2024-26 Emerging Riders CQ game

[Salvarani]

Romeo did win that great l'Avenir stage last year. He might not go on to get a lot of pro victories, but he's had a decent start to this season. I would have kept him and Pelayo Sánchez in my team for this year, if I hadn't decided to keep the amount of non-Basque riders at a minimum.

You are not thinking about the main game right now?

Anyway, no doubt that Romeo and Arrieta can become good pro riders but as said I am unsure about what their ceiling is point wise.

Scoring minor points here and there will make them not appear as complete duds, but it is not like they will be game changers like Ayuso or C. Rod for example in other years.

As I said, if they can average 300-400 points over the next three seasons they will be decent picks.

My prediction can be completely off though. Who knows.

From what I seen they will be best as domestics for a strong leader and given own opportunities in smaller races. It is how it appears to me from what I have seen.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

I would have kept ... Pelayo Sánchez in my team for this year, if I hadn't decided to keep the amount of non-Basque riders at a minimum.

And if he hadn't reached 314 points by the end of last year...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

You are not thinking about the main game right now?

Anyway, no doubt that Romeo and Arrieta can become good pro riders but as said I am unsure about what their ceiling is point wise.

Scoring minor points here and there will make them not appear as complete duds, but it is not like they will be game changers like Ayuso or C. Rod for example in other years.

As I said, if they can average 300-400 points over the next three seasons they will be decent picks.

My prediction can be completely off though. Who knows.

From what I seen they will be best as domestics for a strong leader and given own opportunities in smaller races. It is how it appears to me from what I have seen.

I was thinking of the main game, yes. There are way too many game threads on here

Sánchez was of course not an option in this one, and I made it a rule not to have riders I've previously had in the main game, which was why Romeo didn't get picked for this one either.

I had high hopes for Arrieta, but after last season I'm no longer sure about his potential and going to UAE could also end up as poor decision, as they do have quite a lot of current and future leaders. Romeo is younger, but he's definitely too big to become a GC rider.

 

[Cordi333]

Arrieta is a classy rider with a good GT potential. At UAE he's not going to be a leader in the bigger races but UAE is a team that tries to cover most of the calendar so he'll have his shots. He was clearly the 2nd best 2002 spaniard after Ayuso.

Romeo is also a very good rider, by far the best 2003 spaniard. People tend to underestimate spanish riders potential cause they use to develop calmer than the youngster of other countries, but look for example at Lazkano right now how good he looks, who would have called it in 2021? Romeo has a profile similar to Lazkano.

 

[SafeBet]

Arrieta and Romeo doesnt strike me as "winners" though. Unsure what their ceiling is pointwise.

I feel like they more could become solid and reliable domestics for their leaders.

That's not what Matxin think about Arrieta, deemed as "rider with potential to be one of the best in the world".
Ceiling is probably limited by the amount of opportunities he will get at UAE though.

 

[Salvarani]

That's not what Matxin think about Arrieta, deemed as "rider with potential to be one of the best in the world".
Ceiling is probably limited by the amount of opportunities he will get at UAE though.

That's said about many young riders.

I think Matxin will always be positive in his comments about a signing and especially a young rider.

He looks like a solid rider, who is pretty all-round and could become a good asset to his team.

I dont see where he will score points outside of smaller Spanish races with a weak field or that he will develop into a great stage-racer.

 

[Salvarani]

Arrieta is a classy rider with a good GT potential. At UAE he's not going to be a leader in the bigger races but UAE is a team that tries to cover most of the calendar so he'll have his shots. He was clearly the 2nd best 2002 spaniard after Ayuso.

He could maybe win a GT-stage one day but that is about it.

 

[LosBrolin]

One last question for @LosBrolin about the junior game; does it specifically have to be guys?

Yes.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Onto page 5, and we haven't even had the first update: the just finished edition is only on page 6: keep it up.

Anyway, about that first update:
Year 1 month 1 to 4th February

There seems to have been a lot of racing already, and points in this game are off to a start like never before.

DEL TORO ROMERO Isaac	264​	41​	stage 1st & 3rd, GC 3rd and leader jersey days in TDU
TEUTENBERG Tim Torn	100​	1 (DJW)​	3rd in Valencia, twice top 10 in Majorca
GAUTHERAT Pierre	93​	17​	2nd in Ceramica, 4th in Marseillaise
PARET PEINTRE Valentin	92​	4​	GC 8th in TDU
LECERF William Junior	90​	33​	2nd in Al Ula Tour
MAGNIER Paul	80​	20​	Trofeo Ses Salines win
ROMEO ABAD Ivan	62​	8​
ARRIETA LIZARRAGA Igor	42​	16​

This month's scores, and therefore the overall standings:

1​	JonEzeitza	745	Del Toro, Gautherat, Lecerf, Paret-Peintre, Arrieta
2​	Hfgon1	707	Del Toro, Gautherat, Lecerf, Magnier, Romeo, Arrieta
3​	RoteLaterne	681	Del Toro, Gautherat, Lecerf, Magnier, Arrieta
4​	Anderis	660	Del Toro, Gautherat, Lecerf, Magnier, Arrieta
4​	Madrazo	660	Del Toro, Gautherat, Lecerf, Magnier, Arrieta
6​	SafeBet	650	Del Toro, Gautherat, Lecerf, Magnier, Arrieta
7​	Cordi	642
8​	Salvarani	632
9​	Houdini	623
10​	DJW	612
11​	DJSprtsch	598
12​	JPettersen	595
13​	EvansIsTheBest	583
14​	Squire	580
15​	Nakazar	578
16​	Kazistuta	570
17​	Leadbelly	565
18​	Armchair_Cyclist	562
19​	Rufs	549
20​	Karaev	547
21​	JumboVismaFan	535
22​	Peixotini	528
23​	Bminchow	524
24​	DevilsElbow	522
25​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	520
26​	Boris98	512
27​	Berflamand	495
28​	Nyssinator	490
29​	Skidmark	478
30​	18Valve	470
31​	Laarsland	467
32​	Vladimir	458
33​	Fivezzz	449
34​	Ray10	443
35​	Riverside	439
36​	Ingsve	420
37​	Laurens147	383
38​	Josedin	372
39​	AmisVelo	367
40​	LosBrolin	333
41​	LarryLangosta	322
42​	SamuCuenca	165
43​	RedheadDane	0
	CollectiveWisdom	669
	CollectiveIgnorance	761
	MainGame2024	522
	Goodin2023	602
	PopularLastEdition	228

The early stars in the Collective Ignorance team are Baudin, Schultz, Mariault and Osorio, but perhaps that group will not embarrass us as much as they sometimes have. As we get better at this game, they should become more insignificant: maybe there will come a time when I need to do a best rare picks team instead.


By the same principle as in my other games, where there is a tie I will split the teams by the breadth of distribution of points within the teams, so of picks that are not shared, the higher scoring individual counts against his team. Anderis and Madrazo share 13 riders, and the only scoring riders that are not shared (Kulset and Gazzoli respectively) both have ten points, so I'll just have to hope that the other 8 non-shared riders start doing something. As an example, if Sentjens and Widar had one point each for Anderis, and Umba had 2 points for Madrazo, then Anderis would have the advantage. But unless such ties are in the top ten, I normally won't bother.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

If anybody has earned the benefit of the doubt and a little leeway when it comes to submitting their team it's skidmark.

Which was very much my thinking (and almost exactly my words when I afforded him late entry into the Women's game last year), but I wanted to make sure there were no objections. It does change the Collective Wisdom team a bit: Nerurkar now only has a marginal input to it as one of three riders averaged out to fill the last two spots, and Pollefliet no longer has even that much influence.

Skidmark comes in at 9th on the popularity table, and deprives Boris98 of his only unique pick in Zeb Kyffin.

 

[Anderis]

I'm astonished to be 4th after the 1st update given how many riders without a pro contract are on my team.

 

[rote_laterne2]

Podium spot, off to a good start.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Well at least I've scored points.

 

[Cordi333]

Fun fact: 7th is my best start ever!

the vibes with my team rn:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY2Vx8-yOsQ

 

[RedheadDane]

I just need some time to get the diesel up and running. Just you wait...

 

[Squire]

So me and 21 others have a world champion in our teams already, after Jørgen Nordhagen won the 20km cross country skiing junior world championship by a margin of more than two minutes down to the silver medalist.

I'm curious to see how quickly he can make a mark in pro cycling. He's a unique pick for me in the 2023-2025 edition of this game, so I'm obviously hoping that the answer to that question is very soon!

