, we did get a bit of improvement for Brson here at the end uh to puncher. So, I assume his hill stat or maybe some of his uh secondary stat got improved for that. We are training him on becoming a puncher because he still has some improvement possible there and also a climber but he reached his kind of potential for that. So, it’s a bit unfortunate. And then big news, we have another three and a half star now. Uh mainly for cobbles, we have our uh August sun, which we’re training on Northern Classic going up as well. It didn’t show up here yet, I think, but that’s definitely a good sign for us. Uh we have Siguaron, who did improve his sprint stat here. a pure sprinter but can definitely help us when our other sprinter Arnoson improves as well. He did improve a little bit but weirdly enough not in sprinting even though we’re training him for that but in stage races and in hillstead stat. So probably his hills got up but I would like him to improve in sprint as well. And then engulf son here is not improving a lot anymore lately. So hopefully it will happen later. Then Christianson his did improve actually because I remember him not having a green stat but it didn’t show up here either yet. And then our other riders were not going to improve much. And the new ones that are here as well. Not that big of an improvement compared to last year, but who knows uh what they can do later. Anyway, I think this is decent what’s going on now. Uh but let’s see what we’ll do next. What I’m going to do now is of course simulate our uh improvement here because we did get a top 50 and that’s what we needed. We got even a 17 position. So hopefully the simulation goes quicker. As we can see, we have got a popularity of five, which is close to the teams that are close to us. So that’s nice. But we will also uh get a five in training structure. So we’ll be a five country starting from one. So definitely good there. So the only thing that rests me is to say thank you very much for watching. This is a passion project for me. So like, subscribe, all that stuff. I hope you enjoyed. See you next
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