2018 Spring Classics CQ game

[Armchair cyclist]

At the halfway stage, the leading scorers
Rider/points/price/teams (if any)
NIBALI Vincenzo 280 1822
DEMARE Arnaud 269 1472
DEHAES Kenny 203 442 The Asian
HOFSTETTER Hugo 197 142
COLBRELLI Sonny 188 1120 Laarsland
BENOOT Tiesj 185 813 Armchair Cyclist, Scrool07, The Art
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 185 483 Blues in the Bottle, Nathanptz
MOHORIC Matej 184 448
EWAN Caleb 170 722
VIVIANI Elia 166 1384
CAPIOT Amaury 163 32 20 teams
Ackermann Pascal 161 134
JAKOBSEN Fabio 155 118 Josedin
SAGAN Peter 146 2296
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz 144 105
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose 140 26 Josedin
SISR Frantisek 140 56 So 2017
STUYVEN Jasper 140 1064
Groenewegen Dylan 140 1139
Jans Roy 126 376
KRISTOFF Alexander 125 1969
VISCONTI Giovanni 118 634
CANOLA Marco 118 905
Dempster Zakkari 116 80
VAN AERT Wout 115 492 Chiron, DFA123, Fauniera, Josedin, NorthAmericanScum, Squire
PLANCKAERT Baptiste 115 320
ROELANDTS Jürgen 112 228 20 teams
BARDET Romain 108 1162
DE BIE Sean 103 57 20

And the best returns on investment:
Name/points/price/percentage return/teams
Turgis Jimmy 47 5 940
Fenn Andrew 75 8 938
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose 140 26 538 1
OLIVEIRA Rui Filipe Alves 47 9 522
CAPIOT Amaury 163 32 509 20 teams
BASSO Leonardo 22 6 367 DJW
SISR Frantisek 140 56 250 So 2017
DE BONDT Dries 84 46 183
DE BIE Sean 103 57 181 20
OTTEMA Rick 48 29 166
TURGIS Tanguy 36 24 150
Dempster Zakkari 116 80 145
HOFSTETTER Hugo 197 142 139
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz 144 105 137
DUVAL Julien 72 53 136
VAN RHEE Joey 36 27 133
JAKOBSEN Fabio 155 118 131 Josedin
ARCHBOLD Shane 42 34 124
Ackermann Pascal 161 134 120
Goolaerts Michael 12 10 120
MORICE Julien 15 15 100
KAMSTRA Brian 5 5 100

and those who could have been free picks, had any of us picked them, with their points scored.
BOVENHUIS Jasper 26
KLEIMAN Wim 5
HAVIK Piotr 5
MÄRKL Niklas 5
BRAND Samuel 5

[Salvarani]

Both Vliegen and now Thwaites are out now. That hurts my team a bit... I was expecting them to score a few points in some races.

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 11: E3 Harelbeke
A fruitless chase on the road, but the pursuit of our gameleaders has been merciless. Some consolation for those who felt robbed of points in Le Samyn.

TERPSTRA Niki 1st, 220pts for 20 teams
GILBERT Philippe 2nd, 132pts for So 2017
NAESEN Oliver 4th, 96 pts for Semir S
BENOOT Tiesj 5th, 86 for Armchair Cyclist, Scrool07, The Art
VANMARCKE Sep 7th, 66 for 24 teams
MOSCON Gianni 8th, 58 for 9
STYBAR Zdenek 9th, 52 for 20
ROELANDTS Jürgen 35pts for 20
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 27pts for 2
HAUSSLER Heinrich 17 for 6
DEGENKOLB John 15 for 1
KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav 14 for 2
ANDERSEN Søren Kragh 11 for 1
VANDENBERGH Stijn 6 for 13
and 14 riders getting 5 points for finishing, of whom only Van Baarle is on more than 6 teams.


Although there were more points available in Milan-San Remo last weekend, this was far more productive in terms of points, because these were the riders we were focussed on. 6 teams took more points today than in the previous 10 races combined.

1 LosBrolin 454 (Terpstra, Vanmarcke, Moscon, Stybar, Roelandts, Haussler and Vandenburgh)
2 So2017 408 (Terpstra, Gilbert, Roelandts, Vandenburgh and 3 fivers)
3 RoteLaterne 401 (Terpstra, Vanmarcke, Moscon, Stybar and 1 fiver)
4 AmisVelo 394
5= Leadbelly, Madrazo 384
7= Hakkie, Russell23 378
9 Armchair 369
10 Zaka_fan 360
11 GPBlanco 349
12 DJW 340
13 Shalgo 336
14 Froschi 326
15 Laarsland 323
16 Scrool07 317
17 Nathanptz 309
18 The_Asian 289
19 Del1962 255
20 Bbass 225
21 TheArt 190
22 SemirS 177
23 DFA123 169
24 ThePirate81 163
25= Blues_in_the_Bottle, Squire 150
27 NairoQ 146
28 Vladimir 132
29 MellowVelo 129
30 NorthAmericanScum 128
31 Search 127
32= DJSprtsch, Fauniera 112
34 Comodoro 106
35 Kazistuta 83
36 Chiron 76
37 Joelsim 66
38 Salvarani 60
39 Josedin 0
CollectiveWisdom 384
Trudgin* 45

Standings

Big shake up. Neither of the top two this morning had Terpstra, or any of the top 5, so it is left to Laarsland to ascend to the top, although Russell23 (previously 7th) and Armchair Cyclist (previously 6th) join him on a closely packed podium. Picking 5 of the top 12 today gets Los Brolin the highest score of the day, the biggest jump (16 places), and a place in the top ten, which also has Madrazo and Amis Velo as new entries.

1 Laarsland 1048
2 Russell23 1037
3 Armchair 1030
4 Nathanptz 980
5 Hakkie 976
6 Madrazo 965
7 Squire 930
8 ThePirate81 892
9 LosBrolin 887
10 AmisVelo 859
10 TheArt 859
12 RoteLaterne 858
13 Shalgo 854
14 The_Asian 853
15 GPBlanco 809
16 So2017 799
17 Blues_in_the_Bottle 786
18 DJW 784
19 Leadbelly 778
20 Comodoro 722
21 DFA123 716
22 Zaka_fan 694
23 Salvarani 653
24 Scrool07 629
25 MellowVelo 617
26 Josedin 597
27 Fauniera 584
28 Froschi 583
29 NorthAmericanScum 571
30 Bbass 541
31 Search 540
32 Kazistuta 515
33 Joelsim 510
34 Vladimir 486
35 NairoQ 427
36 Del1962 415
37 SemirS 412
38 Chiron 393
39 DJSprtsch 387
CollectiveWisdom 989
Trudgin* 342

Similar sorts of points available on Sunday in Gent-Wevelgem, but how will they be distributed?

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 12: Gent-Wevelgem

The top three would have been very expensive picks, but those close behind them fitted into many of our team budgets:
LAPORTE Christophe 4th. 96 pts for The Art and Vladimir
DEBUSSCHERE Jens 5th, 86 pts for DFA123 and Vladimir
NAESEN Oliver 6th, 76 pts for SemirS
STYBAR Zdenek 8th, 58 pts for 20 teams
VAN AERT Wout 10th, 46pts 6 teams
VAN SCHIP Jan-Willem 35 1
VERMOTE Julien 24 3
KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav 21 2
GILBERT Philippe 19 1
VANMARCKE Sep 15 24
VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume 14 4
CORT NIELSEN Magnus 12 5
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 10 2
and no less than 46 more selected five pointers, including 6 of the Collective Wisdom team

1 Vladimir 281 (Laporte, Debusschere, Stybar, Kuznetsov, Vanmarcke and one fiver)
2 DFA123 244 (Debusschere, Stybar, Van Aert, Vermote, Vanmarcke and 3 fivers)
3 SemirS 135 (Naesen, Vanmarcke, Van Meirsbulck and 6 fivers)
4 Squire 131 (Zdenek, Van Aert, Cort and 3 fivers)
5 TheArt 116
6 Zaka_fan 114
7 NairoQ 112
8 Madrazo 108
9 Laarsland 107
10 NorthAmericanScum 105
11= AmisVelo, Blues_in_the_Bottle, Fauniera, Hakkie, Russell23 103
16= RoteLaterne, ThePirate81 100
18= LosBrolin, MellowVelo 98
20 DJW 97
21 Nathanptz 93
22 Chiron 91
23= Search, The_Asian 83
25 Armchair 78
26 Comodoro 75
27= Josedin, Salvarani 66
29 So2017 54
30= GPBlanco, Leadbelly 45
32= Froschi, Shalgo 40
34= DJSprtsch, Kazistuta 35
36 Scrool07 30
37 Joelsim 25
38 Del1962 20
39 Bbass 15
CollectiveWisdom 103
Trudgin* 51

Standings
The points were much lower than the E3 (only about 40% of the yield from that race) and apart from the top two, the range of scores was fairly narrow, so moves were mainly undramatic. The only movements in the top ten were one place movements for Hakkie and Madrazo, with Nathanptz sliding down to accommodate that. Good days for Vladimir and DFA123 earn jumps of 11 and 9 places respectively.

1 Laarsland 1155
2 Russell23 1140
3 Armchair 1108
4 Hakkie 1079
5 Madrazo 1073
5 Nathanptz 1073
7 Squire 1061
8 ThePirate81 992
9 LosBrolin 985
10 TheArt 975
11 AmisVelo 962
12 DFA123 960
13 RoteLaterne 958
14 The_Asian 936
15 Shalgo 894
16 Blues_in_the_Bottle 889
17 DJW 881
18 GPBlanco 854
19 So2017 853
20 Leadbelly 823
21 Zaka_fan 808
22 Comodoro 797
23 Vladimir 767
24 Salvarani 719
25 MellowVelo 715
26 Fauniera 687
27 NorthAmericanScum 676
28 Josedin 663
29 Scrool07 659
30 Froschi 623
30 Search 623
32 Bbass 556
33 Kazistuta 550
34 SemirS 547
35 NairoQ 539
36 Joelsim 535
37 Chiron 484
38 Del1962 435
39 DJSprtsch 422
CollectiveWisdom 1092
Trudgin 393

We continue on Wednesday with the Dwars door Vlaanderen, and on Wednesday and Sunday each week until we finish four weeks from today in Liege.

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 13: Dwars door Vlaanderen

The winning break included the most popular pick in the game, one unique pick, and three who were unchosen: the final podium was Unpicked-Unique pick-Popular

TEUNISSEN Mike 2nd, 108pts for Salvarani
VANMARCKE Sep 3rd, 92 for 24 teams
STYBAR Zdenek 6th, 62 for 20 teams
BENOOT Tiesj 7th, 54 for Armchair Cyclist, Scrool07, The Art
TERPSTRA Niki 9th, 40 for 20 teams
MOSCON Gianni 12th, 27 for 9
ROOSEN Timo 13th, 24 for Nathanptz, Salvarani, The Art
CORT NIELSEN Magnus 14th, 22 for Fauniera, Rote Laterne, Salvarani, Squire, ThePirate81
DEGENKOLB John 15th, 20 for Shalgo
LAPORTE Christophe 18 for 2
VAN POPPEL Danny 16 for 3
DE BUYST Jasper 14 for 1
ROWE Luke 9 for 2
HAUSSLER Heinrich 8 for 6
THEUNS Edward 7 for 2
and 21 five pointers


Looking at the above, you might expect Salvarani to be the big scorer of the day, but his team popularity ranking was 3rd lowest, as he had eschewed all those high scoring popular riders, and there he is mid-table.

