Nibali is the winner of the real world cycling competition

Jul 28, 2014 14:42 GMT  ·  By

The 2014 edition of Le Tour de France ended yesterday and I am already missing both the actual real world racing, with its excitement and twists, and the virtual version of the Grand Tour that I have created using Pro Cycling Manager 2014.

I am a fan of Trek Factory Racing, although teams tend to change composition and names quite quickly in cycling and they rarely exist for long enough to establish solid supporter bases, and I am happy to report that my favorites have managed to perform pretty well in the virtual competition.

I managed to take the Yellow Jersey early on with Fabian Cancellara, the Swiss rider who specializes in both classics and time trials, with a wonderful attack in the final moments of the stage that featured cobbled sections.

During the following day I also managed to protect the Maillot Jaune, and my team’s leader, Franck Schleck, managed to put in a strong later attack in order to get a prestigious stage win in the biggest cycling race in the world.

My biggest disappointment is that Cancellara was unable to win the only time trial included, on the penultimate day, and that I was not a force to be reckoned with during breakaways, when I could have tried to collect more mountain points.

My biggest mistake in the Pro Cycling Manager 2014 version of Le Tour de France was to work my riders a little too hard during the first week of racing, especially in sprints where I stood little chance at scoring a victory, which meant that I had less energy than I should have had in the crucial final week.

In the real world, this year’s edition of the biggest cycling race was dominated by Nibali, the Italian rider from the Astana team, who managed to finish with an advantage of more than 7 minutes over Peraud and Pinot, his closest rivals.

The margin is pretty huge, but his task was made easier by the fact that main rivals Froome and Contador were out after serious crashes and by the implosion of the Sky team, which regrouped around Richie Porte but failed to mount a serious challenge.

As always, the real world race is more unpredictable and spectacular than the one re-created using PCM 2014, but cycling fans should get the game in order to create their own stories about Le Tour de France and their favorite riders.