2022-2024 Emerging Riders CQ Game

[bminchow]

Looking forward to 2023-2025!

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Was thinking about it yesterday, but have Covid and am totally out of any energy today: my wife sent me to bed without a laptop...

But it will be the same rules (18 men, fewer than 200 career points to end of 2022), and I will make the deadline 23:59 (UK time / UTC) on 14th Jan (because that will give time to pick up names from the main game, and the inaugural women's game entries close on 15th)

 

[RedheadDane]

Was thinking about it yesterday, but have Covid and am totally out of any energy today: my wife sent me to bed without a laptop...

But it will be the same rules (18 men, fewer than 200 career points to end of 2022), and I will make the deadline 23:59 (UK time / UTC) on 14th Jan (because that will give time to pick up names from the main game, and the inaugural women's game entries close on 15th)

Awesome!

Speedy recovery!

Go to sleep!

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Ignore what it says above about the closing date for 2023-25 being on 14th Jan: I can't cope with the same day being the final entries for both that and the WWT game. Please get 2023-25 teams to me by 23:59 UTC/GMT on 13th Jan (I have already warned my wife that she is unlikely to get any meaningful conversation out of me that weekend)

 

[Armchair cyclist]

End of Year 1

Almost no changes to scores in the weeks between the end of the pro season and the end of the year, except that Reuben Thompson lost 3 points in some sort of correction, to the detriment of EdkDeus's score.

But this has been a record breaking year in the short history of the game. The previous highest end of year one score by any team was 4687 by Karaev in 2018, but that would have come a miserable 22nd this year. This is the first time that a Collective Ignorance team (made up of riders that we all missed) has not been in the lead at the end of the first year: it would be way down in 25th.

We also have 2 record breaking riders (who go some way to explaining the high scores) : Arnaud De Lie (1439) and Juan Ayuso (1004). They are the first riders since the game started to break 1000 points in Year 1. Indeed, as far as I can find, in the time since CQ started (1998) the 1000 barrier had only been broken twice by someone who would have been eligible for selection in the game starting that year; Kittel in 2011 (1041) and Valverde in 2003 (1611).

The best possible team would be made up thus:

DE LIE Arnaud	1439​	24 teams​
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan	1004​	38 (out of 40)​
ZINGLE Axel	727​	9​
SHEFFIELD Magnus	621​	15​
VAUQUELIN Kévin	618​	0​
PICCOLO Andrea	509​	15​
PLAPP Lucas	441​	30​
DUJARDIN Sandy	401​	0​
TURNER Benjamin	372​	3​
STRONG Corbin	358​	2​
CHARMIG Anthon	358​	4​
VAN GILS Maxim	336​	13​
LAURANCE Axel	301​	0​
MONIQUET Sylvain	277​	1​
LEEMREIZE Gijs	263​	14​
FERRON Valentin	259​	3​
UIJTDEBROEKS Cian	253​	25​
GALL Felix	238​	1​

A year ago, Alessandro Covi with 520 was the top year 1 scorer, and one of only 4 with more than 400 at that stage (Schelling, Vansevanant and Aleotti, since you asked): further evidence of the amazing scores this time around.
They would have returned a (record) total of 8775, and Ray10, in getting 67.8% of the perfect score, just beats Madrazo's 67.6 in 2017 (for yet another record)


And I don't have a note of antecedents, but I strongly suspect that Vauquelin is the highest scoring unselected year one rider.

If you have the foresight to beat Ray10's records this year, or the insight into an underestimated youngster that will deprive the Collective Ignorance team of high scorer, you have until the end of Friday 13th to give me your 2023-25 teams. Don't let that date be unlucky for you.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

We also have 2 record breaking riders (who go some way to explaining the high scores) : Arnaud De Lie (1439) and Juan Ayuso (1004). They are the first riders since the game started to break 1000 points in Year 1. Indeed, as far as I can find, in the time since CQ started (1998) the 1000 barrier had only been broken twice by someone who would have been eligible for selection in the game starting that year; Kittel in 2011 (1041) and Valverde in 2003 (1611).

I think there's Moreno Moser as well in 2012. Probably one of the most bizarre career arcs of the last few decades. He had one of the best neo pros season of the 21st century, won Strade Bianche the following year and then completely disappeared. No crash or suspension if I rmember correctly to explain the sudden drop off either.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Good spot: I only included pre-game riders in my history file if they would have scored over 2000 over the three years, and despite him getting 1036 in what could have been a first season in the game (he had 94 career points prior to that year) he would only have got 1477 over the three years. It still would have been a decent contribution to a team if the game had been there at the time, but any team that picked him probably would have slid down the table in years 2 and 3.

