Falcor CC

[Falcor CC]

Introducing Falcor CC

The year is 2019. Falcor CC just finished their first season in division 1 on cyclingmanager.org. The relegation was expected, 80% of teams promoted to d1 get demoted the year after. A stage victory in Paris Nice at the highest stage is something a lot of new teams can only dream of achieving. Skip Redrocks, the 31 year old Canadian who has been with the team since he was 20 years old, sneaks into the breakaway. At this point he is not known to most division 1 teams. However, after today everyone would know his name. In stage 4, Redrocks wins in dramatic fashion, finishing solo in stormy weather. He would go on to secure 2nd place in the GC. One would say that alone would get you into the hall of fame, but Skip had already secured his spot in the season prior by becoming the first ever Falcor CC rider to win a grand tour, taking home the red jersey in La Vuelta in division 2.

Then, a couple months later, the dreaded message. Cyclingmanager.org was a graduation project in 2013 and by 2019, "Falotron" had long graduated. "Project sunset 2020". This season would be the last. To this day, our manager still goes to check the website regularly… But no, it's really over.

After 5 years of hoping Cyclingmanager.com would somehow come back, our manager finally decides it has been long enough and it is time to fill the void and he goes back to the same old, outdated website which is still showing Cyclingmanager.org among several other cycling games. Of those other cycling games, one of them really jumps out. Just a couple weeks later, Falcor CC now starts the season with 2 main goals: win a first stage and promote to d5. Meet the team:

-Enno Oper (Estonia), 27 years old:
84 55 63 54 52 54.7 48
GC leader. Showed great flashes in Camino but the lack of a surrounding cast (no Redrocks, Henkey yet) saw him ultimately drop to 10th in the GC. Secured the first ever podium for the team, finishing 2nd in Laguna de Tota-Aguazul. Will be the teams main man for the seasons to come. Goals this month: TA and Catalunya. Market value: $3,757,154

-Pierre Audette (Canada), 27 years old:
48 63 64 50 87 59.4 42
Sprinter. The first ever transfer for the team. Keep an eye on him in the sprints this month, cause he'll be there like a devil in a box! Goals this month: One day stages + TA/Catalunya sprints. Market value: $2,099,353

-Michael Redrocks (Canada), 21 years old:
71 56 61 50 56 56 55
Young Climber, domestique and successor for Enno. Michael, son of Skip Redrocks is breaking onto the scene as one of the biggest GT prospects in the world! Until now, his fathers' genes have proven to be golden. Can he translate it to the pros as well? Goals this month: Gain experience, help Enno in the tours. Market value: $2,902,198

-Jacques Dossche (Luxembourg), 26 years old:
60 81 67 52 51 72 47
All around helper. 'Big Lux' is a man of all terrains and even though he was the youngest guy on the team last season, he is making a name for himself as one of the more promising road captains in the peloton. Likes to ride in the breakaway all day like a madman. Goals this month: Lead Enno and Pierre to victories all month. Market value: $1,963,226

-Thibault Kerken (Belgium), 20 years old:
56 71 66 47 55 72.2 53
Young all around helper. Jacques' prodigy is the first half of our March additions. He will be gaining experience in the youth races this season before joining the big boys in April. Market value: $2,070,660

-Jordan Henkey (Australia), 21 years old:
50 72 46 56 63 66 39
Young sprint leadout. Jordan "G'Day" Henkey was brought to team last season and will make his debut today. The young Australian will gain experience while guiding Pierre to sprint victories. Goals this month: Gain experience, help Pierre. Market value: $1,624,479

-Rob Plakka (Belgium), 30 years old:
58 80 62 48 54 71.6 52
Mountain & flat helper. The veteran of the team who is comfortable on all terrains and likes to attack. Goals this month: Help Enno in the mountains and Pierre on the flat. Market value: $1,682,968

-Michael Goris (Belgium), 29 years old:
50 82 70 49 51 74.8 50
Flat helper. Our previous road captain is still leading our guys in the downhill sections. Goals this month: Help Pierre and Enno on the flat. Market value: $1,498,784

-Jan Stevens (Belgium), 28 years old:
46 79 76 49 51 72.1 44
Flat helper. Second half of our March incoming transfers. Here to deepen our helper core and guide our guys on the flat. Goals this month: Help Enno and Pierre. Market value: $1,261,486

-Mehdi Deman (Belgium), 28 years old:
49 76 64 45 53 70.9 46
Flat helper. Goals this month: help Enno and Pierre. Market value: $1,237,621

Team goals:
-Top 10 TA
-Top 10 Catalunya
-First stage win
-Promotion to d5

Good luck to all .

[cataracs]

Very nice intro, welcome and goodluck!

