2021-23 Emerging Riders CQ Game

[Cordi333]

Only my attention was in the Basque Country. But yours evidently wasn't on the TdF game, despite my ill-composed attempts to promote it on Parlamento.

Oh my bad, now I see your message. Was very cool to do that promotion "sillonista" 😁

Only the notification didn't arrive to me as in parlamento my user name is "Cordi3" 😅
But next year I'll try to remember and give it a try : )

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

You don't need to wait that long - there will be a Vuelta game.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Late, but still not up to date: most recent download at CQ is to 20th August

Year 3 Months 7-8a (26 June to 20 August)
Top scorers:

RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos	400 pts​	13 teams​	Stage win and GC 5th in TdF
DE LIE Arnaud	279​	1​	Polynormande and Jef Scherens wins, 7th in Bemer Classic, stage win in Wallonie
SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias	272​	1​	top 30 in TdF with stage pts, 2nd in Danmark Rundt with stage pts, top 15 in Worlds RR
WAERENSKJOLD Søren	212​	2​	13th in Worlds TT, Danmark Rundt 4th with stage win and 2 2nds
WILLIAMS Stephen	203​	1​	Arctic race win GC and stage
VERMAERKE Kevin	149​	14​	3rd in Arctic race
DONOVAN Mark	146​	16​	Sibiu Tour win
VAN WILDER Ilan	134​	25​
BURGAUDEAU Mathieu	134​	1​
GARCIA PIERNA Raul	119​	1​

Unique picks not evident below: Skjelmose and Burgaudeau are both on JPettersen's team.

1	Leadbelly	1286​	Rodriguez, De Lie, Garcia
2	Bminchow	1199​	Rodriguez, Vermaerke, Donovan, Van Wilder
3	LosBrolin	1197​	Rodriguez, Waerenskjold, Vermaerke, Van Wilder
4	YellowKnight	1092​	Rodriguez, Vermaerke, Donovan
5	Blues_in_the_Bottle	1072​	Rodriguez, Williams, Vermaerke
6	SafeBet	1071​	Rodriguez, Vermaerke, Van Wilder
7	Cordi	1067​	Rodriguez, Donovan, Van Wilder
8	Ludwigzgz	1030​
9	Ray10	986​
10	Greenedge	978​
11	JPettersen	977​
12	Kryvo	956​
13	Squire	787​
14	Koronin	763​
15	Rufs	739​
16	MuddyWaters	721​
17	Fivezzz	691​
18	Otoxiep87	677​
19	AmisVelo	665​
20	Kazistuta	579​
21	HugoKoblet	572​
22	Madrazo	558​
23	LukasCPH	552​
24	Armchair_Cyclist	548​
25	Scrooll07	535​
26	Northerner	529​
27	Vladimir	495​
28	Josedin	492​
29	Laarsland	490​
30	Comodoro	468​
31	Jakob747	466​
32	Karaev	452​
33	Nyssinator	450​
34	JonEzeitza	446​
35	Nakazar	417​
36	RoteLaterne	404​
37	Skidmark	248​
	CollectiveWisdom	1243​
	CollectiveIgnorance	1688​
	MainGame2021	763​

Standings
I suppose there could be some uncertainty in the battle for 4th...

1​	SafeBet	17986
2​	Cordi	16473
3​	Greenedge	15964
4​	AmisVelo	14688
5​	Bminchow	14547
6​	RoteLaterne	14351
7​	Leadbelly	14149
8​	LosBrolin	14135
9​	Ludwigzgz	13989
10​	Nakazar	13584
11​	Squire	13271
12​	YellowKnight	12959
13​	JPettersen	12944
14​	Rufs	12919
15​	Kryvo	12849
16​	Ray10	12648
17​	MuddyWaters	12452
18​	Northerner	12438
19​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	12088
20​	Otoxiep87	12013
21​	Madrazo	11878
22​	HugoKoblet	11469
23​	Nyssinator	11464
24​	Kazistuta	11403
25​	Karaev	11295
26​	Fivezzz	11247
27​	Laarsland	11130
28​	LukasCPH	10961
29​	JonEzeitza	10938
30​	Skidmark	10836
31​	Jakob747	10018
32​	Comodoro	9738
33​	Armchair_Cyclist	9634
34​	Vladimir	8847
35​	Scrooll07	8773
36​	Koronin	6571
37​	Josedin	6538
	CollectiveWisdom	16258
	CollectiveIgnorance	18390
	MainGame2021	11053

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Year 3 Month 8b-9 Aug 21 - Oct 1

If only one out of Queen Stagiare and 18 Valve had gone for Kuss in the Vuelta game, Leadbelly might have some competition for the best Unique Pick in the history of CQ games other than JPettersen.

DE LIE Arnaud	589​	1 (Leadbelly)​	Quebec, Franco-Belge and Fammenne Ardennes wins, Euros RR 4th, Renewi Tour stages and Pts jersey,
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan	352​	15​	GC 4th in Vuelta, with 2 3rds and other stage points
KOOIJ Olav	307​	29​	4 stages of Tour of Britain, 3rd in Euro RR, 2nd Gooikse Pijl, Renewi Tour stage podiums
VAN WILDER Ilan	288​	25​	Deutschland Tour win, Luxembourg 4th
STRONG Corbin	261​	2(Jakob 747, Leadbelly)​	2nd in Quebec, 3rd in Franco-Belge, stage win in Luxembourg, top 15 in Bretagne
SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias	228​	1 (JPettersen)​	Maryland win, top ten in Quebec and Montreal.
CARR Simon	199​	6​	Langkawi stage and GC wins
BURGAUDEAU Mathieu	170​	1(JPettersen)​
WAERENSKJOLD Søren	167​	2 (JPettersen, Los Brolin)​
SHEFFIELD Magnus	165​	11​
BUITRAGO SANCHEZ Santiago	164​	6​

The top 6 here are all in the overall top ten

1	Cordi	1658​	Ayuso, Kooij, Van Wilder, Carr, Sheffield
2	LosBrolin	1644​	Ayuso, Kooij, Van Wilder, Waerenskjold, Sheffield
3	SafeBet	1602​	Ayuso, Kooij, Van Wilder, Buitrago
4	Leadbelly	1579​	De Lie, Kooij, Strong, Sheffield
5	Ludwigzgz	1491​	Ayuso, Kooij, Van Wilder, Carr
6	AmisVelo	1458​	Ayuso, Kooij, Van Wilder, Sheffield
7	Northerner	1418​
8	Bminchow	1413​
9	JPettersen	1407​
10	Madrazo	1401​
11	Squire	1369​
12	RoteLaterne	1354​
13	Ray10	1323​
14	Greenedge	1239​
15	Nakazar	1237​
16	Rufs	1223​
17	YellowKnight	1136​
18	Jakob747	1082​
19	Kryvo	1036​
20	Laarsland	1032​
21	Otoxiep87	948​
22	HugoKoblet	938​
22	LukasCPH	938​
24	Skidmark	928​
25	MuddyWaters	903​
26	Karaev	889​
27	Nyssinator	871​
28	Comodoro	864​
29	Kazistuta	858​
30	Blues_in_the_Bottle	816​
31	Vladimir	787​
32	Fivezzz	745​
33	Armchair_Cyclist	734​
34	Scrooll07	673​
35	JonEzeitza	538​
36	Koronin	389​
37	Josedin	366​
	CollectiveWisdom	1546​
	CollectiveIgnorance	1386​
	MainGame2021	1088​

Standings
Cordi pulls back 56 points from the lead, but that isn't going to change much.

1​	SafeBet	19588	0​
2​	Cordi	18131	0​
3​	Greenedge	17203	0​
4​	AmisVelo	16146	0​
5​	Bminchow	15960	0​
6​	LosBrolin	15779	2​
7​	Leadbelly	15728	0​
8​	RoteLaterne	15705	-2​
9​	Ludwigzgz	15480	0​
10​	Nakazar	14821	0​
11​	Squire	14640	0​
12​	JPettersen	14351	1​
13​	Rufs	14142	1​
14​	YellowKnight	14095	-2​
15​	Ray10	13971	1​
16​	Kryvo	13885	-1​
17​	Northerner	13856	1​
18​	MuddyWaters	13355	-1​
19​	Madrazo	13279	2​
20​	Otoxiep87	12961	0​
21​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	12904	-2​
22​	HugoKoblet	12407	0​
23​	Nyssinator	12335	0​
24​	Kazistuta	12261	0​
25​	Karaev	12184	0​
26​	Laarsland	12162	1​
27​	Fivezzz	11992	-1​
28​	LukasCPH	11899	0​
29​	Skidmark	11764	1​
30​	JonEzeitza	11476	-1​
31​	Jakob747	11100	0​
32​	Comodoro	10602	0​
33​	Armchair_Cyclist	10368	0​
34​	Vladimir	9634	0​
35​	Scrooll07	9446	0​
36​	Koronin	6960	0​
37​	Josedin	6904	0​
	CollectiveWisdom	17804
	CollectiveIgnorance	19623
	MainGame2021	12141

Quite plausible that no-one scores another 1457 points with the races that are still on the season's programme for most of our riders.. The likelihood of Cordi doing that while SafeBet gets nothing is vanishingly small.

The battle between SafeBet and the Collective Ignorance will go all the way to the wire though. Just as well Leadbelly and JPettersen kept the two highest scoring riders of this edition out of that team.

 

[Cordi333]

Nice that I won a partial this year too. I'm keeping my own records from every one of your updates @Armchair cyclist, and I can say this is the first edition in which I won a partial each of the 3 years, winning 4 partials so far and thats a record too. Last year I only won 3 partials, all in the last year of the game while making the assault to the top.

But this year I'm doomed to 2nd position in the GC, no chance to catch @SafeBet. This 21/23 will be my 2nd edition finishing 2nd, after the 17/19 (which was my debut in the game). It will be the 4th podium in 5 editions, which is quite nice, but only 1 win and with much suspense and by a very thin margin. I guess I'm paying tribute to my childhood idol Valverde's carrer.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Year 3 Month 10
So apart from the possibility of a little bit of number adjustment, that is it.

The final fling of the dice:

BERWICK Sebastian	158​	6​	Stage win & 3rd, GC 2nd in Hainan
KOOIJ Olav	154​	29​	2nd in Elfstedenrace, 2 stage wins and a 2nd in Guangxi
VAN WILDER Ilan	135​	25​	Tre Valli Varenise win
RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos	118​	13​	7th Lombardia, 9th Tre Valli
VAN GILS Maxim	108​	7​	14th Lombardia, 4th in Japan Cup
TEJADA CANACUE Harold Alfonso	105​	21​	8th in Gran Piemonte, 3rd in Turkey
JORGENSON Matteo	93​	17​
ZWIEHOFF Ben	93​	7​
DE LIE Arnaud	89​	1​
STRONG Corbin	81​	2​
MILAN Jonathan	81​	10​
ASKEY Lewis	78​	1​
MONIQUET Sylvain	77​	1​

1	Karaev	854​	Berwick, Kooij, Van Wilder, Van Gils, Tejada, Milan
2	Leadbelly	828​	Berwick, Kooij, Rodriguez, Jorgenson, Zwiehoff, De Lie, Strong
3	YellowKnight	752​	Berwick, Kooij, Rodriguez, Jorgenson, Milan
4	Squire	724​	Berwick, Kooij, Van Wilder, Tejada, Zwiehoff
5	Northerner	710​
6	Laarsland	700​
7	LosBrolin	675​
7	Ludwigzgz	675​
9	Greenedge	658​
10	Cordi	630​
11	Otoxiep87	611​
12	SafeBet	603​
12	HugoKoblet	603​
14	Kryvo	593​
15	Bminchow	565​
16	Nakazar	548​
17	Blues_in_the_Bottle	538​
18	Ray10	530​
18	Kazistuta	530​
20	Vladimir	521​
21	RoteLaterne	511​
22	LukasCPH	492​
23	Skidmark	477​
24	AmisVelo	455​
25	Madrazo	447​
26	Nyssinator	437​
27	Fivezzz	433​
28	JonEzeitza	431​
29	Rufs	415​
30	Jakob747	413​
31	Comodoro	407​
32	JPettersen	391​
33	Josedin	379​
34	Scrooll07	351​
35	MuddyWaters	286​
36	Armchair_Cyclist	274​
37	Koronin	229​
	CollectiveWisdom	708​
	CollectiveIgnorance	511​
	MainGame2021	396​

Standings
And so the game that has been most predictable for longest comes to its inevitable conclusion. SafeBet has been in the lead since June 2021, and has been top on at least 7 of the monthly updates. Cordi, winner of the 2020-22 edition in a very different race, has had almost as clear a grip on second place for almost as long, and Greenedge makes sure that the peloton are a long way clear of the rest.

1​	SafeBet	20191	0​
2​	Cordi	18761	0​
3​	Greenedge	17861	0​
4​	AmisVelo	16601	0​
5​	Leadbelly	16556	2​
6​	Bminchow	16525	-1​
7​	LosBrolin	16454	-1​
8​	RoteLaterne	16216	0​
9​	Ludwigzgz	16155	0​
10​	Nakazar	15369	0​
11​	Squire	15364	0​
12​	YellowKnight	14847	2​
13​	JPettersen	14742	-1​
14​	Northerner	14566	3​
15​	Rufs	14557	-2​
16​	Ray10	14501	-1​
17​	Kryvo	14478	-1​
18​	Madrazo	13726	1​
19​	MuddyWaters	13641	-1​
20​	Otoxiep87	13572	0​
21​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	13442	0​
22​	Karaev	13038	3​
23​	HugoKoblet	13010	-1​
24​	Laarsland	12862	2​
25​	Kazistuta	12791	-1​
26​	Nyssinator	12772	-3​
27​	Fivezzz	12425	0​
28​	LukasCPH	12391	0​
29​	Skidmark	12241	0​
30​	JonEzeitza	11907	0​
31​	Jakob747	11513	0​
32​	Comodoro	11009	0​
33​	Armchair_Cyclist	10642	0​
34​	Vladimir	10155	0​
35​	Scrooll07	9797	0​
36​	Josedin	7283	1​
37​	Koronin	7189	-1​
	CollectiveWisdom	18512
	CollectiveIgnorance	20089
	MainGame2021	12537

The real battle for some time has been between SafeBet and the Collective Wisdom team, and despite strong contributions from Zana and Johannessen in the final weeks, SafeBet wins that one narrowly (a puncture for Van Wilder in his late Tre Valli attack, for example, would have been enough to reverse it). Had it not been for unique picks by Leadbelly (De Lie) and JPettersen (Skjelmose and Burgudeau), the CI team would have scored just short of 25000.

Full number crunching when the end of year modifications are done, but congratulations to Safe Bet, Cordi and Greenedge, and thanks to all who competed.


And when one game finishes, it must be time to start shortlisting for the next: how's that going for you all.

 

[Cordi333]

And when one game finishes, it must be time to start shortlisting for the next: how's that going for you all.

Gracias for the updates ciclista de sillón

My shortlist is quite done, already have my final 18 lads decided. Although maybe could change something at the bottom of the list between now & sending the team in january.

 

[rote_laterne2]

Congratulations SafeBet, impressive consistency at the top for Cordi333 and as always a big thank you to AC.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Year 3, Months 11 to 12
Last year the game came to a very exciting end, with the lead changing hands several times in the last few events.

This year, not so much.
Laurens Huys got bumped up from 11th to 10th in a Giro stage because of Baudin's Tramadol use, gaining a single point for Leadbelly;
Bryan Obando came 6th in the Vuelta a Costa Rica, and had a stage third in both that race and its Guatemalan equivalent, garnering 9 points for Jakob747
But Juan Alba won that Costa Rican event, and with an additional 2 points from Guatemala brought in a final contribution to the scores of both Josedin and Muddy Waters.

None of these overturned SafeBet's huge lead, or even the gaps between any of these teams and those immediately above them.

So the scoring has finished, the scores are confirmed, and only the post mortems remain.

And 46 of the 121 riders we picked still have a low enough career total of CQ points to be selected again for the 2024-26 game. But you can probably make better picks than that.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

The final analysis

The best team if it were all about year 3

SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias	1723​	1​
DE LIE Arnaud	1715​	1​
KOOIJ Olav	1412​	29​
HEALY Ben	1088​	0​
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan	1023​	15​
GALL Felix	967​	0​
JORGENSON Matteo	936​	17​
VAN WILDER Ilan	933​	25​
ZINGLE Axel	880​	0​
RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos	810​	13​
GREGOIRE Romain	784​	0​
BUITRAGO SANCHEZ Santiago	770​	6​
WAERENSKJOLD Søren	756​	2​
RUBIO REYES Einer Augusto	754​	13​
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	737​	0​
SCHMID Mauro	646​	0​
VAN GILS Maxim	636​	7​
WELSFORD Sam	636​	0​

with a total for the year of 17206

Real game managers do not have such perfect future vision though: the points accumulated in 2023 were:

	Points during 2023	Change in rank 2022-23
SafeBet	9180​	0​
Cordi	8649​	0​
LosBrolin	8185​	6​
Leadbelly	8166​	6​
Greenedge	7844​	0​
YellowKnight	7331​	11​
AmisVelo	7319​	1​
Bminchow	7161​	-2​
Ludwigzgz	7098​	-2​
Nakazar	7062​	2​
RoteLaterne	6984​	-2​
Northerner	6970​	7​
Squire	6854​	-2​
Otoxiep87	6727​	9​
Rufs	6723​	4​
JPettersen	6524​	1​
Ray10	6434​	1​
Laarsland	6223​	6​
Kryvo	5965​	-9​
Karaev	5792​	5​
Madrazo	5578​	-3​
Blues_in_the_Bottle	5434​	-3​
Kazistuta	5411​	0​
HugoKoblet	5332​	-3​
Jakob747	5297​	1​
MuddyWaters	5248​	-9​
LukasCPH	5065​	-2​
Skidmark	5019​	-1​
Fivezzz	4950​	-3​
Vladimir	4919​	1​
Nyssinator	4671​	-10​
Armchair_Cyclist	4624​	0​
Comodoro	4446​	-1​
JonEzeitza	4324​	-8​
Scrooll07	3860​	-1​
Josedin	3186​	0​
Koronin	3082​	0​
CollectiveWisdom	8407​
CollectiveIgnorance	11262​
MainGame2021	5775​

Through the whole three years, the perfect team would have been:

DE LIE Arnaud	3211​	1 team​
SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias	3011​	1​
KOOIJ Olav	2629​	29​
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan	2205​	15​
RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos	2204​	13​
ZINGLE Axel	1745​	0​
JORGENSON Matteo	1475​	17​
BUITRAGO SANCHEZ Santiago	1461​	6​
ZANA Filippo	1460​	0​
SCHMID Mauro	1458​	0​
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	1436​	0​
ARENSMAN Thymen	1416​	29​
VAN WILDER Ilan	1302​	25​
HEALY Ben	1288​	0​
GALL Felix	1245​	0​
SHEFFIELD Magnus	1213​	11​
VINE Jay	1192​	0​
RUBIO REYES Einer Augusto	1191​	13​

The final spot here could equally have been taken by the unpicked Kevin Vauquelin, but that would have just made our guesswork look worse
The total is hugely higher than any previous iteration of the game, at 31142: there are 26 riders who broke the 1000 points (VANSEVENANT Mauri, LAFAY Victor, LOUVEL Matis, VAN GILS Maxim, COVI Alessandro, BURGAUDEAU Mathieu and WAERENSKJOLD Søren in addition to those already named): the previous high was 20 in a year reaching 4 digits, and the low is 7.

The total for the best possible team is 31142, nearly 10 thousand higher than last year's bunch and over 2 thousand higher than any other year. But that record could be smashed next year: the Year 2 total for that group (which includes some of these riders) is 2700 higher than these were a year ago.

And the record breaking continues in SafeBet's total, with the first score to surpass 20k, an increase of 879 on the highest previously, and a winning margin of 1430 narrowly beating that held by Madrazo in 2017. 64.8% of perfection is a slight improvement of his position at the end of Years 1 and 2, but some way of the historical bests.

And SafeBet saved the ignominy of those none of us picked being the best team of all: of course that team has the advantage of not having any total failures in it (take a bow if you picked zero point scorers Marti Vigo del Arco or Oscar Galvis).


