My First Impressions on Pro Cycling Manager 2025

[0:00]Welcome to my very first video on Pro Cycling Manager 25. This game releases on June 5th, so today. And to be honest, I can't wait to start playing it. Anyway, time to get started. Single player, let's hop into one off race this time around, and this is where you select our database. I'm just going to play with the default database, but this is different. In previous Pro Cycling Manager games, the game and difficulty settings were set across the entire game. In PCM 25, they are set per save file. Also, next to the usual difficulty settings from easy to extreme, you can also customize it more. For example, if you're not great at time trials, you can specifically set time trials to easy mode, while the rest of the settings stay on extreme. Anyway, I'll just play on extreme difficulty as usual. You can also customize the general game settings per save file now, for example, the frequency of falls and punctures. But the sliders at the bottom, that's where it gets interesting. For example, impact terrain attributes tours. If I put this to two, which is the maximum, then if I ride a brutal mountain stage, the gaps will be bigger, because the mountain stat will be more influential. Basically, you can play with these settings to make races more or less selective. Anyway, for my first race, I want to play on the default settings, so I'll drop it back to zero again. I want to start off with a bit of an unusual stage. Stage 15 of the Tour de France, a versatile sprint stage. We have the Pas du Saun climb, 4.3 km at 7.6%, roughly 40k from the finish, so that should shake things up for the pure sprinters. I want to play with a versatile sprinter and win this stage. Oh my God, Wout Van Aert's sprint stat has been devoured. 73 sprint stat only. I've decided to go with Jayco Alula, Michael Matthews as our versatile sprinter, 78 hill stat, 74 sprint only, so I'll have to make the climb hard. Because I want to drop the pure sprinters. Looks like PCM 25 thinks Tadej Pogačar is the favorite. We'll see about that. Okay, our first race in PCM 25 with the brand new game engine, Unreal Engine 5, in lovely sunny conditions, and I got to say, it looks good, and so does the daily form on Matthews, a plus one. Looks like the peloton is chasing with Visma Lease a Bike and UAE behind a five-rider group right now. Søren Wærenskjold, Geraint Thomas, Dylan van Baarle, Dries De Bondt, and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Max Schachmann has crashed already at the start of the race together with Tobias Bayer. Are they going to get up? Who's the middle rider here? Tadej Pogačar is down! Tadej Pogačar is down and is he getting up? No! Tadej Pogačar is abandoning in my first race on PCM 25! Let's hope that doesn't happen at the Tour de France. Anyway, Max Schachmann is back in the peloton right now. Let's move him up as well. I'll try and protect Michael Matthews with Max Schachmann and I'll stay in the peloton for now. You might be wondering, Benji, why did you pick a versatile sprint stage and not a crazy mountain stage? Actually, there's a reason for it. In Pro Cycling Manager 2024, versatile sprint stages were a bit broken. First of all, the computer-controlled teams would not make a sprint train, and they would sprint for their GC rider, even if they have a faster sprinter in their team still in the group. Anyway, I spoke to the developers of PCM, and they told me this has been fixed, so let's find out. Max Schachmann has fallen again! Really? Second time this race. And now he's falling alone. Come on, get up, get up. There we go. Max Schachmann is flying past these Visma Lease a Bike domestiques. They are dropping quite early to be honest, they've been pacing all day behind the breakaway, but I still wasn't expecting all of these riders to drop. Dylan van Baarle as well, Max Schachmann is not coming back, I think. On the first of these two climbs, I was planning to hard pace to drop pure sprinters, but Tim Wellens is doing it for me, so I'm sitting back. Okay, Rick Pluimers off the back, the first sprinter to drop, but more and more are dropping. Lots of riders are dropping. Ay-ay-ay, including Axel Zingle, 77 hill stat. I was not expecting that. Søren Wærenskjold, winner of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Mads Pedersen, also off the back. Pierre Go to R. These are all versatile sprinters. Despite those riders dropping, still 133 people in the peloton, and most of my team is here, so let's cook something up. Okay, the only serious climb of the day has started. 4.3 km, 7.6%, quite steep in places. Max Schachmann is done with pacing, so Michael Hepburn can take over. Let's do 91, and Lucas Plapp will try and shred the peloton afterwards. I want to destroy this group. There we go, Lucas Plapp to the front, Tim Wellens on the right side of the road. Michael Matthews in the wheel of Lucas Plapp, Mauro Schmid and Michael O'Connor in the wheel because Michael O'Connor can control attacks later. Max Schachmann is kind of a lead out, but I'm not sure he'll make it over the top like this. Oh my God, the peloton is 26 riders and lots of riders in here are suffering. The rest has basically been dropped, so what a brutal stage. This has been a lot more selective than I thought. We're about to cross the top and I'm slowing the tempo, but people are still dropping. Matteo Sobrero off the back, 19 people in this front group. I need to make sure Max Schachmann survives, so let's drop it to 65 right now. So, I've taken a look at the riders in the group. Igor Astarloa is the best competitor in this group, 74 sprint stat, so that's our competition. Actually, that's our competition for the sprint. There's quite a few riders trying to attack away, so not everybody wants a sprint. Everybody in this group keeps on attacking, and Mark Stewart is basically done for and dropping. So, Michael Matthews, you are next. Michael O'Connor off the back as well. Max Schachmann has energy to control attacks, so I think we are good. Last 3 km to the right right now with Max Schachmann. Let's do 95, not 99 yet. Let's up it towards 99 in the last 2 km right now. Michael Matthews looking fantastic for the last kilometer. Let's sprint right now from second wheel. Erik Bystrøm, Igor Astarloa in our wheel. Erik Bystrøm tries to come around a corner before the finish. Erik Bystrøm does not come around. Michael Matthews wins in Carcassonne at the Tour de France ahead of Igor Astarloa and Erik Bystrøm. By the way, as you can see, the podiums have also changed. I'm not sure if I like it, but it's definitely different. Anyway, Michael Matthews with the W. In the last couple of days I've played this stage twice, and every single time, I had pretty realistic results. Versatile sprinters like Michael Matthews, Igor Astarloa, Erik Bystrøm, Axel Zingle, and so forth, fighting for the stage win. Basically, the way it was explained to me is that after the final climb, those teams reassess who they still have in the group, and then decide who they will sprint for. So in this group, Andrea Bagioli, Alexander Cepeda, and Erik Bystrøm are all three present for the EF Education-EasyPost. So yeah, EF ended up sprinting for Erik Bystrøm. Anyway, time to do a mountain stage. And actually, I want to play with these sliders a little bit, so let's up impact terrain attributes Tours to the maximum, so this mountain stage should be really selective. And I think stage 19 of this Tour de France is the perfect terrain to test this. Pretty short, 133 km, but with massive climbs throughout including La Plagne, 19 km, 7.3% to the finish line, a massive climb. Tadej Pogačar with 83 mountain stat, and actually, Jonas Vingegaard also 83, but lower secondary stats, so a worse climber. Remco Evenepoel with 81 mountain, the same as Primož Roglič. Okay, hear me out. My plan is to select UAE Team Emirates, but I won't play with Tadej Pogačar. My leader is João Almeida, 80 mountain stat. Next to João Almeida, also Juan Ayuso in a domestique role together with Rafał Majka, Tim Wellens, Jay Vine, Marc Soler, and Felix Großschartner. Because I want to hard pace these climbs and make the race as hard as possible. Okay, once again sunny conditions, but it looks like my daily form might be changing my leadership. A minus one on João Almeida, so 81 mountain stat, plus one on Juan Ayuso, so that means 82 mountain stat. Juan Ayuso is our leader. I can already hear the Portuguese people screaming in my comment section. Three riders into the early breakaway, Ben Hermans, Magnus Cort Nielsen, and Michael Schär. And Visma Lease a Bike is letting them go, so this breakaway has formed. But hey, sadly for the breakaway, I've got other plans, so Tim Wellens goes to the front and starts pacing. By the way, one small thing, the