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2018 Tour de France CQ game

July is getting near, so it must be time to think about this again. Last year it all came down to being decided by 7th place in the sprint on the Champs Elysees: what can you do to make it even closer this time around?

Pick eight riders, and watch them get points, or not, for stage finishes, GC ranking, Yellow Jersey wearing, KoM and Sprint category placement, or simply for reaching Paris.

Scores will be posted after each stage (real life permitting).

Team of exactly eight riders (a change from last year, reflecting the UCI rule change) If you pick someone who is not riding, I'll replace him with the next cheapest of his team, or the next cheapest in the race if there is not one in his team. (but if you get your entry in in good time, I'll do my best to alert you to it rather than do that)

Budget Budget will be 4000 points, the same as before, so more points per rider than previously. If you are over budget, I'll take out the cheapest rider who can be replaced with a cheaper member of his team that will bring you into budget, or the next cheapest in the race if there is not one in his team (first in alphabetical order if two or more meet that definition) (but see note above about my willingness to help if you don't leave it too late).

Price of riders
CQ score for 12 months to 24th June, for which the update file that CQ released the following day will be considered definitive.
There is a dropbox spreadsheet of riders likely to participate and their prices for the game, and a facility for checking the team total.

Submitting your team
By personal message to me.

Please send the team with names formatted as per CQ. (Surname[space]Forename and nothing else: Spanish/Portuguese names need particular care, as do accents or other diacritics) Please do not include riders' teams and prices in your PM. It makes an enormous difference to the efficiency of adding teams. If you use the dropbox spreadsheet it will be a simple copy and paste job for me.


I have lodged my team with the first person to submit a team.


Deadline
When they start pedalling in Noirmoutier, at 11:00 local time on 7 July.

Scoring
Points issued according to the points tables of CQ (column GT1). Note there are no points issued for the young rider category. As CQ seems rather unstable at present, it is also on the Team selector spreadsheet.

Entries (to be updated once a day unless real life interferes. If your name is absent 24 hours after you send in your team, get on my case)
As of 23:30 (BST) Friday 6th:About 11 hours to go
AmisVelo
Armchair_Cyclist
BicycleBoy
BikeRacer33
BluesInTheBottle
Bminchow
Carlo_Algatrensig
Comodoro
Del1962
Evans_is_the_Best
Fauniera
Googolplex
Gotland
GPBlanco
Hakkie2
JustSomeGuy
Kazistuta
Koronin
Leadbelly
LosBrolin
Mellow_Velo
Minessa
Nathanptz
NorthAmericanScum
Rote_Laterne
Ruvu75
SafeBet
Salvarani
Scrool07
Search
Shalgo
SportingNonsense
Squire
ThePirate81
Tigerion
TotalPackage
Vladimir
Yellow_Knight

Good luck to all.
(Edited for change of price data)
 
Good news: all teams bar one are now confirmed, and the final one (Sky) seems fixed according to speculation.

Bad news: CQ didn't download the update yesterday (it normally goes up late afternoon on a Monday) to establish the prices, and late last night and this morning I was getting a "SQL Server does not exist or access denied" message. If the download is not in place by 8pm (UK time) this evening, I'll use the prices as of 24th June instead (they are the prices currently on the team selection spreadsheet).
 
CQ recovered this morning, but still hadn't uploaded the weekly spreadsheet that we see normally see on a Monday by about 8:30 pm (BST) when it went offline again, so the game will run on the basis of the 24th June data. Good news if you want to select someone who did well in their National Championship last weekend, but probably not much price change for most riders. But please use the team selection spreadsheet to be sure you are spending within budget.

A few teams in already: I'll cobble one together to send to Comodoro (the first to submit a team) shortly.
 
Jan 6, 2014
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Team submitted, never been this fast. I think teams will be very similar this time. I only put one team together and shortly thought about changing two riders but decided against it.
 
With just over a day and a half for entries remaining, 22 teams have been submitted.

44 riders have been nominated, 21 of them are unique picks, while 3 are on >80% of teams, and 2 others on more than 50%.

One team has a popularity ranking that is 94% of the Collective Wisdom, another just 38%

Five riders costing over 1000 points have been chosen, while 12 different <100 point riders have been selected.

Don't forget to get your team in before the race starts on Saturday morning.
 
Re: Re:

Armchair cyclist said:
Koronin said:
I would like to see that breakdown after the entries closed. Although for some of us that closing time is more like Friday night because the deadline will be while we're in bed sleeping.

It will appear at some stage during the race tomorrow. But your team is still bottom of the popularity table.


Awesome. For some reason I'm not exactly shocked my team is at the bottom of the popularity table. That's either going to be very good or very bad.
 
