Online: 44
11:40 GMT         Day 4 of 90, Season 69    

OCM Apocalypse – The End of an Era
by Tim Johnson, at 14/4-12 - 10:24 GMT


  Day 13 and the days since have seen one of the biggest shifts in OCM history. Taking a look at the free agents currently available, we have former Young Guns, Germany Winners, World Champions, Netherlands and Volta Champions and more. So what’s going on? Well, changes in the way contracts are interpreted meant that many older riders were going to be costlier to keep on teams. Additionally, it’s been observed that the performance of the grandfathers of the Peleton has been suffering recently. This meant many OCM old-timers have been released from their contracts far earlier than expected. To take just one example, former World Champion and Czech number 1 Jaroslav Brychta cannot find a team, despite being only 32 years old.
  
  With so many great riders likely to retire in the next few weeks, it’s time to take a look back at the careers of a few of them and in doing so take a look back at the Middle Ages of OCM.
  
   Isaak Papadimitriou
  
  Isaak Papadimitriou (Club Ciclista Riaza) was one of the first set of fledging riders to be dubbed a Young Gun. Back in Season 12 as one of OCM’s first ‘Red Riders’, the Greek looked to have a highly promising career ahead of him. He came 2nd in the second edition of the Volta (winning the Youth Classification) and became one of the youngest World Champion in OCM history, beating out Keegan Shiable (Team Kernow). However, his career would never again touch the heights of Season 12 and became very much the nearly-man on many occasions. In Season 14, he came second in both the Germany Tour and the Alpe d`Huez Classic and then two seasons ago he came second in the Worlds in Spain. OCM managers will probably remember him as one of the riders you always had to mark in the big races, but who ultimately never quite fulfilled the promise shown in his debut season. Papadimitriou is, however, the most successful of the Young Gun 1 riders. Indeed, other former Young Guns 1, Bartosz Ozóg (Velo Club Bored Man) and Jeraldo Piedrahita (Team Zyte), are also part of the OCM cut.
  
   Yegor

Astapkovich
  
  Many managers may say ‘Who?’. However, Yegor Astapkovich was part of the ‘Mypa revolution’ that took OCM by storm in Seasons 13 and 14. It started in the 3rd edition of the Volta, as Herbert Andersson walked away with the Gold jersey. However, it was his teammate in 5th place, Yegor Astapkovich, who would make heads turn later in the Season. Astapkovich entered Germany as a relative unknown but left it with the Yellow jersey for winning Germany’s biggest race. Season’s 13 Germany Tour was also made famous for the rift between CCFC’s Kyle Abston and Giovanny Enrico, when the Green Goblin outsprinted his teammate on Stage 9, denying him the time bonus which would have given the Italian overall victory. Astapkovich started Season 14 with a bang claiming top 5s in both the early season climbing Classics, Alpe d`Huez and Zürich-Bern-Zürich. Unfortunately, for the Swedish team that marked the end of the revolution, but for those two seasons Mypa’s two top climbers were marked men.
  
   Travis Plowman
  
  With 8 teams in 12 seasons, Travis “TP” Plowman certainly has a story to tell. TP spent a number of years at Team Kernow, where he faithfully supported climbing captain Keegan Shiable. However, after many seasons playing second-fiddle, he moved on to CCFC, where he finished his training and finally got his chance to captain on a regular basis. Kernow’s loss was certainly CCFC’s gain, as within 2 months Plowman finished 4th in the both Perm and Germany (winning stages in both) before crowning a remarkable season in Poland by becoming Season 14’s World Champion. The next season saw more success for the American as he won the Perm Tour, and in doing so joined a short list of riders who have won a Tour and the Worlds. Finishing 20th in the rankings that season was his best and marked the peak of his career. He hung around at CCFC for another couple of seasons, but wins became more difficult to come by and it seemed we’d heard the last of him. However, Season 19 saw an 11th hour career performance in Spain’s new Tour, Vuelta de los Castillos. Having moved on to Team Revolutie,

he lead for most of the Tour, before ultimately fading and finished 5th behind winner Godo Figueiredo (Greenride). TP, you’ll be missed.
  
   Yasir Sahir
  
  After taking Torreira up through the divisions, Yasir Sahir broke through in the OCM Division 1 in Season 12. Season 12 was a remarkable one for the rider from Oman and his team. Despite not starting as favourite he claimed the Volta’s Gold jersey ahead of Papadimitriou, before keeping up with the Division 1 boys in Russia, finishing 4th in Perm. He finished the season 22nd in the rankings and it looked like a star had been born. However, like many promising riders before him and since, Yasir faded and was sold on and never took another Division 1 result.
  
   Conrado Fraga
  
  Season 12 also saw the debut of fiery, young,
  Portuguese sprinter Conrado Fraga (Gradient Levellers). In the Germany and Netherlands Tours of that season, it was clear that the rider had tons of promise but his temperament led him to blow up in races. However, he slowly calmed down and during the next three seasons remained in the top 30 in the rankings, claiming a number of results in the process. It was rumoured that Fraga had his nose put out of place with the rise of Nicodemus Balanchine, his Armenian teammate, and he was eventually sold on to alberta1. The next season, Season 16, saw his career highlight as he took three stages and overall victory in Netherlands. However, the Portuguese volcano’s fiery temper saw him fall out with team bosses and he was sold on once again. Two more successful seasons with Team Tirilla and Portugal turned out to be his swansong. Fraga was a model of consistency during his career, finishing the season inside the top 70 seven seasons in a row. And for one week in Netherlands he was unbeatable. OCM managers who look back at his impressive career, will note that he only scored one big win. He should have achieved much more.
  
  (written by Tim Johnson of Gradient Levellers)
  



Comments


Gradient Levellers at 10:38 14/4-2012
  So many memories came up whilst researching this. That second edition of the Volta, when Yamauchi got injured whilst in conetention, was painful. Think he would have been a YG had it not been for Pap.


Asymm Project at 10:43 14/4-2012
  It's strange to check how time passes this fast. I believe to be reading about 90's cycling, but all of this happened in 2007 or later...
  
  Great writing!


Gradient Levellers at 10:49 14/4-2012
  I know, time is strange in this game.
  
  I mean to write that the demands placed on OCM riders mean they age four times quicker than normal people.


ultrajectum at 11:11 14/4-2012
  I also salute my former rider Julius Delavignette; amazing list of results!


Gradient Levellers at 11:34 14/4-2012
  Even though I raced against him probabky 100 times, he was always 'that guy with high TQ, who's not quite as good as van Bon at Airik.' Then he raced in the lower divisions.
  
  So, he was never really on my radar. But yes, a very impressive list of results and I could have included him. This list is very subjective as they're the riders I remember most!


ultrajectum at 13:14 14/4-2012
  :( a shame to see them all retire


Drapeau Noir at 13:17 14/4-2012
  Conrado Fraga is one of the best riders in OCM if we look at his number of results and the divisions where he got them. It's sad to see him disappear at only 33.
  
  I have to mention Merlin Limes. He has only spent 2 seasons fully trained but he was the n°1 cobbler in the rankings at one point. He got 10 top9 out of 11 races as captain during season 18, a very impressive achievement.
  He was also 2nd in the TvA and got 7 results in division 1 during his short time as a leader.


Team Tirilla at 13:39 14/4-2012
  Fraga was one of the best riders around which he proved when he reached 1st on the riders' ranking (though with many points from Nederlandse).
  My feeling is however that he was a bit unlucky - if he had more time in one top team with good support, I think we would look at him differently today. Still, his low FR was always his biggest problem and he just didn't deliver in some races.


Australian Warlord at 14:44 14/4-2012
  What about Jaroslav Brychta?
  http://www.cyclingsimulator.com/?page=Rider%20Profile&id=172598
  
  And Julius Delavignette, who loved lots of 3rd placings in the Dutch Tour.
  http://www.cyclingsimulator.com/?page=Rider%20Profile&id=127597
  
  And there's a few who'd already retired.


speedyb at 02:52 15/4-2012
  Goodbye TP! You will definitly be missed.
  
  Nice article Tim btw. :)


NightmareChaos at 11:59 15/4-2012
  Aksana Putin has heard good stories about retiring. So he will be joining these old uncles soon


Team Kernow at 21:03 15/4-2012
  Good bye TP, my old super domestique ;P.
  To this day, I wonder why I never maxed him(I think I sold him trained up to 48/49AV)
  
  Great Article :)


Gradient Levellers at 09:08 16/4-2012
  Cheers all.
  
  @ Warlord, delion. There's many riders on the list I could have written about, such as Brychta. I chose the ones which I'd raced against the most or had something to say. So pretty subjective.


scuppernong at 21:11 16/4-2012
  Another well written article and a good follow on from the young guns. All riders that never quite lived up to their early promise.


Super Velo at 17:54 19/4-2012
  Good article. OCM certainly does have a rich history.


NightmareChaos at 14:10 22/4-2012
  astapkovich wins again!


KAB pro cycling at 16:16 26/4-2012
  Never! The old riders are always the best! I will always keep my riders until at least 34-35. I mean, if Cadel Evans can win the TdF at 34, what's a few older experienced virtual riders going to do damage to?