14 DAY TRIAL // Traditionally the Tour de France started with a prologue, which is defined as a relatively short time trial that takes place mostly in an urban setting, designed to allow the crowds to take a look at the contenders and to establish an initial order for the top contenders.
For this year's edition, the organizers at ASO are keeping the trend of starting in a foreign city but they are offering a full stage for the first day, taking place in Utrecht.
Riders from all teams will have to get through a 13.8 kilometer long time trial that takes place mostly through the streets and, because of wide turns and flat elevation, it will be a battle between the biggest engines of the peloton, the men who can deliver top speeds for longer periods of time.
For Trek Factory Racing that means Fabian Cancellara is the best chance at a win, which in turn would mean that the organization can lay claim to the Yellow Jersey for about the first week, a solid performance in itself.
In the real world, the star time trialist known as Spartacus was affected by health issues and might not deliver his best performance.
Prediction: Martin will win the simulated stage and the one in the real world.
The race against the clock is a hard one
Pro Cycling Manager 2015 delivers a solid simulation of time trial stages, and players will have to carefully pace their riders to get the best possible result.
As in the real world it pays to have a teammate ride the stage in order to transmit data about the course, with no focus on his own time, so that the team leader can known where to apply his energy for the best results.
I used Jungels to try and calibrate the rest of my team for the challenge but my leader Mollema simply lacks skill for this kind of events (he is more of a mountain man) while Cancellara simply failed to deliver as much power as some of his rivals, ending up in fourth place.
Tony Martin from Etyxx- Quick Step leads the Tour de France, and only positive surprise is that Fabio Felline rode better than expected to claim seventh place overall.
Take a look at how the action unfolded in the video below:
