14 DAY TRIAL // Le Havre is the final destination for this stage of Le Tour de France, which starts at Abbeville and runs for more than 191 kilometers, and the final is designed to a variation on the classic sprint finale, with an uphill push that will favor those riders that can deal with an incline while also putting in a solid acceleration.
The winds can also play a role, as the course hugs the French coast and moves through some exposed areas, and this is one of the places in the race where a committed team can put in a lot of effort in order to break the peloton and put someone in prime position for victory.
The combination of factors makes the stage relatively hard to simulate in an interesting way in Pro Cycling Manager 2015, where crosswinds rarely have an impact and very short climbs at the finish usually pose no problems to the truest of sprinters.
I plan to take it easy and to only focus on keeping the Yellow Jersey, as it seems that I have no chance to deliver my sprinter to the front when I need to.
Prediction: Kristoff will probably take the PCM 2015 win again while in the real world it seems that Greipel is the strongest of the riders.
Yesterday the German managed to put in a very impressive sprint to take the stage.
PCM 2015 allows solid teams to take one twos on sprint stages
The stage is notable because a group of no less than 18 riders tries to get away at the start, but it quickly chased down, just as it would have been in the real world.
Then the action proceeds relatively predictably, with a bunch sprint at the end that results in a rather unusual result: Bora-Alpecin manages to take both first and second with Mezgec and Degenkolb, something that almost never happens in an actual grand tour.
I have achieved my own aim, but I am still frustrated that I seem to have no chance to get my sprinter in a good position at the end, mainly because he loses too much energy before the crucial final ten kilometers.
Timing is very important for creating a solid sprint in PCM 2015, and it takes practice and good riders to deliver results on a constant basis.
Take a look at a video of the final kilometers of stage six:
