Typically, when the world of cycling collides with computer games, we talk about the emerging discipline of indoor cycling, with turbo trainers, Zwift and the like, but not today. Today’s announcement comes from the more mainstream world of computer gaming, where you’ll usually find people talking about Minecraft or League of Legends.

While they probably won’t be able to boast the same levels of participants as the aforementioned duo, two of the biggest road cycling PC games are getting a refresh, and the result is that today Today sees the launch of Pro Cycling Manager 2022 and Tour de France 2022.

Both titles are owned and produced by Nacon Gaming, a games company in northern France, and their annual launch is timed to coincide with the Tour de France.

2022 Professional Cycling Manager

Pro Cycling Manager was originally launched in 2001 under the short name of Cycling Manager. It took the “Pro” label in 2005 and has been launched every year since then.

The main premise of the game is to transport you, the player, into the role of a sporting director of a professional cycling team, with the goal of growing your team to the top of the sport by managing recruitment, sponsors, training , talents. scouting, race strategy and more. However, the game’s alternate Pro Cyclist mode allows you to become a single rider with the goal of winning races and building a career.

There are a host of updates for the 2022 game, which include a new talent scouting system where your scouts are designed to learn and improve over time, tweaked running dynamics that mimic the unpredictability of real life, a new rider development process, a redesigned interface that’s easier to navigate, and a change to the systems that control rider endurance and resistance. Each stage of the Tour de France 2022 has also been integrated into the new game.

It’s priced at £34.99, but unfortunately for Mac owners, Pro Cycling Manager is only available on PC, via the Steam store.

Tour de France 2022

While Pro Cycling Manager puts you in the role of DS or rider, Tour de France lets you be a rider, an entire team, or even a race organizer.

In Pro Leader mode, you are a racer. You can choose to be any type of rider you like, from sprinter to mountain goat, and the goal, perhaps unsurprisingly, is to have a successful Tour de France. For some, this will mean points jersey success, while others will want to go all-in for the GC. In Pro Team mode, you start at the lowest rungs of the cycling ladder. As a team, you must work to succeed and earn race invites. As invites grow, so does your team’s profile, and the ultimate goal is an invite – and ultimately, victory – on the Tour. Meanwhile, My Tour mode puts you in the shoes of the race organizer. Choose from 92 stages to build a grand tour over 21 days, choosing the route, rest days, teams that participate and more.

For 2022, new features include an online mode with a challenge called “Race of the Week”, which lets you race against other players around the world. The new racing dynamics found in Pro Cycling Manager are also found here, as are the stages of the Tour de France 2022, as well as “the ‘Primavera Classic’ inspired by a great Italian race”, which we can only assume that it is Milan-San Rémo.

Like Pro Cycling Manager. Tour de France 2022 is also not available for Mac users, but alongside the Steam-powered PC game, it is also available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series X.