2023 Women's WT CQ Game

[slow_climber]

Thanks for running the competition - made me watch more women's racing which I really enjoyed. Congrats to the winners.

A good performance from my team, but a few too many points in Pro rather than World level races kept me out of the top 10. Looking forward to next year.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Thanks @Armchair cyclist for your hard work running the game and I'm hoping for a better showing next year.

Congrats to Rufs for their well earned victory.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Top scorers

The top 30: remember, these are only the points gained in WWT (& World Championship) events

VOLLERING Demi	1940​	1194​	3​
KOPECKY Lotte	1210​	1042​	4​
VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek	1193​	1855​	0​
REUSSER Marlen	1037​	477​	9​
NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna	819​	756​	2​
WIEBES Lorena	815​	1615​	2​
LABOUS Juliette	704​	842​	4​
LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup	667​	971​	3​
PERSICO Silvia	643​	994​	5​
LIPPERT Liane	578​	904​	1​
REALINI Gaia	566​	101​	7​
GEORGI Pfeiffer	554​	405​	9​
LONGO BORGHINI Elisa	523​	1280​	0​
CHABBEY Elise	510​	804​	0​
BROWN Grace	500​	774​	2​
VAN ANROOIJ Shirin	490​	420​	22​
SCHWEINBERGER Christina	456​	267​	1​
DYGERT Chloe	450​	2​	23​
PALADIN Soraya	450​	305​	3​
CONSONNI Chiara	448​	764​	5​
MOOLMAN-PASIO Ashleigh	431​	640​	0​
KOOL Charlotte	413​	194​	15​
BALSAMO Elisa	412​	1129​	0​
MARKUS Riejanne	395​	410​	0​
BAUERNFEIND Ricarda	386​	429​	5​
SPRATT Amanda	353​	253​	4​
STEELS Claire	344​	94​	0​
HENDERSON Anna	335​	206​	6​
MAGNALDI Erica	333​	255​	0​
GARCIA CAÑELLAS Margarita Victoria	332​	831​	0​

But a high score isn't necessarily great if the rider was very expensive. The 21 who made a profit of 100 points or more:

VOLLERING Demi	746​
REUSSER Marlen	560​
REALINI Gaia	465​
DYGERT Chloe	448​
STEELS Claire	250​
DEIGNAN (ARMITSTEAD) Elizabeth	222​
KOOL Charlotte	219​
SCHWEINBERGER Christina	189​
KOPECKY Lotte	168​
GEORGI Pfeiffer	149​
PALADIN Soraya	145​
HENDERSON Anna	129​
PIKULIK Daria	126​
COLES-LYSTER Maggie	116​
VAN DER DUIN Maike	114​
KRAAK Amber	111​
RAYER Eglantine	110​
TANG Xin	109​
WYLLIE Ella	109​
JASTRAB Megan	106​
SPRATT Amanda	100​

There were 608 women who scored CQ points in these races. Among the 4 billion or so women who didn't score at all are 13 that wer picked by managers in this game, including Chantaal Van den Broeck-Blaak, who was selected 5 times despite a well publicised retirement.

Riders who were available at no cost have an incalculably high percentage return on investment: there were 111 of them, but most scored very few points. However, they included:

DEIGNAN (ARMITSTEAD) Elizabeth	222​	24​
TANG Xin	109​	0​
BARKER Elinor	87​	1​
MIERMONT Dilyxine	57​	0​
PIETERSE Puck	56​	0​
LEPISTÖ-HENTTALA Lotta	54​	3​
ZENG Luyao	41​	0​
CHANG Yue	27​	0​
KANG Qiao	22​	0​

The highest %age returns that had the same minimum of 20 points scored were

DYGERT Chloe	450 pts scored​	2 cost​	22500.0 %​
NOSKOVA Nikola	64​	2​	3200.0​
VAN EMPEL Fem	84​	5​	1680.0​
NASKOVICH Taisa	64​	4​	1600.0​
REALINI Gaia	566​	101​	560.4​
RAYER Eglantine	134​	24​	558.3​
PATERNOSTER Letizia	89​	19​	468.4​
BORRAS Marion	56​	12​	466.7​
GRIFFIN Mia	91​	21​	433.3​
OLAUSSON Wilma	30​	7​	428.6​
RAGUSA Katia	122​	31​	393.5​
OSTOLAZA ZABALA Usoa	38​	10​	380.0​
WYLLIE Ella	149​	40​	372.5​
STEELS Claire	344​	94​	366.0​
TERUEL RIBES Alba	28​	9​	311.1​
VETTORELLO Giorgia	27​	9​	300.0​
BÄCKSTEDT Zoe	95​	32​	296.9​
DE FRANCESCO Danielle	147​	52​	282.7​
COLES-LYSTER Maggie	183​	67​	273.1​
TSERAKH Hanna	102​	42​	242.9​
CHRISTIE Henrietta	118​	49​	240.8​
ZABELINSKAYA Olga	67​	30​	223.3​
REUSSER Marlen	1037​	477​	217.4​
KOOL Charlotte	413​	194​	212.9​
ALLEN Jessica	36​	17​	211.8​
JØRGENSEN Tiril	63​	30​	210.0​
BEEKHUIS Teuntje	91​	44​	206.8​
JASTRAB Megan	211​	105​	201.0​

