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2018 Vuelta CQ Game

The ads are on TV, the team lists are gradually being posted: it's time to start this again. Most of you are familiar with how it goes, just remember that we are down to teams of 8

Team of exactly eight riders 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.

Budget Budget will be 3500 points. 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).

Price of riders
CQ score for 12 months to 19th August, for which the update file that CQ released on Monday 20th 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, either here or at Velorooms.
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. 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.


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


Deadline
The start of the race, which I believe to be Saturday 25th August at 5:20 pm (CEST, 15:20 UTC)

Scoring
Points issued according to the points tables of CQ (column GT2). Note there are no points issued for the young rider category.

Entries as of mid morning (UK time) Saturday, about 6 hours to go
Akuryo
AmisVelo
Armchair_Cyclist
Axl
BicycleBoy
BikeRacer33
BluesInTheBottle
Bminchow
Carlo_Algatrensig
Crevaison
Del1962
Gotland
GPBlanco
Hakkie2
Koronin
Leadbelly
LightBing
LosBrolin
Mellow_Velo
MidnightFright
Minessa
Nathanptz
NorthAmericanScum
Paniou
Rote_Laterne
Salvarani
Scrool07
Search
SemirS
Shalgo
TotalPackage
Vladimir
Yellow_Knight

All teams valid and within budget, except one which has 9 riders so will have its cheapest rider cut: the manager has been sent a message.

Good luck to all.
 
With about 30 hours left before the start, and 22 teams in so far, some data.

56 riders have been selected, 27 of them unique picks. The most popular pick is on 14 teams, 6 others are on 9-11 teams, but those most popular 7 would put a team over budget.

I have worked out a most popular (so far) team that is within budget: the team with the highest popularity score has 89% of that, the lowest is 31%. Two teams have half their riders as unique picks.

17 of the selected riders cost less than 100 points, and are probably considered makeweights of whom little is expected. But one of them has been chosen 7 times, and another 5, so there might be a little more hope invested there.

8 different riders have been selected as their team's biggest spend (and one rider more expensive than three of these has been chosen, but not as his team's "leader")
If we take 700 points as the threshhold for an expensive pick (because it includes all of the top picks for each team, and there is a big jump in price between the 24th and 25th most expensive riders), then one team has managed to accommodate 3 such riders, 10 teams have 2, and half the entries so far have spent big just once.

Those who have not entered yet, don't forget.
 
Sorry: what I thought was going to be a short afternoon engagement ended up keeping me for hours later than I had wanted (or was interested in it...)

Teams
36 entries in the end, with a couple of new entrants to the games (I think: welcome). Teams ordered alphabetically, riders by price. Asterisks, as ever, show unique picks.

Akuryo
PORTE Richie
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
MAS NICOLAU Enric
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
WALSCHEID Maximilian
CATALDO Dario *
HERRADA LOPEZ Jose

Amis Velo
YATES Simon
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
NIZZOLO Giacomo
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
MEINTJES Louis
ANACONA GOMEZ Winner Andrew *
GIBBONS Ryan
RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian

Armchair Cyclist

PINOT Thibaut
PORTE Richie
MAS NICOLAU Enric
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
NIZZOLO Giacomo
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
MEINTJES Louis
BOL Jetse

Axl
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
URAN URAN Rigoberto
BUCHMANN Emanuel
MAS NICOLAU Enric
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
MEINTJES Louis
MONFORT Maxime
PETILLI Simone *

Bicycle Boy
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel
YATES Simon
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
ROSSETTO Stéphane *
MONFORT Maxime
RODRIGUEZ GARAICOECHEA Oscar
CUBERO GALVEZ Jorge
DELAGE Mickaël

BikeRacer33
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
BENNETT George
MAS NICOLAU Enric
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
NIZZOLO Giacomo
WALSCHEID Maximilian
GARCIA CORTINA Ivan
SCHULTZ Nicholas *

Blues in the Bottle
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
MAS NICOLAU Enric
NIZZOLO Giacomo
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
MEINTJES Louis
CABEDO CARDA Oscar

Bminchow
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
BENNETT George
ARU Fabio
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
NIZZOLO Giacomo
MEINTJES Louis
GIBBONS Ryan
SCHWARZMANN Michael *

Carlo Algatrensig
ZAKARIN Ilnur
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
PARDILLA BELLON Sergio
MEINTJES Louis
MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel

Crevaison
PINOT Thibaut
ZAKARIN Ilnur
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
SIVAKOV Pavel *
VAN ASBROECK Tom
RESTREPO VALENCIA Jhonatan *
BOL Jetse

Del1962
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
MEINTJES Louis
GIBBONS Ryan
CUMMINGS Stephen
CUBERO GALVEZ Jorge

Gotland
KELDERMAN Wilco
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
NIZZOLO Giacomo
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
HIRT Jan *
GIBBONS Ryan

GPBlanco
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel
BENNETT George
MAS NICOLAU Enric
MEINTJES Louis
DE MARCHI Alessandro
STORER Michael
DE PLUS Laurens
FELLINE Fabio

Hakkie
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
MAS NICOLAU Enric
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
MEINTJES Louis
FELLINE Fabio
CUMMINGS Stephen

Josedin
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion *
BENNETT George
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
ABERASTURI IZAGA Jon
WALSCHEID Maximilian
PADUN Mark
GIBBONS Ryan

Koronin
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro *
MAS NICOLAU Enric
KUSS Sepp *
PARDILLA BELLON Sergio
MEINTJES Louis
DE MARCHI Alessandro
MENDES Jose Joao Pimenta Costa
SABATINI Fabio *

Laarsland
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
STORER Michael
DE PLUS Laurens
CONCI Nicola *
GIBBONS Ryan

Leadbelly
PINOT Thibaut
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
GONÇALVES Jose Isidro Maciel
DE PLUS Laurens
PADUN Mark
MENDES Jose Joao Pimenta Costa

LightBing
TRENTIN Matteo *
URAN URAN Rigoberto
BOUHANNI Nacer
ARU Fabio
MONFORT Maxime
VAN DER SANDE Tosh *
MENDES Jose Joao Pimenta Costa
BRÄNDLE Matthias

Los Brolin
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
MEINTJES Louis
MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel
DE PLUS Laurens
PELLIZOTTI Franco *

Mellow Velo
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
KELDERMAN Wilco
URAN URAN Rigoberto
NIZZOLO Giacomo
WALSCHEID Maximilian
MEINTJES Louis
GIBBONS Ryan
CABEDO CARDA Oscar

Midnight Fright
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
CAMPENAERTS Victor *
NIZZOLO Giacomo
WALSCHEID Maximilian
MEINTJES Louis
CUMMINGS Stephen

Minessa
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
KELDERMAN Wilco
URAN URAN Rigoberto
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
GIBBONS Ryan
BRÄNDLE Matthias
BOL Jetse

Nathanptz
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
URAN URAN Rigoberto
TEUNS Dylan *
BUCHMANN Emanuel
MEINTJES Louis
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor
DE PLUS Laurens
DUPONT Hubert

North American Scum

BENNETT George
BILBAO LOPEZ DE ARMENTIA Pello *
GENIEZ Alexandre *
VAN POPPEL Danny
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
ABERASTURI IZAGA Jon
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor
DE PLUS Laurens

Paniou
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
NIZZOLO Giacomo
FELLINE Fabio
CUMMINGS Stephen
CHETOUT Loïc *

Rote Laterne

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
BENNETT George
URAN URAN Rigoberto
BUCHMANN Emanuel
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
GARCIA CORTINA Ivan
HERRADA LOPEZ Jose
RODRIGUEZ GARAICOECHEA Oscar

Salvarani
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
MAS NICOLAU Enric
NIZZOLO Giacomo
MEINTJES Louis
PADUN Mark
TUSVELD Martijn *

Scrool07
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
ARU Fabio
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis *
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
NIZZOLO Giacomo
WALSCHEID Maximilian
MEINTJES Louis
MATE MARDONES Luis Angel *

Search
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel
BENNETT George
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
NIZZOLO Giacomo
GONÇALVES Jose Isidro Maciel
MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel
GIBBONS Ryan
BOL Jetse

SemirS
YATES Simon
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
GIBBONS Ryan
SAEZ BENITO Hector *
CUBERO GALVEZ Jorge
DELAGE Mickaël

Shalgo
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
VAN POPPEL Danny
NIZZOLO Giacomo
MEINTJES Louis
GIBBONS Ryan
CUMMINGS Stephen

Squire
BENNETT George
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
MAS NICOLAU Enric
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
MEINTJES Louis
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor
DUPONT Hubert

Total Package
PORTE Richie
URAN URAN Rigoberto
BOUHANNI Nacer
ARU Fabio
NIZZOLO Giacomo
MEINTJES Louis
FELLINE Fabio
RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian

Vladimir
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
ZAKARIN Ilnur
ARU Fabio
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
MEINTJES Louis
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor
DE TIER Floris *
VAN ASBROECK Tom

Yellow Knight
MARTIN Daniel *
DENNIS Rohan *
URAN URAN Rigoberto
ARU Fabio
BUCHMANN Emanuel
BRÄNDLE Matthias
RODRIGUEZ GARAICOECHEA Oscar
DELAGE Mickaël
 
Riders

74 of the 176 riders were selected. 29 of them were unique picks: I hope there are 29 asterisks in the list above. Meintjes was always high in the popularity rankings, but Aru and Uran became more frequent appearances among the later entries, possibly as people turned away from considering Porte and his dodgy digestive system, and there was a steep drop of in the occurrence of his name in the final 24 hours or so of team submissions. Only one manager changed their team to remove him, and he still appeared on one of the last entries received.

Here are the remaining 45 selected riders, in order of their popularity.

20: ARU Fabio, MEINTJES Louis, URAN URAN Rigoberto
17: QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
15: DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
14: NIZZOLO Giacomo
11: GIBBONS Ryan
10: BUCHMANN Emanuel, MAS NICOLAU Enric, PORTE Richie
8: BENNETT George, GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
6: DE PLUS Laurens, WALSCHEID Maximilian
5: CUMMINGS Stephen
4: ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor, BOL Jetse, FELLINE Fabio
3: BRÄNDLE Matthias, CUBERO GALVEZ Jorge, DELAGE Mickaël, KELDERMAN Wilco, LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel, MENDES Jose Joao Pimenta Costa, MONFORT Maxime, MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel, PADUN Mark, PINOT Thibaut, RODRIGUEZ GARAICOECHEA Oscar, YATES Simon, ZAKARIN Ilnur
2: ABERASTURI IZAGA Jon, BOUHANNI Nacer, BRAMBILLA Gianluca, CABEDO CARDA Oscar, DE MARCHI Alessandro, DUPONT Hubert, GARCIA CORTINA Ivan, GONÇALVES Jose Isidro Maciel, HERRADA LOPEZ Jose, PARDILLA BELLON Sergio, RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian, STORER Michael, VAN ASBROECK Tom, VAN POPPEL Danny

The names in bold make up the Collective Wisdom team: I had to drop as low as Cummings after the top 7 to keep it in budget.
 
I counted 28 asterisks, but it is interesting how many teams have a unique pick. Guessing my team is the most unique or at least right up there like last time.

Sorry you had to be at an engagement for much longer than you wanted to be. Thanks for getting this put together for us. Who knows how good this team will be, but it will be fun to cheer.
 
Re:

Koronin said:
I counted 28 asterisks, but it is interesting how many teams have a unique pick. Guessing my team is the most unique or at least right up there like last time.

I honestly didn't imagine that anyone would count, but you are right. I've no idea why that bit of coding had dropped out of a cell, but it is corrected now. (it was Campanaerts on Midnight Fright's team)

The following post will resolve your wondering about your degree of uniqueness.
 
Popularity Rankings

For those who are new to this, Aru, Meintjes and Uran are worth 20 points each, as they were on 20 teams: if you had 8 unique picks, then your popularity score would be 8. The Collective Wisdom team has a popularity score of 122.

1 Shalgo 109
2 Bminchow 106
2 Del1962 106
4 Salvarani 105
5 BluesInTheBottle 104
6 Hakkie2 101
7 Squire 99
8 LosBrolin 97
9 Axl 96
9 MidnightFright 96
11 Mellow_Velo 93
12 Gotland 92
12 TotalPackage 92
14 Paniou 86
15 Carlo_Algatrensig 81
15 Minessa 81
15 Scrool07 81
18 Nathanptz 80
19 Laarsland 77
20 AmisVelo 76
21 Vladimir 75
22 Akuryo 74
23 BikeRacer33 73
24 Armchair_Cyclist 71
25 Rote_Laterne 70
26 SemirS 66
27 Leadbelly 62
28 Josedin 61
28 Yellow_Knight 61
30 Search 60
31 GPBlanco 55
32 Crevaison 54
33 LightBing 53
34 Koronin 40
35 NorthAmericanScum 39
36 BicycleBoy 34


Major Picks
Those who have been purchased at 700 points or more: the headline selections for each team (but not necessarily the ones who make a difference)

Valverde: Koronin

Lopez and Yates S: Bicycle Boy
Lopez and Bennett: GPBlanco
Lopez: Search


Yates S and Quintana: Amis Velo
Yates S and Porte: SemirS

Trentin: LightBing

Quintana and Kelderman: Mellow Velo, Minessa
Quintana, Zakarin and Porte: Shalgo
Quintana and Zakarin: Vladimir
Quintana and Porte: Del1962, Laarsland, Paniou
Quintana and Bennett: BikeRacer33, Bminchow, Rote Laterne
Quintana: Axl, Hakkie, Los Brolin, Nathanptz, Salvarani, Scrool07

Pinot and Zakarin: Crevaison
Pinot and Porte: Armchair Cyclist, Leadbelly

Kelderman: Total Package

Martin and Dennis: Yellow Knight

Zakarin: Carlo Algatrensig

Porte: Akuryo, Blues in the Bottle, Midnight Fright, Total Package

Izagirre I: Josedin

Bennett: North American Scum, Squire
 
Re: Re:

Armchair cyclist said:
Koronin said:
I counted 28 asterisks, but it is interesting how many teams have a unique pick. Guessing my team is the most unique or at least right up there like last time.

I honestly didn't imagine that anyone would count, but you are right. I've no idea why that bit of coding had dropped out of a cell, but it is corrected now. (it was Campanaerts on Midnight Fright's team)

The following post will resolve your wondering about your degree of uniqueness.


LOL. Glad the coding is working correctly now. :)

Not the most unique team but close. Either that's going to be really good or really bad.
 
Four Seasons title

Whether through persistence, determination, loyalty, stubbornness or lack of anything else to do in the build-up to major cycling events, 18 managers have sent in teams not only to the Vuelta game, but also earlier in the year for the Giro, the Tour de France, and the Spring Classics.