riders have glasses now. I just noticed. That's pretty cool. So my plan is to set an okay tempo, 73 on Tim Wellens on these first two climbs, to then explode the race on this second climb, the very steep one. And at the moment, Tim Wellens is doing an absolutely perfect job. The break's two minutes and a half ahead. Don't care. It's all about putting pressure on this peloton. I'm sorry, but this game looks so much better. The tempo is now 85 by Tim Wellens and Nils Politt, and as you can see, it's completely stretching out on this climb, so on the next climb, this group will evaporate. Ay-ay-ay, the Belgians are suffering. Floris De Tier, Jasper Stuyven, Kasper Asgreen, Logan Currie, in front of that, Tiesj Benoot, quite a few riders dropping now. Something I have noticed is that on PCM 25, there's a lot of splits in the descent. So, positioning is really important. I don't know if it's a bug, but it's happening nearly every race. Anyway, the second peloton is back, which means Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, back to the front. Let's start pacing again. On the steepest segment of the climb, pretty narrow as well. Rafał Majka is pacing. My team is looking good, but how is the peloton looking? Riders are dropping through the peloton as we speak, and it's carnage right now. Riders are dropping everywhere. Rafał Majka is done for, though, so I need to get Marc Soler to the front as soon as possible, and let's do a final push on 99 from the front. Let's see what happens. Visma in my wheel, and is this going to destroy the peloton? I think it will. Yeah, 49 people of the front, and this second peloton, a lot of riders are basically done for in this group. So, it's all about this front peloton, 45 people. Sepp Kuss off the back, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Wout Poels, lots of riders that can climb are dropping. Okay, small climb, 5.8 km, 6.6%. Jay Vine is pacing, and Tao Geoghegan Hart off the back. Ruben Fernandez, Nairo Quintana, Simon Yates, Tobias Foss, Wilco Kelderman, Tiesj Benoot is suffering. Victor Campenaerts, Jasper Stuyven, Max Walscheid, Koen Bouwman. Looks like Jay Vine's almost done for, so let's keep going with João Almeida. I want to see the peloton shred to pieces, and David Gaudu, Enric Mas off the back. David Gaudu, Enric Mas, Pello Bilbao, Mikel Landa, Michael Woods, Louis Meintjes, and less than 10 people. Over the top of the Col de la Core, we've got six riders in the front group, Tiesj Benoot, Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock, João Almeida, Juan Ayuso, and Lennard Kämna. And now I kind of have to sit up because otherwise, I'm not making it to that last climb. And well, it is the hardest climb of the entire day. I got to say, it looks like the slider that we put on the maximum earlier is doing something here. Actually, a large group has come back to Jay Vine, which is trying to come back to the front of the race. I don't like this. And the groups have come back together, so 29 people back at the front of the race. Nonetheless, La Plagne is coming, and I'm ready. Here we go. 19.1 km, 7.3%. I've got three riders, Jay Vine can protect Juan Ayuso right now. I'm going to play it relatively defensively because I know that on a 19 km climb, I shall not overextend. Oh, is that a move? Yes, Remco Evenepoel is attacking. Everybody's following right now, so I'll just do my own tempo behind them. I don't want to get gapped though, because yes, it's 7%, but drafts still matters. One by one, riders are dropping here. Looks like George Bennett is on the brink of exhaustion. Pello Bilbao as well, so Juan Ayuso is pacing himself on 74. I don't want to do that, so let's drop it to 69, something like that. Tiesj Benoot is done for. It's down to Jonas Vingegaard once again. Oh, attack on the left side of the road by Jonas Vingegaard. Juan Ayuso can do 75 and set his own tempo here. Looks like five riders can follow here. Jai Hindley is still here. Brandon McNulty, we've got Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, and João Almeida. And I am slowly but surely crawling back, but Jonas Vingegaard is pacing for Tadej Pogačar, but I don't think Tadej Pogačar will last too long. João Almeida can take over from Jai Hindley, because Jai Hindley is gone. Come on, Juan Ayuso, keep on pacing. There we go. Lennard Kämna caught and dropped. Juan Ayuso and João Almeida are now 35 