The moral from this edition of the game, if you are preparing for the 2024-26 cycle (and the only valid excuse for not being preparing is that you have already done it) is not to be swung by hype: three riders shared the "honour" of being the most popular pick: Kooij, right up near the top of the scoring, Arensman, a top contributor to any team, but also Marco Brenner, the "Will he be better than Evenepoel" wunderkind who has only just made himself ineligible for the new edition with 220 points. While the two top scorers, De Lie and Skjelmose, were scarcely noticed 3 years ago, became inspired unique picks and are now in the Hall of Fame of the game as the 10th and 11th men to top 3000.

All the numbers

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

One final bit of data from my accumulated history of the game file:
Average scores (excluding games still in progress) for those who took part in at least half of the completed editions

1​	Cordi	5​	15753​
2​	Squire	5​	15280​
3​	HugoKoblet	6​	14708​
4​	GPBlanco	4​	14409​
5​	Skidmark	8​	14143​
6​	Hilltop_Finisher	4​	14090​
7​	Jakob747	5​	13945​
8​	Ludwigzgz	8​	13831​
9​	Kryvo	4​	13829​
10​	AmisVelo	6​	13791​
11​	Madrazo	8​	13633​
12​	Flo	6​	13597​
13​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	7​	13247​
14​	Karaev	7​	12989​
15​	Rote_Laterne	8​	12759​
16​	Kazistuta	8​	12734​
17​	Joelsim	6​	12720​
18​	Laarsland	6​	12615​
19​	Del1962	6​	12394​
20​	Alykaptan	5​	12390​
21​	Armchair_Cyclist	8​	11977​
22​	Vladimir	8​	11878​
23​	Comodoro	8​	11724​
24​	LukasCPH	6​	11708​
25​	DJW	4​	11530​
26​	Jon Ezeitza	4​	11133​
27​	Leadbelly	8​	10315​
28​	Scrooll07	7​	10115​
29​	Josedin	8​	9796​
	Collective Wisdom	8​	15060​
	Collective Ignorance	8​	16203​

There are 9* teams there that have been with me in this from the start: thanks for your loyalty. That means it is 10 years since we first started this experiment of wondering who will break through eventually.

The Collective Wisdom group that year was:

EWAN Caleb

YATES Simon

MOHORIC Matej

STUYVEN Jasper

ALAPHILIPPE Julian

HERKLOTZ Silvio

HOWSON Damien

YATES Adam

ZABEL Rick

SENECHAL Florian

HEPBURN Michael

EDMONDSON Joshua

FORMOLO Davide

KUDUS Merhawi Gebremedhin

ZORDAN Andrea

HANSEN Lasse Norman

HENAO GOMEZ Sebastian

LUDVIGSSON Fredrik

who have had a widely varied career arcs since we invested our hopes in them. Andrea Zordan is still eligible if any of the 18 managers who took a chance on him back then still back their judgement.


Three years later, we discovered that the best 18 we could have picked were

ALAPHILIPPE Julian	2335​	35​
YATES Adam	1950​	27​
THEUNS Edward	1696​	0​
BENOOT Tiesj	1674​	0​
VUILLERMOZ Alexis	1493​	1​
LAMPAERT Yves	1462​	3​
BONIFAZIO Niccolo	1392​	4​
FORMOLO Davide	1385​	18​
YATES Simon	1371​	42​
VAKOC Petr	1370​	6​
EWAN Caleb	1363​	44​
NAESEN Oliver*	1300​	0​
JANS Roy	1261	1​
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	1247​	13​
ROGLIC Primoz*	1174​	0​
LATOUR Pierre*	1169​	4​
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel*	1129​	0​
CORT NIELSEN Magnus	1101​	9​

Those with an asterisk were still eligible for the following edition. Interesting to see that even among those who were top breakthroughs, the sustaining of that was another matter. At least two of them saw the peak of their careers within their time in the game.

*: edited to include RL

 

[rote_laterne2]

I was not aware I missed an editon?

MVDP was a pretty bad pick too (for both years he was eligible).

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I was not aware I missed an editon?

Apologies for that: I hadn't put this year's number in for you. Which was your best total, so moved you up 5 places in the average score table. Now corrected.

MVDP was a pretty bad pick too (for both years he was eligible).