Spring Classics + Giro + Tour + Vuelta =
1 Armchair_Cyclist 2277 + 1004 + 1731 + 0 = 5012
2 Rote_Laterne 1966 + 1885 + 771 + 0 = 4622
3 LosBrolin 2023 + 1168 + 1168 + 0 = 4359
4 Nathanptz 2274 + 1132 + 812 + 0 = 4218
5 Hakkie2 2307 + 1081 + 800 + 0 = 4188
6 Laarsland 1993 + 1007 + 1027 + 0 = 4027
7 GPBlanco 1809 + 882 + 1010 + 0 = 3701
8 AmisVelo 2017 + 1154 + 504 + 0 = 3675
9 Vladimir 1462 + 1152 + 966 + 0 = 3580
10 Squire 1507 + 1005 + 1061 + 0 = 3573
11 SemirS 1028 + 908 + 1572 + 0 = 3508
12 Leadbelly 1695 + 725 + 1062 + 0 = 3482
13 Mellow_Velo 1673 + 1066 + 699 + 0 = 3438
14 Shalgo 1695 + 695 + 983 + 0 = 3373
15 BluesInTheBottle 1901 + 794 + 602 + 0 = 3297
16 Del1962 1349 + 954 + 708 + 0 = 3011
17 Search 1211 + 679 + 1025 + 0 = 2915
18 Salvarani 1087 + 637 + 922 + 0 = 2646

Collective_Wisdom 2119 + 934 + 1000 + = 4053
 
Stage 1 Short time trial

Green points
For those who are new to these games, or who have short memories for such details, an explanation of how the points here are calculated.
For each stage, the top ten receive points in the distribution 70, 40, 25, 15, 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1. There are also 18 points to the man who will wear the winners jersey the next day. Points won in this way cannot be lost, even if the rider doesn't finish the Vuelta. In the initial GT games, run by CQManager, if I remember correctly, these were the only scores reported until we got to the end of the race, so I have kept the tradition of having these guaranteed points as a minor category. Some team selections that are sprinter/puncheur heavy seem to be created with this as a specific goal (waves at LightBing)

So here is how that applies to the stage 1 results:
DENNIS Rohan 88 1 team (That includes the 18 points for being top of GC)
KWIATKOWSKI Michal 40 0 team
CAMPENAERTS Victor 25 1 team
OLIVEIRA Nelson Filipe Santos Simoes 15 0 team
VAN BAARLE Dylan 10 0 team
DE MARCHI Alessandro 7 2 teams
CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS Jonathan 5 0 team
GESCHKE Simon 3 0 team
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion 2 1 team
KELDERMAN Wilco 1 3 teams

and not many of those riders gain points for the teams in this game, but at least we have an initial leaders table:

1 Yellow_Knight 88
2 MidnightFright 25
3= GPBlanco, Koronin 7
5 Josedin 2
6= Gotland, Mellow_Velo, Minessa 1
9= Everyone else 0

Red points

CQ points are not only for the stages: far more of them are for the final GC standings. The top 10 in GC get 500, 375, 315, 265, 240, 215, 190, 165, 150, 135 and so on, with declining points, down to 16 points for 50th place, and 15 for every finisher.
The top ten in the final points and mountains classifications also get points equivalent to a stage.

Of course, riders only get those points upon completing the race, but tables here that ignore them would be ignoring the majority of points that will be given, and a false impression of the standings would be given. So I give the points everyday to all the teams as though the current GC/points/mountains standings were final. This is very unreliable at the beginning of the race, just as no-one looks at the current GC table and considers it a likely outcome in 3 weeks time. But once we have had a couple of mountain shakedowns, then it becomes something that is changed mainly by the exploits or misfortunes of individual riders.

So, unreliable as it may be, here is the Red Jersey table (no mountain category points yet, after a flat timetrial) of the points your riders would get if the rest of the Vuelta were to be cancelled (well, the guys at CQ would probably downgrade the points if it were to happen, but...)

Rohan Dennis is on 658 points (70 for the stage win, 500 for leading GC, 70 for top of the points category, and 18 for a day in red), but even Oscar Cabedo, last on the stage and in the GC, gets 15 points for his two managers.

1 Yellow_Knight 819
2 MidnightFright 501
3 GPBlanco 484
4 Koronin 414
5 Minessa 343
6 Nathanptz 320
7 Hakkie2 319
8 Gotland 305
9 Josedin 303
10 Paniou 269
11 Mellow_Velo 267
12 AmisVelo 239
12 Rote_Laterne 239
14 Carlo_Algatrensig 237
15 Laarsland 219
15 Vladimir 219
17 TotalPackage 217
18 LosBrolin 215
19 Salvarani 196
20 Axl 191
21 Armchair_Cyclist 190
21 BluesInTheBottle 190
23 NorthAmericanScum 178
24 Del1962 176
24 Shalgo 176
26 Akuryo 170
27 BicycleBoy 156
27 Leadbelly 156
29 SemirS 153
30 BikeRacer33 152
30 Crevaison 152
32 Bminchow 145
33 Scrool07 141
34 LightBing 137
35 Search 131
35 Squire 131
Collective_Wisdom 176

I would suggest that Yellow Knight's selection of Rohan Dennis was perhaps more aimed towards the transient glory of temporarily leading on day one rather than the likelihood of him featuring high in GC at the end of the race. And if that is the case, mission accomplished.

