Career - Manage your team

The manager screen

The manager screen provides you with all the tools required to manage your team. The central area of the screen will change as you move from page to page, but the background always shows the same static items. Below is a brief description of the static items that comprise a Career mode screen.

1) The arrows allow you to track back and forth through recently visited pages.

2) The main menu tabs. Click on a tab to display the underlying sub-menu.

3) Quit to the main game menu; open the options screen; access online help or quit the game altogether.

4) The in-game date. Click on it to open your calendar. You can view the details of each event and, if you click on any given day, you can advance the game to this day.

5) To advance to the next event, click on Continue. Note : You can advance or stop the day by day simulation by pressing the keyboard spacebar.

6) Your messages. It is here that you receive all the important information provided by the game on a daily basis (race invitations, sponsors, injuries, rider contracts, etc.). You may encounter a message that is marked "Some decisions require your attention". If this happens, find the message marked with a "!" in your inbox and solve the problem before moving on. Any text in yellow on your manager page provides a link to the page in question.

7) Filters allow you to sort your messages by category.

8) Races in which your team is currently competing.

9) Upcoming races.

10) Your finances and the current state of sponsor confidence.

11) The next race and the next sponsor objective in days (d) or weeks (w).

Messages:

Finances

As team manager, it is crucial to manage finances well and to avoid going into the red. Click on the "Manager" menu and then "Finances" to view your income and spending. You also have the chart to help you view the monthly evolution of your balance, salaries, etc.

Starting from July 31st, you will have to prepare your budget for the following year, managing your sponsorship income on the one hand, while looking after your expenses on the other, particularly the cost of team renewal and the signing of new riders. Make sure to keep some money aside to be able to pay for new trainers, doctors and scouts, or to send your riders to training camps.

Equipment

Teams work actively with suppliers to design, test and eventually ride with new equipment.

Two types of Research & Development programme are available: full and limited.

• Access to the full R&D programme allows you to define R&D choices and to receive pre-production models on test and, then, the finished products before their official launch.
• Access to the limited R&D programme allows you to receive new models before their official launch, but you cannot define R&D choices.

Inside an R&D programme, equipment can undergo 4 types of change, with more time being required as the R&D programme becomes more involved:

• Minor changes: the fastest way to make an improvement.
• Major changes: a good compromise between a simple improvement and redesign.
• Redesign of model: requires more time but generates significant gains.
• New model: this will add a new model to the list of available equipment.

Staff

Pro Cycling Manager enables you to manage your "Staff". The staff are there to help you manage your team. During the first year the staff will be paid by your sponsors, but hiring extra staff will soon prove costly. Your "staff" comprise 3 profiles:

Trainers: work with your riders to develop their skills.

Scouts: help you discover young amateurs from all over the world or professionals who are yet unknown to you.

Doctors: allow you manage injuries more effectively.

Infirmary

Sickness and injury are brought to the fore in 'Pro Cycling Manager' and, based on information supplied by the team doctor; you must decide whether to race a rider or to rest him. The early symptoms may seem benign at the outset, (tiredness, a soreness or a sniffle, for example) but they could evolve into pneumonia, tendinitis or glandular fever. You must balance the needs of the team against rider health, even if it means pulling a rider from a race. To continue could worsen the situation and lead to a longer lay-off period.

Youth development

Scouting allows you to discover tomorrow's riders. Your scouts will automatically update the list of riders they have discovered, with information on their hoped-for potential.

The more scouts you have the more scouting reports you receive on future talent.

Early February you are invited the rider(s) that you wish the scout to follow closely, allowing you to receive a more accurate evaluation further down the line.

In Pro Cycling Manager, you have the possibility to manage a development team. These are young riders, under 23 years of age, whom you are going to train and, perhaps, integrate into your main team.

The creation of a development team is only possible between November and February inclusive. To do this, you must go to "Team> Youth development> Management of development team" and set the various parameters. Once done, a "Development team" tab will be added and you will be able to view the data of your young riders.

Promotions/Relegations

The promotion and relegation system is based on the world team ranking at the end of the season.
The top 18 teams move up to the Cya World Tour division, the next 17 are placed in the Pro Continental division, and the remaining teams compete in the Continental division.
Note: A team can only move up or down by one division per season, and development teams are not eligible for promotion or relegation.