471 points in the 2015-17 cycle. I know he wasn't in the collective wisdom team, but otherwise couldn't tell you from the spreadsheet I have in front of me how popular a ick he was. He did come through later on though.

And because I looked one of them up... Van Aert was worth 1395 in the 2016-18 edition, the 6th highest scorer in that edition, but nobody had chosen him.

 

[Squire]

Having not taken part in the first few games, I think my 2nd on the average scores list is greatly helped by the youth revolution in recent years! I'd probably be lower down if you made a list where you averaged percentage of winning score per year or something similar.

Overall I'm loving the stats you churn out around these games. The 'slow' nature of them is probably one of the reasons why there isn't much frantic discussion happening in these threads, but your efforts are greatly appreciated.

 

[Cordi333]

Apologies for that: I hadn't put this year's number in for you. Which was your best total, so moved you up 5 places in the average score table. Now corrected.

471 points in the 2015-17 cycle. I know he wasn't in the collective wisdom team, but otherwise couldn't tell you from the spreadsheet I have in front of me how popular a ick he was. He did come through later on though.

And because I looked one of them up... Van Aert was worth 1395 in the 2016-18 edition, the 6th highest scorer in that edition, but nobody had chosen him.

I started competing here just the next year, but I think is understandable that Van der Poel & Van Aert weren't popular as - although nobody doubted their potential - they were focused on the cross back then and no one knew for sure when they were going to transition to the road (or even if they were going to do it at all).

 

[Cordi333]

Having not taken part in the first few games, I think my 2nd on the average scores list is greatly helped by the youth revolution in recent years! I'd probably be lower down if you made a list where you averaged percentage of winning score per year or something similar.

Overall I'm loving the stats you churn out around these games. The 'slow' nature of them is probably one of the reasons why there isn't much frantic discussion happening in these threads, but your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Agree on the praises to the game, although I want to add that I think there was more "live" commenting in the VeloRooms forum (which now is lost) and now hopefully there will be more people commenting things here.

But about your first paragraph... I don't really see the trend you suggest, and also the covid didn't do any favours to the newcomers aggregate... Let's say simply that you and me are the best so far , although it is true that the more difficult thing is always to keep consistency over the years and the more games you play, the more chances of having a bad year (in my case I don't think for a moment I'll keep in the future the record of 80% editions in the podium haha).

By the way, as facts say more than words, here is the data of the podiums:

2014-16:
1 Ludwigzgz 16758
2 Skidmark 15657
3 MC_Mountain 15270
2015-17:
1 Madrazo 17158
2 Joelsim 15749
3 Jakob747 14214
2016-18:
1 Alykaptan 17160
2 Armchair_Cyclist 16273
3 Murrjt 16058
2017-19:
1 AmisVelo 19312
2 Cordi333 19224
3 Vladimir 19158
2018-20:

1	Squire	17954
2	Fauniera	17340
3	Cordi333	16880

2019-21:

1	Flo	14938
2	HugoKoblet	14271
3	Squire	13845

2020-22:

1	Cordi	11624
2	JonEzeitza	11576
3	SafeBet	10773

2021-23:

1	SafeBet	20191
2	Cordi	18761
3	Greenedge	17861

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Whether there has been a youth revolutionis probably better illiustrated by the best possible 18, rather than the best 18 that were picked:

I	2014-16	25872​
II	2015-17	24677​
III	2016-18	26012​
IV	2017-19	29064​
V	2018-20	27571​	covid year 2020 was 3rd year
VI	2019-21	21938​	covid year 2020 was 2nd year
VII	2020-22	21437​	covid year 2020 was 1st year
VIII	2021-23	31142​

The final year scores in 2020 (edition V) were not as suppressed by covid as might be thought, because there was a big effort to keep the bigger events, and by then the bigger scorers were focused on those events. It probably had more of a detrimental effect on cycle VI, when decent year 2 hauls were impacted.
The big difference between cohorts was comparing VII to VIII: the slightly older group didn't really get a rookie year of their own, so shared it with those following them. Of the 14 riders that had more than 1000 points at the end of 2022, seven were still in the game the following year. And the huge 2023 total benefits from De Lie and Skjelmose: no other year has had 2 as good as that.

So is there a youth revolution? I'd say the jury is out.