A different set of riders to feature in the green points today, and at least some change in the GC standings, and a few points in the mountains category too, so at least some change to come.

All the numbers are in the spreadsheet, which is available for all at Dropbox: I won't bother posting the link every day, but it will stay at the same place, updated at about the time I do the post.
 
Stage 2 Hilly finish at Caminito del Rey

Green Points

VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 70pts 1 team
KWIATKOWSKI Michal 58 0 team
DE PLUS Laurens 25 6 teams
KELDERMAN Wilco 15 3 teams
BENNETT George 10 8 teams
GALLOPIN Tony 7 0 team
BUCHMANN Emanuel 5 10 teams
URAN URAN Rigoberto 3 20 teams
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander 2 17 teams
PINOT Thibaut 1 3 teams

2 very popular riders among the scorers, almost everyone off the mark. A clear winner on the day, especially as no-one has picked Kwiatkowski, but most of the De Plus teams moderate the gap by combining with others.
1 Koronin 70
2= GPBlanco, LosBrolin, Nathanptz, NorthAmericanScum 35
6 Laarsland 32
7 Leadbelly 29
8= Mellow_Velo,Minessa, Rote_Laterne 20
11 Gotland 18
12 Josedin 15
13 Squire 13
14= BikeRacer33, Bminchow 12
16= Axl, Search 10
18 Yellow_Knight 8
19 Hakkie2 7
20= Akuryo, Carlo_Algatrensig, Del1962, Paniou, Salvarani, Shalgo 5
26 Crevaison 4
27= BluesInTheBottle, LightBing, MidnightFright, SemirS, TotalPackage 3
32= AmisVelo, Scrool07, Vladimir 2
35 Armchair_Cyclist 1
36 BicycleBoy 0
Collective_Wisdom 5

Standings
1 Yellow_Knight 96
2 Koronin 77
3 GPBlanco 42
4 LosBrolin 35
4 Nathanptz 35
4 NorthAmericanScum 35
7 Laarsland 32
8 Leadbelly 29
9 MidnightFright 28
10 Mellow_Velo 21
10 Minessa 21
(I usually only give the top ten for this: it is the minor classification)

Red points
Because riders can drop in the standings, their projected points can also fall, but not often as dramatically as Dennis does today. I will only list riders who are selected in our teams here, and if there are a lot of large changes, like today, I won't list the minor ones.

VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 401 1 team
DE PLUS Laurens 257 6 teams
KELDERMAN Wilco 209 3 teams
BUCHMANN Emanuel 141 10 teams
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander 116 17 teams
FELLINE Fabio 103 4 teams
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion 88 1 team
MAS NICOLAU Enric 78 10 teams
BENNETT George 72 8 teams
PINOT Thibaut 70 3 teams
MATE MARDONES Luis Angel 70 1 team
YATES Simon 68 3 teams
ARU Fabio 55 20 teams
URAN URAN Rigoberto 54 20 teams
...
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao -51 8 teams
TEUNS Dylan -105 1 team
DE MARCHI Alessandro -207 2 teams
CAMPENAERTS Victor -255 1 team
DENNIS Rohan -515 1 team

And if riders can get negative scores on the day, so can teams, as two illustrate today, but most are moving in the right direction.

1 LosBrolin 650
2 Laarsland 565
3 Hakkie2 518
4 Nathanptz 487
5 Axl 445
6 Leadbelly 419
7 NorthAmericanScum 397
8 Mellow_Velo 392
9 Josedin 351
10 GPBlanco 350
11 Minessa 346
12 Rote_Laterne 332
13 Squire 322
14 Akuryo 313
15 Scrool07 310
16 BikeRacer33 305
17 Gotland 302
18 Bminchow 295
19 Koronin 289
20 Paniou 281
21 Salvarani 276
22 TotalPackage 229
23 Del1962 207
23 Shalgo 207
25 Carlo_Algatrensig 205
26 Crevaison 160
27 SemirS 157
28 BluesInTheBottle 153
29 AmisVelo 152
30 Search 147
31 BicycleBoy 146
32 Armchair_Cyclist 139
33 Vladimir 138
34 LightBing 92
35 MidnightFright -160
36 Yellow_Knight -276
Collective_Wisdom 246