1 RoteLaterne 243 (Vanmarcke, Stybar, Terpstra, Moscon, Cort)
2 LosBrolin 239 (Vanmarcke, Stybar, Terpstra, Moscon, Haussler and 2 fivers)
3 AmisVelo 219 (Vanmarcke, Stybar, Terpstra and 5 fivers)
4 Madrazo 214
5 Hakkie 209
6 Russell23 204
7 NairoQ 184
8 ThePirate81 181
9 Vladimir 177
10 DFA123 174
11 Blues_in_the_Bottle 173
12 Armchair 171
13 GPBlanco 169
13 Leadbelly 169
15 MellowVelo, Salvarani 164
17 Shalgo 162
18 Zaka_fan 149
19 Fauniera 145
20 DJW 144
21 Froschi 142
22 TheArt 133
23 Nathanptz, Squire 126
25 NorthAmericanScum, The_Asian 120
27 Laarsland 117
28 DJSprtsch 116
29 Search 113
30 SemirS 112
31 Scrool07 109
32 Kazistuta 105
33 Chiron 102
34 Joelsim 99
35 Comodoro 97
36 Del1962 61
37 So2017 60
38 Bbass 54
39 Josedin 20
CollectiveWisdom 209
Trudgin* 5

Standings

This was the second highest race so far in the game, after E3 Harelbeke, and although it didn't shake things up quite as much as that race did, it has had an impact.
Most notably, it had an impact at the top. Russell jumps from 3rd to take the lead, with more of a margin than we have seen before. The Collective Wisdom team has done very well since action has returned to Belgium, and would be in second place if it were ranked (Russell is top of the popularity rankings, so the CW team is closest to his in composition as well as in competition). Hakkie and Madrazo both jump onto the podium, Rote Laterne is jumper of the day and into the top ten, and Amis Velo sneaks back into that group too.

1 Russell23 1344
2 Hakkie 1288
3 Madrazo 1287
4 Armchair 1279
5 Laarsland 1272
6 LosBrolin 1224
7 RoteLaterne 1201
8 Nathanptz 1199
9 Squire 1187
10 AmisVelo 1181
11 ThePirate81 1173
12 DFA123 1134
13 TheArt 1108
14 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1062
15 Shalgo 1056
15 The_Asian 1056
17 DJW 1025
18 GPBlanco 1023
19 Leadbelly 992
20 Zaka_fan 957
21 Vladimir 944
22 So2017 913
23 Comodoro 894
24 Salvarani 883
25 MellowVelo 879
26 Fauniera 832
27 NorthAmericanScum 796
28 Scrool07 768
29 Froschi 765
30 Search 736
31 NairoQ 723
32 Josedin 683
33 SemirS 659
34 Kazistuta 655
35 Joelsim 634
36 Bbass 610
37 Chiron 586
38 DJSprtsch 538
39 Del1962 496
CollectiveWisdom 1301
Trudgin* 398

Sunday is one of the big ones: see you then.

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 14: Ronde van Vlaanderen

Big scores today, with maximum point scale in place, and 4 of the most popular picks among the top 13, including the winner.

TERPSTRA Niki 1st, 280pts 20 teams
GILBERT Philippe 3rd, 145pts for So 2017
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 4th, 125 for Blues in the Bottle and Nathanptz
BENOOT Tiesj 8th, 80 for Armchair Cyclist, Scrool07, The Art
VAN AERT Wout 9th, 70 for Chiron, DFA123, Fauniera, Josedin, NorthAmericanScum, Squire
STYBAR Zdenek 10th, 62 for 20 teams
NAESEN Oliver 11th, 54 for 1
VAN BAARLE Dylan 12th, 46 for 17 teams
VANMARCKE Sep 13th, 42 for 24 teams
ROOSEN Timo 14th, 38 3
TEUNISSEN Mike 18th, 28 1
CORT NIELSEN Magnus 20th, 24 5
MOSCON Gianni 22 9
LANGEVELD Sebastian 20 6
COLBRELLI Sonny 18 1
HAUSSLER Heinrich 14 6
OSS Daniel 12 7
ROELANDTS Jürgen 10 20
DEVRIENDT Tom 6 1


1 Nathanptz 573 (Terpstra, Valgren, Stybar, Van Baarle, Roosen, Oss and 2 fivers)
2 So2017 511 (Terpstra, Gilbert, Van Baarle, Langeveld, Roelandts and 2 fivers)
3 AmisVelo 480 (Terpstra, Stybar, Van Baarle, Vanmarcke, Langeveld, Roelandts and 4 fivers)
4 Russell23 462 (Terpstra, Stybar, Van Baarle, Vanmarcke, Oss, Roelandts and 2 fivers)
5= Madrazo, Zaka_fan 450
7 Armchair 447
8 Hakkie 445
9 LosBrolin 440
10 RoteLaterne 435
11 GPBlanco 417
12 Leadbelly 410
13 Laarsland 397
14 Scrool07 395
15 DJW 394
16 The_Asian 371
17 Froschi 352
18 Shalgo 347
19 Bbass 295
20= Blues_in_the_Bottle, Del1962 290
22 DFA123 245
23 NorthAmericanScum 199
24 Squire 198
25 ThePirate81 194
26 Chiron 180
27= MellowVelo, TheArt 165
29 SemirS 157
30 Fauniera 151
31 Comodoro 125
32 NairoQ 123
33 Salvarani 120
34 Vladimir 114
35 Search 113
36 Josedin 81
37 Kazistuta 66
38 DJSprtsch 62
39 Joelsim 47
CollectiveWisdom 455
Trudgin* 55