He was the inspiration behind my "Whatever Happened to..." thread: no-one there had an explanation either.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

And so to the tricky second album year

Year 2, Month 1 to Feb 5th

Rider	Pts this month	Teams	Source
MAYRHOFER Marius	201​	4​	win CEGORR and TDU points
DE LIE Arnaud	172​	24​	GP Valencia win and 2 Besseges stage wins + 7th GC
SHEFFIELD Magnus	164​	15​	GC 4th and stage 2nd in TDU
PLAPP Lucas	147​	30​	National Champ RR win and TT 4th
VERNON Ethan	128​	22​	win and 2nd in Majorcan series
TIBERI Antonio	120​	22​	GC 8th in TDU
ZINGLE Axel	93​	9​
MILAN Jonathan	86​	4​
STRONG Corbin	85​	2​
RIVERA VARGAS Brandon Smith	80​	1​

So this is how we have each started 2023

Rank this month		Pts this month	Main scorers
1	Cordi	851​	De Lie/Sheffield/Plapp/Vernon/Tiberi
2	Del1962	791​	Mayrhofer/Plapp/Vernon/Tiberi
3	JumboVismaFan	787​	De Lie/Sheffield/Plapp/Vernon/Strong
4	DevilsElbow	775​	De Lie/Plapp/Vernon/Tiberi/Zingle
5	SafeBet	767​	De Lie/Plapp/Vernon/Tiberi/Zingle/Milan
5	Bminchow	767​	De Lie/Sheffield/Plapp/Vernon/Tiberi
7	Fivezzz	716​
8	Greenedge	715​
9	Laarsland	708​
10	Rufs	693​
11	Ray10	681​
12	Squire	668​
13	Berflamand	667​
14	LosBrolin	654​
15	Vladimir	642​
16	Koronin	629​
17	AmisVelo	618​
18	Bonimenier	616​
18	Nakazar	616​
20	Scrooll07	603​
21	Skidmark	600​
22	Blues_in_the_Bottle	597​
23	Madrazo	579​
24	Nyssinator	565​
25	Nathanptz	546​
26	Salvarani	520​
26	Josedin	520​
28	Kazistuta	510​
29	EvansIsTheBest	472​
30	RoteLaterne	450​
31	Leadbelly	434​
32	Riverside	402​
33	Armchair_Cyclist	355​
34	Comodoro	345​
35	Repre	339​
36	LukasCPH	310​
37	RedheadDane	254​
38	Otoxiep87	230​
39	EdkDeus	199​
40	JonEzeitza	180​
	CollectiveWisdom	780​
	CollectiveIgnorance	442​	Page, Van Eetvelt
	MainGame2022	764​
	Goodin2021	220​

Standings
Cordi and Devil's Elbow both enter the top ten; Squire, Los Brolin and Bminchow move up within it, and gaps within the top three are narrowed.

Rank	Team	Total	Change in position
1​	Ray10	6630	0​
2​	Laarsland	6597	0​
3​	SafeBet	6582	0​
4​	Squire	6432	1​
5​	LosBrolin	6365	1​
6​	Bminchow	6361	1​
7​	Nathanptz	6313	-3​
8​	Berflamand	6170	0​
9​	Cordi	6117	5​
10​	DevilsElbow	6064	3​
11​	JumboVismaFan	6027	4​
12​	Scrooll07	6012	-3​
13​	Skidmark	5980	-3​
14​	Madrazo	5954	-3​
15​	Bonimenier	5951	-3​
16​	Fivezzz	5915	0​
17​	Nakazar	5761	1​
18​	Salvarani	5708	-1​
19​	Greenedge	5558	1​
20​	Kazistuta	5533	-1​
21​	Rufs	5413	0​
22​	AmisVelo	5276	0​
23​	Nyssinator	5058	0​
24​	EvansIsTheBest	4699	0​
25​	Del1962	4333	6​
26​	RoteLaterne	4200	0​
27​	Josedin	4194	1​
28​	Vladimir	4117	5​
29​	Comodoro	4054	-2​
30​	Otoxiep87	4020	-5​
31​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	3919	4​
32​	Armchair_Cyclist	3915	-3​
33​	Repre	3890	-3​
34​	Koronin	3819	3​
35​	JonEzeitza	3657	-3​
36​	EdkDeus	3548	-2​
37​	LukasCPH	3514	-1​
38​	Riverside	3354	0​
39​	RedheadDane	3150	0​
40​	Leadbelly	2087	0​
	CollectiveWisdom	6642
	CollectiveIgnorance	4569
	MainGame2022	6270
	Goodin2021	4168

Cycling News 5255
Equipo Parlamiento 4506
Velorooms 4428

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Strong start to the season for me here (and also in the 23-25 game). Only two other players in the top-20 have Gloag, so hopefully he can give me a boost compared to the other teams who are doing well so far. That being said, having none of Sheffield, Piccolo and Uijtdebroeks should make it impossible for me to win this one.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Year 2 Month 2 6th Feb to 5th March