Standings

It is very early, but some of the damage (Hello, Porte teams) is probably already permanent. Yesterdays positions were fairly irrelevant: 8 teams moved up by 10 or more, and new leader Los Brolin by more than anyone else (17 places)
1 LosBrolin 865
2 Hakkie2 837
3 GPBlanco 834
4 Nathanptz 807
5 Laarsland 784
6 Koronin 703
7 Minessa 689
8 Mellow_Velo 659
9 Josedin 654
10 Axl 636
11 Gotland 607
12 Leadbelly 575
12 NorthAmericanScum 575
14 Rote_Laterne 571
15 Paniou 550
16 Yellow_Knight 543
17 Akuryo 483
18 Salvarani 472
19 BikeRacer33 457
20 Squire 453
21 Scrool07 451
22 TotalPackage 446
23 Carlo_Algatrensig 442
24 Bminchow 440
25 AmisVelo 391
26 Del1962 383
26 Shalgo 383
28 Vladimir 357
29 BluesInTheBottle 343
30 MidnightFright 341
31 Armchair_Cyclist 329
32 Crevaison 312
33 SemirS 310
34 BicycleBoy 302
35 Search 278
36 LightBing 229
Collective_Wisdom 422

Tomorrow, by contrast, is likely to be the type of day when there are few changes other than the green points manifesting themselves in the red table.

Probably.
 
Nice to know my pick of De Marchi was useful for some green points in the ITT.

Still no clear idea of what Valverde's plan for the race are, however he did make a comment that it had been way too long since he'd won a stage of la Vuelta and that his first goal of the race has been accomplished with 80% of the race still to come.
 
Stage 3 A sprint on the coast

Green points
Most of the sprinters that we have chosen appear here (Walscheid, on 6 teams, is the notable absentee), but with the limited number of suitable stages, the more expensive of the species are not selected much.

VIVIANI Elia 70pts 0
NIZZOLO Giacomo 40 14 teams
SAGAN Peter 25 0
KWIATKOWSKI Michal 18 0
BOUHANNI Nacer 15 2 teams
CONSONNI Simone 10 0
VAN POPPEL Danny 7 2 teams
MØRKØV CHRISTENSEN Michael 5 0
TRENTIN Matteo 3 1 team
GIBBONS Ryan 2 11 teams
VAN ASBROECK Tom 1 2 teams

1 TotalPackage 55 (Nizzolo and Bouhanni)
2 Shalgo 49 (Nizzolo, Van Poppel and Gibbons)
3 AmisVelo, Bminchow, Gotland, Mellow_Velo, Search 42 (Nizzolo and Gibbons
8 Armchair_Cyclist, BikeRacer33, BluesInTheBottle, MidnightFright, Paniou, Salvarani, Scrool07 40
15 LightBing 18
16 NorthAmericanScum 7
17 Del1962, Josedin, Laarsland, Minessa, SemirS 2
22 Crevaison, Vladimir 1

Standings
1 Yellow_Knight 96
2 Koronin 77
3 MidnightFright 68
4 Mellow_Velo 63
5 Gotland 61
6 TotalPackage 58
7 Bminchow 54
7 Shalgo 54
9 BikeRacer33 52
9 Search 52

Red points

Not much other than the daily points: Campanaerts drop was the most significant GC action, and Valverde rises to 2nd in the points competition.

NIZZOLO Giacomo 47pts 14 teams
BOUHANNI Nacer 15 2 teams
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro 10 1 team
...
DENNIS Rohan -25 1 team
CAMPENAERTS Victor -67 1 team


1 TotalPackage 76
2 Shalgo 68
3 BluesInTheBottle 61
4 AmisVelo 60
4 Bminchow 60
6 Salvarani 59
6 Scrool07 59
8 Gotland 56
8 Search 56
10 Armchair_Cyclist 55
11 Paniou 53
12 Mellow_Velo 52
13 BikeRacer33 50
14 LightBing 26
15 Carlo_Algatrensig 19
16 Squire 17
16 Vladimir 17
18 Koronin 15
19 Del1962 14
20 Crevaison 13
21 Axl 10
21 Hakkie2 10
23 SemirS 9
24 Josedin 7
24 Rote_Laterne 7
26 Akuryo 6
26 BicycleBoy 6
28 LosBrolin 5
28 Minessa 5
28 NorthAmericanScum 5
31 Nathanptz 1
32 GPBlanco -2
33 Laarsland -3
33 Leadbelly -3
35 MidnightFright -8
36 Yellow_Knight -23
Collective_Wisdom 63


Standings
A day of calm after yesterday, top 6 unchanged, Gotland the only new team in the top ten, and Total Package's 5 place jump the biggest.

1 LosBrolin 870
2 Hakkie2 847
3 GPBlanco 832
4 Nathanptz 808
5 Laarsland 781
6 Koronin 718
7 Mellow_Velo 711
8 Minessa 694
9 Gotland 663
10 Josedin 661
11 Axl 646
12 Paniou 603
13 NorthAmericanScum 580
14 Rote_Laterne 578
15 Leadbelly 572
16 Salvarani 531
17 TotalPackage 522
18 Yellow_Knight 520
19 Scrool07 510
20 BikeRacer33 507
21 Bminchow 500
22 Akuryo 489
23 Squire 470
24 Carlo_Algatrensig 461
25 AmisVelo 451
25 Shalgo 451
27 BluesInTheBottle 404
28 Del1962 397
29 Armchair_Cyclist 384
30 Vladimir 374
31 Search 334
32 MidnightFright 333
33 Crevaison 325
34 SemirS 319
35 BicycleBoy 308
36 LightBing 255
Collective_Wisdom 485

Tomorrow should see a bit more of a shakedown, with mountain men passing those who could cope with yesterday's hill but not something much bigger.
 
