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

On each stage, your riders have a different race-day condition that impacts their performance. Make sure that 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 calculated randomly at the start of the stage. It is then Influenced by the Recovery rating. The lower the Recovery rating of a rider, the quicker his race-day condition decreases during a stage race. Conversely, a rider with a high Recovery rating will not see the starting value of his race-day condition change during the course of a race.

	Struggling (all ratings are decreased by 2 points).
	Bad condition (all ratings are decreased by 1 point).
	Normal condition (no impact on ratings).
	Good condition (all ratings are increased by 1 point).
	Exceptional condition (all ratings are increased by 2 points).
	State of grace (all ratings are increased by 3 points).

Above 78, the impact of race-day condition decreases. For example, a rating of 79, in the case of exceptional condition, will be increased by slightly less than 2 points in order to prevent the best riders from being unbeatable.

In Pro Team and Pro Leader modes, the starting value is impacted by the rider's fitness peak. A rider who is "at the peak of fitness" will see his starting value greatly enhanced whereas a rider who is "at rest" will see his starting value greatly reduced.

	"Exceptional condition" and "good condition" are impossible.
	The chances of having an "exceptional condition" are nil and the chances of having a "good condition" are low.
	"Struggling" is impossible and "bad condition" is less likely.

It is possible to obtain a race-day condition bonus by achieving certain objectives specific to each rider. These objectives are displayed on the "Riders" page at the start of the stage.

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.

Falls and illnesses

Falls and illnesses happen according to the parameters selected at the start of the game. You can choose who is affected by these incidents (nobody, only opponents or all riders), whether these incidents are more or less frequent and more or less serious.

Injuries are the result of falls whereas illnesses are random. In both cases, an injured or ill rider sees his maximum effort decreased depending on the severity of the injury or illness. The more serious it is, the more the rider is diminished.

Injuries heal naturally. Between each stage, a rider's injury automatically improves by a level, unless he falls again.

	Rider having fallen and suffering from very slight injuries. Maximum effort very slightly decreased.
	Rider having fallen and suffering from slight injuries. Maximum effort slightly decreased.
	Rider having fallen and suffering from injuries. Maximum effort decreased.
	Rider having fallen and suffering from serious injuries. Maximum effort very decreased.
	Rider having fallen and having to withdraw.

Illnesses progress randomly. Between each stage, an illness can get worse by a level (up to a point that the rider is forced to withdraw) or improve by a level (up to being cured).

	Rider very slightly ill. Maximum effort very slightly decreased.
	Rider slightly ill. Maximum effort slightly decreased.
	Rider ill. Maximum effort decreased.
	Rider very ill. Maximum effort very decreased.
	Rider extremely ill, close to withdrawal. Maximum effort extremely decreased.

Injuries and illnesses prevent a rider's race-day condition from being known. Illnesses among your opponents are only revealed if the illness is serious enough or if it is relatively long. The consequences of a fall by an opponent are not revealed.

Attributes

• The higher a rider's Flat rating, the more competitive he is on the flat.
• 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 rating, the more competitive he is during explosive effort (attack gauge) on a climb.
• The higher a rider's Mountain rating, the more competitive he is during sustained effort (energy gauge) on a climb.
• 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 Stamina rating, the more effort he can expend before his resistance freshness decreases.
• The higher a rider's Resistance rating, the more effort he can expend before his resistance freshness decreases.
• The higher a rider's Recovery rating, the later the condition penalty appears during a race.
• The higher a rider's Cobblestone attribute, the more competitive they are on cobblestones.