2025-26 CX Game

[JR1012]

Good luck to everyone.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

For the record, the swap I made between Ardooie and the extended deadline was to omit Sweeck (bit surprised he hasn't been picked by anyone), Schreiber (who I really wasn't crazy about), Worst (too risky without any updates on when she's returning) and Kuypers (could have kept him budgetwise, but he really isn't impressing me) for Aerts, Bentveld, Franck and Meeussen. A bit of a shame that Franck fell ill immediately after that, because she reckons that the same thing happening this time last year threw her off last season, I would have used the 82 points I left on the table and gone for Mason instead had I known but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Points before we started:

		pre-game points	pre-game scorers
1​	DevilsElbow	2196​	14​
2​	RedheadDane	1916​	10​
3​	SamuCuenca	1819​	13​
4​	ArmchairCyclist	1768​	10​
5​	JR1012	1458​	11​
	CollectiveWisdom	2062​	13​
	Default	2492​	12​

The default team are 18 riders clustered around the average spend, to get as near to the 18k total as possible (retired riders excluded)
Backstedt Zoe
Schreiber Marie
Ronhaar Pim
Verstrynge Emiel
Brouwers Julie
Bentveld Leonie
Verdonschot Laura
van Alphen Aniek
Kuhn Kevin
Betsema Denise
Strohmeyer Andrew
Mani Caroline
Nieuwenhuis Joris
Funston Scott
van Aert Wout
McGill Sidney
Mein Thomas
Worst Annemarie

The Collective Wisdom team are the 12 riders that are on 3 or 4 of our teams, plus 6 of the 14 riders that are on two teams, selected according to the default team method (only three riders difference from Devil's Elbow team)
Del Grosso Tibor
Nieuwenhuis Joris
Ronhaar Pim
van Anrooij Shirin
Zemanová Kristýna
Casasola Sara
Franck Alicia
Pieterse Puck
Rochette Maghalie
van Empel Fem
Verdonschot Laura
Wyseure Joran
Nys Thibau
Bentveld Leonie
van Alphen Aniek
Kuhn Kevin
Vandebosch Toon
Boroš Michael



Popularity ranking:

		popularity score	unique picks*	total cost
1​	DevilsElbow	52​	0​	17918​
2​	SamuCuenca	49​	2​	17959​
3​	ArmchairCyclist	44​	5​	17964​
4​	JR1012	38​	5​	17982​
5​	RedheadDane	33​	9​	17712​
	CollectiveWisdom	53​	0​	17878​
	Default	22​	7​	17550​

*: some 'unique' riders may also be in Default team.

Still a bit of work to do on the spreadsheet before it is shareable

 

[RedheadDane]

Nice to see my top-5 is all but secure.

(I could still end up 7th if I end up behind both CW and Default.)

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Nice to see my top-5 is all but secure.

(I could still end up 7th if I end up behind both CW and Default.)

Was it a conscious decision not to pick Van Anrooij or was it simply a result of her not being listed in the spreadsheet/rankings?

 

[RedheadDane]

Was it a conscious decision not to pick Van Anrooij or was it simply a result of her not being listed in the spreadsheet/rankings?

I'd completely forgotten about her.
Also, I kinda wanted to pick Puck for my Dutch woman, what with her being a redhead.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I'd completely forgotten about her.
Also, I kinda wanted to pick Puck for my Dutch woman, what with her being a redhead.

It would have been funnier if you had deliberately picked Kastelijn instead of Van Anrooij.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

It would have been funnier if you had deliberately picked Kastelijn instead of Van Anrooij.

because she has said she won't do CX this season (I don't know that: I'm asking), or reference to the Euro's road race farce?

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

The first update:

With there being so few of us in the game, I'm not sure how frequently I'll feel inspired to post these.