Stage 4 The first mountain finish

Green points

Breakaway riders traditionally are fairly popular as low-mid price punts in these games, but we didn't do well, on today's evidence, of picking the right ones. I'm willing to bet that the two teams picking Cabedo were not expecting him to be second best scorer on any stage.

KING Benjamin 70pts 0 team
STALNOV Nikita 40 0 team
ROLLAND Pierre 25 0 team
KWIATKOWSKI Michal 18 0 team
MATE MARDONES Luis Angel 15 1 team
GASTAUER Ben 10 0 team
WALLAYS Jelle 7 0 team
CABEDO CARDA Oscar 5 2 teams
YATES Simon 3 3 teams
BUCHMANN Emanuel 2 10 teams
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel 1 3 teams

1 Scrool07 15
2 BluesInTheBottle, Mellow_Velo 5
4 BicycleBoy 4 (Yates and Lopez)
5 AmisVelo, SemirS 3
7 ten teams with Buchmann 2
17 two other Lopez teams 1

Standings

1 Yellow_Knight 98
2 Koronin 77
3 Mellow_Velo 68
3 MidnightFright 68
5 Gotland 61
6 TotalPackage 58
7 Scrool07 57
8 Bminchow 54
8 Shalgo 54
10 Search 53

Red points

As expected, the real contenders now are concentrated around the top, but there will surely be plenty more adjuustment of their order. And as can be seen from Valverde's 3-figure point loss on the day, those in high positions can lose a lot without necessarily losing much time or many prospects in the race.

YATES Simon 206pts 3 teams
BUCHMANN Emanuel 187 10 teams
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel 43 3 teams
MAS NICOLAU Enric 31 10 teams
PINOT Thibaut 28 3 teams
RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian 27 2 teams
BENNETT George 26 8 teams
DUPONT Hubert 25 2 teams
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David 22 15 teams
MEINTJES Louis 20 20 teams
...
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion -25 1 team
BILBAO LOPEZ DE ARMENTIA Pello -47 1 team
KELDERMAN Wilco -78 3 teams
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro -117 1 team
FELLINE Fabio -200 4 teams
DE PLUS Laurens -203 6 teams

1 Axl 296 (Buchmann, Mas, de la Cruz, Meintjes)
2 Akuryo 262 (Buchmann, de la Cruz, Meintjes)
3 BicycleBoy 260 (Yates, Lopez, de la Cruz)
4 AmisVelo 247
5 SemirS 241
6 Rote_Laterne 238
7 Carlo_Algatrensig 236
8 Yellow_Knight 212
9 Josedin 204
10 Squire 150
11 Bminchow 95
12 Salvarani 92
13 Hakkie2 91
14 BikeRacer33 90
15 Search 85
16 BluesInTheBottle 72
17 Del1962 65
18 Crevaison 62
19 Shalgo 61
20 Nathanptz 54
21 Armchair_Cyclist 49
22 LosBrolin 47
23 MidnightFright 43
24 Vladimir 41
25 LightBing 30
25 Scrool07 30
27 Laarsland 15
28 Mellow_Velo -28
29 Minessa -37
30 Gotland -40
31 Koronin -67
32 TotalPackage -127
33 Leadbelly -139
34 Paniou -153
35 NorthAmericanScum -206
36 GPBlanco -283
Collective_Wisdom 83

Standings

Out of this morning's top ten, Hakkie fared best today, but only came 13th on the day. He and Los Brolin retain places on the podium, but are passed by Axl who wasn't even in the top ten at the beginning of the day. The other podium place yesterday was held by someone who has dropped 19 places, but that wasn't even the biggest fall of the day. There are 5 new teams in the top ten, including Amis Velo, who shares with Bicycle Boy the honour of biggest rise of the day (15 places): 4 others also went 10 or more places in the right direction.

1 Axl 942
2 Hakkie2 938
3 LosBrolin 917
4 Josedin 865
5 Nathanptz 862
6 Rote_Laterne 816
7 Laarsland 796
8 Akuryo 751
9 Yellow_Knight 732
10 AmisVelo 698
11 Carlo_Algatrensig 697
12 Mellow_Velo 683
13 Minessa 657
14 Koronin 651
15 Gotland 623
15 Salvarani 623
17 Squire 620
18 BikeRacer33 597
19 Bminchow 595
20 BicycleBoy 568
21 SemirS 560
22 GPBlanco 549
23 Scrool07 540
24 Shalgo 512
25 BluesInTheBottle 476
26 Del1962 462
27 Paniou 450
28 Armchair_Cyclist 433
28 Leadbelly 433
30 Search 419
31 Vladimir 415
32 TotalPackage 395
33 Crevaison 387
34 MidnightFright 376
35 NorthAmericanScum 374
36 LightBing 285
Collective_Wisdom 568

Not expecting anything very dramatic in the table between now and Sunday, but something will happen.
 

axl

Aug 19, 2017
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Wow i'm first. I put more time than usual to make my team. If expect to have 5 men in the top10 in Madrid (Quintana/Uran/Buchmann/Mas/De La Cruz). I'm pretty confident for 4 of them but worried for De La Cruz. But he's a popular pick he won't make a big difference.
 