Standings
Very high points, but of today's top ten, eight were already in the top ten overall, so this was more a case of re-enforcing the advantages that had already accrued. But that is not to say that the 23% of total scores to date that were won today did nothing. Russell hangs on to the lead, but the lead is considerably cut back, not by those on this morning's podium, but by Nathanptz' rise from 8th to 2nd as the day's top scorer. Madrazo hangs on to his 3rd place, and Amis Velo moves up a couple of spots. New in the top ten is GPBlanco, on the back of a 10 place rise, but the biggest riser of the day is the S0 2017 team, with a 10 place jump courtesy of the unique pick of Gilbert.

And the absolute need to have picked Terpstra is shown in the highest team without him being in 17th place.

1 Russell23 1806
2 Nathanptz 1772
3 Madrazo 1737
4 Hakkie 1733
5 Armchair 1726
6 Laarsland 1669
7 LosBrolin 1664
8 AmisVelo 1661
9 RoteLaterne 1636
10 GPBlanco 1440
11 The_Asian 1427
12 So2017 1424
13 DJW 1419
14 Zaka_fan 1407
15 Shalgo 1403
16 Leadbelly 1402
17 Squire 1385
18 DFA123 1379
19 ThePirate81 1367
20 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1352
21 TheArt 1273
22 Scrool07 1163
23 Froschi 1117
24 Vladimir 1058
25 MellowVelo 1044
26 Comodoro 1019
27 Salvarani 1003
28 NorthAmericanScum 995
29 Fauniera 983
30 Bbass 905
31 Search 849
32 NairoQ 846
33 SemirS 816
34 Del1962 786
35 Chiron 766
36 Josedin 764
37 Kazistuta 721
38 Joelsim 681
39 DJSprtsch 600
CollectiveWisdom 1756
Trudgin 453

I'm not expecting a big points haul on Wednesday in the Scheldeprijs, as the type of sprinter who is likely to be among the big points will have had a big price, and not specialise greatly in the rest of this series.

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 15: Scheldeprijs

Few point scorers, as predicted, but they got more points than might otherwise have been expected, due to a combination of gates and punctures.
Yet another unique pick victory for Josedin, and he had the 3rd best picked rider as well.

JAKOBSEN Fabio 1st, 140pts for Josedin
DEBUSSCHERE Jens 4th, 62pts for DFA123 and Vladimir
VERMELTFOORT Coen 11th, 22pts for Josedin
VAN SCHIP Jan-Willem 17th, 9pts for Comodoro
PHINNEY Taylor 19th, 7 for Blues in the Bottle, Chiron and Zaka Fan
BASSO Leonardo 20th, 6 for DJW
SINKELDAM Ramon 22nd, 5 for Salvarani
TEUNISSEN Mike 23rd, 5 for Salvarani (again)
DE BIE Sean 26th, 5 for 20 teams

1 Josedin 162
2= DFA123, Vladimir 62
4 Salvarani 15
5 Comodoro 14
6 Blues_in_the_Bottle 12
7= Chiron, Zaka_fan 7
9 DJW 6
10= 17 other teams with De Bie 5

Standings

No positional change at all in the top ten, just the odd 5 point relative loss or gain here and there. Just failing to get into the ten is DFA123, with a 7 point leap, just outdoing Josedin's 6 position rise. Only one other team (Vladimir) moved up at all, and that only by one place.

1 Russell23 1811
2 Nathanptz 1777
3 Madrazo 1737
4 Hakkie 1733
5 Armchair 1731
6 Laarsland 1674
7 LosBrolin 1669
8 AmisVelo 1666
9 RoteLaterne 1636
10 GPBlanco 1445
11 DFA123 1441
12 The_Asian 1432
13 DJW 1425
14 So2017 1424
15 Zaka_fan 1414
16 Shalgo 1408
17 Leadbelly 1407
18 Squire 1390
19 ThePirate81 1372
20 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1364
21 TheArt 1278
22 Scrool07 1163
23 Vladimir 1120
24 Froschi 1117
25 MellowVelo 1049
26 Comodoro 1033
27 Salvarani 1018
28 NorthAmericanScum 995
29 Fauniera 983
30 Josedin 926
31 Bbass 910
32 Search 854
33 NairoQ 846
34 SemirS 816
35 Del1962 786
36 Chiron 773
37 Kazistuta 726
38 Joelsim 681
39 DJSprtsch 600
CollectiveWisdom 1761
Trudgin 453

Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, probably the last race that many of our selected riders have any interest in.

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 16:Paris Roubaix

Riders go unpicked if they either are too expensive, or if they were not expected to do well. That accounts for the first two finishers today, but the game kicked in after they had finished, with 3 of the most popular picks featuring strongly. This was the third biggest contributing event in terms of points, after the Ronde and E3.