The impeccable picks

VOLLERING Demi

KOPECKY Lotte

REUSSER Marlen

REALINI Gaia

DYGERT Chloe

DEIGNAN (ARMITSTEAD) Elizabeth

 

[Rufs]

Thanks for a brilliant job AC in an absolutely gorgeous contest. Superb results service throughout the year.
Great honor to be the first winner of this contest with one pregnant and one who has retired. A bit of luck is allowed

Thanks to Demi and Lotte for an outstanding season this year

Its gonne be hard to defend this double

 

[Armchair cyclist]

The best possible team:

	cost	score	teams
VOLLERING Demi	1194​	1940​	3​
REUSSER Marlen	477​	1037​	9​
REALINI Gaia	101​	566​	7​
GEORGI Pfeiffer	405​	554​	9​
SCHWEINBERGER Christina	267​	456​	1​
PALADIN Soraya	305​	450​	3​
DYGERT Chloe	2​	450​	23​
KOOL Charlotte	194​	413​	15​
SPRATT Amanda	253​	353​	4​
STEELS Claire	94​	344​	0​
HENDERSON Anna	206​	335​	6​
PIKULIK Daria	178​	304​	1​
VAN DER DUIN Maike	147​	261​	2​
DEIGNAN (ARMITSTEAD) Elizabeth	0​	222​	24​
JASTRAB Megan	105​	211​	9​
COLES-LYSTER Maggie	67​	183​	0​
	3995​	8079​	116​

If this had been entered as a team, it's popularity ranking would have been only 29th of 33. Rufs' winning team would be 4 places higher, so popularity was often based on misjudgement: popular picks who failed to meet their cost include Collective Wisdom team members Fisher-Black, Klein, Cavalli, Vos, De Wilde, Gigante and Rivera. Zoe Backstedt was the most popular pick, and made a decent profit on a very low cost, but did not have the big breakthrough year that I suspect many of those picking her had expected.

The best team that is made up entirely of unselected riders

VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek	1855​	1193​
MARKUS Riejanne	410​	395​
STEELS Claire	94​	344​
MAGNALDI Erica	255​	333​
ADEGEEST Loes	337​	316​
KRAAK Amber	165​	276​
LACH Marta	337​	257​
WILLIAMS Georgia	171​	194​
KERBAOL Cédrine	111​	187​
COLES-LYSTER Maggie	67​	183​
WYLLIE Ella	40​	149​
DE FRANCESCO Danielle	52​	147​
RAGUSA Katia	31​	122​
CHRISTIE Henrietta	49​	118​
TANG Xin	0​	109​
GRIFFIN Mia	21​	91​
	3995​	4414​

Rufs' winning team scored 62% of the highest possible; it's the only team that included both Vollering and Kopecky, who made a habit of taking the top two spots in races together.

VOLLERING Demi	1194​	1940​
KOPECKY Lotte	1042​	1210​
DYGERT Chloe	2​	450​
SPRATT Amanda	253​	353​
FISHER-BLACK Niamh	368​	278​
DEIGNAN (ARMITSTEAD) Elizabeth	0​	222​
BREDEWOLD Mischa	393​	198​
NELSON Josie	102​	111​
BÄCKSTEDT Zoe	32​	95​
NOSKOVA Nikola	2​	64​
LEPISTÖ-HENTTALA Lotta	0​	54​
UNEKEN Lonneke	137​	37​
YSLAND Anne Dorthe	60​	11​
BANKS (STEDMAN) Elizabeth	0​	5​
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal	280​	0​
BRENNAUER Lisa	94​	0​
	3959​	5028​

 

[Armchair cyclist]

If we had taken CQ points from all races, instead of just the WWT (+WC)

Surprisingly different from the 'official game', difference in position is since I last posted this at the end of July.

1​	DJW	6675​	5
2​	Rufs	6526​	-1
3​	SamuCuenca	6407​	-1
4​	Madrazo	6377​	0
5​	Skidmark	6201​	2
6​	LibertineSeguros	6139​	-4
7​	JonEzeitza	6076​	5
8​	SlowClimber	6002​	2
9​	LukasCPH	5859​	-4
10​	Shalgo	5786​	-1
11​	ArchieBoy	5783​	3
12​	ArmchairCyclist	5781​	-4
13​	BR2	5751​	3
14​	Ricco	5698​	-3
15​	DJSprtsch	5528​	-2
16​	Salvarani	5462​	4
17​	Alvarakas	5432​	-2
18​	Leadbelly	5401​	0
19​	PostmanHat	5371​	5
20​	LosBrolin	5319​	-3
21​	Hfgon1	5203​	2
22​	Bminchow	5125​	-1
23​	TRiley36	4918​	-4
24​	MuddyWaters	4783​	-2
25​	EvansIsTheBest	4738​	0
26​	Josedin	4611​	0
27​	RoteLaterne	4464​	0
28​	JumboVismaFan	4276​	0
29​	RedheadDane	4157​	0
30​	Del1962	4049​	0
31​	AmisVelo	3761​	0
32​	Comodoro	3636​	0
	CollectiveWisdom	5625​

Not only a different winner, but some notable changes in position throughout the table
In order of position in the real table

	position on WWT/WC game	Position if all races included	Difference
Rufs	1​	2​	-1​
Skidmark	2​	5​	-3​
Shalgo	3​	10​	-7​
Madrazo	4​	4​	0​
DJW	5​	1​	4​
LibertineSeguros	6​	6​	0​
ArmchairCyclist	7​	12​	-5​
JonEzeitza	8​	7​	1​
Ricco	9​	14​	-5​
LukasCPH	10​	9​	1​
Salvarani	11​	16​	-5​
SlowClimber	12​	8​	4​
ArchieBoy	13​	11​	2​
SamuCuenca	14​	3​	11​
DJSprtsch	15​	15​	0​
BR2	16​	13​	3​
Alvarakas	17​	17​	0​
PostmanHat	18​	19​	-1​
Bminchow	19​	22​	-3​
Leadbelly	20​	18​	2​
Hfgon1	21​	21​	0​
LosBrolin	22​	20​	2​
RoteLaterne	23​	27​	-4​
TRiley36	24​	23​	1​
MuddyWaters	25​	24​	1​
EvansIsTheBest	26​	25​	1​
JumboVismaFan	27​	28​	-1​
Josedin	28​	26​	2​
Del1962	29​	30​	-1​
RedheadDane	30​	29​	1​
AmisVelo	31​	31​	0​
Comodoro	32​	32​	0​

Some managers did considerably better than others at picking riders who were focussed on the top level events that counted for the game, others not so much:
Points gained from lower level races

SamuCuenca	2434​
DJW	2125​
BR2	2084​
LosBrolin	1983​
SlowClimber	1939​
Leadbelly	1936​
Alvarakas	1824​
Hfgon1	1809​
PostmanHat	1797​
Josedin	1770​
ArchieBoy	1767​
TRiley36	1763​
LibertineSeguros	1751​
Madrazo	1738​
JonEzeitza	1735​
EvansIsTheBest	1716​
MuddyWaters	1683​
DJSprtsch	1667​
LukasCPH	1632​
Bminchow	1623​
Rufs	1498​
Ricco	1460​
ArmchairCyclist	1401​
RedheadDane	1323​
Salvarani	1321​
JumboVismaFan	1307​
Comodoro	1298​
Skidmark	1278​
Del1962	1209​
RoteLaterne	1204​
AmisVelo	1112​
Shalgo	1021​
CollectiveWisdom	1916​

So essentially Samu's riders spent effort getting 2434 points that did him no good at all in this game.

In terms of concentration on the races that mattered for the game, this is the percentage of their riders' total points that actually mattered.

Shalgo	82.4 %​
Skidmark	79.4​
Rufs	77.0​
Salvarani	75.8​
ArmchairCyclist	75.8​
Ricco	74.4​
RoteLaterne	73.0​
Madrazo	72.7​
LukasCPH	72.1​
LibertineSeguros	71.5​
JonEzeitza	71.4​
AmisVelo	70.4​
Del1962	70.1​
DJSprtsch	69.8​
ArchieBoy	69.4​
JumboVismaFan	69.4​
Bminchow	68.3​
RedheadDane	68.2​
DJW	68.2​
SlowClimber	67.7​
PostmanHat	66.5​
Alvarakas	66.4​
Hfgon1	65.2​
MuddyWaters	64.8​
Comodoro	64.3​
Leadbelly	64.2​
TRiley36	64.2​
EvansIsTheBest	63.8​
BR2	63.8​
LosBrolin	62.7​
SamuCuenca	62.0​
Josedin	61.6​
CollectiveWisdom	65.9​

The riders that got most points that didn't count (of those that had been chosen for the game)

	lower level	%age of points from top level
KOPECKY Lotte	530​	69.5​
WIEBES Lorena	418​	66.1​
CAVALLI Marta	378​	25.7​
DRONOVA-BALABOLINA Tamara	330​	35.0​
BROWN Grace	305​	62.1​
LIPPERT Liane	299​	65.9​
LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup	289​	69.8​
SCHWEINBERGER Christina	281​	61.9​
KOPPENBURG Clara	275​	28.2​
FIDANZA Arianna	268​	18.5​
BREDEWOLD Mischa	267​	42.6​
VOLLERING Demi	265​	88.0​
BARIL Olivia	260​	47.5​
DE WILDE Julie	250​	15.3​

So riders like Cavalli, Koppenburg, Fidanza and De Wilde have shown that they are capable of a good haul, while showing scant respect to their managers here.
On the other hand, Lizzie Deignan wasted no effort, with all 222 of her season's points being relevant to the game, and Naimh Fisher-Black got 278 of her 279 points to the benefit of the 15 teams that picked her, Katia Niewiadoma being almost as efficient with all but 15 of her 834 points being valid here.

To her credit, @Libertine Seguros identified early in the year Lilibeth Chacon as a rider that she would have selected if this had been a game in which all races counted; for a cost of 93, she would have earned 340 points, but only 5 of them were at the top level. Dominika Wlodarczyk scored 483 out of 488 in lower level races, and the highest CQ score for the year with zero in this game would have been Linda Zanetti (277).

If all races had counted, the best possible team as identified above would have scored 10517, but a score of 11419 would be possible by taking out Georgi, Paladin, Spratt, Van der Duin, Jastrab and Coles-Lyster, and substituting in Kopecky, Kerbaol, Zabelinskaya, Vigilia, Kulynych and Gontova in their stead.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

In case your response to all the numbers above is TLDR, the reason I have done all that (apart from being a numbers junky with not much else to do today and a want to understand the women's peloton better) is that I am seriously considering making the game next year a closer parallel to the men's season long game by having all races count, so simply the CQ score for the year. I think I would be inclined to keep the team size and budget the same.

I know most of you are polite enough to say "whatever suits you best", but leaving that aside, what would your preference be?

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

In case your response to all the numbers above is TLDR, the reason I have done all that (apart from being a numbers junky with not much else to do today and a want to understand the women's peloton better) is that I am seriously considering making the game next year a closer parallel to the men's season long game by having all races count, so simply the CQ score for the year. I think I would be inclined to keep the team size and budget the same.

I know most of you are polite enough to say "whatever suits you best", but leaving that aside, what would your preference be?

Whatever suits you best. But more seriously, I would prefer to simply use the CQ score.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I made two possible teams for this game: one which was made up of riders that I wanted to do well, and one that had riders I expected would do quite well (it included both AVV and Vollering).
I picked the former and ended up outside the top 10. Had I chosen the other one, then I believe I would have won the game by over 300 points.

I don't regret my decision though, and the fact that Rufs managed to win despite having two non-active riders in the team as well as some other riders that struggled with injuries throughout the season (although I think we all had some of those), makes that accomplishment even more impressive. So a huge congratulation to Rufs for becoming the inaugural winner of the competition.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And a big thank you to @Armchair cyclist for devoting time to keeping track of the scores in both this and all the other games you're in charge of. Going forward, it would be much easier for me if all CQ points counted in this game, because it can be hard to predict if a rider will get most of her results in WWT races or in other races instead. I picked Tamara Dronova because she had scored almost 87% of her 2022 points in WWT and WC races. She actually managed to improve her overall score this year, however she only got 178 points in WWT races versus 352 last season.

However it should only be @Armchair cyclist's decision to make. For someone who has proven that he's exceptionally bad at updating the scores in his own game, I can fully understand it, if AC doesn't feel like spending more time on it than necessary.

 

[DJW]

Whatever suits you best. But more seriously, I would prefer to simply use the CQ score.

Likewise.

 

[bminchow]

I'm cool with using the CQ ranking points.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Although CQ don't make a down load on at all a regular basis for the women, the mechanical copy and paste of a few pages of numbers is not that arduous, and the system that I use for the classics game, which is what I used here this year, is not very efficient. I don't think I can promise weekly updates, as Skidmark provides for the main game, but the effort and time needed to produce numbers is very close between both systems, so given the unanimity of feeling so far, all CQ points it will be.

Unless anyone wants to persuade me otherwise, I shall suggest that we stick to the same budget and squad size (so 16 riders and 4000 points), so you can start preparing your shortlists on that basis.