DE LIE Arnaud	231​	24​	2nd in Omloop and Almeria, 7th in KBK
PLAPP Lucas	164​	30​	GC 2nd UAE tour
GREGOIRE Romain	164​	12​	8th Strade, 5th Ardeche, 6th Laigueglia
VAN GILS Maxim	141​	13​	6th in Oman, 5th in Muscat
TURNER Ben	128​	3 (Bonimenier, Ray, Repre)​	Murcia win, Jaen 2nd
ZWIEHOFF Ben	84​	1(Squire)​
GALL Felix	76​	1(Gall)​
TIBERI Antonio	70​	22​

This month

Rank this month		Pts this month	Main scorers
1	Ray10	860​	De Lie, Plapp, Gregoire, Turner
2	Nakazar	827​	De Lie, Plapp, Gregoire, Tiberi
3	SafeBet	826​	De Lie, Plapp, Van Gils, Tiberi
4	Nathanptz	812​	De Lie, Plapp, Gregoire, Van Gils
5	Bminchow	808​	De Lie, Plapp, Van Gils, Tiberi
6	Greenedge	799​
7	LosBrolin	791​
8	Laarsland	778​
9	Bonimenier	777​
10	Scrooll07	765​
11	Berflamand	764​
12	Squire	727​
13	Rufs	708​
14	Nyssinator	705​
15	Skidmark	673​
16	Repre	663​
17	AmisVelo	652​
18	JumboVismaFan	650​
19	DevilsElbow	647​
20	Kazistuta	644​
21	Madrazo	631​
22	Cordi	612​
23	Fivezzz	607​
23	Salvarani	607​
25	Josedin	559​
26	EvansIsTheBest	536​
26	Comodoro	536​
28	Armchair_Cyclist	474​
29	RoteLaterne	428​
30	Koronin	422​
31	Blues_in_the_Bottle	396​
32	EdkDeus	376​
33	Del1962	372​
34	JonEzeitza	354​
35	Riverside	301​
36	Otoxiep87	288​
37	LukasCPH	262​
38	RedheadDane	234​
39	Vladimir	222​
40	Leadbelly	135​
	CollectiveWisdom	705​
	CollectiveIgnorance	500​	Vauquelin 152, Welsford 141
	MainGame2022	642​
	Goodin2021	245​

Standings
Ray 10 might be shaping up to do here what SafeBet has done in the edition one year earlier: he took the lead in April of Year 1, and looks to be making the gap ever wider. But the same SafeBet positions himself as the most likely to chase him down if anyone will.

1​	Ray10	7490	0​
2​	SafeBet	7408	1​
3​	Laarsland	7375	-1​
4​	Bminchow	7169	2​
5​	Squire	7159	-1​
6​	LosBrolin	7156	-1​
7​	Nathanptz	7125	0​
8​	Berflamand	6934	0​
9​	Scrooll07	6777	3​
10​	Cordi	6729	-1​
11​	Bonimenier	6728	4​
12​	DevilsElbow	6711	-2​
13​	JumboVismaFan	6677	-2​
14​	Skidmark	6653	-1​
15​	Nakazar	6588	2​
16​	Madrazo	6585	-2​
17​	Fivezzz	6522	-1​
18​	Greenedge	6357	1​
19​	Salvarani	6315	-1​
20​	Kazistuta	6177	0​
21​	Rufs	6121	0​
22​	AmisVelo	5928	0​
23​	Nyssinator	5763	0​
24​	EvansIsTheBest	5235	0​
25​	Josedin	4753	2​
26​	Del1962	4705	-1​
27​	RoteLaterne	4628	-1​
28​	Comodoro	4590	1​
29​	Repre	4553	4​
30​	Armchair_Cyclist	4389	2​
31​	Vladimir	4339	-3​
32​	Blues_in_the_Bottle	4315	-1​
33​	Otoxiep87	4308	-3​
34​	Koronin	4241	0​
35​	JonEzeitza	4011	0​
36​	EdkDeus	3924	0​
37​	LukasCPH	3776	0​
38​	Riverside	3655	0​
39​	RedheadDane	3384	0​
40​	Leadbelly	2222	0​
	CollectiveWisdom	7347
	CollectiveIgnorance	5064
	MainGame2022	6912
	Goodin2021	4413

Cycling News 5870
Equipo Parlamiento 5021
VeloRooms 4890

Spreadsheet

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

500 point gap to the nearest rival in either direction for my team. I might already be locked into my final standing.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

500 point gap to the nearest rival in either direction for my team. I might already be locked into my final standing.

Statistically strange: one would expect the middle of the table to be more compacted.

You are 25th, and the game's top scorer (De Lie) is on 24 teams. I haven't got time to look it up now, but surely it is not so simple as everyone with AdL is above you, and you are well ahead of those who lack him.

EDIT: Apart from a bit of a brainfart when I said that Evans was 25th, when he is 24th, that analysis was very nearly true. All 23 teams above him have De Lie, and the only De Lie team below is Koronin, who has her, how can I put this, characteristically esoteric mix of Americans and associates of Valverde.

So congratulations on beating all the other DeLie teams. However, if you were to replace even your lowest scorer (unique pick Eddy Le Huitouze) with De Lie, you would still only be 8th. Which suggests that for the rest of us who missed De Lie, we didn't do very well with our other selections either.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Statistically strange: one would expect the middle of the table to be more compacted.

You are 25th, and the game's top scorer (De Lie) is on 24 teams. I haven't got time to look it up now, but surely it is not so simple as everyone with AdL is above you, and you are well ahead of those who lack him.

EDIT: Apart from a bit of a brainfart when I said that Evans was 25th, when he is 24th, that analysis was very nearly true. All 23 teams above him have De Lie, and the only De Lie team below is Koronin, who has her, how can I put this, characteristically esoteric mix of Americans and associates of Valverde.

So congratulations on beating all the other DeLie teams. However, if you were to replace even your lowest scorer (unique pick Eddy Le Huitouze) with De Lie, you would still only be 8th. Which suggests that for the rest of us who missed De Lie, we didn't do very well with our other selections either.

Best non-De Lie team is something at least. At first I thought that made sense since my young guys in the main game did exceedingly well and I tend to have a lot of overlap. But looking at my team most of the real steals were already priced out (Rodriguez, Skjelmose, Buitrago...) so it's really just Zingle and Sheffield (+ Ayuso but everybody has him) that prop up the team. I'm hopeful that guys like Ny,s Grégoire and Martinez might contribute more in year 2 and 3 so I can maintain that position.

Small aside, De Lie was obviously the biggest omission from my main game team but I never really considered him as evidenced by his omission here as well so I'm not really mad about that one. The ones that really hurt were Sheffield that was in a bunch of drafts and got cut right at the end and Benjamin Dyball who was literally in the balance with Kevin Serrano as my third zero pointer until the very end. I went with Serrano because I figured he was on Gazprom instead of some japanaese continental team so he was more likely to get a consistent racing schedule. Guess who scored 0 points because their team folded in march (for obvious reasons) and who went on to score 264 points and would have been a unique pick ?

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Can someone explain Kevin Vauquelin to me?

He wasn't chosen for this (or any previous) edition of this game, and was unpicked for the Main Game last year when he would have cost 54 points. He had twice been a stagiare with Arkea, and got a contract with them (I have no odea when they was announced, He then scored 618 points in his first full year, 73rd overall (5th from his team, would have been in the top 6 of all WorldTeams apart from Ineos and UAE, and top 3 of performers for 6 (then) World Teams). The start he has made this year does not make that look like a fluke.

So how did he keep such ability hidden from everyone? How did he get the results he has from so inauspicious a pre-career? Was he a feature at all in his youth career? (probably not the most appropriate thread to raise it, but...)

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Can someone explain Kevin Vauquelin to me?

He wasn't chosen for this (or any previous) edition of this game, and was unpicked for the Main Game last year when he would have cost 54 points. He had twice been a stagiare with Arkea, and got a contract with them (I have no odea when they was announced, He then scored 618 points in his first full year, 73rd overall (5th from his team, would have been in the top 6 of all WorldTeams apart from Ineos and UAE, and top 3 of performers for 6 (then) World Teams). The start he has made this year does not make that look like a fluke.

So how did he keep such ability hidden from everyone? How did he get the results he has from so inauspicious a pre-career? Was he a feature at all in his youth career? (probably not the most appropriate thread to raise it, but...)

Vauquelin definitely wasn't a complete nobody in his youth career - four medals across 2 junior track world championships, road race and time trial national titles as a junior, repeating the latter title at the U23 level, coupled with good TTs and occasionally climbing performances in major U23 races like Course de la Paix and Étoile d'Or - so some degree of success might have been expected. But even in hindsight, those aren't results that suggest a first 15 months as a pro as good as he's had.

So I wouldn't say his skillset changed much in 2022, but rather that the entirety of it has taken a significantly bigger-than-expected step up upon turning pro, even taking into account that 2020 was mostly a wasted year for him as it was for so many riders his age. Couple that with an insanely CQ-friendly race programme and you get a massive score by the standards of a debut season. Let's face it, if he's on, say, Ineos, he scores like 200 points in 2022 even with the level he's shown and nobody would be batting an eyelid barring a monster ride on domestique duty.