TERPSTRA Niki 3rd, 145pts for 20 teams
VANMARCKE Sep 6th, 100pts for 24
PHINNEY Taylor 8th, 80pts for Blues in the Bottle, Chiron and Zaka Fan
STYBAR Zdenek 9th, 70pts for 20
DEBUSSCHERE Jens 10th, 62pts for DFA123 and Vladimir
TEUNISSEN Mike 11th, 54pts 1 team
NAESEN Oliver 12th, 46pts 1 team
VAN AERT Wout 13th, 42 6
WALLAYS Jelle 14th, 38 1
GILBERT Philippe 15th, 34 1
DEGENKOLB John 30 1
VAN BAARLE Dylan 26 17
HAUSSLER Heinrich 24 6
DE BACKER Bert 22 1
HAYMAN Mathew 20 1
THEUNS Edward 16 2
and thirteen 5 pointers

1 Madrazo 351 (Terpstra, Stybar, Vanmarcke, Van Baarle, 2 fivers)
2 LosBrolin 349 (Terpstra, Stybar, Vanmarcke, Haussler, 2 fivers)
3 AmisVelo, Russell23 346 (Terpstra, Stybar, Vanmarcke, Van Baarle, 1 fiver)
5 Hakkie 341 (Terpstra, Stybar, Vanmarcke, Van Baarle, no fivers)
6 Zaka_fan 331 (Terpstra, Stybar, Phinney, Van Baarle, 2 fivers)
7 RoteLaterne 325 (Terpstra, Stybar, Vanmarcke, 2 fivers)
8 GPBlanco 319
9 DFA123 305
10 Blues_in_the_Bottle 281
11 Leadbelly 276
12 Shalgo 275
13 Chiron 258
14 Nathanptz 246
15 Froschi 245
16 The_Asian 244
17 Vladimir 242
18 Armchair, Laarsland 230
20 DJW 225
21 NairoQ 220
22 So2017 215
23 SemirS 202
24 MellowVelo 201
25 NorthAmericanScum 197
26 ThePirate81 196
27 Scrool07 155
28 Fauniera 147
29 Bbass, Del1962 145
31 Comodoro 131
32 Kazistuta 124
33 Search 121
34 Squire 117
35 Joelsim 116
36 DJSprtsch 100
37 Salvarani 59
38 Josedin 47
39 TheArt 15
CollectiveWisdom 346
Trudgin* 5

Standings

Combining Terpstra and Stybar pretty much defined the high scorers even before this event, so not a huge difference around the top, except that those lacking Vanmarcke slide a bit. So Madrazo and Hakkie overtake Nathanptz to take the lower places on the podium, and Los Brolin, Amis Velo and Rote Laterne overtake (or at least draw level with) Armchair Cyclist and Laarsland. Although he didn't even make the top ten scorers of the day, Leadbelly is the climber of the day (4 places).

1 Russell23 2157
2 Madrazo 2088
3 Hakkie 2074
4 Nathanptz 2023
5 LosBrolin 2018
6 AmisVelo 2012
7 RoteLaterne 1961
7 Armchair 1961
9 Laarsland 1904
10 GPBlanco 1764
11 DFA123 1746
12 Zaka_fan 1745
13 Leadbelly 1683
13 Shalgo 1683
15 The_Asian 1676
16 DJW 1650
17 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1645
18 So2017 1639
19 ThePirate81 1568
20 Squire 1507
21 Froschi 1362
21 Vladimir 1362
23 Scrool07 1318
24 TheArt 1293
25 MellowVelo 1250
26 NorthAmericanScum 1192
27 Comodoro 1164
28 Fauniera 1130
29 Salvarani 1077
30 NairoQ 1066
31 Bbass 1055
32 Chiron 1031
33 SemirS 1018
34 Search 975
35 Josedin 973
36 Del1962 931
37 Kazistuta 850
38 Joelsim 797
39 DJSprtsch 700
CollectiveWisdom 2107
Trudgin 458


So now the key question becomes "who held back places in their team for hilly classics riders?"

We'll begin to find out in the Brabant on Wednesday.

[GP Blanco]

I expected much better from Moscon. He is quite disappointing this classic's season.

[Hakkie2]

Situation for the remaining 4 races:

Russell23: Coquard
Madrazo (+69): Gasparotto + Gerts
Hakkie2 (+83): Coquard + Gasparotto
...
The Asian (+481): Alaphilippe (leading Alaphilippe team)

Russell23 is the favourite, I think...

[Armchair cyclist]

Situation for the remaining 4 races:

Russell23: Coquard
Madrazo (+69): Gasparotto + Gerts
Hakkie2 (+83): Coquard + Gasparotto
...
The Asian (+481): Alaphilippe (leading Alaphilippe team)

Russell23 is the favourite, I think...

Armchair Cyclist (+196): Benoot and Gasparotto. I haven't given in hoping entirely

Laarsland (+253): Colbrelli. Could yet have something to say, given Amstel and Brabant performances last year.

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 17: Brabantse Pijl

A partial answer to the game's big tactical question: who do you find a place for who will have a chance of competing with the expensive non-Spring specialists who tend to take most points in these last 4 races? Some teams were not totally cobble-focussed.

COLBRELLI Sonny 2nd, 84 pts for Laarsland and Trudgin*
BENOOT Tiesj 3rd, 72 for Armchair Cyclist, Scrool07, The Art
IMPEY Daryl 10th, 26 for Joelsim and Pirate81
MARTENS Paul 11th, 22 for Trudgin*
COQUARD Bryan 19th, 7 for 13 teams


Trudgin* 106
1 Laarsland 84
2 Scrool07 79
3= Armchair, TheArt 72
5 ThePirate81, Joelsim 33
7 Ten teams with Coquard only 7

Standings

No change on the podium ( 7 point relative loss to the other two for Madrazo), but immediately behind that Armchair Cyclist has a 3 place rise. 2 place jumps each for Scrool07 and The Art, and (back in the top ten) a one place improvement for Laarsland.

