14 DAY TRIAL // The first stage of the 2012 Tour de France that conforms to a dreams of the mainstream sprinter is this one and my favorite team, Radioshack Nissan Trek, has no realistic chance of winning it in the real world or in my simulated Gamer Diary.
The stage is 196 kilometers and has no actual categorized climbs and there seems to be no actual hilly section to allow a breakaway to keep ahead.
As long as the stats of the riders and the daily form are the same, the real world and the Pro Cycling Manager 2012 results for this stage should be fairly similar and modding teams often use similar stages to test their own work and the abilities of the game.
This is the stage that tends to bore non-cycling lovers to death in the real world, but this is a very good chance to take a look at the mechanics of a team and the way it tackles such small but important things like protecting their leaders from the wind of the preparation of the sprint train.
All this might seem unimportant to the casual observers, but in cycling the strength of one rider, even a superb one, can only get you so far and team work and solid tactics are required in order to constantly produce victories or solid placing.
After playing the stage I have little to add, it was an eventless affair with 4 riders going away but really having to chance to get to the end on their own.
Lampre, for their old but reliable Petacchi, and Sky, for Cavendish, but victory went to Oscar Freire, who lately has been lacking such wins in the real world.
My pick for stage win is once again Greipel.
A better understanding of some PCM 2012 can be obtained from the video of Stage 5:
