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2019 Spring Classics CQ Game

Two sunny days in a row, so we must be getting near to the northern European spring, and closer to this game.

You need:-
* to name 12 riders (male) who had a total between them of not more than 3000 CQ points earned in 2018;
* to send me this list by PM, here or at Velorooms (if you are new on CN, you may need to do that), with the riders names in CQ format;
* to do this before the start of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblat Men's race on Saturday 2nd March;
* to hope that your selected dozen do well in the European one day races of category HC or above in March, April and the first weekend of May.


I need:-
* to put up a spreadsheet to check your team (done here);
* to check your teams and tell you if there is a problem (unless you leave it to the last morning to submit it, in which case you might end up one man short, or worse);
* to send my team to the first manager to submit their team (Done: it went to Del1962 on Thursday evening);
* to keep the list of entries reasonably up to date so that you know your entry has been received. If 48 hours pass without your name appearing here, nudge me;
* to collate points as awarded by CQ for those races, hopefully on the evening of the day on which they occur;
* to make up any other rules on the fly.

The races:
1 02/03/2019 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 1.WT3
2 03/03/2019 Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne 1.HC
3 09/03/2019 Strade Bianche 1.WT3
4 10/03/2019 GP Industria & Artigianato - Larciano 1.HC
5 17/03/2019 Ronde van Drenthe 1.HC
6 20/03/2019 Nokere Koerse 1.HC
7 22/03/2019 Bredene Koksijde Classic (formerly Handzame Classic) 1.HC
8 23/03/2019 Milano - Sanremo 1.WT1
9 24/03/2019 GP de Denain - Porte du Hainaut 1.HC
10 27/03/2019 Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde 1.WT3 (upgraded from last year)
11 29/03/2019 E3 Harelbeke 1.WT2
12 31/03/2019 Gent - Wevelgem 1.WT2
13 03/04/2019 Dwars door Vlaanderen 1.WT3
14 07/04/2019 Ronde van Vlaanderen 1.WT1
15 10/04/2019 Scheldeprijs 1.HC
16 14/04/2019 Paris - Roubaix 1.WT1
17 17/04/2019 Brabantse Pijl 1.HC
18 21/04/2019 Amstel Gold Race 1.WT2
19 24/04/2019 Flèche Wallonne 1.WT2
20 28/04/2019 Liège - Bastogne - Liège 1.WT1
21 01/05/2019 Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn - Frankfurt 1.WT3 New entry

Entries to Friday morning (about 13 hours to go)
AmisVelo
Armchair
BlackBandit222
Blues_in_the_Bottle
Bminchow
Chiron
Comodoro
Del1962
Flo
GPBlanco
JustSomeGuy
Kazistuta
Laarsland
Leadbelly
LightBing
LosBrolin
Madrazo
MellowVelo
NorthAmericanScum
Otoxiep87
PremierAndrew
RoteLaterne
Safebet
Salvarani
Scrool07
Search
SemirS
ThePirate81
Triley36
Vladimir
 
You will notice that I have added Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn - Frankfurt, which becomes the last race of the series and might rebalance the selections a little, leaving something other than the Ardennes puncheurs for the final resolution. It is in the spring, it is a WT race: I think I had only omitted it in the past because I had a notion of the spring races finishing with Liege.

With this and the upgrading of De Panne, there are more points available than last year. I haven't included any 1.1s, much as I like Tro-Bro Leon and Le Samyn: they rarely have any WT teams other than those of the host nation, and the expected teams (per PCS) include no more than 3 WT teams in any of them (Ardeche and Drome had 5 last year, but weren't included)

Last year the competition was very close, and really only decided in the last couple of hundred metres of Ans: be part of it, and by all means mention it on other cycling forums if the readers there might be interested.

Later edit: If I had included Eschborn - Frankfurt last year, the final podium, instead of being Madrazo - The Asian - Hakkie, would have been The Asian - Armchair Cyclist - Nathanptz, due to Sean De Bie (already a very successful popular pick in that game) picking up what would have been 70 more points.
 
Looking forward to this as always, now I know I need to put the wife to bed early to stay up with a bottle of wine and nerd away :)

Any chance of a spreadsheet which compiles the 2018-scores of the races valid in the competition, or do I compile that myself? :D
 
laarsland said:
Looking forward to this as always, now I know I need to put the wife to bed early to stay up with a bottle of wine and nerd away :)

Any chance of a spreadsheet which compiles the 2018-scores of the races valid in the competition, or do I compile that myself? :D

All riders are eligible, and the prices are as at 01/01/19, so whatever you used for the main season game is suitable for this. There is a spreadsheet linked in the OP, which will check your totals for you, but the associated list of names includes everyone who got CQ points last year, plus a few obvious zero pointers.

Maybe next year I should only put riders from the WT, PCT and any CTs likely to appear. Don't think I'll have time to make that change this year though.

I've just read that again: the 2018 scores of these races (except Eschborn-Frankfurt) and the points of the riders in that series are on the final version of this game last year : Here it is:you probably want to look at the Rider Scores page, or the sheet for each race at the end of the workbook.
 
Armchair cyclist said:
laarsland said:
Looking forward to this as always, now I know I need to put the wife to bed early to stay up with a bottle of wine and nerd away :)

Any chance of a spreadsheet which compiles the 2018-scores of the races valid in the competition, or do I compile that myself? :D

All riders are eligible, and the prices are as at 01/01/19, so whatever you used for the main season game is suitable for this. There is a spreadsheet linked in the OP, which will check your totals for you, but the associated list of names includes everyone who got CQ points last year, plus a few obvious zero pointers.

Maybe next year I should only put riders from the WT, PCT and any CTs likely to appear. Don't think I'll have time to make that change this year though.

I've just read that again: the 2018 scores of these races (except Eschborn-Frankfurt) and the points of the riders in that series are on the final version of this game last year : Here it is:you probably want to look at the Rider Scores page, or the sheet for each race at the end of the workbook.

You spoiled the lazy (or busy) with that one. I just finished my spreadsheet research!
 
The first 13 teams have thrown up 68 different riders, 39 of whom are unique picks, and 2 are on more than half of the teams.

11 of them scored 200 or more in these races last year, 30 of them got 20 or fewer.
14 cost 500 pts or more, 16 cost 50 or less.

about 3 1/2 days left to get your team in.
 
Last call: race starts at 11:45 CET (about 13 hours from this post).

31 teams, 113 riders, 59 unique picks, and now a third rider on more than half of the teams.

Scores from last year's races range from 634 to 1654 (I believe 2123 was the best possible), and the popularity scores go from 52 to 148 (the 12 most popular riders come in at 165)
 
35 real teams, and one mathematical calculation.

As usual, teams in alphabetical order, riders in price order, and asterisks for the unique picks

Amis Velo
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
DEVENYNS Dries *
VAN BAARLE Dylan
KITTEL Marcel
FELLINE Fabio
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
THEUNS Edward
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
VAKOC Petr

Armchair Cyclist
LUTSENKO Alexey
KREUZIGER Roman
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
KITTEL Marcel
FELLINE Fabio
CAPIOT Amaury
THEUNS Edward
HAUSSLER Heinrich
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
VAKOC Petr

BlackBandit222
VAN AVERMAET Greg *
VAN BAARLE Dylan
PHILIPSEN Jasper
Durbridge Luke
VERMOTE Julien *
VANDENBERGH Stijn
ROWE Luke
KEISSE Iljo
DE VREESE Laurens *
BOOM Lars
EVENEPOEL Remco
VAKOC Petr

Blues in the Bottle
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
KÜNG Stefan
VAN DER HOORN Taco
PHILIPSEN Jasper
FELLINE Fabio
THEUNS Edward
PHINNEY Taylor
HOFSTEDE Lennard *
SPENGLER Lukas *
SELLIER Simon *
EVENEPOEL Remco

Bminchow
VAN AERT Wout
TRENTIN Matteo
DEBUSSCHERE Jens
VAN BAARLE Dylan
PHILIPSEN Jasper
CAPIOT Amaury
THEUNS Edward
STANNARD Ian
BARBIER Rudy
BOOM Lars
EVENEPOEL Remco
VAKOC Petr

Chiron
VAN AERT WOUT
CORT NIELSEN MAGNUS *
TRENTIN MATTEO
VAN DER POEL MATHIEU
PHILIPSEN JASPER
HALVORSEN KRISTOFFER
WAEYTENS ZICO
BETTIOL ALBERTO
BOECKMANS KRIS *
BOOM LARS
EVENEPOEL REMCO
VAKOC PETR

Comodoro
TRENTIN Matteo
VANENDERT Jelle
VAN DER HOORN Taco
HAIG Jack *
VAN BAARLE Dylan
GAUDU David *
THEUNS Edward
HOFLAND Moreno
HAUSSLER Heinrich
ROWE Luke
BOOM Lars
DE KLEIJN Arvid *

Del 1962
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald *
LUTSENKO Alexey
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
THEUNS Edward
GIBBONS Ryan
ROWE Luke
LIETAER Eliot *
BOOM Lars
STALLAERT Joeri
EISEL Bernhard
EVENEPOEL Remco

