Pro Cycling Manager 26

Pro Cycling Manager 26 lets you manage a cycling team across a season, planning riders’ race programmes and objectives, developing their careers and choosing how races are simulated. Its season-planning system has been overhauled, and AI teams use the same planning tools.

Plan the season

You can shape your team’s hierarchy, assign roles to riders and organise the squad by speciality or versatility. Each race on the calendar has one of four priority levels, helping you decide where to commit your strongest riders. After setting objectives, you can lock in each rider’s programme to balance the squad from spring through the final races of the year.

An automatically generated plan is provided at the start of the season, and you can adjust it to suit your goals and constraints. Crashes, illness or poor form may force you to reduce a leader’s ambitions and revise their schedule mid-season.

Rider form and development

The redesigned day form system adds two attributes: Tour Focus and Classics Focus. Riders’ consistency and daily performance vary according to their strengths and target races. Grand Tour contenders hold steadier form across multi-stage races, while Classics specialists are more consistent in one-day events; less predictable riders may alternate between strong performances and off-days.

These traits develop over a rider’s career according to their race calendar and the events you enter them in, adding another consideration to long-term development.

Simulate races

Detailed Simulation runs the full 3D race engine without showing the race, calculating the event behind the scenes in seconds. The former simulation system is now called Instant Result. You can choose between Instant Result’s speed and the enhanced realism of Detailed Simulation, depending on the race.

Pro Cyclist mode

In Pro Cyclist mode, you can create a rider who looks like you or take control of an existing professional. Starting with a real-world rider lets you begin at a more advanced level and allocate their initial skill points to shape their profile around your preferred playstyle.

The refreshed contract system gives you faster access to top teams and a clearer route to cycling’s major races.

Career updates

• Recently retired riders can continue their careers as coaches or scouts.
• Team identity can evolve in Career mode, including a change of nationality during the off-season.
• National team participation is optional.
• Three second-division teams now receive automatic invitations to the calendar’s major races.
• A new game option lets you adjust Pro Cyclist progression and experience gain.