Pro Cycling Manager 26
Review
Get on you bike
by Howie Howard
reviewed on PC
Does it really take a lot of brains to be a pro cyclist?
No not really, it takes strong legs, but it doesn't hurt when trying to develop the best cycling manager sim possible. Pro Cycling Manager is the brain child of French developer Cyanide Studios. This long running professional cycling manager game made it's debut back in 2001 under the name Cycling Manager. The developer in the games early years also acted as it's first publisher, but In 2005 Nacon took over the duty of publishing the newly named Pro Cycling Manager.
Has pro cycling really been around that long?
Professional cycling began on May 31, 1868 when a 1,200-metre race was held at the Park of Saint-Cloud in Paris. This marked the start of organized bicycle racing as a sport. The first Tour de France was held from July 1 to July 19, 1903. Pro Cycling Manager has not been around that long, but has a storied 25 year long history of the best cycling video game ever. Actually, Pro Cycling Manager or (PCM) can be considered to be the only bicycle racing manager simulation in the world; but it's depth and detail really is unrivaled, even when other sports sims are considered.
PCM during it's many years in existence has provided the world's bike racing fans - such as myself - an outlet to experience management of a professional cycling team. The other very popular option that came in to being in 2015 allows the player to function as a single rising star in cycling. That feature is separate from the team game and it is called Pro Cyclist. It is included in addition to the main team management option. In another words, you can manage everything concerning the operation of an entire team or you can take on the management of a single rookie cyclist that has entered the pro world with the ambition of becoming a star.
Happy 25th anniversary PCM!
2026 is the 25th anniversary of PCM! I wanted to touch on the historical aspect of PCM before getting in to a more in-depth look at this title because the evolution of this game really is amazing. PCM is released every year which coincides with the yearly Tour de France race in July. Cyanide has most, if not all, of the sports licenses in order to use race names and some or most of the names and likenesses of the athletes. The Tour as it is commonly known is a big time event, especially in France and Europe in general. Unfortunately, in some other regions of the world the race isn't presented. That's the way it is in the US for myself because all I get are clips maybe once a week if I'm lucky.
The above paragraphs highlight the greatness that Pro Cycling Manager has become. The series often gets overshadowed by critics almost yearly with complaints that new editions never offer much in the way of new graphics or features. The narrative often is that the updates and additions could simply be added as a one time update to the game instead of calling it a new version. Some of the time the yearly release does seem like a minor update and the question then becomes, is the purchase for any particular year worth the expenditure? For the 2026 version, I say yes, it is worth it and I will explain in the following paragraphs.
The game of pro cycling really is all about the team!
Generally speaking, when I decide to play a career game as manager of an entire team, I prefer to start out from the very beginning and in the lowest level of professional cycling. When a new game is started the perspective manager has the option to chose an existing team that competes in any one of the three professional levels, which are Continental, Pro Continental or World Tour, known as the CYA World Tour in Pro Cycling Manager. If you chose to start out from scratch the team budget is determined by your chosen riders star power and their present contract. By that I mean, if you pick all stars that come with the highest salaries then your new team will be added to the World Tour immediately and you will definitely not be starting from the beginning.
Each teams present level comes with a set number of riders allowed on the team. A Continental team can have a maximum of 20 riders under contract with the minimum being 10. Pro Continental and World Tour Teams can have a max of 30 riders and you will need that many because the racing schedule can be extensive. I always like to start with lesser known and younger riders that do not have a pro contract and that are not on a team, but finding riders that are not on a team is very difficult to begin with. Of course, it has been like that for as long as I can remember and I initially started playing PCM with the 2009 version! All of the teams are listed but there really needs to be a contract-less rider option when starting a new team. That has been my main gripe literally for years. However, when signing riders at the end of a season, riders with out a contract are shown with those that are on a team.
Time sure does fly, or rather it rides away quickly...
I personally have been involved with the game more than once since Pro Cycling Manager's inception. The 26 version of the game definitely does contain what the developer claims are "completely overhauled season planning with greater immersion and control." I will say that I haven't started a new team career since my last play through of PCM with the 2021 version. That's 5 years ago and much has changed. The game still looks much the same as it did years ago, but I definitely can see changes as far as how the riders act and perform. It does play differently but I think emphasis is placed mainly on race results, especially when the AI is used to hasten season progress. Season progress is always determined as events are raced and training is accomplished and that never changes.
Game changes are really quite extensive this year because again, as game media states: you can "shape your team's hierarchy, assign roles to each rider, and organize your squad by specialty or versatility to get the most out of your roster." That is certainly a feature that has never been in the game previously. In addition, races on the calendar now carry one to four priority levels. Meaning how important each race that a rider is entered in to and how their assigned schedule will effect the particular riders morale is important. That is a pretty big change because if a rider wants to be in the Giro and the team isn't qualified to race the Giro then that riders morale will take a hit and it does effect his race performance.
I only want to manage one rider!
That is definitely possible in the Pro Cyclist mode. I was impressed with the amount of upgrades the game has acquired since I last played it. In the past when AI was called on to calculate race results there always seemed be a race that simply did not turn out as expected. Even though that has changed, the fact remains that as the human manager, if you play out the entire race manually the result is always better for your team. The only drawback to that is it takes considerably longer to get through the entire season.
Speaking about the Pro Cyclist mode, several changes have bee improved as well. The training schedule has more depth and race schedules are more comprehensive. Pro cyclist has always been fun because your main concern is just the management of a single cyclist as he tries to work his way through the star levels. Of course, there are many variables that can be set in the beginning. If your preference is to just be a team mate, that is possible. The benefit of choosing a lesser team role is that there's not as much concern about the star getting the win. So the team mate will be more concerned with controlling the race pace, going on break a-ways and retrieving water bottles for the team. That in it self can be a lot of fun but I always liked winning races and teams mates aren't required to do that in cycling.
Does PCM win this Tour?
Pro Cycling Manager has always been a niche sports management simulation. If you are a diehard results person then yes, the new and improved race results AI along with the training features and other upgrades are much improved. For myself, I want the in-race details to be as realistic as possible but I'm not all that keen on altering and setting up the perfect training or race schedule for all 30 of the riders on the team. I let the game AI do that and I concentrate on running the races myself. With that said, Pro Cycling Manager 2026 is a winner. Will you win the Tour? Not right away, but like the Tour itself, this is a marathon. Don't give up trying, because once you do manage your way to victory in the Tour or in any race, the rewards and satisfaction is very much welcomed and its a fun ride!
As always, follow Hooked Gamers on Instagram for news updates, reviews, competitions and more.
8.5
fun score
Pros
PCM is a niche sports manager sim but the joy of actually winning the Tour is loads of fun!
Cons
The graphics are mostly the same as the previous titles.