Flo
TRENTIN Matteo
KÜNG Stefan
TEUNISSEN Mike
VAN BAARLE Dylan
ROELANDTS Jürgen
FELLINE Fabio
KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav
GARCIA CORTINA Ivan
VLIEGEN Loïc
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
AFFINI Edoardo

GPBlanco
VANMARCKE Sep
VAN AERT Wout
VAN BAARLE Dylan
ROELANDTS Jürgen
VAN SCHIP Jan-Willem *
CAPIOT Amaury
OSS Daniel *
CAVENDISH Mark
STANNARD Ian
VAN ASBROECK Tom
BOOM Lars
DEVOLDER Stijn *

Joelsim
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
TRENTIN Matteo
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
KÜNG Stefan
PHILIPSEN Jasper
THEUNS Edward
MCLAY Daniel *
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
STALLAERT Joeri
VAKOC Petr

Josedin
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael *
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER HOORN Taco
PHILIPSEN Jasper
THEUNS Edward
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
KEISSE Iljo
BOOM Lars
EVENEPOEL Remco
VAKOC Petr

JustSomeGuy

WELLENS Tim *
STYBAR Zdenek
PLANCKAERT Edward *
DURBRIDGE Luke
HAUSSLER Heinrich
VAN ASBROECK Tom
ROWE Luke
CLARKE William *
BOOM Lars
DE CLERCQ Bart
EVENEPOEL Remco
VAKOC Petr

Kazistuta
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
VANMARCKE Sep
TRENTIN Matteo
KÜNG Stefan
THEUNS Edward
DURBRIDGE Luke
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
VLIEGEN Loïc
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
VAN STAEYEN Michael

Laarsland
LAMPAERT Yves
VANMARCKE Sep
DEBUSSCHERE Jens
CAPIOT Amaury
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
DURBRIDGE Luke
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
PHINNEY Taylor
HAUSSLER Heinrich
ROWE Luke
NAESEN Lawrence
BETTIOL Alberto

Leadbelly
LAMPAERT Yves
VANMARCKE Sep
SENECHAL Florian
TEUNISSEN Mike
ROELANDTS Jürgen
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
LANGEVELD Sebastian
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
EVENEPOEL Remco
VAKOC Petr

LightBing
BENOOT Tiesj
STYBAR Zdenek
VANMARCKE Sep
CAPIOT Amaury
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
BAKELANTS Jan
STANNARD Ian
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
STALLAERT Joeri
DE CLERCQ Bart
VAKOC Petr

Los Brolin
GILBERT Philippe
VANMARCKE Sep
TRENTIN Matteo
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
DURBRIDGE Luke
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
GIBBONS Ryan
ROWE Luke
GESBERT Elie *
WAEYTENS Zico
FILOSI Iuri *
VAKOC Petr

Madrazo
VANMARCKE Sep
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
ROELANDTS Jürgen
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
THEUNS Edward
DURBRIDGE Luke
HAUSSLER Heinrich
STANNARD Ian
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars

Mellow Velo
VANMARCKE Sep
VAN AERT Wout
KREUZIGER Roman
GASPAROTTO Enrico
ROELANDTS Jürgen
DURBRIDGE Luke
EDMONDSON Alexander *
ROWE Luke
EISEL Bernhard
FEDRIGO Leonardo *
MUÑOZ GIRALDO Daniel Felipe *
VAKOC Petr

Nathanptz
GILBERT Philippe
TRENTIN Matteo
VAN BAARLE Dylan
CAPIOT Amaury
THEUNS Edward
DURBRIDGE Luke
GARCIA CORTINA Ivan
PHINNEY Taylor
STANNARD Ian
VAN ASBROECK Tom
BOOM Lars
ASSELMAN Jesper *

North American Scum
VANMARCKE Sep
KÜNG Stefan
PHILIPSEN Jasper
ROELANDTS Jürgen
KITTEL Marcel
VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume *
EENKHOORN Pascal *
THEUNS Edward
PHINNEY Taylor
VAN ASBROECK Tom
ROWE Luke
BOOM Lars

Otoxiep87
LAMPAERT Yves
TRENTIN Matteo
GASPAROTTO Enrico
PHILIPSEN Jasper
FELLINE Fabio
PETIT Adrien *
VLIEGEN Loïc
BIERMANS Jenthe
VAN ASBROECK Tom
ALLEGAERT Piet *
BETTIOL Alberto
EVENEPOEL Remco

Postmanhat
MOSCON Gianni *
VAN AERT Wout
FELLINE Fabio
DE BUYST Jasper *
DURBRIDGE Luke
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
PHINNEY Taylor
VANDENBERGH Stijn
STANNARD Ian
GIBBONS Ryan
ROWE Luke
EVENEPOEL Remco

Premier Andrew
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
VANMARCKE Sep
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
THEUNS Edward
BAKELANTS Jan
STANNARD Ian
SWIFT Ben *
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
EVENEPOEL Remco

Rote Laterne
VANMARCKE Sep
TRENTIN Matteo
VAN BAARLE Dylan
ROELANDTS Jürgen
KITTEL Marcel
THEUNS Edward
DURBRIDGE Luke
LANGEVELD Sebastian
HAUSSLER Heinrich
STANNARD Ian
ROWE Luke
BOOM Lars

Safebet
VANMARCKE Sep
TRENTIN Matteo
VAN BAARLE Dylan
ROELANDTS Jürgen
BONIFAZIO Niccolo *
COSNEFROY Benoit *
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
DURBRIDGE Luke
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
BARBIER Rudy
ROWE Luke
VAKOC Petr

Salvarani
LUTSENKO Alexey
TRENTIN Matteo
DEBUSSCHERE Jens
SENECHAL Florian
ROELANDTS Jürgen
HOFLAND Moreno
VLIEGEN Loïc
HAUSSLER Heinrich
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
AFFINI Edoardo
BOOM Lars

Scrool07
BENOOT Tiesj
VAN AERT Wout
VANENDERT Jelle
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
THEUNS Edward
BACKAERT Frederik *
DURBRIDGE Luke
BIERMANS Jenthe
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
VANHOUCKE Harm *
EVENEPOEL Remco

Search
VANMARCKE Sep
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
POLITT Nils *
KEUKELEIRE Jens *
KITTEL Marcel
CAPIOT Amaury
THEUNS Edward
LANGEVELD Sebastian
VLIEGEN Loïc
ROWE Luke
BOOM Lars
VAN STAEYEN Michael

SemirS
NAESEN Oliver *
VANMARCKE Sep
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
LANGEVELD Sebastian
HAYMAN Mathew *
DAVIS Cole *
DAVY Clément *
MORIN Emmanuel *
SCHREURS Hamish *
SHEEHAN Riley *
WAERENSKJOLD Soren *

ThePirate81
GILBERT Philippe
TRENTIN Matteo
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
PHILIPSEN Jasper
KITTEL Marcel
VAN ASBROECK Tom
ROWE Luke
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
VAN STAEYEN Michael
EVENEPOEL Remco
VAKOC Petr

Tobydawq
STYBAR Zdenek
VAN AERT Wout
TRENTIN Matteo
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
LANGEVELD Sebastian
VANDENBERGH Stijn
STANNARD Ian
ROWE Luke
NAESEN Lawrence
BETTIOL Alberto
BOOM Lars
VAKOC Petr

Triley36
VAN AERT Wout
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
VAN BAARLE Dylan
ROELANDTS Jürgen
KITTEL Marcel
DUNBAR Eddie *
PHINNEY Taylor
LANGEVELD Sebastian
CAVENDISH Mark
VAN ASBROECK Tom
AERTS Toon *
BOOM Lars

Vladimir
VANMARCKE Sep
TRENTIN Matteo
TEUNISSEN Mike
ROELANDTS Jürgen
KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav
THEUNS Edward
DURBRIDGE Luke
PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
BAKELANTS Jan
HOFLAND Moreno
HAUSSLER Heinrich
RUSSO Clément *


And that mathematical set, calculated as the team with the highest possible score from performances in this set of races last year:
So Last Year
TERPSTRA Niki *
VANMARCKE Sep
SISR Frantisek *
CAPIOT Amaury
WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
DEMPSTER Zakkari *
PHINNEY Taylor
DUVAL Julien *
FENN Andrew *
LECROQ Jérémy *
DE BACKER Bert *
VAN RHEE Joey *
I'll place this team at the bottom of the table, with the Collective Wisdom, but it's riders are included in the data to follow. I think this is the highest scoring within budget: Hakkie, who normally corrects me on these things, hasn't entered this year, but if anyone can do better, please let me know.

Always interesting to see the teams coming in: Evenepoel's frequency of selection dropped off after news of his injury, but Rowe's didn't; Kittel was popular among the early teams, but his anonymity in UAE meant he was rare among later submissions, and the most expensive picks were all very rare.
A few team lists left me thinking "Damn, I should have thought of him," and a couple made me wonder "Why on Earth has he been selected?" (especially the rider who retired 6 weeks ago).
 
