14 DAY TRIAL // Many observers say that cycling is one of the toughest sports on the planet, especially for those who are capable enough to ride one of the three week Grand Tours, which include Le Tour in France, Il Giro in Italy and La Vuelta in Spain.
No one can race in competitive manner for three weeks without breaks and organizers tend to reserve the second and third Monday for rest days.
In the real world, cyclists do not stay off their bikes when they are supposed to rest, but rather try to do a number of things at the same time.
They ride for a few hours to stay in shape and they also do some reconnaissance work for the coming stages.
The leaders of each team also do press appearances and they are also meeting both officials and normal citizens from the cities where their hotels are located.
Finally, strategy sessions can take a little longer during rest days and the directors of the teams explain how the coming week will be approached.
Unfortunately, Pro Cycling Manager 2013 does not simulate any of these activities and rest days are just skipped over in rather unceremonious fashion.
I would love to be able to psyche up my riders for the coming stages or work with one of them in order to improve one of his attributes for a short while.
But given the choices of the Cyanide team, all I can do while real-world riders rest is evaluate my own performance during the first week, which is a little bit disappointing.
I do plan to use tactics similar to those of stage 9 every time I can in order to become a threat for the Yellow jersey once more, but I must admit that my chances are slim and that another bad day could shatter them altogether.