1 Russell23 2164
2 Madrazo 2088
3 Hakkie 2081
4 Armchair 2033
5 Nathanptz 2023
6 LosBrolin 2018
7 AmisVelo 2012
8 Laarsland 1988
9 RoteLaterne 1961
10 GPBlanco 1764
11 DFA123 1746
12 Zaka_fan 1745
13 Leadbelly 1690
13 Shalgo 1690
15 The_Asian 1676
16 DJW 1650
17 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1645
18 So2017 1639
19 ThePirate81 1601
20 Squire 1507
21 Scrool07 1397
22 TheArt 1365
23 Froschi 1362
23 Vladimir 1362
25 MellowVelo 1257
26 NorthAmericanScum 1192
27 Comodoro 1171
28 Fauniera 1137
29 Salvarani 1077
30 NairoQ 1066
31 Bbass 1055
32 Chiron 1031
33 SemirS 1018
34 Search 975
35 Josedin 973
36 Del1962 938
37 Kazistuta 857
38 Joelsim 830
39 DJSprtsch 707
CollectiveWisdom 2114
Trudgin 564

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 18 Amstel Gold

There were suggestions of what riders had been selected who could still make a difference, and no-one suspected that the winner of the first race in our game still had this up his sleeve.

VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 1st, 220 pts for Blues in the Bottle and Nathanptz
GASPAROTTO Enrico 3rd, 112pts for Armchair Cyclist, B'bass, DFA123, Hakkie, Madrazo, Search, The Art, The Asian and Trudgin*
ALAPHILIPPE Julian 7th, 66pts for B'bass, Del1962, Kazistuta, Mellow Velo, The Asian
VANENDERT Jelle 10th, 46pts for Scrool07
IMPEY Daryl 11th, 40 for Joelsim and Pirate81
GILBERT Philippe 13th, 30 for So 2017
MOLARD Rudy 15th, 24 for DJW and Scrool07
DE TIER Floris 16th, 21 for Chiron
GESINK Robert 28th, 8 for GPBlanco
and 7 five-pointers, 6 of whom are only on one or two teams each, and the other is the most popular pick, Vanmarcke

1 Blues_in_the_Bottle 225
2 Nathanptz 220
3 Bbass, The_Asian 178
5 DFA123, Hakkie, Madrazo 117
8 Armchair, Search, TheArt 112
11 Kazistuta, MellowVelo 71
13 Scrool07 70
14 Del1962 66
15 Joelsim, ThePirate81 45
17 So2017 30
18 Chiron 26
19 DJW 24
20 GPBlanco 13
21 DJSprtsch, SemirS, Vladimir 10
24 15 teams with a single five-pointer 5
39 Squire 0
CollectiveWisdom 5
Trudgin* 127

Standings
The eight teams with Gasparotto include those who were 2nd, 3rd and 4th this morning, While Nathanptz, who was 5th, was one of the two who has Valgren. Nathanptz rises to the top, while Madrazo and Hakkie maintain their podium places. Russell, who has only Vanmarcke among today's finishers, slips to 4th. Blues in the Bottle is the (7 place) riser of the day, and is into the top ten.

1 Nathanptz 2243
2 Madrazo 2205
3 Hakkie 2198
4 Russell23 2169
5 Armchair 2145
6 LosBrolin 2023
7 AmisVelo 2017
8 Laarsland 1993
9 RoteLaterne 1966
10 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1870
11 DFA123 1863
12 The_Asian 1854
13 GPBlanco 1777
14 Zaka_fan 1750
15 Leadbelly 1695
15 Shalgo 1695
17 DJW 1674
18 So2017 1669
19 ThePirate81 1646
20 Squire 1507
21 TheArt 1477
22 Scrool07 1467
23 Vladimir 1372
24 Froschi 1367
25 MellowVelo 1328
26 Bbass 1233
27 NorthAmericanScum 1197
28 Comodoro 1176
29 Fauniera 1142
30 Search 1087
31 Salvarani 1082
32 NairoQ 1071
33 Chiron 1057
34 SemirS 1028
35 Del1962 1004
36 Josedin 978
37 Kazistuta 928
38 Joelsim 875
39 DJSprtsch 717
CollectiveWisdom 2119
Trudgin 691

I suspect that 4 teams are still in with a decent shout, and 2 others will at least be close to the podium.

The Asian, with both Alaphilippe (a unique pick) and Gasparotto, could yet make a late surge, but I reckon he would need him to win one of the two remaining races, and be top 5 in the other, to have a real chance. Nathanptz will be pleased that Valgren is down to ride in both Ardennes races, but hasn't got great history in either (although 14th in L-B-L 2 years ago will give him some hope). The 4 riders in Hakkie's team that he does not share with Madrazo will not give him much hope for catching him, but I doubt their opposite numbers will extend Madrazo's advantage either: the fate of these two teams lies in Gasparotto, and the dream of him repeating his 2016 campaign (although a much more modest set of results would suffice to catch Nathanptz: a top ten in either race could suffice if Valgren does not feature again. Armchair Cyclist retains 2 irons in the fire, and if Benoot can achieve the aims I have described for Gasparotto, I will be in the same, Gasparotto dependent, boat as Madrazo and Hakkie, and if he gets top 10 in his debut in both races, I will be up with Nathan (if Valgren lets him down).

In short: Nathanptz will hope Valgren can consolidate his lead, a real star performance from Alaphilippe could win it for the Asian, and while Madrazo's hopes lie with Gasparotto, Armchair Cyclist will look to him and also to Benoot. Podium chances remain for Hakkie, who will want to see Madrazo do as well as possible, and Russell23, who will be cheering for any and all of the remaining 171 riders in each race.

And the final order could still be decided by those finishing much further down the field and how many five point finishers each team can muster.

We'll gather again on Wednesday to see how much mud has cleared after the Arrow has been fired.