The Big Spends

The average budget per rider in 250 pts: to spend more than twice of that is an expression of some confidence in a rider, so who went for who? 19 of these riders were chosen; 5 teams found space for four of them, 8 teams combine three, 18 teams are two-headed, and 4 have a single leader.

Van Avermaet: Blues in the Bottle

Wellens and Stybar: Just Some Guy

Terpstra and Vanmarcke: So Last Year

Valgren and Van Aert: Josedin

Moscon and Van Aert: Postmanhat

Naesen with Vanmarcke, Van Aert and Van der Poel: SemirS

Benoot with Stybar and Vanmarcke: LightBing
with Van Aert: Scrool07

Gilbert with Vanmarcke: LosBrolin
with Trentin and Van der Poel: ThePirate81
with Trentin: Nathanptz

Lampaert with Vanmarcke: Laarsland and Leadbelly
with Trentin: Otoxiep87

Stybar with Van Aert, Trentin and Van der Poel: Tobydawq

Boassen Hagen with Lutsenko, Van Aert and Van der Poel: Del1962

Lutsenko with Kreuziger and Van der Poel: Armchair Cyclist
with Trentin: Salvarani

Gaviria with Vanmarcke, Van Aert and Van der Poel: PremierAndrew
with Vanmarcke and Trentin: Kazistuta
with Trentin and Van der Poel: Joelsim

Vanmarcke with Van Aert and Kreuziger: MellowVelo
withVan Aert and Van der Poel: Madrazo
with Van Aert: GPBlanco
with Trentin: RoteLaterne, Safebet and Vladimir
with Van der Poel: Search
alone NorthAmericanScum

Van Aert with Trentin, Cort and Van der Poel: Chiron
with Trentin: Bminchow
with Van der Poel: AmisVelo, Blues in the Bottle and Triley36

Trentin: Comodoro and Flo
 
Rider Popularity

25: ROWE Luke
24: BOOM Lars
17: BETTIOL Alberto, THEUNS Edward
16: VANMARCKE Sep
15: TRENTIN Matteo, VAKOC Petr, VAN AERT Wout
13: DURBRIDGE Luke, EVENEPOEL Remco, VAN DER POEL Mathieu
11: ROELANDTS Jürgen
10: VAN BAARLE Dylan
Those in bold will be the Collective Wisdom team: I had to swap Van Baarle in to replace Van der Poel to keep it within budget.

9: PHILIPSEN Jasper, STANNARD Ian
8: CAPIOT Amaury, HAUSSLER Heinrich
7: KITTEL Marcel, PHINNEY Taylor, VAN ASBROECK Tom
6: FELLINE Fabio, LANGEVELD Sebastian, WISNIOWSKI Lukasz
5: HALVORSEN Kristoffer, KÜNG Stefan, VLIEGEN Loïc
4: PLANCKAERT Baptiste
3: BAKELANTS Jan, DEBUSSCHERE Jens, GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando, GIBBONS Ryan, GILBERT Philippe, HOFLAND Moreno, LAMPAERT Yves, LUTSENKO Alexey, STALLAERT Joeri, STYBAR Zdenek, TEUNISSEN Mike, VAN DER HOORN Taco, VAN STAEYEN Michael, VANDENBERGH Stijn
2: AFFINI Edoardo, BARBIER Rudy, BENOOT Tiesj, BIERMANS Jenthe, CAVENDISH Mark, DE CLERCQ Bart, EISEL Bernhard, GARCIA CORTINA Ivan, GASPAROTTO Enrico, KEISSE Iljo, KREUZIGER Roman, KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav, NAESEN Lawrence, PÖSTLBERGER Lukas, SENECHAL Florian, VANENDERT Jelle, WAEYTENS ZICO

The 60 unique picks are shown in the team lists.
 