I like Thibault Kerken, he's my favorite rider type. If you keep him for next year he can win Strade Bianche 2026.

[Robyklebt]

As cataracs said, nice intro and good luck! Make sure to get the trainings right for the young guys!

[Falcor CC]

As of right now, Redrocks is training climb and sprint (he was drooling over Cleverley's win just now), but thinking about switching to DH instead of sprint...

Henkey is doing Flat and sprint.

Rest are old as f... almost not training anymore at all, think I need to hire a good motivational coach. And I got 29 days to figure out how I will train Kerken. Wanted him to be an allround helper that can ride in the last kms of a stage on multiple terrains but now Taka has me dreaming about winning a future monument :p

Thanks to you both! Already learned a lot of stuff from you guys

[Robyklebt]

Flat, Redrocks needs flat.

More flat=less energy loss in flat high tempo, your climber needs to come to the finishing climb as fit as possible. The higher the flat, the fitter he will be.
Flat counts in climbs too, on +5 and +6 a lot, on +7 still too much for my taste.

I would train him climbing first, and always, second then flat. At 21 you can hope to get +4 +4 (I do no risk trainings, and so add an additional mountain as soon as it's not 100% anymore, so usually get +4 +3 or +4 +2... At 22 with risk you still can have some flat %, at 23 then you need to go all in for mountain, 65-70% there with all units on mountain.

Others might recommend going more for a 80-70 than a 85-60... I just prefer the pure climbers.

Training downhill with Redrock though makes 0 sense, 61, he's never going to be 80, unless you just train that as main skill, but then you end up with a 75-56-80-xx-56, not very useful:) Sprint, 56 for a climber is already quite good, no real need for more, later if you want, you still can try, but right now flat is clearly the second most important skill.

[Falcor CC]

Got it! He (me) is learning a lot from Oper now. I'll change it to flat, but either way I did notice I just need some helpers that can survive a mountain or 2 to keep him fit on the flat parts after rather than just focusing on him alone to get it done. And that's exactly what his role will be to Oper in the coming weeks, even though he has a low flat stat himself...

[Falcor CC]

Enno Oper wins Milano - Torino!

The team controlled the race from start to finish with the help of an amazing Chemnitz, who brought the other stage favorite in Yero Diatta, and handsome fellow Beacon, who aimed for at least a podium with man-in-form Darwin Nunez. The break never got more than 2:30 and were doomed in the first kms of the first climb. Michael Redrocks takes the price for Most Valuable Helper (MVH), thinning out the group so much that no team had more than 3 riders in G1 and dropping Alexandros Poulos, an important helper for main competitor Chemnitz. Then, despite lacking talent to fly downhill, Cold Mike kept the new breakaway within reach after once again receiving great help, this time from Maik Eberhart, Chemnitz' last domestique for Diatta.

Then, an elite group of just 12 riders stood at the food of the final climb. The new 7-rider breakaway had a gap of 46 seconds still and contained Franc Pirc (Vikings Berlin), a big threat for the stage win, as well as 2 duos from Allagen, Kreatief and Felsenland, the sneaky b*st*rds! A chasing group containing the greatest spy of all time Clive Bixby, future G.O.A.T. Jonah Fabisch and multi sport talent Harry Kane are only a few seconds ahead of the favorites group and are about to get a cold from a certain stage favorite flying by.

Yero Diatta attacks within the first km of the climb. On the steep 9% avg only Oper and Nunez can follow his wheel. G2 gets passed through and can do nothing but cry for their mothers. Meanwhile in G1, Seidel (Felsenland) and Allagens duo (Belaid and Solomon) get dropped, leaving just 4 brave mountain goats in Firc (Vikings Berlin), Shmayluk (Felsenland), Mulligan & Wolf (Kreatief). Oper and Diatta get along well, and Nunez seems to have a hard time following their wheel. Meanwhile, Wolf is dropped in G1, leaving just 3 solo riders fighting for their lives, defending a 19 second lead. With just 2km left, the riders are about to start the hardest km of the stage at an 11% average climb. the second trio has passed the breakaway riders that had been dropped already and had gotten to within 6 seconds of the first trio at this point, and it looks like they will be fighting it out for the victory.

There goes Diatta! A new, really strong attack seems to be dropping everyone. Mulligan and Shmayluk put their money in the parking meter. Nunez can't follow. Pirc hangs on... but then gets dropped. Diatta looks back and sees only one rider in his wheel: that damned Estonian! Suddenly, Yero's legs feel like lead, and he knows what time it is. Under the 1km mark, Oper counters his attack. Diatta tries and tries, but Enno has flown away. The last 100 meters are used for nothing but celebrating, as Enno Oper wins Milano - Torino. The teams first ever win!

Final stage result:
1 Enno Oper 00:00:00 Falcor CC
2 Yero Diatta 00:00:03 Chemnitz Pro Cycl...
3 Franc Pirc 00:00:14 Vikings Berlin
4 Darwin Nunez 00:00:20 BeaconSV
5 Dustin Mulligan 00:00:27 Kreatief
6 Michael Hack 00:00:36 Giotti Victoria
7 Marcelo Gallardo 00:00:41 Drunkenbolds
8 Tatiana Shmayluk 00:00:41 Felsenland
9 Markus Koch 00:00:47 rsv lünen
10 Stefan Brinkmann 00:00:47 rsv lünen

With this win, the team can also announce its promotion to d5, as we surpassed the 1.500 eternal points mark!

Flash interview with Enno Oper (since he wasn't allowed to give a proper interview ):

Reporter:
Enno, what a win today! What are your first thoughts and feelings with this win?

Enno:
It's amazing man, finishing not only what the team worked so hard for today, but also the weeks of hard work and training prior to today. I'm so honored and humbled to be winning the first ever race for this team. It's hard not to tear up right now.

Reporter:
You guys were in control throughout the whole stage, with great help from Chemnitz to bring back the breakaway and manage the group of escapees. Were you confident that you could beat Yero today?

Enno:
Honestly no, he looked so strong and I had to go so deep when he attacked. I was very lucky to be able to hang on. But Chemnitz was so great today, I wouldn't be standing here giving this interview without them.

Reporter:
And how about your own team?

Enno:
They were even greater today! Whether it was Mehdi, Jan, Goris and Jacques managing the break, Jordan and Pierre leading me on the flat parts, or Redrocks and Rob being so great all around, the whole team executed our master plan perfectly today. What Michael is doing at only 21 years old is simply special. I'll be riding for him soon! It makes me very proud as a stage leader and I'm very happy to be able to finish off all the hard work today.

Reporter:
Thank you Enno!

Enno:
You're welcome!

[Chemnitz Pro Cycling Team]

Nice one. Congratulations again, great and - even more important - deserved first win.

[r FSCL]

Congratulations - keep going

[Schnuggeritos]

Enno Oper wins Milano - Torino!

Congratulations! Worked hard with the ultimate favo Chemnitz to win the race - as RV Allagen would say.

A chasing group containing the greatest spy of all time Clive Bixby, future G.O.A.T. Jonah Fabisch and multi sport talent Harry Kane are only a few seconds ahead of the favorites group and are about to get a cold from a certain stage favorite flying by.

Hope you appreciate the spy action by Clive

[Falcor CC]

Looking back at March

Starting off with team goals:
-Top 10 TA check!
-First stage win check!
-Promotion to d5 check!
-Top 10 Catalunya ... We chose the mountain jersey instead!

A nice first full month with ups and down, climbing the learning curve. 2 palmares entries, both from our favorite Estonian Enno Oper. Ultimately lost first place in d6 on the last day to Harryaner, but we'll happily take second place and move on to the big boys now, exploring new markets and options!

Stage wins:
-Milano Torino (Enno Oper)

Other palmares entries:
-Mountain jersey Catalunya (Enno Oper)

Training summary:
-Redrocks and Henkey did what they had to do, +4 in Climb-flat and flat-sprint respectively
-A downtraining here and there by the older guys, after a few adjustments we're a little safer in that regard now
-No other trainings for anyone but the 21yo's

Midseason transfers:
-/


Looking forward to April

Hard month to set form. No real objectives or stages that are extremely attractive for us. No leader for rvv or Roubaix, guess we'll just watch Mathieu win them both on those days. Second part of the month might be better and we hope for some nice first experiences in LBL and La Fleche!

Team goals:
-Promote to d4
-Get stronger riders all around
-Some nice finishes in the second part of the month
-Prepare for the Giro!
-A second stage win?

Transfers out:
-Rob Plakka (turning 31 years old): the teams oldest rider leaves the team! Management wants the team to get younger and Rob no longer has a place in the squad. Rob played a crucial role for the team in March, with his p2 in stage 3 of Tirenno as his most notable result, one of the teams only 3 podiums this month! We wish Rob all the best in the last few years of his career!

Transfers in:
-Magnus Jensen (turning 21 years old): the young Danish rider joins the team as a second classics rider next to Thibault. The 2 of them join the senior squad tomorrow and will get their first chances within the next few months!

Training goals:
-Redrocks: will focus on continuing to improve his climbing while trying to add more flat as well
-Henkey: will focus on continuing to improve his flat while trying to add more sprint as well
-Kerken: will start of his career hoping to go +4 on both climbing and flat
-Jensen: will start of his career hoping to go +4 on both climbing and flat

Good luck in April everyone!