When I do update, the list of scoring riders will not be exhaustive: today I've put a cut-off of 40 points over the weekend for including riders, other weeks it may be higher of lower.
Excuse all the full stops in the table: the process of pasting from Excel to the forum software gets thrown by longer and shorter names without placeholders, and misaligns results.

	Armchair	Devil's Elbow	JR1012	RhD	Samu
Norbert Riberolle Marion	.	.	136​	.	.
Casasola Sara	.	120​	.	120​	120​
Vandeputte Niels	106​	.	106​	.	.
Vanthourenhout Michael	.	.	.	.	100​
Vandebosch Toon	96​	96​	.	.	.
Nieuwenhuis Joris	80​	80​	80​	.	80​
van Alphen Aniek	.	74​	.	.	74​
Clauzel Hélène	.	.	.	66​	.
Kuhn Kevin	.	.	60​	60​	.
Bentveld Leonie	.	50​	.	.	50​
Wyseure Joran	.	50​	50​	.	50​
Zemanová Kristýna	50​	50​	50​	.	50​
van Empel Fem	46​	46​	46​	.	.
Michels Jente	42​	42​	.	.	.
Boroš Michael	.	.	40​	40​	.

Points this week:

		change	scorers
1​	DevilsElbow	720​	13​
2​	JR1012	636​	11​
3​	SamuCuenca	598​	11​
4​	ArmchairCyclist	546​	11​
5​	RedheadDane	434​	9​
	CollectiveWisdom	722​	12​
	Default	434​	9​

Standings
That's ominous: last year's winner is already 500 points clear.

1​	DevilsElbow	2916​	(-)
2​	SamuCuenca	2417​	(+1)
3​	RedheadDane	2350​	(-1)
4​	ArmchairCyclist	2314​	(-)
5​	JR1012	2094​	(-)
	CollectiveWisdom	2784​
	Default	2954​

If you can make any sense of it (it bears residue of a number of experiments as to how best to keep track), here is the spreadsheet.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

because she has said she won't do CX this season (I don't know that: I'm asking), or reference to the Euro's road race farce?

*The gravel Worlds farce.

I have already regretted some of my decisions. How did I manage not to have a single rider starting the men's race in Essen?

I also recall there was a previous player who kept pushing for the inclusion of points scored prior to the deadline just so he could defend having Mein and Verdonschot in his team. What a dumb dumb.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

*The gravel Worlds farce.

D'oh (again), of course it was gravel rather than Euros.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I also recall there was a previous player who kept pushing for the inclusion of points scored prior to the deadline just so he could defend having Mein and Verdonschot in his team. What a dumb dumb.

You'll see on the speadsheet there is a table for "points since launch", so you might take solace in that.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Oh dear.

I picked Iserbyt thinking that a number of riders have returned well from iliac surgery, so he could be good value.
I now read that walking up the stairs in his home is an achievement, yet alone running up concrete stairs with a bike on his shoulder. That's my biggest spend as a wasted pick...

"It’s much more than just pulling a tooth" – Eli Iserbyt opens up about his grueling recovery

Belgian cyclocross star Eli Iserbyt has not been able to participate in the first races of the 2025-2026 season, as he is still recovering from multiple surgeries on his iliac artery. He already suffe...

cyclinguptodate.com

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Oh dear.

I picked Iserbyt thinking that a number of riders have returned well from iliac surgery, so he could be good value.
I now read that walking up the stairs in his home is an achievement, yet alone running up concrete stairs with a bike on his shoulder. That's my biggest spend as a wasted pick...

"It’s much more than just pulling a tooth" – Eli Iserbyt opens up about his grueling recovery

Belgian cyclocross star Eli Iserbyt has not been able to participate in the first races of the 2025-2026 season, as he is still recovering from multiple surgeries on his iliac artery. He already suffe...

cyclinguptodate.com

The original article says he was back on the bike in August and his return has been announced (not in the article) for Niel on the 11th of November. I don't expect him to be a great pick, but he shouldn't be completely wasted either.