There are so many passionate managers in OCM, but you never quite have the time to hear their full story. But that is going to change, because from now on I will be interviewing managers. And what better way to start than with the nr.1 ranked manager?
  
  
  DH: Hello Mister slico. First I want to thank you for letting me interview you. Let's start with the first question. How did you start playing OCM?
  Slico: Well, that was a while ago (10-05-2010 to be exact). I was/am interested in real cycling and in Holland wielerflits.nl is a good site for cycling news. So I registered there and I looked on it every now and then. But Wielerflits.nl also has a forum section, and some users discussed cycling games there. OCM was one of the topics. There's been hundreds of pages written about OCM and when I saw that, I decided to try the game. I guess most of the OCM managers already know Wielerflits, I guess that 80% of the Dutch managers play the game thanks to wielerflits.nl. So I started the game and that topic on Wielerflits.nl was perfect for starters. Lot of managers are there to help you, and in the start I used a lot of their tips. And thanks to the lively discussions there, OCM kept interesting.
  
  DH: What do you see as your biggest success in your OCM career?
  Slico: Well, my biggest achievement is, without doubt, my 1st place in the World Ranking. In my opinion, that's the highest you can reach in OCM and I'm proud that I achieved that.
  
  DH: What was the biggest mistake you made in your career?
  Slico: I can't think of any really big faults I made. But I have always struggled with topforms. I messed up several of them, by triggering the riders too soon. Thats also why I don't do recharging.
  
  DH: So without TF, do you still have fun riding tours?
  Slico: Well, yeah, I do. My last tour was a while ago, but tours are always fun to do. Most of the times I tried to win a few stages and did not aim for the GC. The GC is often for the riders with topform of course, but that's normal. Some managers plan the whole season to use their topform as optimal as possible, and that needs to be rewarded. I have not won any classification in the Germany Tour or Vuelta de los Castillos, and I hope I will manage that one day.

My closest to the podium was the 7th place of Bob Lepage in the 19th edition of the Germany Tour. So there's room for improvement.
  
  DH: Does his performance in GT make Lepage your best rider ever or would you give another rider that title?
  Slico: Wow, that's a tough question. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with his 7th place in the Germany Tour. I remember now that he missed top form by a few hours. But Lepage still was one of the best climbers of the peloton and he should have done better than 7th, so that wasn't a good achievement. But besides that Tour, I would not say that Lepage is my best rider ever. That title goes to Todd Caff. He managed to get #1 in the world, while Lepage was just 2nd. Lepage wasn't much less than Caff back than, but Caff used his topform much better. That made him the only Sprint4Live rider who became #1 until now, so I guess he is my best rider ever.
  
  DH: Enough about the past, now a question about your present. Is Caff still your best rider in this team, or is Nijholt your preferred captain?
  Slico: Well, nowadays both my captains Lepage and Caff are starting to get old. They don't perform outstanding any more, but Lepage got 500 points more than Caff. So at this moment I guess that Lepage is my best rider, but that can change any minute. Nijholt was a nice chance to buy a top rider. He wasn't very cheap, but he has a great history. He has been in my team for 1,5 seasons now and has scored 850 points: very decent. But he is already 32, so I don't know for how long he will be in the team.
  
  DH: So you are going to rebuild your team in the coming seasons. Do you already have some talents on which you can build that new squad?
  Slico: As you can see, my two best Timetrialers (Buso and Figueira) are already 33 and their best times are way behind them. The reason for the lack of good young captains, is that I have been a little less active after I reached #1. So I missed the real good deals. So in the coming two, three seasons, I need to replace all my captains. That will be a nice challenge. Well, I just finished training Sisomphone Savthong, a 24-year-old climber. I bought him from Vientiane Cycling. I don't know yet whether he will be my captain or just a teammate. But I'm pretty happy with him, my climbers squad drastically needed

some young blood. I also bought Michel Aelemans from NECFTW. He is a 25-year-old TT'er, with decent achievements so far. Besides that I have agreed a deal with an anonymous manager, to take care of his TT-talent. He has got nice potentials, so I hope that he'll be the next TT-captain. But those three riders won't be enough, because I've got 14 riders over 30 in my team, the golden generation. So I'll keep searching, to hopefully match that generation or get even better...the search for talents is never over.
  
  DH: What are your further future plans?
  Slico: I don't have many future plans yet. But one I have is to win a tour one day, because I never did. Qutaiba still has his topform, so I will try this Germany Tour to win that one. But that's the only goal I have in mind now, I will just try to keep my first spot for as long as it's possible. I will see what the future brings me.
  
  DH: Do you have something which you would share with the community (tips, fun facts)?
  Slico: Just have fun in the game, that's the only thing. Only do what you like the most in the game, even if that brings you no further improvement in the ranking. It's just a game, so you better enjoy it as much as possible.
  
  DH: Choose the one you like the best of these:
  Slico's answers:
  Climbing or Sprinting? Sprinting
  Training or Transfer? Transfer, most people know why :)
  Points or Trophies/Jerseys? Points ,because I have just one trophy and jersey...
  Dussel or The Beast? Beast, unbelievable stats.
  EEO or FFL? EEO
  Germany Tour or Vuelta? Germay Tour, because it has the most history.
  World Tour or World Ranking? World Ranking
  Forum or Chat? That's a tough one. I've been away from the chat for a long time, but there were some nice discussions on it. So I think I choose the Chat.
  Real life or No Life? Real life of course :) Nowadays I spend a lot less time on OCM than I did before. When I was starting and building my team up, I spend quite a lot time, maybe half an hour, or a full hour every day. I'm glad I reduced that to five or ten minutes per day.
  
  Written by pundit Don Hamstre from don hamstre team to the OCMagazine