For some time now we have been thinking about how to manage falls and illnesses in Tour de France. Just as in real life, these are significant factors that can affect the outcome of the race. What racing fan did not feel disappointed when Thibaut Pinot was forced to withdraw due to injury in 2019? Would Tadej Pogacar have won for a second time in 2022 if Primož Roglič had not fallen? Falls and illnesses are therefore major aspects of cycling in their own right, but how should they be integrated in the game without frustrating and angering players who see their leader forced to withdraw after becoming ill or falling? Rather than impose set rules that might bother you, we have decided to leave you free to choose by adding settings that regulate the occurrence of falls and illnesses during the race. The objective is to enable you to customise your races as you wish.
First of all, let's talk about falls. There have been two types of falls in the game for a few years now: when the player's rider falls and when an opponent falls. There is no other consequence when the player's rider falls other than a loss of time, and opponents fall so rarely that it might never even occur.
Now, though, when your rider falls and depending on your initial settings, an injury might result and the rider might be forced to withdraw (or, like before, be able to set off again with no consequence other than losing time). In the event of withdrawal, you must continue the race with another rider from your team. In the event of injury, the rider continues the race, but the maximum effort is limited. The extent of the limit depends on how serious the injury is. A slight injury has a minor effect on the maximum effort for a few minutes, while a serious injury prevents the rider from attacking and has consequences that extend beyond the current stage. Even though riders automatically recover between stages, the most serious falls have effects that last several days.
You can also choose to enable or disable other riders’ falls, just like with your rider. If you enable them, you can pre-determine their frequency and decide who is affected (only your opponents, or the members of your team as well). In the same way, you can decide whether or not rider falls lead to injuries and withdrawals.
Now to the subject of illnesses. Just as with falls, you can decide whether to enable illnesses and you can determine their frequency. Illnesses randomly affect random riders (everybody or just your opponents, depending on your settings). Just like with falls, when a rider becomes ill, his maximum effort decreases according to the seriousness of the illness. Illnesses develop between stages, but, unlike with falls, which the rider gradually recovers from over time, an illness can worsen to the point where the rider is forced to withdraw.
In addition to handicapping the riders, falls and illnesses also have other consequences, as injured or ill riders are unable to reveal their race-day condition. Therefore, even a slight injury or minor infection can affect your strategy. Opponent injuries and illnesses are only revealed when they are sufficiently serious. It’s up to you to keep an eye on your opponents' performances to see if they are being affected by a fall or if they are hiding an illness.
As far as rider performance is concerned, a new setting is being introduced this year: “Preparation”. The goal of this new option is to make the race results a bit more surprising than usual. When this option is enabled, some of the riders will be in better condition than usual, and, conversely, some will perform less effectively. To add variety, this option can affect any rider in the peloton.
Settings are available for all game modes except the Race of the Moment. Settings for player falls can be adjusted independently for player 1 and player 2 in Co-op and Versus modes.