Stage 5 Breakaway wins, and an unexpected red jersey

Green points
Another set of breakaway riders that we largely overlooked.

CLARKE Simon 70 0
MOLLEMA Bauke 40 0
DE MARCHI Alessandro 25 2
MOLARD Rudy 25 0
VILLELLA Davide 15 0
DE TIER Floris 10 1
MONFORT Maxime 5 3
LASTRA MARTINEZ Jonathan 3 0
PELLIZOTTI Franco 2 1
KUDUS Merhawi Gebremedhin 1 0

1 GPBlanco, Koronin 25
3 Vladimir 10
4 Axl, BicycleBoy, LightBing 5
7 Los Brolin 2
That's all!

Standings
Koronin now has a stage win and a third, and top place here.
1 Koronin 102
2 Yellow_Knight 98
3 GPBlanco 68
3 Mellow_Velo 68
3 MidnightFright 68
6 Gotland 61
7 TotalPackage 58
8 Scrool07 57
9 Bminchow 54
9 Shalgo 54

Red points
I said yesterday that something would happen, but didn't expect that.
If Molard is to gain lots of prospective GC points (he is +477 on the day, had anyone picked him), others must lose them, and the points distribution is such that the higher the rider is on GC, the more points he loses by being overtaken by Molard (or anyone else). So:
DE MARCHI Alessandro 35 2 teams
DE TIER Floris 27 1 team
...
DUPONT Hubert -12 2
MAS NICOLAU Enric -15 10
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander -15 17
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion -25 1
VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro -26 1
KELDERMAN Wilco -29 3
YATES Simon -50 3
BUCHMANN Emanuel -60 10

On that principle, those who have lost more points are those who have high scoring riders: the first shall be last and all that. (I like Maths challenges: Spearman's R for today's net changes against this mornings standings is -0.896)

1 LightBing -7
2 GPBlanco -8
3 Koronin -12
3 Vladimir -12
5 MidnightFright -21
6 NorthAmericanScum -23
7 Search -25
8 Leadbelly -26
9 Paniou -28
10 Crevaison -29
10 TotalPackage -29
12 Armchair_Cyclist -32
13 Del1962 -33
14 BluesInTheBottle -36
14 Scrool07 -36
14 Shalgo -36
17 Bminchow -42
18 BikeRacer33 -45
19 Gotland -48
20 Salvarani -51
21 BicycleBoy -54
21 Minessa -54
23 Mellow_Velo -59
24 SemirS -60
24 Squire -60
26 Yellow_Knight -75
27 AmisVelo -85
28 Akuryo -88
29 Carlo_Algatrensig -89
29 Laarsland -89
31 Rote_Laterne -92
32 Josedin -99
33 LosBrolin -103
34 Axl -104
35 Hakkie2 -106
36 Nathanptz -110
Collective_Wisdom -40


Standings

Compaction of the table rather than much positional change today: Koronin's jump of 4 places is simultaneously the highest placed change, the only entry into the top ten, and the biggest rise.

1 Axl 838
2 Hakkie2 832
3 LosBrolin 814
4 Josedin 766
5 Nathanptz 752
6 Rote_Laterne 724
7 Laarsland 707
8 Akuryo 663
9 Yellow_Knight 657
10 Koronin 639
11 Mellow_Velo 624
12 AmisVelo 613
13 Carlo_Algatrensig 608
14 Minessa 603
15 Gotland 575
16 Salvarani 572
17 Squire 560
18 Bminchow 553
19 BikeRacer33 552
20 GPBlanco 541
21 BicycleBoy 514
22 Scrool07 504
23 SemirS 500
24 Shalgo 476
25 BluesInTheBottle 440
26 Del1962 429
27 Paniou 422
28 Leadbelly 407
29 Vladimir 403
30 Armchair_Cyclist 401
31 Search 394
32 TotalPackage 366
33 Crevaison 358
34 MidnightFright 355
35 NorthAmericanScum 351
36 LightBing 278
Collective_Wisdom 528

Tomorrow should see a day of green points only.
 
Yay, I have the Green jersey for the day.

I'm very glad I put De Marchi on my team. I took a chance that Porte wouldn't be ready to compete for GC freeing up De Marche to go out in breaks as he enjoys doing.

Even funnier my Green points are coming from riders who essentially have the same first name just in two different languages, Alejandro and Alessandro. LOL, Based on this maybe next year I should see if I can put together a team with riders who all have some version of the name, Alexander.

I'm definitely going to enjoy the stage win and another podium place.
 

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