[the asian]

Gasparotto certainly delivered.

Now it's up to Alapahilippe !

[the asian]

Going to be really close !

Ala will need to finish at least 2nd in LBL.

[Armchair cyclist]

Sorry it's quite late: I had to wait until well into the evening to watch it.

Race 19: Fleche Wallonne

Today was about two riders and one team as far as the upper reaches of the game is concerned, and very mediocre for everyone else.

ALAPHILIPPE Julian 1st, 220pts for B'bass, Del1962, Kazistuta, Mellow Velo, The Asian
VANENDERT Jelle 3rd, 112 for Scrool07
MOLARD Rudy 13th, 30 for Scrool07 (again) and DJW
GESINK Robert 20th, 16 for GPBlanco
MCCARTHY Jay 21st, 15 for Chiron
GILBERT Philippe 24th, 12 for So2017
GASPAROTTO Enrico 27th, 9 for 8 teams

and 7 selected 5 pointers, none of whom were on more than 3 teams.

1= Bbass, The_Asian 229
3= Del1962, Kazistuta, MellowVelo 220
6 Scrool07 147
7 DJW 30
8 Chiron 20
9 GPBlanco 16
10 Armchair, DFA123, TheArt 14
13 So2017 12
14 Fauniera 10
15 Hakkie, Madrazo, Search 9
18 Blues_in_the_Bottle, DJSprtsch, Froschi, Nathanptz, Salvarani 5
23 the rest 0
CollectiveWisdom 0
Trudgin* 14

Standings
No change, and very few points gained, among the top 5, but closing on them rapidly, and still with considerable for the last lap, is The Asian. That is the only team in the top 15 this morning to have moved in the right direction, but further down the table, that 6 place rise was matched by Kazistuta and beaten (8 spots) by Del1962.

1 Nathanptz 2248
2 Madrazo 2214
3 Hakkie 2207
4 Russell23 2169
5 Armchair 2159
6 The_Asian 2083
7 LosBrolin 2023
8 AmisVelo 2017
9 Laarsland 1993
10 RoteLaterne 1966
11 DFA123 1877
12 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1875
13 GPBlanco 1793
14 Zaka_fan 1750
15 DJW 1704
16 Leadbelly 1695
16 Shalgo 1695
18 So2017 1681
19 ThePirate81 1646
20 Scrool07 1614
21 MellowVelo 1548
22 Squire 1507
23 TheArt 1491
24 Bbass 1462
25 Froschi 1372
25 Vladimir 1372
27 Del1962 1224
28 NorthAmericanScum 1197
29 Comodoro 1176
30 Fauniera 1152
31 Kazistuta 1148
32 Search 1096
33 Salvarani 1087
34 Chiron 1077
35 NairoQ 1071
36 SemirS 1028
37 Josedin 978
38 Joelsim 875
39 DJSprtsch 722
CollectiveWisdom 2119
Trudgin* 705

So, the overall is still in the hands of the same 4 riders.
So let's imagine that, as today, Valgren merely finishes. If Gasparotto comes 14th, Benoot 11th and Alaphilippe 3rd, then we will have 5 teams within about 10 points of each other at the top.

If Gasparotto were to be reduced to an also ran, then 7th for Benoot (to my advantage) or a second place for Alaphilippe (for The Asian) would still put Nathanptz' hold on the (non-existent) trophy in doubt.

[Armchair cyclist]

Going to be really close !

Ala will need to finish at least 2nd in LBL.

Not necessarily. You have Gasparotto and Nathan does not, so your 165 pt deficit could be made up of 2nd, or 3rd+22nd and would also get you ahead of Gasparotto-sharer Madrazo (and his shadow, Hakkie). However, if Benoot gets to not flog himself for the benefit of Wellens (well, Alaphilippe in effect), then I could scupper you if he gets 9th (Alaphilippe 3rd) or 6th (Ala 2nd).

[Armchair cyclist]

Less than ten points between winner and third as the figures stand, but CQ are only showing 60 finishers so far, and PCS tells me there are another 72 5 pointers, who might hold the key.

Edit: they made no real difference

[Armchair cyclist]

Race 20, and the end of the game: Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Perhaps not surprisingly, it is largely the same riders who scored on Wednesday, but in a very different distribution of points.

ALAPHILIPPE Julian 4th, 125pts for B'bass, Del1962, Kazistuta, Mellow Velo, The Asian
GASPAROTTO Enrico 6th, 100 pts for 8 teams
FORMOLO Davide 7th, 90pts for Vladimir
VANENDERT Jelle 11th, 54 for Scrool07
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 19th, 26 for Blues in the Bottle and Nathanptz
BENOOT Tiesj 18pts for Armchair Cyclist, Scrool07, The Art
GESINK Robert 16 for GPBlanco
MOLARD Rudy 12 for Scrool07 and DJW

and 8 five pointers, 7 of whom are unique picks and one was on 2 teams.

1= Bbass, The_Asian 225 (Alaphilippe and Gasparotto)
3= Del1962, Kazistuta, MellowVelo 125 (Alaphilippe)
6= Armchair, TheArt 118 (Gasparotto and Benoot)
8 DFA123 105 (Gasparotto and a fiver)
9= Hakkie, Madrazo, Search 100 (Gasparotto)
12 Vladimir 90 (Formolo)
13 Scrool07 84 (Vanendert, Benoot, Molard)
14= Blues_in_the_Bottle, Nathanptz 26 (Valgren)
16 GPBlanco 16
17 DJW 12
18= Chiron, DJSprtsch 10
20= Fauniera, Joelsim, So2017, ThePirate81 5
24= Everyone else 0
CollectiveWisdom 0
Trudgin* 105 (Gasparotto and a fiver)

Final Standings

Gasparotto did do well enough, though, for Valgren's position to be insufficient to save Nathanptz' lead. Alaphilippe was gaining fast on Bardet and an extra 20 points that would have completed The Asian's late charge up the table, but but didn't make it, and Benoot's rather anonymous ride in the second group meant that Armchair couldn't disturb those who shared Gasparotto with him. And so, in a very close finish, Madrazo moves up from second place to take the laurels, and that very small small gap between him and Hakkie is infiltrated by The Asian, and those three make up our podium.