Team Popularity

Number in brackets is the number of unique picks in each team
1 Madrazo 172 (0)
2 RoteLaterne 161 (0)
3 PremierAndrew 156 (1)
4 AmisVelo 154 (1)
5 ThePirate81 151 (0)
6 Joelsim 147 (1)
6 Tobydawq 147 (0)
8 Armchair 145 (0)
8 Kazistuta 145 (0)
10 Leadbelly 141 (0)
11 Bminchow 140 (0)
12 Josedin 134 (1)
13 Chiron 130 (2)
13 NorthAmericanScum 130 (2)
15 Search 126 (2)
16 Del1962 120 (2)
16 Safebet 120 (2)
18 Salvarani 118 (0)
19 BlackBandit222 117 (3)
20 Nathanptz 116 (1)
21 JustSomeGuy 113 (3)
21 Laarsland 113 (0)
23 Scrool07 112 (2)
24 Comodoro 110 (3)
25 LightBing 108 (0)
26 GPBlanco 105 (3)
27 MellowVelo 104 (3)
27 Triley36 104 (2)
29 Flo 103 (0)
29 LosBrolin 103 (2)
31 Postmanhat 101 (2)
32 Vladimir 94 (1)
33 Blues_in_the_Bottle 91 (3)
34 Otoxiep87 81 (2)
35 SemirS 58 (8)
CollectiveWisdom 191
SoLastYear 45 (8)

Scores from last year
Points earned in these races last year:
1 Laarsland 1654
2 LightBing 1643
3 MellowVelo 1468
4 Scrool07 1356
5 LosBrolin 1322
6 Leadbelly 1301
7 GPBlanco 1290
8 Josedin 1273
9 Vladimir 1244
10 Madrazo 1237
11 SemirS 1171
12 Bminchow 1168
13 Nathanptz 1135
14 Safebet 1122
15 RoteLaterne 1087
16 NorthAmericanScum 1033
17 Search 958
18 Tobydawq 916
19 BlackBandit222 895
20 PremierAndrew 880
21 Otoxiep87 857
22 Kazistuta 847
23 JustSomeGuy 845
24 Flo 839
25 Salvarani 828
26 Postmanhat 784
27 Chiron 779
28 ThePirate81 733
29 Armchair 718
30 Comodoro 714
31 Triley36 706
32 Blues_in_the_Bottle 693
33 Del1962 642
34 AmisVelo 634
35 Joelsim 448
CollectiveWisdom 1252
SoLastYear 2123

Previous performance is not necessarily an indicator of future performance, as they say on advertisements for financial products.
 
Race 1/21: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

A good start to the series with an entertaining race, and for the game with a few decent scorers: 4 of the 5 riders in the decisive group were chosen for the game, albeit all fairly rare picks.

Top scorers
STYBAR Zdenek 1st, 180pts for JustSomeGuy, LightBing and Tobydawq
VAN AVERMAET Greg 2nd, 108 pts for BlackBandit222
WELLENS Tim 3rd, 92 pts for JustSomeGuy
LUTSENKO Alexey 4th, 78 pts for Armchair Cyclist, Del 1962 and Salvarani
LAMPAERT Yves 7th, 54 pts for 3 teams
GILBERT Philippe 8th, 46 points for 3 teams
TRENTIN Matteo 9th, 40 for 15 teams
NAESEN Oliver 10th, 36 for 1 team
plus 12 more of the top 25, getting more than minimum points, and 28 other finishers with 5 points


Team scores and, therefore, standings after 1 event
1 JustSomeGuy 290 (Stybar, Wellens, Durbridge (8), one fiver)
2 Tobydawq 279 (Stybar, Trentin, Van Aert (24), Langeveld (20), 3 fivers)
3 LightBing 205 (Stybar and 5 fivers)
4 BlackBandit222 169 (Van Avermaet, Van Baarle(22), De Vreese(16), Durbridge and 3 fivers)
5 Nathanptz 146 (Gilbert, Trentin, Van Baarle, Durbridge and 6 fivers)
6 Salvarani 139
7 Del1962 117
8 Bminchow 116
8 RoteLaterne 116
10 Otoxiep87 109
11 LosBrolin 106
12 Leadbelly 100
13 Flo 97
14 ThePirate81 96
15 Armchair 93
16 Laarsland 87
16 GPBlanco 87
16 Search 87
16 Kazistuta 87
20 Safebet 86
21 SemirS 85
22 Triley36 82
23 Chiron 79
24 Comodoro 77
25 Vladimir 74
26 Joelsim 69
27 Madrazo 65
28 Blues_in_the_Bottle 63
28 AmisVelo 63
30 NorthAmericanScum 55
31 Josedin 54
32 Postmanhat 52
33 Scrool07 49
34 MellowVelo 48
35 PremierAndrew 44
CollectiveWisdom 115
SoLastYear 36
 
Re:

Armchair cyclist said:
Race 1/21: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

A good start to the series with an entertaining race, and for the game with a few decent scorers: 4 of the 5 riders in the decisive group were chosen for the game, albeit all fairly rare picks.

