2018 Spring Classics CQ game

Page 3 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Race 7: Handzame Classic

The main action this weekend, including in this game, will be focussed on San Remo, but the second string of riders, largely those who have already been at Drenthe and Nokere, were at Handzame today and Denain on Sunday.

Not many scorers, but these points are just as good as those in a monument.

HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose 1st, 140pts for Josedin
HALVORSEN Kristoffer 2nd, 84 pts for 6 teams
BLYTHE Adam 5th, 54 for Madrazo and Salvarani
DEHAES Kenny 6th, 48 for The Asian
JAKOBSEN Fabio 13th, 15 1
ALLEGAERT Piet 19th, 7 2

Second race in a row that Josedin has a unique pick as a winner. What odds Iljo Keisse for Milan-San Remo?

1 Josedin 239 (Hodeg, Halvorsen, Jakobsen)
2 Madrazo 138 (Halvorsen, Blythe)
3= Blues_in_the_Bottle, Squire, Hakkie, DJW 84
7 Salvarani 54
8 The_Asian 48
9= AmisVelo, So2017 7
11 Everyone else 0

Standings

BitB is back on top, Halvorsen today providing the points that Capiot didn't on Wednesday. Josedin has a 20 point jump (30 places since Wednesday morning) and well into the top 10. Squire also has a rise (5 places) within the top ten.

1 Blues_in_the_Bottle 611
2 Nathanptz 603
3 Armchair 547
4 Squire 515
5 Josedin 508
6 Russell23 471
7 Laarsland 470
8 TheArt 455
9 ThePirate81 454
10 Comodoro 433
11 Hakkie 415
12 MellowVelo 412
13 GPBlanco 384
14 Madrazo 378
15 Joelsim 356
15 Kazistuta 356
15 Salvarani 356
15 The_Asian 356
19 Shalgo 345
20 Search 338
21 DFA123 328
21 DJW 328
23 AmisVelo 327
24 RoteLaterne 317
25 LosBrolin 304
26 NorthAmericanScum 293
27 Chiron 279
28 Leadbelly 262
29 NairoQ 251
30 Bbass 248
31 So2017 244
32 Zaka_fan 238
33 Fauniera 234
34 Scrool07 232
35 Vladimir 223
36 SemirS 164
37 DJSprtsch 140
38 Froschi 102
39 Del1962 30
CollectiveWisdom 422
Trudgin 197

All could look very different tomorrow evening.
 
Jan 6, 2014
548
0
0
Somehow I missed that some races were upgraded to 1. HC. I hope my big hitters are beginning to score big now.

Good call Josedin for picking the neopros Hodeg, Jakobsen and Halvorsen.
 
Race 8: Milan San Remo

Well, no-one was going to spend 60% of their game budget on Nibali, who only got 10 points in this set of races last year. And the same budget considerations, perhaps slightly less exaggeratedly, put most of the high scoring riders today outside of the game. But not all of them:

ROELANDTS Jürgen 5th. 112 pts for 20 teams
CORT NIELSEN Magnus 8th, 80pts for Fauniera, Rote Laterne, Salvarani, Squire and ThePirate81
COLBRELLI Sonny 9th, 70 for Laarsland
BRESCHEL Matti 12th, 46 for Armchair Cyclist, DJW, Madrazo, Scrool07 and SemirS
LAPORTE Christophe 13th, 42 for The Art and Vladimir
HAAS Nathan 18th, 28 for Froschi
IMPEY Daryl 22 for Joelsim and Pirate81
DEBUSSCHERE Jens 20 2
MOSCON Gianni 7 for 9 teams
and 28 finishers for 5 points, including popular picks Stannard, Van Baarle and Vandenbergh.

1 ThePirate81 219 (Roelandts, Cort, Impey and 1 5 pointer)
2 Fauniera 212 (Roelandts, Cort and 4 fivers)
3 Salvarani 207 (Roelandts, Cort and 3 fivers)
4 Squire 199 (Roelandts, Cort and Moscon)
5 Laarsland 197 (Roelandts, Colbrelli and 3 fivers)
6 Madrazo 173
7 TheArt 166
8 Froschi 155
9 DFA123 147
10= NorthAmericanScum, Russell23, So2017 132
13 LosBrolin 129
14= AmisVelo, Comodoro, Hakkie 127
17 Leadbelly 124
18= Del1962, DJSprtsch 122
20 Shalgo 117
21 RoteLaterne 92
22 Vladimir 67
23 DJW 63
24 Armchair, SemirS 61
26 Scrool07 56
27= Joelsim, Zaka_fan 32
29 Search 27
30= Blues_in_the_Bottle 25
31= Bbass, Chiron, Kazistuta, MellowVelo, NairoQ, Nathanptz 20
37 GPBlanco 17
38 The_Asian 15
39 Josedin 5
CollectiveWisdom 127
Trudgin* 95

All teams with Roelandts outscored all teams without him.


Standings
As predicted, considerable shake-up today. This mornig's top three are now 4th, 5th and 7th respectively. Squire was already 4th, and 4th on the day moves him to the pinnacle, while today's top scorer, The Pirate81, moves up from 9th to second, and Laarsland was 7th as the riders left Milan, but now on the podium. Although 38 of the 39 teams changed position (Sorry Del1962, no change from last but you have improved your score 5-fold), and Fauniera managed a 16 place jump, the top ten only gets one new entry, Salvarani is the only new entrant to the top ten.

1 Squire 714
2 ThePirate81 673
3 Laarsland 667
4 Blues_in_the_Bottle 636
5 Nathanptz 623
6 TheArt 621
7 Armchair 608
8 Russell23 603
9 Salvarani 563
10 Comodoro 560
11 Madrazo 551
12 Hakkie 542
13 Josedin 513
14 DFA123 475
15 Shalgo 462
16 AmisVelo 454
17 Fauniera 446
18 LosBrolin 433
19 MellowVelo 432
20 NorthAmericanScum 425
21 RoteLaterne 409
22 GPBlanco 401
23 DJW 391
24 Joelsim 388
25 Leadbelly 386
26 So2017 376
26 Kazistuta 376
28 The_Asian 371
29 Search 365
30 Chiron 299
31 Vladimir 290
32 Scrool07 288
33 NairoQ 271
34 Zaka_fan 270
35 Bbass 268
36 DJSprtsch 262
37 Froschi 257
38 SemirS 225
39 Del1962 152
CollectiveWisdom 549
Trudgin 292

French cobbles tomorrow, GP de Denain, but HC points and HC line-ups, so probably only minor effect here.
 
Race 9: GP de Denain

Fewer cobbles than expected, and possibly fewer points than would have been hoped for. The Asian does a Josedin, by having a unique pick winner, preventing Josedin from doing a Josedin by having the day's highest selected finisher as a UP.

DEHAES Kenny 1st, 140pts for The Asian
VERMELTFOORT Coen 6th, 48 for Josedin
VAN AERT Wout 12th, 18pts for Chiron, DFA123, Fauniera, Josedin, NorthAmericanScum, Squire
MORICE Julien 13th, 15 for So 2017
OFFREDO Yoann 15th, 11 for Amis Velo, Scrool07, Zaka_fan
GAUDIN Damien 27th, 5 for Armchair Cyclist

1 The_Asian 140
2 Josedin 66
3= Chiron, DFA123, Fauniera, NorthAmericanScum, Squire 18
8 So2017 15
9= AmisVelo, Scrool07, Zaka_fan 11
12 Armchair 5
13= Everyone else 0

Standings

The Squire slightly increases his lead, and Armchair Cyclist is the only other team in the morning's top ten to score, although Josedin re-enters that group. A 14 point rise is The Asian's reward for picking the winner.

1 Squire 732
2 ThePirate81 673
3 Laarsland 667
4 Blues_in_the_Bottle 636
5 Nathanptz 623
6 TheArt 621
7 Armchair 613
8 Russell23 603
9 Josedin 579
10 Salvarani 563
11 Comodoro 560
12 Madrazo 551
13 Hakkie 542
14 The_Asian 511
15 DFA123 493
16 AmisVelo 465
17 Fauniera 464
18 Shalgo 462
19 NorthAmericanScum 443
20 LosBrolin 433
21 MellowVelo 432
22 RoteLaterne 409
23 GPBlanco 401
24 So2017 391
24 DJW 391
26 Joelsim 388
27 Leadbelly 386
28 Kazistuta 376
29 Search 365
30 Chiron 317
31 Scrool07 299
32 Vladimir 290
33 Zaka_fan 281
34 NairoQ 271
35 Bbass 268
36 DJSprtsch 262
37 Froschi 257
38 SemirS 225
39 Del1962 152
CollectiveWisdom 549
Trudgin 292

On Wednesday, the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde has been reduced to an Eindaagse (?), so gets included in this game for the first time, and brings us to the halfway mark.
 
Race 10: De Panne

Eindaagse/monodaagse/unidaagse: the linguistic lengths that race organisers will go to in order to get included in this game know no end.

DEBUSSCHERE Jens 5th, 54pts for DFA123 and Vladimir
CAPIOT Amaury 6th, 48pts for 20 teams
BLYTHE Adam 9th, 30 for Madrazo and Salvarani
VERMELTFOORT Coen 12th, 18 for Josedin
WAEYTENS Zico 15th, 11 for GPBlanco
COQUARD Bryan 8 13 teams
DEHAES Kenny 5 1
BIERMANS Jenthe 5 4
KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav 5 2
VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume 5 4
VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter 5 2


1 Vladimir 64 (Debusschere and 2 five pointers)
2 GPBlanco 59 (Capiot and Waeytens)
3 Laarsland 58 (Capiot and 2 five pointers)
4= Comodoro, Hakkie, Joelsim, Kazistuta, MellowVelo, Russell23, Shalgo, ThePirate81 56 (Capiot and Coquard)
12 DFA123 54
13= DJW, The_Asian, Zaka_fan 53
16= Armchair, Bbass, Nathanptz, RoteLaterne, Search, Squire, TheArt 48
23= Madrazo, Salvarani 30
25 Josedin 18
26= DJSprtsch, Scrool07 13
28= NairoQ, SemirS 10
30= Del1962, Fauniera, Leadbelly 8
33= AmisVelo, Blues_in_the_Bottle, Chiron, Froschi, LosBrolin, NorthAmericanScum, So2017 0
CollectiveWisdom 56
Trudgin* 5

Standings
Not for the first time, Blues in the Bottle suffers a drop through having not taken Capiot. With the rest of the top ten having all scored in the rather norrow 48-58 range, his is the main change in the upper reaches, although Comodoro and Hakkie have nudged their way into the top 10. Mellow Velo and Joelsim share the jump of the day honours, but of only 4 places, so not changing the game much.

1 Squire 780
2 ThePirate81 729
3 Laarsland 725
4 Nathanptz 671
5 TheArt 669
6 Armchair 661
7 Russell23 659
8 Blues_in_the_Bottle 636
9 Comodoro 616
10 Hakkie 598
11 Josedin 597
12 Salvarani 593
13 Madrazo 581
14 The_Asian 564
15 DFA123 547
16 Shalgo 518
17 MellowVelo 488
18 Fauniera 472
19 AmisVelo 465
20 GPBlanco 460
21 RoteLaterne 457
22 DJW 444
22 Joelsim 444
24 NorthAmericanScum 443
25 LosBrolin 433
26 Kazistuta 432
27 Search 413
28 Leadbelly 394
29 So2017 391
30 Vladimir 354
31 Zaka_fan 334
32 Chiron 317
33 Bbass 316
34 Scrool07 312
35 NairoQ 281
36 DJSprtsch 275
37 Froschi 257
38 SemirS 235
39 Del1962 160
CollectiveWisdom 605
Trudgin 297


With 10 of 20 races completed, it is the halfway stage of the game. But most races still to come are bigger than most of these have been, although the last few events of the series tend to feature a category of rider under-represented in our teams.

The combination of main riders, WT-scale points and cobbles should increase the rate of point scoring from Friday's E3 Harelbeke: see you then.
 
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
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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...
 
Re:

Hakkie2 said:
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.
 
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
 
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.