Re:

rote_laterne said:
Team submitted, never been this fast. I think teams will be very similar this time. I only put one team together and shortly thought about changing two riders but decided against it.
I think how similar or different the teams will be mostly will come down to how many people are willing to spend over a 3rd of their budget on one rider.
 
So off we go:
45 teams, 61 riders, here they are

AG

THOMAS Geraint
PORTE Richie
KITTEL Marcel
DEGENKOLB John
MARTIN Tony *
GESINK Robert
SICARD Romain *
ROWE Luke

Amis Velo
NIBALI Vincenzo
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
KITTEL Marcel
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KISERLOVSKI Robert *
KANGERT Tanel

Armchair Cyclist

THOMAS Geraint
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion
BEVIN Patrick
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Axl
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
GESINK Robert
FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar
CAVENDISH Mark
COUSIN Jérôme

Bicycle Boy
YATES Adam
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
MARCZYNSKI Tomasz *
CAVENDISH Mark
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
SUTHERLAND Rory

Bikeracer33
GROENEWEGEN Dylan
THOMAS Geraint
PORTE Richie
FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar
TOLHOEK Antwan
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
BOSWELL Ian

Blues in the Bottle
YATES Adam
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MAJKA Rafal
GAUDU David
CAVENDISH Mark
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
BOSWELL Ian

Bminchow
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
ZAKARIN Ilnur
GAUDU David
ARNDT Nikias *
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Carlo Algatrensig
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Comodoro
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
BEVIN Patrick
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
RENSHAW Mark

Del1962
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MAJKA Rafal
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion
NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark

Evans is the Best
BARDET Romain
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
GESINK Robert
GAUDU David
CAVENDISH Mark
GUARNIERI Jacopo
SUTHERLAND Rory

Fauniera
NIBALI Vincenzo
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel
PELLIZOTTI Franco
MOINARD Amaël

Googolplex
GROENEWEGEN Dylan
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
LATOUR Pierre
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
KANGERT Tanel
GUARNIERI Jacopo

Gotland
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
GAUDU David
CAVENDISH Mark
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
COUSIN Jérôme

GP Blanco

BARDET Romain
GROENEWEGEN Dylan
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
PAUWELS Serge
GAUDU David
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel
SUTHERLAND Rory

Hakkie2
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
ZAKARIN Ilnur
MAJKA Rafal
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Josedin
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
LAPORTE Christophe *
MAJKA Rafal
TOLHOEK Antwan
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
BOUET Maxime *

Just Some Guy

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
FUGLSANG Jakob
PORTE Richie
ZAKARIN Ilnur
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
GUARNIERI Jacopo

Kazistuta
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
KITTEL Marcel
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
DEGENKOLB John
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark

Koronin
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro *
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion
DEGENKOLB John
CAVENDISH Mark
PHINNEY Taylor *
CRADDOCK Lawson *
SUTHERLAND Rory

Laarsland
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
ZAKARIN Ilnur
PAUWELS Serge
ROLLAND Pierre
KANGERT Tanel
BOSWELL Ian

Leadbelly
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel
HAGA Chad

Los Brolin

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
CAVENDISH Mark
HAGA Chad
BOSWELL Ian

Mellow Velo
YATES Adam
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
BOSWELL Ian
SUTHERLAND Rory

Minessa
YATES Adam
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
KITTEL Marcel
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
SUTHERLAND Rory

Nathanptz
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
FUGLSANG Jakob
PORTE Richie
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
FERRARI Roberto *

North American Scum
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
DEGENKOLB John
FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre

Postmanhat
YATES Adam
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
FUGLSANG Jakob
DEGENKOLB John
VICHOT Arthur *
CLARKE Simon *
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
ROWE Luke

RattaKuningas
GROENEWEGEN Dylan
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
JUNGELS Bob
KITTEL Marcel
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel
ROWE Luke

Rote Laterne

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
FUGLSANG Jakob
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
KOCHETKOV Pavel
SUTHERLAND Rory

Ruvu75
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
ZAKARIN Ilnur
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
NIEVE ITURRALDE Mikel *
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Safe Bet
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
ZAKARIN Ilnur
JUNGELS Bob
NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel
ROLLAND Pierre
KANGERT Tanel
ROWE Luke

Salvarani
ROGLIC Primoz *
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
GAUDU David
BEVIN Patrick
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Scrool07
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
KITTEL Marcel
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
BOUDAT Thomas *
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin *
GAUDU David
CAVENDISH Mark

Search
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
JUNGELS Bob
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
SCULLY Tom
GUARNIERI Jacopo
SUTHERLAND Rory

SemirS
THOMAS Geraint
FUGLSANG Jakob
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
CAVENDISH Mark
DURBRIDGE Luke
GUARNIERI Jacopo
SUTHERLAND Rory

Shalgo
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
ROLLAND Pierre
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
CAVENDISH Mark
ROWE Luke