Top scorers
STYBAR Zdenek 1st, 180pts for JustSomeGuy, LightBing and Tobydawq
VAN AVERMAET Greg 2nd, 108 pts for BlackBandit222
WELLENS Tim 3rd, 92 pts for JustSomeGuy
LUTSENKO Alexey 4th, 78 pts for Armchair Cyclist, Del 1962 and Salvarani
LAMPAERT Yves 7th, 54 pts for 3 teams
GILBERT Philippe 8th, 46 points for 3 teams
TRENTIN Matteo 9th, 40 for 15 teams
NAESEN Oliver 10th, 36 for 1 team
plus 12 more of the top 25, getting more than minimum points, and 28 other finishers with 5 points


Team scores and, therefore, standings after 1 event
1 JustSomeGuy 290 (Stybar, Wellens, Durbridge (8), one fiver)
2 Tobydawq 279 (Stybar, Trentin, Van Aert (24), Langeveld (20), 3 fivers)
3 LightBing 205 (Stybar and 5 fivers)
4 BlackBandit222 169 (Van Avermaet, Van Baarle(22), De Vreese(16), Durbridge and 3 fivers)
5 Nathanptz 146 (Gilbert, Trentin, Van Baarle, Durbridge and 6 fivers)
6 Salvarani 139
7 Del1962 117
8 Bminchow 116
8 RoteLaterne 116
10 Otoxiep87 109
11 LosBrolin 106
12 Leadbelly 100
13 Flo 97
14 ThePirate81 96
15 Armchair 93
16 Laarsland 87
16 GPBlanco 87
16 Search 87
16 Kazistuta 87
20 Safebet 86
21 SemirS 85
22 Triley36 82
23 Chiron 79
24 Comodoro 77
25 Vladimir 74
26 Joelsim 69
27 Madrazo 65
28 Blues_in_the_Bottle 63
28 AmisVelo 63
30 NorthAmericanScum 55
31 Josedin 54
32 Postmanhat 52
33 Scrool07 49
34 MellowVelo 48
35 PremierAndrew 44
CollectiveWisdom 115
SoLastYear 36

Lol, I also built a team for a different fantasy game yesterday and had already forgotten whom I had picked for this..

Nice going, Styby! Good start. I'm ready for MvdP to wreck some races, Stybar and Van Aert will hopefully earn plenty of points in Strade. I need a lot of points by the end of Amstel because I'm not getting any in the rest of the Ardennes.
 
My team was super boring as the most popular, but for some odd reason I have completely overlooked Trentin when I made list of candidates to build the team to fit the points, so did not considder him at all, so it went a bit too quick Im afraid. But at least I now did not have to make the choise between Van Aerts and Van Der Poel instead and got room for both and then I think the rest of the team pretty much gave itself I think. But I do think I would have taken Trentin over both Van Aerts and Van Der Poel if I had not overlooked him, so the rest of the team could have been a bit affected in that case.

Also I don't think I have ever had a team in the competion without Vanmarcke. He is just the one big semiexpensive classic rider that always scores the most % of his points in these races every year, so not exacly a good start for my team with him flopping in the race he is usually always great in, and my most rare pick Planckaert being really strong and only getting 7 points from it.
 
My basic strategy for this game was having all of the guys I really wanted in the main game but ultimately decided to cut. This way I'll have more riders to cheer for during the Classic season.

According to this strategy I picked Trentin, Cosnefroy (which is probably a waste of a pick but who cares), Rowe, Bonifazio and Durbridge and left out WvA, MVdP, Theuns, Boom and Bettiol (whom I have in the main game).

So yeah I have no hope of winning but I'm sure I'll have fun.
 
First time in a while that I'm playing this game, looking at the other teams seems picking 2 or more big names is the way to go. I only selected Trentin, mainly because I feel he can score in both the more selective and sprinters' races. Of course I wanted to include Styby but he was too expensive. In the end I didn't pick many riders for the Ardennes because those seem to make up only a very small portion of the races. I got a decent score in the first race but with Kuznetsov crashing, Van Baarle injuring his finger and possibly needing surgery and Rowe falling ill, my team has seen its fair share of bad luck.
 
Re:

Salvarani said:
"Stybar with Van Aert, Trentin and Van der Poel: Tobydawq"

Yeah, I think this might have been the combination to go for. If those perform, it will be very hard to beat this team.

I hope so. I could also have gone for Vanmarcke instead of Van Aert, maybe that would have been a little bit better. Van Aert will hopefully step a little bit up from yesterday.

If he and Trentin had just been a tiny bit better yesterday, I would really have had a storming start.

