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2025-27 Emerging Riders CQ game

Page 3 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
My most quixotic pick is Wenzel. Selecting him I was 100% sure he will be my rarest pick, I was sure there are safest picks, but I felt like allowing myself to have a wild bet. Still finished 1st in the popularity ranking haha

Shared nr 1 :)

Funny enough I actually had the same feeling, with my rarest pick Henrik Pedersen. Its always fun to win the popular-ranking, and clearly felt I would have to pick Lorenzo Finn instead if I was to have a chance to win that for the last spots, that I knew would be quite popular. But just felt Finn was too young, with him also starting on the continental team, and also felt like taking one little chance, with a rider I felt could also have a lot of potential.

So I guess us sharing the popularity ranking is a nice compromise :)

By the way Wenzel was also in my considderations, as was of course also the other most popular picks I didnt make in Pescador and Sentjens. That were my 2 last cuts, with Gruel the last to get a spot also besides Henrik Pedersen instead.
 
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Rondel being three times more popular this year is weird to me, he didn’t really progress much in 2024 and therefore I didn’t include him this year after having him in the previous edition.

His spring doing pro calendar (12th at Coppi&Bartali and specially 11th at Alps) felt like an improvement. Then he won Orlen at u23 level and arrived to the Girino as maybe the main favorite. There he did ok-ish finishing 4th but without answer to Widar. But you see later how Widar & Torres performed this season... Alsace was meh and then all it went downhill at Avenir. Bad summer and his september with only DNFs is concerning... but well a bad stretch may rise a question but still his spring was something. And well, last year we knew he was staying at conti/u23 level when now he's starting his pro career with many more options to score big points.
 
Kicking themselves?

We didn't quite get any universal picks, but we came very close on three accounts:
TORRES ARIAS Pablo was only omitted by Jumbo Visma Fan
NORDHAGEN Jørgen was in every team except that of Manafana
PHILIPSEN Albert Withen would have been ubiquitous but forJon Ezeitza

25 teams out of 42 have all of the top 8 riders in terms of popularity: the exceptions are

Blues in the Bottle BRENNAN Matthew
DJSprtsch BEHRENS Niklas BISIAUX Léo
Houdini SEIXAS Paul
Ingsve BRENNAN Matthew
Jon Ezeitza PHILIPSEN Albert Withen BISIAUX Léo
Josedin BRENNAN Matthew
Jumbo Visma Fan TORRES ARIAS Pablo SEIXAS Paul WIDAR Jarno BEHRENS Niklas BISIAUX Léo
Kazistuta BEHRENS Niklas
Laurens147 BISIAUX Léo
Manafana NORDHAGEN Jørgen WIDAR Jarno BRENNAN Matthew
Nyssinator BISIAUX Léo
Onizuka999 BEHRENS Niklas
Qazaqstan BISIAUX Léo
RedHead Dane WIDAR Jarno BISIAUX Léo
Rufs SEIXAS Paul
Samu Cuenca SEIXAS Paul WIDAR Jarno BRENNAN Matthew
Vladimir BEHRENS Niklas BRENNAN Matthew BISIAUX Léo
 
Team Similarity
I'll let you explore the details on the appropriate tab on the spreadsheet (which I should be uploading fairly soon), but the highlights are that the maximum team overlap is 15, which is found 3 times
Cordi & Nakazar
Cordi & Squire
Nakazar & Ray10

Despite the near unanimity over some riders, Josedin and Jumbo Visma Fam share only 2 riders.

shares with Coll WisdomMax shares with another teamTeams with 14 or 15 sharesMinimum shares
Abbulf
14​
13​
0​
6​
AmisVelo
12​
13​
0​
5​
Anderis
14​
14​
1​
6​
Armchair_Cyclist
14​
14​
6​
5​
Berflamand
13​
13​
0​
6​
Blues_in_the_Bottle
10​
10​
0​
4​
Bminchow
15​
14​
7​
6​
Boris98
12​
13​
0​
3​
Cordi
16​
15​
7​
6​
DevilsElbow
14​
14​
5​
6​
DJSprtsch
14​
14​
1​
4​
DJW
13​
13​
0​
4​
EvansIsTheBest
13​
13​
0​
6​
Fivezzz
14​
14​
3​
7​
Hfgon1
14​
14​
1​
5​
Houdini
13​
14​
2​
6​
Ingsve
12​
13​
0​
6​
JonEzeitza
11​
13​
0​
3​
Josedin
10​
10​
0​
2​
JPettersen
11​
13​
0​
5​
JumboVismaFan
6​
8​
0​
2​
Kazistuta
12​
13​
0​
5​
Laarsland
12​
13​
0​
6​
Laurens147
9​
11​
0​
5​
Leadbelly
13​
14​
2​
5​
LosBrolin
13​
14​
2​
5​
Madrazo
15​
14​
5​
5​
Manafana
9​
10​
0​
3​
Nakazar
14​
15​
4​
5​
Nyssinator
12​
13​
0​
5​
Onizuka999
10​
10​
0​
4​
Pantani4Ever
15​
14​
2​
5​
Peixotini
12​
12​
0​
5​
Qazaqstan
11​
13​
0​
4​
Ray10
13​
15​
3​
4​
RedheadDane
12​
13​
0​
6​
Rufs
12​
13​
0​
5​
SafeBet
14​
14​
5​
5​
SamuCuenca
7​
8​
0​
3​
Skidmark
13​
14​
2​
6​
Squire
16​
15​
6​
6​
Vladimir
9​
11​
0​
4​
 
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Surprised Alvarez (11 picks) is so much more popular than Pericas (2 picks). Sure, Alvarez is more of a winner, but with Torres doing what he's doing, I thought people wanted the next Torres, too. I didn't pick any of them though, although in a year of less options I likely would have.

It's probably my most hastily put together CQ team ever. I did it in 30 minutes when I realised the deadline was approaching and I'd been procrastinating on it forever. So it's a bit boring and popular. I did briefly play with the thought of including Adrien Maire, who would have been a unique pick.

I see @JOSEDIN is keeping 'my' tradition alive by picking a final-year junior. I have Seixas in the 24-26 edition and Nordhagen in the 23-25 edition (so he better deliver this year!), but I don't have any this time.
 
Being way ahead in the popularity list I don't know if it's good. Because if your competitors have your same riders, they also get the points you earn. Last year I was 26th on the popularity list and I was 1st in the end of season scoring. For example, I found PARET-PEINTRE Valentin (425 points, having cost 135) and LÓPEZ Harold (208 for 103) very profitable, having been chosen by others 4 and 3 teams only. This year I'm almost last in popularity, in 40th place to be precise ;).
I have included Albert PHILIPSEN in the game “The 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Thread”. For this game I have only included in the team a 19 year old rider, Paul SEIXAS.
 
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Being way ahead in the popularity list I don't know if it's good. Because if your competitors have your same riders, they also get the points you earn. Last year I was 26th on the popularity list and I was 1st in the end of season scoring. For example, I found PARET-PEINTRE Valentin (425 points, having cost 135) and LÓPEZ Harold (208 for 103) very profitable, having been chosen by others 4 and 3 teams only. This year I'm almost last in popularity, in 40th place to be precise ;).
I have included Albert PHILIPSEN in the game “The 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Thread”. For this game I have only included in the team a 19 year old rider, Paul SEIXAS.
Imo ususally being high in popularity is a good indicator, while being low is the opposite.
You tend to bet on older riders than the median, so it is natural that after only the first year they will perform better than the younger ones. About those 2 riders you mentioned, I think Valentin is a good hit but I'm still skeptical about Harold.
 
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Phew. I've been away for a couple weeks so finally got caught up on all the comments. As usual, I am high on the popularity ranking. I think this is because I don't have the deep knowledge to know who the big names are that are coming up. So I am only aware of the more obvious ones. It looks like I'm putting my money on Alvarez and Donaldson (I'm already down on my Orins pick).

I did try my best to research as many names as possible. Ending up with 57 names. But i still somehow was unaware of the fairly popular picks below. I guess i will now go see what I can learn about them. I am always happy to learn.

SENTJENS Sente
KAJAMINI Florian Samuel
GRUEL Thibaud
 
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age concerns are probably why Hatherly is far more popular there than here.

Hatherly is starting strong in Arabia... For me the reason to not even consider him seriously, was not age but the recent experience with Koretzky, where he had qualities to do good on the road but didn't really commit with road racing and remained primaly focused on mtb, not even racing at all in the 3rd year of the game (years ago happened the same with Cink, who only raced the first year). So I decided that taking a biker for 3 years without knowing for sure how commited he will be to the road, is a big risk not worth taking.
 
Hatherly is starting strong in Arabia... For me the reason to not even consider him seriously, was not age but the recent experience with Koretzky, where he had qualities to do good on the road but didn't really commit with road racing and remained primaly focused on mtb, not even racing at all in the 3rd year of the game (years ago happened the same with Cink, who only raced the first year). So I decided that taking a biker for 3 years without knowing for sure how commited he will be to the road, is a big risk not worth taking.
Regarding Cink, road cycling caused some physical issues which forced him to stop. He was actually one of the few MTBers who looked decent on the road in recent times.

My reason for not picking Hatherly was quite similar to yours. None of Koretzky, Gaze, Colombo, Schurter have done well when exploring road cycling, so I just thought the current MTB level/characteristics wouldn't transfer that well. But it might turn out to have been a mistake. Hatherly looks great so far.
 
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Regarding Cink, road cycling caused some physical issues which forced him to stop. He was actually one of the few MTBers who looked decent on the road in recent times.

My reason for not picking Hatherly was quite similar to yours. None of Koretzky, Gaze, Colombo, Schurter have done well when exploring road cycling, so I just thought the current MTB level/characteristics wouldn't transfer that well. But it might turn out to have been a mistake. Hatherly looks great so far.

I see it different... I think the mtb level is quite high and it generally transfers well to the road. But I think most bikers don't have interest in doing anything in the road and those who give it a try usually do it only as a side job but without a serious focus on it. The mtb at the highest level is well paid, it isnt a minor discipline at all.

You can see it with the bikers that have succeded in the road after abandoning the mtb, where they were not amongst the best. I think the transfer from the road to xco is much more difficult due to skill issues and the xco being a more explossive sport. But when going from xco to the road, they just need to train more on the road (which they already do) doing more hours to build more resistance and get used to be racing more hours (and the same happens with cx).
 
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Year 1 Month 1 (to 2nd Feb)
And they're off.
RiderPts this monthTeamsMain results
HATHERLY Alan
60​
2 (Houdini and Skidmark)​
AlUla GC6th, with 2 stage podiums
PHILIPSEN Albert Withen
40​
41​
TDU 17th with 4th on a stage
BRENNAN Matthew
33​
36​
2nd on TDU stage
SEIXAS Paul
32​
38​
5th in Marseillaise
TORRES ARIAS Pablo
16​
41​
VAN DER MEULEN Max
15​
1(Nyssinator)​
QUICK Blake
12​
2 (Kazistuta, Samu Cuenca)​
PESCADOR CASTRO Diego
10​
16​
DE LA CALLE ARANGO Hugo
10​
1 (Samu Cuenca)​
MACKELLAR Alastair
10​
1 (Blues in the Bottle)​


Skidmark overcomes the self-imposed handicap of only having 17 riders to take the first leader's plaudits.
1​
Skidmark181
2​
Houdini152
3​
Peixotini144
4​
RedheadDane142
5​
Anderis141
5​
DJW141
5​
Laarsland141
5​
Nyssinator141
5​
Pantani4Ever141
10​
Kazistuta138
11​
Abbulf136
11​
Armchair_Cyclist136
11​
DJSprtsch136
11​
Hfgon1136
15​
Qazaqstan133
16​
Cordi131
16​
LosBrolin131
16​
Nakazar131
16​
Ray10131
20​
AmisVelo126
20​
Berflamand126
20​
Bminchow126
20​
Boris98126
20​
DevilsElbow126
20​
EvansIsTheBest126
20​
JPettersen126
20​
Laurens147126
20​
Leadbelly126
20​
Madrazo126
30​
Onizuka999124
31​
Blues_in_the_Bottle123
32​
Fivezzz121
32​
SafeBet121
32​
Squire121
35​
Ingsve103
35​
Josedin103
35​
Vladimir103
38​
Rufs96
39​
Manafana93
40​
SamuCuenca90
41​
JonEzeitza86
42​
JumboVismaFan83
CollectiveWisdom136
CollectiveIgnorance622
MainGame2025131
Goodin202454
PopularLastEdition61


I should be able to get the other 2 cycles of this updated tomorrow evening.