A method is provided for adapting the starting gear of an automated manual transmission in a heavy vehicle, where a pre-selected starting gear is selected by a transmission control unit depending on vehicle parameters of the heavy vehicle, where the starting gear is lowered from the pre-selected starting gear depending on a movement behavior of a vehicle in front of the heavy vehicle. The pre-selected starting gear can be adapted to the traffic in front of the vehicle, which makes it possible to avoid unnecessary gear changes and which allows for a smooth starting cycle of the vehicle.