2026 Spring Classics CQ Game

[Armchair Cyclist]

Did I actually manage to win green? 😳

Turns out; picking rider with birthdays was a decent choice.

So what was the principle for your team? What feature do the birthdays share?

 

[RedheadDane]

So what was the principle for your team? What feature do the birthdays share?

12 riders.
12 months.
One rider for every month.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

12 riders.
12 months.
One rider for every month.

I seem to recall someone else once did something similar. I should really receive 12.99 of your green points for copyright infringement.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

But despite that small issue, a congratulation to RhD is in order. Once again thank you to AC for hosting this and the many other games he's responsible for. The trick is to do as many as possible cause then you're bound to strike gold once in a while. Great achievements were also accomplished by the other players on the final podium.

Although I didn't hold onto the lead, I still scored more green points than last year. However, I accumulated over 100 points lessfewer points in the main competition, so there's still room for progress. I'm very grateful that Romain Grégoire delivered the goods, and that only 18-Valve also spotted his potential for this game. I didn't really believe he would actually end up riding all the races he had listed on PCS, and I was already doubting myself when he performed below expectations in the very first one. But he came back strong from that, and while he didn't knock it out of the park every single time, the fact that he survived 12 one-day races is a big feat in itself. I mean Thomas Gloag only managed to make it safely through one in comparison.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Congrats to Armchair for the win and thanks to Armchair for hosting the game. Spent way too much time deciding between Van der Poel and Grégoire/Seixas before the game especially since I ended up with the wrong choice.

If anybody had decided to go for a fully French team, Grégoire/Seixas/Cosnefroy/Laporte/Baudin would have beaten the winning score with 347 points of budget and 7 roster spots left over. Hindsight is a beautiful thing.

 

[RedheadDane]

Spent way too much time deciding between Van der Poel and Grégoire/Seixas before the game especially since I ended up with the wrong choice.

Are you talking the living Gregoire?

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So it turns out that although Ingsve finished 3rd, he had made the best pick of most expensive rider, as shown in the
Best Possible Team

	cost	score	popularity
SEIXAS Paul	661​	652​	3​
LAPORTE Christophe	273​	528​	22​
STUYVEN Jasper	389​	399​	6​
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion	304​	318​	0​
COSNEFROY Benoit	268​	284​	10​
MOZZATO Luca	243​	273​	3​
BAUDIN Alex	255​	258​	1​
VERSTRYNGE Emiel	83​	221​	2​
VAN DIJKE Tim	112​	206​	2​
DE GENDT Aime	156​	201​	1​
HAGENES Per Strand	106​	167​	5​
VANSEVENANT Mauri	113​	166​	3​
	2963​	3673​	58​

Only one of them unpicked, and only one not making a profit (in this limited series vs the whole of the previous year). That team would have been fairly low in the popularity rankings.

Winning score is 62.8 % of this, maybe a bit below what is typical.

Best possible with Van Der Poel would have been 2989 (omit Seixas, Stuyven, Izagirre, Cosnefroy, Baudin; replace with MvdP, Gualdi, Kron, Dewulf, Erzen), and with Van Aert 3382 (omit Seixas, Izagirre, Baudin, include WvA, Dewulf and Kron)


Unlike last year, we would not have had Collective Ignorance as the highest scorer. But it would have been close:

GROENEWEGEN Dylan	510​	320​
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion	304​	318​
TRENTIN Matteo	497​	272​
ZIMMERMANN Georg	314​	233​
SEGAERT Alec	361​	225​
TURGIS Anthony	345​	204​
HUENS Axel	148​	155​
FOLDAGER Anders	203​	155​
DEWULF Stan	74​	113​
ERZEN Zak	70​	108​
DONALDSON Robert	88​	106​
DEKKER David	83​	56​
	2997​	2265​

That group would have had 5 riders in profit, which is matched by the top three teams, and also Devil's Elbow. Leadbelly, DJSprtsch, HiHope and RedheadDane each have 4.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

If anybody had decided to go for a fully French team, Grégoire/Seixas/Cosnefroy/Laporte/Baudin would have beaten the winning score with 347 points of budget and 7 roster spots left over. Hindsight is a beautiful thing.

I don't think we have any French forum members that regularly play the games, but if one of them had gone full patriotic:

GREGOIRE Romain	1196​	658​
SEIXAS Paul	661​	652​
LAPORTE Christophe	273​	528​
COSNEFROY Benoit	268​	284​
BAUDIN Alex	255​	258​
HUENS Axel	148​	155​
ZINGLE Axel	155​	67​
FAURE PROST Alexy	15​	15​
RENARD HAQUIN Henri-François	22​	15​
MARCEROU Nicola	5​	10​
	0​	0​
	0​	0​
	2998​	2642​

The last two spots could have been any freebies (or riders costing 1), but no Frenchman meeting that restriction scored, so it may as well follow EitB's method of selecting and be Hinault and Garin.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

High scoring riders (200pts+)

	points	cost	picks
POGACAR Tadej	1230​	5080​	0​
VAN DER POEL Mathieu	760​	1609​	8​
VAN AERT Wout	716​	1130​	3​
GREGOIRE Romain	658​	1196​	2​
SEIXAS Paul	652​	661​	3​
PHILIPSEN Jasper	561​	1269​	1​
LAPORTE Christophe	528​	273​	22​
EVENEPOEL Remco	510​	1929​	0​
PIDCOCK Thomas	490​	1881​	0​
PEDERSEN Mads	412​	2232​	0​
STUYVEN Jasper	399​	389​	6​
LUND ANDRESEN Tobias	374​	783​	1​
VERMEERSCH Florian	327​	632​	1​
GROENEWEGEN Dylan	320​	510​	0​
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion	318​	304​	0​
SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias	305​	1091​	0​
COSNEFROY Benoit	284​	268​	10​
MOZZATO Luca	273​	243​	3​
TRENTIN Matteo	272​	497​	0​
VERMEERSCH Gianni	269​	293​	2​
SCHMID Mauro	267​	761​	1​
TULETT Ben	266​	712​	0​
BILBAO LOPEZ DE ARMENTIA Pello	261​	745​	0​
BAUDIN Alex	258​	255​	1​
SCARONI Christian	257​	1374​	0​
ZIMMERMANN Georg	233​	314​	0​
SEGAERT Alec	225​	361​	0​
VERSTRYNGE Emiel	221​	83​	2​
BITTNER Pavel	214​	722​	0​
GANNA Filippo	214​	1030​	0​
MEEUS Jordi	208​	776​	0​
VAN DIJKE Tim	206​	112​	2​
ARANBURU DEVA Alexander	204​	764​	0​
TURGIS Anthony	204​	345​	0​
DE GENDT Aime	201​	156​	1​

Riders in profit (only those scoring >10 pts)

	points	cost	profit	%age return	teams
LAPORTE Christophe	528​	273​	255​	193.4​	22​
VERSTRYNGE Emiel	221​	83​	138​	266.3​	2​
VAN DIJKE Tim	206​	112​	94​	183.9​	2​
HAGENES Per Strand	167​	106​	61​	157.5​	5​
KRON Andreas Lorentz	108​	50​	58​	216.0​	15​
VANSEVENANT Mauri	166​	113​	53​	146.9​	3​
DE GENDT Aime	201​	156​	45​	128.8​	1​
DEWULF Stan	113​	74​	39​	152.7​	0​
ERZEN Zak	108​	70​	38​	154.3​	0​
GUALDI Simone	138​	100​	38​	138.0​	1​
MOZZATO Luca	273​	243​	30​	112.3​	3​
MERIS Sergio	35​	6​	29​	583.3​	0​
DONALDSON Robert	106​	88​	18​	120.5​	0​
COSNEFROY Benoit	284​	268​	16​	106.0​	10​
THONNON Senne	15​	0​	15​	#DIV/0!​	0​
VAN GESTEL Dries	45​	30​	15​	150.0​	1​
IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion	318​	304​	14​	104.6​	0​
VAN TRICHT Floris	25​	11​	14​	227.3​	1​
STUYVEN Jasper	399​	389​	10​	102.6​	6​
POLLEFLIET Gianluca	29​	20​	9​	145.0​	0​
ZAMPERINI Edoardo	20​	12​	8​	166.7​	0​
HUENS Axel	155​	148​	7​	104.7​	0​
REX Tim	15​	9​	6​	166.7​	2​
POLITT Nils	142​	137​	5​	103.6​	4​
BAUDIN Alex	258​	255​	3​	101.2​	1​
VALGREN HUNDAHL Michael	118​	115​	3​	102.6​	2​
WALSCHEID Maximilian	85​	83​	2​	102.4​	1​

and this game often lends itself to the Ooops, shouldn't have done that list. I'm including anyone of more than average cost, who did get picked, and who did no better than the best free pick (Senne Thonnon).

	picks	points won	price
MATTHEWS Michael	2​	0​	870​
VAN WILDER Ilan	1​	5​	619​
BARRE Louis	1​	5​	553​
KÜNG Stefan	2​	0​	433​
NYS Thibau	8​	0​	423​
EEKHOFF Nils	1​	0​	337​
KIELICH Timo	1​	20​	308​
BLACKMORE Joseph	2​	0​	277​

But such an error is not necessarily catastrophic: the winning team had Nys.

Only DJW, Del1926 and Peixotini managed to pick 12 riders that all scored: twelve of us only had one absentee from the scorecard, two teams had 5 (but one of them knew that would be the case from the start).