seconds behind Bardet. Romain Bardet has been dropped. Jonas Vingegaard and Pello Bilbao are riding away to a potential victory on La Plagne, and I'm trying to come back, but I'm not sure I have the energy. I'm going on 80. Tadej Pogačar is completely done for. Jonas Vingegaard is alone, has a gap of roughly 25 seconds. Come on, Juan Ayuso, we don't have the energy. Let's go on 75. Let's try and crawl back. We are crawling back, but we're not there yet. João Almeida is dropping and we are with Jonas Vingegaard. And he goes again, and he gaps me this time around. Jonas Vingegaard is getting away, and Juan Ayuso is in trouble. Yeah, there's no coming back from this. Juan Ayuso is losing on La Plagne, and the winner is Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France. Got to say, Juan Ayuso and João Almeida, both going to the same race, and then finishing second and third behind Jonas, that's pretty funny. And actually, quite realistic. And actually, at the finish, it was not even close. 46 seconds was the gap from Jonas Vingegaard to Juan Ayuso, and after that, it's minutes. I think it's fair to say this race was a lot more selective than usual. Anyway, one final race, let's do a sprint. Let's go with stage three of the Tour de France. Valenciennes to Dunkerque, a flat sprint stage. Jasper Philipsen with 82 sprint, Jonathan Milan also 82 sprint, and Tim Merlier also 82 sprint. But I want to try and go with Olav Kooij, 81 sprint stat, and Wout Van Aert as a lead out. Ouch, minus two on Olav Kooij, so that's not a great start, but somehow a plus one on a sprint stat. So, 82 sprint, Wout Van Aert has a plus one there, so 75 sprint, so solid lead out. By the way, there's a couple new features in Pro Cycling Manager career mode as well, but I won't do a video on that at the moment. I'm starting my career mode on YouTube in a couple of days, so just wait for those videos. Got to say, I'm a little bit surprised that there's no top sprinters at the start line here. Alpecin did not bring Jasper Philipsen, and Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan are also not here. So, I'm the favorite. The last 15k are here, and our sprint train is at the front. Tiesj Benoot, Edoardo Affini, Wout Van Aert, and Olav Kooij with 73 flat stat only, that's kind of disappointing. Wout Van Aert in front of Olav Kooij, so we're looking pretty good. Our competition is Sam Welsford, Cees Bol, Caleb Ewan, Ethan Vernon, Fernando Gaviria, Rick Pluimers, Jasper Stuyven, Joris Nieuwenhuis, Edward Theuns, and Danny Van Poppel. So, not the greatest sprinters. Ola, is that a late attack in the forest right here? Taco van der Hoorn and Elia Viviani were attacking, so that's pretty cool. Looks like we're not just going to a generic sprint. We actually have to do some controlling here, and that's what we are doing. Tiesj Benoot can take over and Edoardo Affini is on the first three riders. We are looking good as a team. Edoardo Affini is about to take over in half a kilometer right here. The rest of the trains as well, looking pretty meh, so I feel good about this. Edoardo Affini, get through, buddy. Get through. Wout Van Aert can launch. Not yet, not yet, not yet. On 97. And I'll wait to sprint until right now with Wout Van Aert. Olav Kooij in the wheel. Last 1.5 km. Olav Kooij can launch. Yves Lampaert in the wheel, but should be an easy victory, but no. Yves Lampaert can't come out. No, Olav Kooij wins for sure. There we go. Victory in Dunkerque for Olav Kooij. Olav Kooij, I made it sound like French for a second. Anyway, that was my first gameplay video on PCM 25. Every year, quite a few of you ask me, should I buy the game? Is it worth it? That's hard for me to say. For me, I play PCM more than 500 hours per year, so for me, it's definitely worth it. Reality is, Pro Cycling Manager has never been a perfect game and will probably never be a perfect game, but I love playing it, and I got to say, the graphics engine, the improvement with that, I'm liking it. But I must warn you, if you buy this game, check the Steam page, check if your PC can run it. Because well, better graphics means a better PC is needed to run it. Anyway, I can't wait to play some more Pro Cycling Manager 25 in the coming days, and I'll be starting my career mode in the coming days as well. But for now, that's the end of today's video. As always, thanks for watching, and I'll see you soon. Goodbye.