Sporting Nonsense
YATES Adam
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
ZAKARIN Ilnur
GAUDU David
CAVENDISH Mark
DOMONT Axel *
SCULLY Tom

Squire
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MAJKA Rafal
LATOUR Pierre
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
ROLLAND Pierre
KANGERT Tanel
KOCHETKOV Pavel

The Pirate81
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
ZAKARIN Ilnur
NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel
KANGERT Tanel
PELLIZOTTI Franco
SUTHERLAND Rory

Tigerion
YATES Adam
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
KITTEL Marcel
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
DURBRIDGE Luke
SUTHERLAND Rory

Total Package
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
PORTE Richie
KITTEL Marcel
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
KANGERT Tanel

Vladimir
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
MARTIN Daniel
ZAKARIN Ilnur
GAUDU David
ROLLAND Pierre
CAVENDISH Mark
MOINARD Amaël

Yellow Knight
BARDET Romain
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
DE GENDT Thomas *
CAVENDISH Mark
RENSHAW Mark
GUARNIERI Jacopo
SUTHERLAND Rory

The asterisks are unique picks.
 
The riders and their frequency of selection

36: PORTE Richie
34: CAVENDISH Mark, QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
27: ROLLAND Pierre
21: GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
20: GAUDU David
17: KANGERT Tanel
12: SUTHERLAND Rory
11: KRUIJSWIJK Steven, MARTIN Daniel
I could have made the Collective Wisdom slightly more popular than it is, but giving the last spot to Sutherland instead of Kruijswijk, but opted for the Dutchman instead in order to make a more realistic spending of the budget, while nominating Dan Martin would have been overbudget.

9: ZAKARIN Ilnur
8: KITTEL Marcel
7: YATES Adam
6: GUARNIERI Jacopo
5: BOSWELL Ian, DEGENKOLB John, FUGLSANG Jakob, IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion, MAJKA Rafal, NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel, ROWE Luke
4: GROENEWEGEN Dylan, THOMAS Geraint
3: BARDET Romain, BEVIN Patrick, FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar, GESINK Robert, JUNGELS Bob, LUDVIGSSON Tobias, PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
2: COUSIN Jérôme, DURBRIDGE Luke, HAGA Chad, KOCHETKOV Pavel, LATOUR Pierre, MOINARD Amaël, NIBALI Vincenzo, PAUWELS Serge, PELLIZOTTI Franco, RENSHAW Mark, SCULLY Tom, TOLHOEK Antwan

So f Quintana and Porte fulfil the bookies' expectations, it will be pretty congested at the top of the table.
 
Teams by popularity

1 TotalPackage 197
2 Carlo_Algatrensig 185
3 Hakkie2 182
3 Leadbelly 182
5 Minessa 178
6 Mellow_Velo 176
7 Kazistuta 175
8 Vladimir 173
9 JustSomeGuy 171
9 Shalgo 171
11 Ruvu75 169
12 Comodoro 168
13 Del1962 166
14 Gotland 161
15 Armchair_Cyclist 160
15 Tigerion 160
17 Salvarani 159
18 Rote_Laterne 157
19 Nathanptz 153
20 Bminchow 149
21 Scrool07 145
22 Axl 144
22 BluesInTheBottle 144
24 AmisVelo 143
25 Laarsland 141
26 LosBrolin 138
27 SafeBet 136
28 Squire 134
29 Evans_is_the_Best 133
30 RattaKuningas 132
31 NorthAmericanScum 128
31 SportingNonsense 128
33 ThePirate81 126
34 BicycleBoy 125
34 Search 125
36 Googolplex 123
37 SemirS 120
38 BikeRacer33 115
38 Fauniera 115
40 Josedin 113
40 Yellow_Knight 113
42 GPBlanco 103
43 Koronin 80
44 AG 63
45 Postmanhat 61
Collective_Wisdom 200

Total Package, although a newcomer to these games (Welcome!), very nearly get the max possible popularity, just having Kittel rather than Sutherland/Kruijswijk to miss perfection in that regard.

Koronin was bottom of this listing last night, but two of the morning entries beat him for eccentricity; he still has most unique picks, with 3. 2 UPs each for AG, Josedin, Postmanhat and Scrool07.
 
The main spends

The riders costing 800 points or more, and who has gone for them.

Valverde with Gaviria: Koronin

Nibali with Quintana and Gaviria: Fauniera
Nibali with Quintana: Amis Velo

Bardet with Quintana and Gaviria: Evans is the Best, Yellow Knight
Bardet with Groenewegen: GP Blanco

Roglic with Gaviria and Porte: Salvarani

Groenewegen with Thomas and Porte: Bikeracer33
Groenewegen with Porte and Martin: Googolplex
Groenewegen with Quintana: RattaKuningas

Thomas with Fuglsang, Gaviria and Porte: SemirS
Thomas with Quintana and Porte: Armchair Cyclist
Thomas with Porte: AG

Yates with Quintana and Porte: Blues in the Bottle, Minessa, Tigerion
Yates with Quintana and Gaviria: Sporting Nonsense

Yates with Quintana, Gaviria and Porte: Mellow Velo
Yates with Gaviria, Porte and Martin: Bicycle Boy
Yates with Quintana and Fuglsang: Postmanhat

Quintana with Fuglsang, Gaviria, and Porte: Rote Laterne
Quintana with Gaviria, Porte and Martin: Comodoro, Gotland, Leadbelly, Search, Shalgo
Quintana with Fuglsang and Porte: Just Some Guy, Nathanptz, TotalPackage
Quintana with Gaviria and Porte: Axl, Carlo Algatrensig
Quintana with Porte and Martin: Laarsland , Los Brolin, The Pirate81, Vladimir
Quintana with Porte: Del1962, Hakkie2, Kazistuta, Ruvu75, SafeBet, Scrool07, Squire

Gaviria with Porte and Martin: Bminchow
Gaviria with Porte:
Josedin, North American Scum

Maybe it is worth noting those who do not have Quintana and Porte:
no Quintana: AG, Bminchow, Bicycle Boy, Bikeracer33, Googolplex, GP Blanco, Koronin, North American Scum, Salvarani, Josedin, SemirS

no Porte: Amis Velo, Evans is the Best, Fauniera, GP Blanco, Koronin, Postmanhat, RattaKuningas, Sporting Nonsense, Yellow Knight

(corrected:I had two teams the wrong way around. Thanks to Googolplex for pointing this out.)
 
Stage 1 First blood to Gaviria, GC mayhem

Green points

These are the points for top ten placements on stages, and for wearing the Yellow Jersey. They cannot be lost even if the riders fails to finish the tour.

GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando 100pts (incl 20 for getting Yellow Jersey) 21 teams
SAGAN Peter 50 0 team
KITTEL Marcel 35 8 teams
KRISTOFF Alexander 25 0 team
LAPORTE Christophe 15 1 team
GROENEWEGEN Dylan 10 4 teams
MATTHEWS Michael 5 0 team
DEGENKOLB John 3 5 teams
FUGLSANG Jakob 2 5 teams
MAJKA Rafal 1 5 teams


1 TotalPackage 135 (Gaviria and Kittel)
2 Josedin 116 (Gaviria, Laporte and Majka)
3 Koronin, NorthAmericanScum 103 (Gaviria and Degenkolb)
5 Rote_Laterne, SemirS 102 (Gaviria and Fuglsang)
7 Other Gaviria teams 100
22 RattaKuningas 45

Yellow points
This is the main classification. It includes the green points, but also points for GC position, and the mountain and points classifications (which get points as per a stage), and 20 points for every finishing. It is best read a the standings if the race were to finish here and know: it becomes steadily more relevant as the race goes on, and can see dramatic changes after important stages.

Riders' GC positions, and so most of these points, are virtually the same as the stage, so I won't bother posting them.

1 TotalPackage 1365
2 Josedin 1301
3 SemirS 1157
4 Koronin 1111
5 NorthAmericanScum 1092
6 Rote_Laterne 1062
7 Fauniera 1045
8 Search 1003
9 Axl 959
10 Evans_is_the_Best 954
10 Yellow_Knight 954
12 Gotland 950
13 Carlo_Algatrensig 944
14 Bminchow 943
14 SportingNonsense 943
16 BicycleBoy 935
16 Comodoro 935
16 Leadbelly 935
16 Mellow_Velo 935
16 Salvarani 935
16 Shalgo 935
22 RattaKuningas 901
23 AG 833
24 Kazistuta 777
25 AmisVelo 715
26 Scrool07 704
27 Minessa 605
27 Tigerion 605
29 BikeRacer33 477
30 Postmanhat 465
31 GPBlanco 425
32 Googolplex 382
33 Nathanptz 326
34 JustSomeGuy 325
35 Hakkie2 304
36 BluesInTheBottle 296
36 Del1962 296
38 Squire 290
39 Armchair_Cyclist 255
40 SafeBet 242
41 Ruvu75 192
42 LosBrolin 184
43 Vladimir 183
44 Laarsland 168
44 ThePirate81 168
Collective_Wisdom 944
 
Yeah, my team is already is much better shape than it was for the Giro. Yeah!!!!!

One small piece of info for future reference, I'm a she. (Not upset at all as this does happen on message boards a lot esp since the name I picked to use is from my Star Trek fan club days as part of a Klingon fan club.)

Thank you for the break down of the teams. Definitely interesting to see who people picked and how it ends up working out.
 

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