2025 Women's CQ Manager game

[Armchair Cyclist]

The last time we had a rider picked twice by the same team in the men's version, skidmark simply deleted said rider without offering a chance to replace. So I think it would be more in keeping with precedent to replace with PFP rather than offer free choice.

DkOne has PMed me: he (I'm assuming he, sorry if not) is most kicking himself over not having Van Der Breggen, but admits that she was never in his thinking, but that Ferrand-Prevot had been, so feels comfortable with that swap. I'll update the team list and do other spreadsheet tweaks hopefully tomorrow.

 

[Dk one]

DkOne has PMed me: he (I'm assuming he, sorry if not) is most kicking himself over not having Van Der Breggen, but admits that she was never in his thinking, but that Ferrand-Prevot had been, so feels comfortable with that swap. I'll update the team list and do other spreadsheet tweaks hopefully tomorrow.

She

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

She

And now I know...

 

[RedheadDane]

More than twice as many in TDU as compared to last year:

Greve
Koerner
Ottestad

Last year my sole rider Down Under started out great, won a stage, then... started the Spring Season by breaking her butt!

No broken butts this year, please...

 

[DJW]

Just Eglantine Rayer at TDU for me, then Cedrine Kerbaol and Fariba Hashimi at Trofeo Felanitx

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Nobody picked Shari Bossuyt this time around, but would she have been available for free, @Armchair Cyclist?

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Nobody picked Shari Bossuyt this time around, but would she have been available for free, @Armchair Cyclist?

I guess so: I take a different approach than Skidmark in that regard. I consider a suspension to be just one among many reasons why a rider might have scored poorly (or not at all) in the previous year. Not for me to pass judgement on whether someone deserves to be picked, nor is it necessarily a personal compliment to the rider to pick them.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I guess so: I take a different approach than Skidmark in that regard. I consider a suspension to be just one among many reasons why a rider might have scored poorly (or not at all) in the previous year. Not for me to pass judgement on whether someone deserves to be picked, nor is it necessarily a personal compliment to the rider to pick them.

I didn't really consider her, but I also had it logged in my brain as if she wouldn't be able to ride before next season anyway. If a team does give her a chance mid-season, she might outscore some riders that have been picked.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

With PFP and Anna VDB both available for free, it may well have been simply that people overlooked her due to already having higher profile free options.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

With PFP and Anna VDB both available for free, it may well have been simply that people overlooked her due to already having higher profile free options.

Sure, she wasn't the most obvious 0 pointer, and unlike last year where you could check the ranking and see that she had scored worse in '23 than the year before (she was also still officially attached to a team at that point), you would have had to have her name stuck somewhere in your head to have explored the idea of including her.

 

[postmanhat]

Must admit, didn't watch much women's cycling in 2024 for various reasons, and cobbled together a team on deadline day, while drinking beer. Consequently, it's mostly a mix of riders included or longlisted from 2023, and completely forgot about Van Der Breggen's return. Will have to hope Mona Mitterwalner has an incredible debut season to compensate. Also no idea, if there was one, why Fisher-Black is on the team, but at least she's in The TDU along with Izzy Sharp.

Good luck everyone.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Surprisingly few changes from the provisional start list for TDU, so I have Manly, Bertizzolo, Wollaston, Chabbey, Van der Duin and Dygert racing. They could win all the stage or none at all. As long as they avoid getting injured, cause they'll also have pretty good chances of scoring points in the three Australian one-day races.

If anyone else is interested in submitting a team, I'm still accepting new entries for my Emerging Female Riders Game for the next 5 hours or so.

Samu's 2025 Emerging Female Riders CQ Game (The Muriel Furrer Trophy)

I'm happy to officially launch the second edition of my emerging female riders game. Like in the first edition, the game will only last for one season. The primary reason for that is that I don't want to be running multiple games simultaneously. Rules The average team size for women's...

forum.cyclingnews.com

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Team similarity

Finally got around to doing this, and copied Shakes's precedent in the men's game in doing both spending overlap and number of shared riders intersection.

	Highest spend similarity	spend similarity partner	Highest number overlap	number overlap partners
AmisVelo	3268​	Slow Climber	10​	Los Brolin, Rufs, Slow Climber
SlowClimber	3268​	Amis Velo	10​	Amis Velo
JonEzeitza	3180​	Libertin S	9​	Samu Cuena
LibertineSeguros	3180​	Jon Ezeitza	8​	Rufs, Skidmark
LosBrolin	3144​	Amis Velo	10​	Amis Velo
Manafana	3143​	Rufs	8​	Armchair, DJSprtsch, Los Brolin, Madrazo
Rufs	3143​	Manafana	10​	Amis Velo, Skidmark
Bminchow	2931​	Postmanhat	12​	Madrazo
Postmanhat	2931​	Bminchow	10​	Bminchow
Madrazo	2736​	Bminchow	12​	Bminchow
DJW	2709​	Los Brolin	9​	Los Brolin
ArmchairCyclist	2604​	Devil's Elbow	11​	Devil's Elbow
DevilsElbow	2604​	Armchair Cyclist	11​	Armchair Cyclist
Ruvu	2410​	Madrazo	10​	Madrazo
EvansIsTheBest	2292​	Manafana	5​	Amis Velo, DJW, Rufs, Slow Climber, Triley
Leadbelly	2111​	Postmanhat	6​	Bminchow, Devil's Elbow, Los Brolin, Postmanhat
Skidmark	2100​	Madrazo	10​	Rufs, Skidmark
SamuCuenca	1990​	Madrazo	10​	Madrazo
Hfgon1	1944​	TRiley	8​	Muddy Waters
TRiley36	1944​	Hfgon	9​	Bminchow
MuddyWaters	1929​	Hfgon	8​	Hfgon, Ruvu
Nevs	1658​	Bminchow	6​	Amis Velo, Bminchow, DJW, Los Brolin
ArchieBoy	1629​	Hfgon	5​	Hfgon
DJSprtsch	1612​	Madrazo	8​	Manafana
DkOne	1442​	Madrazo	8​	Amis Vevo, Armchair, Madrazo
Josedin	914​	DJW	4​	Leadbelly
RedheadDane	623​	Bminchow	3​	Amis Velo, Nevs

Major buys

The budget averages out at 250 points per rider: the riders we picked that cost more than twice that:

Most expensive	Others >500	teams
Vollering	Kerbaol	DJW
Vollering		Amis Velo, Evans, Jon E, Libertine S, Los Brolin, Manafana, Rufs, Slow Climber
Wiebes		Skidmark
Niewiadoma	Balsamo	Dk One
Kerbaol	Markus, Van Rooijen	DJSprtsch
Kerbaol	Souren	Josedin
Realini	Van Androoij, Georgi	Leadbelly
Realini	Van Androoij, Bradbury	Nevs
Realini	Georgi	Postmanhat
Realini		Bminchow, Samu
Kool	Bradbury	Muddy Waters
Van Androoij	Georgi	Armchair
Georgi	Rooijakers	Devil's Elbow
Bradbury	Souren	Hfgon
Bradbury		Archie, Triley

Three teams didn't breach the 500pt mark
Madrazo and Ruvu both have Bunel as their most expensive pick (as does the Collective Wisdom team, see below), while Redhead Dane has nobody more expensive than Ahosalo.


Collective Wisdom

I was unsure when I did the teams reveal what I would lodge as the Collective Wisdom team: I have decided not to do any averaging out, so it is the most popular 12 riders (all in double figures); Van Empel but not Vollering of those on 9 teams; and with three places to fill and 4 riders as the next most popular, I omitted the cheapest of them (Gery)
So that makes the team that we can compare our efforts with as (in price order):

BUNEL Marion	482​
LIPPERT Liane	468​
PIETERSE Puck	454​
PERSICO Silvia	438​
LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup	311​
REUSSER Marlen	247​
BÄCKSTEDT Zoe	198​
BAUERNFEIND Ricarda	189​
FERGUSON Cat	143​
VAN EMPEL Fem	109​
HOLMGREN Isabella	96​
CAVALLI Marta	39​
VAN DER DUIN Maike	34​
JASTRAB Megan	31​
FERRAND-PREVOT Pauline	0​
VAN DER BREGGEN Anna	0​
	3239​

That's quite a lot under budget.


Here's the spreadsheet: I haven't added the handful of points already earned (see post #21 above): they will go on along with points from the TDU which starts tonight in a few days.

 

[bminchow]

Surprisingly few changes from the provisional start list for TDU, so I have Manly, Bertizzolo, Wollaston, Chabbey, Van der Duin and Dygert racing. They could win all the stage or none at all. As long as they avoid getting injured, cause they'll also have pretty good chances of scoring points in the three Australian one-day races.

If anyone else is interested in submitting a team, I'm still accepting new entries for my Emerging Female Riders Game for the next 5 hours or so.

Samu's 2025 Emerging Female Riders CQ Game (The Muriel Furrer Trophy)

I'm happy to officially launch the second edition of my emerging female riders game. Like in the first edition, the game will only last for one season. The primary reason for that is that I don't want to be running multiple games simultaneously. Rules The average team size for women's...

forum.cyclingnews.com

Wow you have 6 riders going? I only have Fisher Black. Oh well. I guess i will just have to come back in later races.

 

[RedheadDane]

And I just got my first points.
Incidentally, stage 2 of the TDU was also when I got my first points last year.
Hopefully, that'll be the only thing this year has in common with last year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

No one gave Rüegg a go this year, but with 181 points scored already, she could end up as a high scorer once again. That said, Gigante also scored 200 points in January last year, and then only double that during the rest of the season, but Rüegg has the benefit of also being able to sprint.

Like last year, and the inaugural Emerging Female Riders Game, no one has picked Smulders either, which might also be a mistake.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Update 1:
Australian nationals and the Tour Down Under

As Samu has commented, no picks of Ruegg or Smulders: nor of Ottestad (whatever RhD might have intended doing), Spratt or Wlodarczyk, so Chabbey is the highest scoring relevant rider.

CHABBEY Elise	71​	1​	Samu Cuenca
GHEKIERE Justine	63​	2​	Archie, Rufs
BRADBURY Neve	56​	5​	Archie, Hfgon, Muddy Waters, Nevs, TRiley
FISHER-BLACK Niamh	31​	5​	Bminchow, Leadbelly, Madrazo, Postmanhat, Ruvu
DYGERT Chloe	30​	4​	Devil's Elbow, Muddy Waters, Ruvu,Samu Cuenca
CIABOCCO Eleonora	19​	1​
WOLLASTON Ally	19​	4​
WILSON-HAFFENDEN Felicity	18​	2​
MANLY Alexandra	15​	1​
ROSEMAN-GANNON Ruby	13​	1​
KRAAK Amber	9​	2​
NELSON Josie	7​	1​
VAN DER DUIN Maike	6​	7​
COPPONI Clara	5​	1​
AVOINE Alison	4​	1​
BERTIZZOLO Sofia	4​	6​
CADZOW Kim	4​	2​
GREVE Alberte	4​	1​

Felicity Wilson-Haffenden is the only rider that has been picked that is already in profit (DJSprtsch, Nevs)

So we have an early leader: Archie Boy

1​	ArchieBoy	158​	Ghekeire, Bradbury, Ciabocco, Kraak, Nelson, Avoine
2​	SamuCuenca	145​	Chabby, Dygert, Woolaston, Manly, Van der Duin, Bertazzolo
3​	MuddyWaters	92​	Bradbury, Dygert, Van der Duin
4​	Ruvu	86​	Fisher-Black, Dygert, Woolaston, Van der Duin
5​	Nevs	74​	Bradbury, Wilson-Haffenden
6​	Rufs	63​
7​	Hfgon1	60​
7​	TRiley36	60​
9​	Madrazo	37​
10​	Bminchow	31​
10​	Leadbelly	31​
10​	Postmanhat	31​
13​	DevilsElbow	30​
14​	DJSprtsch	28​
15​	Josedin	19​
15​	SlowClimber	19​
17​	DkOne	13​
18​	JonEzeitza	10​
18​	Manafana	10​
20​	EvansIsTheBest	9​
20​	LosBrolin	9​
22​	LibertineSeguros	4​
22​	RedheadDane	4​
24​	AmisVelo	0​
24​	ArmchairCyclist	0​
24​	DJW	0​
24​	Skidmark	0​
	CollectiveWisdom	6​

Don't be expecting an update within a few hours of the race every time: every 3 weeks or so is more realistic.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

More than twice as many in TDU as compared to last year:

Greve
Koerner
Ottestad

Last year my sole rider Down Under started out great, won a stage, then... started the Spring Season by breaking her butt!

No broken butts this year, please...

Ottestad isn't in your team...

And I just got my first points.
Incidentally, stage 2 of the TDU was also when I got my first points last year.

therefore you didn't get your first points until Greve got some for finishing the TDU

(You would be in third place if you had picked her)

 

[RedheadDane]

nor of Ottestad

I was certain I had Ottestad... I thought I'd only dropped the two low points Norwegians...

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I was certain I had Ottestad... I thought I'd only dropped the two low points Norwegians...

It's not like you couldn't have afforded to include her

 

[RedheadDane]

It's not like you couldn't have afforded to include her

It's possible I might have completely forgotten to even put her in my pre-selection...

Or maybe I mistyped her points from last year; 31 instead of 318, accidentally counting her among the lower points Norwegians.
And, no. Using Excel - or a similar program - would not have helped; I'd still have had to insert the correct number...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's possible I might have completely forgotten to even put her in my pre-selection...

Or maybe I mistyped her points from last year; 31 instead of 318, accidentally counting her among the lower points Norwegians.
And, no. Using Excel - or a similar program - would not have helped; I'd still have had to insert the correct number...

You could also just have picked the same team as last year (minus Olausson, perhaps). Then you wouldn't have needed to do all the tricky work.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

IAnd, no. Using Excel - or a similar program - would not have helped; I'd still have had to insert the correct number...

Allow me to introduce my colleagues CTRL-C and CNRL-V.

 

[RedheadDane]

Allow me to introduce you to my colleagues CTRL-C and CNRL-V.

I didn't have anywhere to copy-paste from... I'm talking when I was just looking at her profile on CQ.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I didn't have anywhere to copy-paste from... I'm talking when I was just looking at her profile on CQ.

The CQ scores list, perhaps... ?