 

[RedheadDane]

So me and 21 others have a world champion in our teams already, after Jørgen Nordhagen won the 20km cross country skiing junior world championship by a margin of more than two minutes down to the silver medalist.

Unfortunately, I don't think we're gonna get points for that...

But, yeah... the first of my riders to get a result, and it's in skiing... go figure!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Unfortunately, I don't think we're gonna get points for that...

But, yeah... the first of my riders to get a result, and it's in skiing... go figure!

You're thinking of skating here. Common mistake.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

I dunno, I can't imagine that an ex-skier is particularly likely to do well in cycling...Irony, please don't give me the list

 

[Salvarani]

I dunno, I can't imagine that an ex-skier is particularly likely to do well in cycling...Irony, please don't give me the list

I am not gonna give you a list... but I think I saw the Swedish Biathlon team do a lot of cycling in the off season.

And I know Niklas Van Der Poel, who won two Olympic gold medals for Sweden in speed skating last time around in 5000m and 10 000m, was cycling in the Alps for months as prep. Shockingly... Jumbo was said to be interested in signing him, I believe.

 

[Squire]

I am not gonna give you a list... but I think I saw the Swedish Biathlon team do a lot of cycling in the off season.

And I know Niklas Van Der Poel, who won two Olympic gold medals for Sweden in speed skating last time around in 5000m and 10 000m, was cycling in the Alps for months as prep. Shockingly... Jumbo was said to be interested in signing him, I believe.

Van der Poel and Van Aert in the same team would really be something!

 

[Cordi333]

Cordi has demonstrated that he is not to be taken lightly in this game. Notable therefore that several of his "Seriously considered but ultimately dropped" mentions would have been unique picks: Golliker, Thierry, Soderqvist & McKenzie.

Are these the likely stars of the Collective Ignorance team? Who else might feature in that? You probably need to know who the 125 selected riders are before you can make nominations for that. I'll be back with that list soon.

Soderqvist already looking very good, maybe I should have taken him. But maybe I should have taken an entire 2nd team hahaha, it's better just to think if the ones selected are good bets or not.

 

[rote_laterne2]

I received permission from Armchair Cyclist to share our Junior game 2024 here, so here it is:

Info:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1721834413938397514

View: https://twitter.com/LosBrolin/status/1721834413938397514


Please note that points are generated using the FC Junior ranking, a detail missing from the info tweet. Only UCI races will be considered : https://firstcycling.com/race.php?y=2024&t=4

Sent in my team, next off to the spring classics.

 

[Salvarani]

Soderqvist already looking very good, maybe I should have taken him. But maybe I should have taken an entire 2nd team hahaha, it's better just to think if the ones selected are good bets or not.

I wouldnt get my hopes up too much.

He looks very similar to Tobias Ludvigsson and he has never scored more than 289 CQ points, which he did in 2013 when he was 22.

The race where he has been most successful is Etoile de Bessèges. He won it 2014. Second in 2019. The ITT to Ales has suited him very good.

Söderqvist now had some success Tour de Provence, thanks to a good prologue.

I would be pretty shocked if he turns into more than a useful domestic rider and stacking national titles. Maybe similar to Ludvigsson he will have his moment to shine in a shorter stage-race like Etoile de Bességes or a similar race, which doesnt feature many or long climbs and has a prologue/ITT.

 

[Cordi333]

I wouldnt get my hopes up too much.

He looks very similar to Tobias Ludvigsson and he has never scored more than 289 CQ points, which he did in 2013 when he was 22.

The race where he has been most successful is Etoile de Bessèges. He won it 2014. Second in 2019. The ITT to Ales has suited him very good.

Söderqvist now had some success Tour de Provence, thanks to a good prologue.

I would be pretty shocked if he turns into more than a useful domestic rider and stacking national titles. Maybe similar to Ludvigsson he will have his moment to shine in a shorter stage-race like Etoile de Bességes or a similar race, which doesnt feature many or long climbs and has a prologue/ITT.

Well, I don't agree here, as I think Soderqvist has a nice potential to be a good WT riders, and I think his ceiling is yet unknown. I wouldn't compare riders just because they're from the same nation and did well in similar races so far, or at least I wouldn't expect the 2nd one to have similar success than the 1st one just based on that.

Soderqvist is a rider that until last year was almost solely focused on the mtb, and with almost no background at road racing he did great results. That tells me there should be a lot of room to grow, which has already shown in his first race as a pro rider completely focused on the road.