14 DAY TRIAL // This is the weirdest profile for any stage in the 2015 edition of the Tour de France, and I honestly don't know exactly how to approach it, given the position of my riders and the fact that a huge mountain sits right in the middle of the course, but it will likely have a limited impact on the racing.
Teams that do not yet have a victory, in the real world and in Pro Cycling Manager 2015, will clearly try to create a breakaway and then get to the line without getting caught.
Or they might shut down other moves and try to launch an attack on the Col du Glandon.
Teams that have positions to defend need to decide which moves are threatening and to generate a reaction and which ones can be allowed to move up the road without any kind of opposition.
I will play the opportunist and will seek a chance to gain time or to add another stage victory to my list.
Prediction: Geschke won from a breakaway yesterday, but today will clearly be a day for the most powerful riders to attack the Yellow Jersey wearers, which means Froome in the real world and Quintana in the video game.
PCM 2015 delivers all the drama associated with cycling
I really thought I could do better than third, thinking that I had enough solid riders to protect my leader until the final small climb, where I could implement a quick burst of speed in order to secure a victory.
But once again, I found myself alone on a long descent and unable to keep up with the favorites, who had teammates with them who helped them work to increase the speed of the group.
Arredondo seems to be unable to deliver any kind of solid performance, and Mollema also fails to get solid daily form, which means that Nibali and Rodriguez again managed to deliver a burst of speed that I failed to counter as quickly as I should have.
With two big stages remaining, I seem to be destined to end the Tour de France just outside the top five, and I now have a ten-minute delay to the Yellow Jersey.
This is the simulation of the stage, created in PCM 2015:
