Here we go again:
For those who already know how it all works, the key info is unchanged budget of 3500, 8 men rider prices as of update to be released on 2nd May, submit by start of stage 1 on 6th May, and selection spreadsheet is here.
If you found it necessary to read beyond that, you might be new to the games, in which case you are very welcome.
In the Giro CQ Game your challenge is to select a team of 8 riders that will be competing in the Giro: your team remains unchanged throughout, for better or worse. There is no selecting different riders for different stages, any more than the DSes get to do so.
The restriction on your team is that they must have a total cost of 3500 or less, based on their CQ points gained for the year to 1st May. That is determined by a download of scores that should be available on the afternoon of Monday 2nd May on that excellent website, which I shall upload to a selection tool here (If you prefer not to use that tool, you are looking for the red number in a white box just below the old-fashioned fuel gauge style meter in the top right of a rider's page, such as this example that you won't be using, but that figure can change from day to day: it is the number as of the end of Sunday 1st that matters).
Your selected riders can gain points according to the CQ scale for GC position (500 for the winner, then 375, 315, 265, 240 down to 135 for 10th, 44 for 30th, 16 for 50th and 15 for all finishers below that), for being awarded the Pink jersey (18 points per stage, except the last one), for stage position (70 points, then 40, 25, 15, 10 down to 1 for 10th) and for final ranking in the climbing and points classifications (same distribution as for stages, no points for leading the classification during the race, no points for the young rider classification).
I will update daily, real life permitting, with a table based on each team's projected finish if nothing were to change in the classifications from that point on, and also with a secondary classification ("purplish points", because I won't concede that that colour is described as cyclamen in English) based only on stage finish points. Some managers like to stack their teams with sprinters and breakaway riders with an eye on that prize.
To enter, please sent your list of 8 riders (please do not append info like their cost or teams, it creates extra work for me) to me by PM on either Cycling News Forum or VeloRooms (you will contribute to the average score of your chosen platform in the inter-Forum challenge) by the start of the race on Friday 6th (11:40 CET I believe). I will lodge my selection with the first entrant (usually Comodoro, but sometimes others are faster) as soon as possible to ensure I am above suspicion. PLEASE send the riders' names in the form in which they appear on the CQ site (and therefore in the selection spreadsheet), otherwise entering your team becomes much more laborious. And while you can start planning, please do not submit your teams until the prices are finalised: if riders are doing Romandie or Eschborn-Frankfurt, or if they did them last year, the numbers will probably be wrong.
If you do not leave submitting your team until the last minute, I should be able to warn you if there is any error and give you a chance to change it. I do have a strangely contrived set of criteria by which replacements are selected if you are over budget or have a non-starter, but I'll only post it if necessary.
Please do have a go: it's a bit of fun, and it feels far more worth my time if there is a good number of entrants. Feel free to publicise it wherever seems appropriate.
And as I usually say on my PMs to confirm receipt of teams, good luck to your teams, and enjoy the game and the Giro.
For those who already know how it all works, the key info is unchanged budget of 3500, 8 men rider prices as of update to be released on 2nd May, submit by start of stage 1 on 6th May, and selection spreadsheet is here.
If you found it necessary to read beyond that, you might be new to the games, in which case you are very welcome.
In the Giro CQ Game your challenge is to select a team of 8 riders that will be competing in the Giro: your team remains unchanged throughout, for better or worse. There is no selecting different riders for different stages, any more than the DSes get to do so.
The restriction on your team is that they must have a total cost of 3500 or less, based on their CQ points gained for the year to 1st May. That is determined by a download of scores that should be available on the afternoon of Monday 2nd May on that excellent website, which I shall upload to a selection tool here (If you prefer not to use that tool, you are looking for the red number in a white box just below the old-fashioned fuel gauge style meter in the top right of a rider's page, such as this example that you won't be using, but that figure can change from day to day: it is the number as of the end of Sunday 1st that matters).
Your selected riders can gain points according to the CQ scale for GC position (500 for the winner, then 375, 315, 265, 240 down to 135 for 10th, 44 for 30th, 16 for 50th and 15 for all finishers below that), for being awarded the Pink jersey (18 points per stage, except the last one), for stage position (70 points, then 40, 25, 15, 10 down to 1 for 10th) and for final ranking in the climbing and points classifications (same distribution as for stages, no points for leading the classification during the race, no points for the young rider classification).
I will update daily, real life permitting, with a table based on each team's projected finish if nothing were to change in the classifications from that point on, and also with a secondary classification ("purplish points", because I won't concede that that colour is described as cyclamen in English) based only on stage finish points. Some managers like to stack their teams with sprinters and breakaway riders with an eye on that prize.
To enter, please sent your list of 8 riders (please do not append info like their cost or teams, it creates extra work for me) to me by PM on either Cycling News Forum or VeloRooms (you will contribute to the average score of your chosen platform in the inter-Forum challenge) by the start of the race on Friday 6th (11:40 CET I believe). I will lodge my selection with the first entrant (usually Comodoro, but sometimes others are faster) as soon as possible to ensure I am above suspicion. PLEASE send the riders' names in the form in which they appear on the CQ site (and therefore in the selection spreadsheet), otherwise entering your team becomes much more laborious. And while you can start planning, please do not submit your teams until the prices are finalised: if riders are doing Romandie or Eschborn-Frankfurt, or if they did them last year, the numbers will probably be wrong.
If you do not leave submitting your team until the last minute, I should be able to warn you if there is any error and give you a chance to change it. I do have a strangely contrived set of criteria by which replacements are selected if you are over budget or have a non-starter, but I'll only post it if necessary.
Please do have a go: it's a bit of fun, and it feels far more worth my time if there is a good number of entrants. Feel free to publicise it wherever seems appropriate.
And as I usually say on my PMs to confirm receipt of teams, good luck to your teams, and enjoy the game and the Giro.