1 Madrazo 2314
2 The_Asian 2308
3 Hakkie 2307
4 Armchair 2277
5 Nathanptz 2274
6 Russell23 2169
7 LosBrolin 2023
8 AmisVelo 2017
9 Laarsland 1993
10 DFA123 1982
11 RoteLaterne 1966
12 Blues_in_the_Bottle 1901
13 GPBlanco 1809
14 Zaka_fan 1750
15 DJW 1716
16 Scrool07 1698
17 Leadbelly 1695
17 Shalgo 1695
19 Bbass 1687
20 MellowVelo 1673
21 So2017 1671
22 ThePirate81 1651
23 TheArt 1609
24 Squire 1507
25 Vladimir 1462
26 Froschi 1372
27 Del1962 1349
28 Kazistuta 1273
29 Search 1211
30 NorthAmericanScum 1197
31 Comodoro 1176
32 Fauniera 1157
33 Chiron 1087
33 Salvarani 1087
35 NairoQ 1071
36 SemirS 1028
37 Josedin 978
38 Joelsim 880
39 DJSprtsch 732
CollectiveWisdom 2119
Trudgin* 810

So, 7 points from 1st to 3rd, 40 from 1st to 5th, and with 150m of the 20th race left, I didn't know who would win.

Congratulations to Madrazo and to his podium companions, and thanks to all for your entries. See you again in about a week in the Giro game thread.

A bit of number crunching to follow, either this evening or tomorrow night.

[Armchair cyclist]

526 riders scored CQ points in this series of races: 32 of them got more than 200.

SAGAN Peter 852pts 0 teams
TERPSTRA Niki 695 20
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 598 2
STUYVEN Jasper 506 0
BENOOT Tiesj 500 3
VAN AVERMAET Greg 489 0
GILBERT Philippe 457 1
DEMARE Arnaud 425 0
VANMARCKE Sep 417 24
ALAPHILIPPE Julian 416 5
STYBAR Zdenek 369 20
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 368 0
WELLENS Tim 319 0
NIBALI Vincenzo 311 0
BARDET Romain 310 0
NAESEN Oliver 309 1
KREUZIGER Roman 308 0
COLBRELLI Sonny 305 1
DEBUSSCHERE Jens 300 2
VIVIANI Elia 298 0
JAKOBSEN Fabio 295 1
Jungels Bob 290 0
VAN AERT Wout 278 6
MATTHEWS Michael 253 0
LAMPAERT Yves 253 0
PEDERSEN Mads 250 0
Ackermann Pascal 250 0
GASPAROTTO Enrico 221 8
DEHAES Kenny 213 1
VANENDERT Jelle 212 1
TEUNISSEN Mike 205 1
HOFSTETTER Hugo 202 0

And 39 took at least as many in these races as they did in the whole of last year:

Name/points/price/%age return/number of teams
BOVENHUIS Jasper 26 0 ****** 0
BRAND Samuel 5 0 ****** 0
HAVIK Piotr 5 0 ****** 0
KLEIMAN Wim 5 0 ****** 0
MÄRKL Niklas 5 0 ****** 0
TRARIEUX Julien 5 0 ****** 0
Turgis Jimmy 57 5 1140.0 0
Fenn Andrew 83 8 1037.5 0
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose 145 26 557.7 1
CAPIOT Amaury 168 32 525.0 20
OLIVEIRA Rui Filipe Alves 47 9 522.2 0
BASSO Leonardo 28 6 466.7 1
CRADDOCK Lawson 57 15 380.0 0
PHINNEY Taylor 102 36 283.3 3
JAKOBSEN Fabio 295 118 250.0 1
SISR Frantisek 140 56 250.0 1
GASPAROTTO Enrico 221 93 237.6 8
TURGIS Tanguy 51 24 212.5 0
DE BONDT Dries 94 46 204.3 0
DE BIE Sean 113 57 198.2 20
Ackermann Pascal 250 134 186.6 0
Goolaerts Michael 17 10 170.0 0
TERPSTRA Niki 695 417 166.7 20
OTTEMA Rick 48 29 165.5 0
DUVAL Julien 87 53 164.2 0
WELTEN Bram 84 56 150.0 0
GUARNIERI Jacopo 15 10 150.0 1
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz 154 105 146.7 0
Dempster Zakkari 116 80 145.0 0
HOFSTETTER Hugo 202 142 142.3 0
VAN RHEE Joey 36 27 133.3 0
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael 598 483 123.8 2
ARCHBOLD Shane 42 34 123.5 0
HAUSSLER Heinrich 73 60 121.7 6
KREUZIGER Roman 308 265 116.2 0
SERRY Pieter 131 117 112.0 0
DE BACKER Bert 60 55 109.1 1
TEUNISSEN Mike 205 199 103.0 1
KAMSTRA Brian 5 5 100.0 0

Impeccable picks

SAGAN Peter
TERPSTRA Niki
KREUZIGER Roman
JAKOBSEN Fabio
GASPAROTTO Enrico
CAPIOT Amaury
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose
Fenn Andrew
Turgis Jimmy
BOVENHUIS Jasper