And I thought it was necessary to have four expensive riders because they will get the big points, and there are a whole bunch of very cheap options that can hopefully get some results (Stannard, Boom, Rowe, Langeveld, Vakoc, Bettiol) while Vandenbergh is perhaps more of a has-been and Lawrence Naesen really is a long shot (but I had to have a 12th guy).
 
Race 2/21 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
or was it 2018 LBL?

Only about 1/4 of the points that were earned yesterday (expensive men at the top, apart from Doull who was unfancied, and a lower ranked race)

Riders in the game:
TERPSTRA Niki 3rd, 72pts for the So Last Year team
LAMPAERT Yves 5th, 54pts for Laarsland, Leadbelly and Otoxiep87
SENECHAL Florian 6th, 48 for Leadbelly and Salvarani
KEUKELEIRE Jens 7th, 42 for Search
DE BUYST Jasper 9th, 30 for Postmanhat

Also 5 more of the top 20, and 4 of the five point scorers (only the top 30 get anything in HC races, whereas all finishers get at least 5 in the WT races)

Points today
1 Leadbelly 107 (Lampaert, Senechal and a fiver)
2 Otoxiep87 85 (Lampaert, Van Asbroek (18), Petit (8) and a 5er)
3 Laarsland 65 (Lampaert and Debusschere (11))
4 Salvarani 64 (Senechal, Debusschere and a 5er)
5 Search 54 (Keukeleire and Theuns(12))
6 Nathanptz, NorthAmericanScum 45
8 Postmanhat 30
9 Flo 25
10 Bminchow, GPBlanco, Triley36 23
13 JustSomeGuy, ThePirate81 18
15 Blues_in_the_Bottle, Joelsim, Kazistuta, Madrazo, RoteLaterne, Vladimir 17
21 AmisVelo, Armchair, Comodoro, Del1962, Josedin, PremierAndrew, Scrool07 12
28 MellowVelo, Safebet 5
30 BlackBandit222, Chiron, LightBing, LosBrolin, SemirS, Tobydawq 0
SoLastYear 72
CollectiveWisdom 17

Standings
1 JustSomeGuy 308
2 Tobydawq 279
3 Leadbelly 207
4 LightBing 205
5 Salvarani 203
6 Otoxiep87 194
7 Nathanptz 191
8 BlackBandit222 169
9 Laarsland 152
10 Search 141
11 Bminchow 139
12 RoteLaterne 133
13 Del1962 129
14 Flo 122
15 ThePirate81 114
16 GPBlanco 110
17 LosBrolin 106
18 Triley36 105
18 Armchair 105
20 Kazistuta 104
21 NorthAmericanScum 100
22 Vladimir 91
22 Safebet 91
24 Comodoro 89
25 Joelsim 86
26 SemirS 85
27 Postmanhat 82
27 Madrazo 82
29 Blues_in_the_Bottle 80
30 Chiron 79
31 AmisVelo 75
32 Josedin 66
33 Scrool07 61
34 PremierAndrew 56
35 MellowVelo 53
SoLastYear 108
CollectiveWisdom 132

Yesterday's points are more than 80% of the total, so no surprise that the top 2 remain as they were. Leadbelly jumps 9 places (matched by NAS further down the table) into third, and Laarsland and Search also move (just) into the early top ten.
 
Green points

New this year, and if what I have done on the spreadsheet works, I'll incorporate it into the GT games as well.

Regardless of the status of the race, or how narrow or convincing the margin, managers are to be rewarded for their position in each race. I will use the points scale that CQ give to the top ten finishers in a Tour de France stage (80, 50, 35, 25, 15, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1), and where two or more teams share a score, I will add the points and divide them, so the two teams that shared 6th today, I add 10 points for 6th to 5 for 7th, divide that total by 2, and award each manager 7.5 points in the Green Jersey contest.

The two daily winners share the lead:
1 JustSomeGuy 80
1 Leadbelly 80
3 Otoxiep87 51
4 Tobydawq 50
5 Laarsland 35
5 LightBing 35
5 Salvarani 35
8 BlackBandit222 25
9 Nathanptz 22.5
10 Search 15
11 NorthAmericanScum 7.5
12 Del1962 5
13 Postmanhat 3
14 Bminchow 2.83
15 RoteLaterne 2.5
16 Flo 2
17 GPBlanco 0.33
17 Triley36 0.33
19 All other teams 0

The spreadsheet is here: as ever, it will not move but I might not post the link in every update. You will notice one other new feature in the spreadsheet although I haven't extracted anything from it in these opening posts: a page showing how many riders each team has in common with each other team (the most similar teams share 8 men).

Maybe someone will check if they can find a better "So Last Year" combination than I could find: the data is on the 'Price' page.
 

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