Your riders

Make best use of your riders

It is important to know your riders well so you can establish a consistent strategy depending on each stage.

For flat stages, sprinters have a better chance of achieving a good result (high Sprint and Flat attributes). Thus, you have to preserve your best sprinter for the final sprint. If the finish line is at the top of a climb, it is better to select a puncher to achieve a good result (high Hill attribute). Versatile riders are ideal for breaking away from a group or protecting your leaders. Climbers (high Mountain attribute) have no chance of standing out over a flat stage, so they should be preserved for other stages.

For hill stages, select your best puncher as the focal point of your strategy to win the stage. Other riders with a high Hill attribute may still shine, but risk facing more difficulties against pure punchers, especially if the finish line is on a climb. If you want to send a rider to a morning breakaway, make sure their Hill attribute is not too low, if you want to have a chance of making it to the end. In some cases, if the finish is not at the top of a climb, a sprinter with a high Hill attribute can be quite a valuable wild-card.

For mountain stages, your leader must be your best climber, supported by other climbers or less-strong punchers. Other types of riders have little chance of shining: versatile riders may try the morning breakaway if their Mountain attribute is not too low, while the sprinters have no role to play as soon as the slope increases.

In time-trials, the Prologue and Time-Trial attributes are most important, rather than the type of rider. A high Prologue attribute allows a rider to do well on short courses (less than 10 km) while a high Time-Trial attribute allows good results on long courses. However, we must analyse the Chrono profile because, if the course is mountainous, the Mountain attribute also plays a very important role in making good time.

Race-day fitness

For each stage, your riders have a different race-day condition that impacts their performance. Make sure you check the race-day condition because it could be very risky to build a race strategy on a rider who is in bad condition. Race-day condition is random, but it is impacted by the Recovery rating and fitness peak in Pro Team and Pro Leader modes. A race-day condition bonus can be unlocked, under conditions specific to each team.

In Amateur difficulty mode, the race-day fitness is always good for your riders and bad for your opponents. In other modes, it is random.

Race-day condition bonus

When choosing your rider at the start of a stage, some riders show their objective for the next stage. If the rider achieves the objective, they will receive a recovery bonus for the next stage and establish a positive dynamic.

In certain circumstances, if a rider's random condition is "Exceptional condition" and a condition bonus has been gained, he enters a "State of grace" condition.

Attributes

• The higher a rider's Flat attribute, the more competitive they are on flat routes.
• The higher a rider's Sprint attribute, the greater his turn of speed.
• The higher a rider's Acceleration attribute, the faster a rider accelerates when they attack.
• The higher a rider's Hill attribute, the more competitive they are on hilly routes.
• The higher a rider's Mountain attribute, the more competitive they are on mountainous routes.
• The higher a rider's Downhill attribute, the faster the rider descends.
• The higher a rider's Time-Trial attribute, the more competitive they are on time-trials.
• The higher a rider's Prologue attribute, the more competitive they are on time-trials of under 10 km.
• The higher a rider’s Endurance attribute, the slower they lose energy from the gauge.
• The higher a rider’s Resistance attribute, the slower the energy gauge empties.
• The lower a rider's Recovery rating, the greater the tendency for his race-day condition to worsen during the course of a stage race.
• The higher a rider's Cobblestone attribute, the more competitive they are on cobblestones.