The winning combination
As teams came in, I became more worried that no-one else went for De Gendt and only one other for Verstrynge, but they turned out to be the heroes of my team. Of the big scorers, I thought Seixas would be mainly doing stage races, and that Van der Poel was too expensive, so I went with Van Aert almost by default. Lamperti did very little after the opening weekend, and his score was down on last year in these races, and I was lucky to be able to absorb the absence of Nys from startlists.
And the obvious but important picks (Laporte, Cosnefroy, Kron) I included for a change.

	Price	Points	Popularity
VAN AERT Wout	1130​	716​	3​
NYS Thibau	423​	0​	8​
DE GENDT Aime	156​	201​	1​
COSNEFROY Benoit	268​	284​	10​
LAMPERTI Luke	235​	133​	2​
VERSTRYNGE Emiel	83​	221​	2​
ZINGLE Axel	155​	67​	11​
LAPORTE Christophe	273​	528​	22​
MARTINEZ POVEDA Daniel Felipe	121​	10​	3​
SENECHAL Florian	53​	25​	3​
KRON Andreas Lorentz	50​	108​	15​
KRIJNSEN Jelte	45​	14​	4​
	2992​	2307​	84​

If there is any further interesting data in the spreadsheet do please share it.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

In the context of spending over a third of my budget on riders who finished 0 races between them due to injury (Küng, Nys, Widar), finishing in the top half is a pretty good showing - my other 9 riders scored at almost 90% of their cost.

Congratulations to Armchair and also RhD, it's always cool to see people get that moment in the sun they have gone without for a long time.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

In the context of spending over a third of my budget on riders who finished 0 races between them due to injury (Küng, Nys, Widar), finishing in the top half is a pretty good showing - my other 9 riders scored at almost 90% of their cost.

Congratulations to Armchair and also RhD, it's always cool to see people get that moment in the sun they have gone without for a long time.

I have been exposed briefly to ultraviolet before: I won the TdF game in 2017. But I guess that is getting into long time territory.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

In last year's thread I mentioned the idea of launching an Autumn Classics game due to my annoyance over me having once again failed to pick Matthew Brennan for a CQ based game. I then forgot all about it until it was too late, and then I didn't really mind not having to do the work anyway.

But this time I will be exploring the format a bit more extensively, so if you would be open to the idea of taking part in such a game, feel free to like this post. A like does in no way mean that you'll be forced to enter, nor does it guarantee that I will actually end up running the game, but the odds should in theory be better the more positive responses I receive.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

From what I see in your Emerging Women's Game, I presume you have quite adequate Excel skills (and mine are all trial and error: I am far too old to have been taught this stuff at school), but if you want to use the rather eccentric setup I used for this game, PM me and I will talk you though my processes on it.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

From what I see in your Emerging Women's Game, I presume you have quite adequate Excel skills (and mine are all trial and error: I am far too old to have been taught this stuff at school), but if you want to use the rather eccentric setup I used for this game, PM me and I will talk you though my processes on it.

I certainly won't claim to be an expert, but I have found my way around copying other people's stuff, so I think I would be able to take my downloaded version of your spreadsheet and dumb it down, like I have previously attempted with Skidmark's.

 

[del1962]

Thanks for running the game and congratz on your win AC

 

[DJW]

"That had the air of a victory confirming win from DJW yesterday."

"DJW should be able to watch the remaining races with some comfort."

Well, that's the last time I take your word for it!
But seriously, congrats on a brilliant pick in Verstrynge and very strong squad.
Perhaps if Jasper Philipsen had the right pedals it would have been closer in the end.....but I suspect you still would have won.

And thanks as always for running the game!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

"That had the air of a victory confirming win from DJW yesterday."

"DJW should be able to watch the remaining races with some comfort."

Well, that's the last time I take your word for it!
But seriously, congrats on a brilliant pick in Verstrynge and very strong squad.
Perhaps if Jasper Philipsen had the right pedals it would have been closer in the end.....but I suspect you still would have won.

And thanks as always for running the game!

It's the same level of prediction ability as I usually show in these games, but demonstrated in a different way.


I honestly thought that the post-Roubaix section of the game was going to be a quiet fading away of point scoring with no consequence, and thought that Verstrynge had missed out on the races where I thought he might justify his pick.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

It's the same level of prediction ability as I usually show in these games, but demonstrated in a different way.


I honestly thought that the post-Roubaix section of the game was going to be a quiet fading away of point scoring with no consequence, and thought that Verstrynge had missed out on the races where I thought he might justify his pick.

To be fair Verstrynge's best result on the road before this season was Liège last year. It does make some kind of sense that his best result on the road this year would be Liège. What makes perhaps less sense is how good that result actually was.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

To be fair Verstrynge's best result on the road before this season was Liège last year. It does make some kind of sense that his best result on the road this year would be Liège. What makes perhaps less sense is how good that result actually was.

You overestimate the depth of my research. "He's cheap, I've heard of him, he does CX so might cope with Spring type races"