2026 Spring Classics CQ Game

[Armchair Cyclist]

The daffodils in my garden are beginning to bud, so I guess that means it's time for the Spring Classics Game.

My definition for the purpose of the game is the races from Omloop to 1st May that are rated 1.WT or 1.Pro (If the Morbihan/TroBro combination were just a couple of days after Frankfurt I might include them, but I'm not extending the game for a week and a half and running into the start of the Giro for them)

Your team is to consist of 12 riders (maximum), with a majority cost of 3000 points based on the end of 2025 points (the same prices as the Main season long game). But the trick is to get a combination of sprinters, cobble riders, and hilly route riders in the scope of a twelve man squad.

So the only change in the races included are some name alterations. 24 events to pick a team for:

date	race	points class
28.02​	Omloop Nieuwsblad	3​
28.02​	Faun-Ardèche Classic	4​
1.03​	Faun Drome Classic	4​
1.03​	Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne	4​
4.03​	Trofeo Laigueglia	4​
7.03​	Strade Bianche	2​
18.03​	Danilith Nokere Koerse	4​
18.03​	Milano - Torino	4​
19.03​	Grand Prix de Denain - Porte du Hainaut	4​
20.03​	Bredene Koksijde Classic	4​
21.03​	Milano-Sanremo	1​
25.03​	Ronde Van Brugge - Tour of Bruges	3​
27.03​	E3 Saxo Classic	2​
29.03​	In Flanders Fields - From Middelkerke to Wevelgem	2​
1.04​	Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre	3​
4.04​	Gran Premio Miguel Indurain	4​
5.04​	Ronde van Vlaanderen	1​
8.04​	Scheldeprijs	4​
12.04​	Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France	1​
17.04​	De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne	4​
19.04​	Amstel Gold Race	2​
22.04​	La Flèche Wallonne	2​
26.04​	Liège-Bastogne-Liège	1​
1.05​	Eschborn-Frankfurt	3​

There is a small increase in the points available at the level that CQ calls WT3 compared to last year:

Scale	1st	2nd	3rd	10th	20th
1 (Monuments)	280	170	145	62	24
2	230	132	112	46	16
3	190	114	96	40	11
4 (ProTour )	130	78	66	24	6

5 points for all finishers within time limit in the WT events (scales 1-3), no points below 30th in the PT events (scale 4)


This is our 14th year (the game was originally launched by @Hugo Koblet ) , and we have 13 winners (Vladimir is a sort-of two time winner, having won in 2016, and was the winner at the end of the very short spring of 2020, but by the time most of the events, and a few others, had taken place in the autumn of that atypical year, Bminchow came out on top). This year, it could be you.

But only if you send your team list to me by PM, before the Omloop starts in the European morning of 28th February.

Good luck to all.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

In a week's time, the break of the day in the Omloop will be trying to establish itself, and I will be preparing the team lists to post them. So that's your deadline.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

My first draft comes in at 7909 points. Pain.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

My first draft comes in at 7909 points. Pain.

But those of us that have seen your teams in the last couple of years know that you'll keep the most expensive two of that dozen, then fill the team out with also-rans from the 1908 Paris-Brest.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

But those of us that have seen your teams in the last couple of years know that you'll keep the most expensive two of that dozen, then fill the team out with also-rans from the 1908 Paris-Brest.

Hey it worked in 2023, it could work again. Unfortunately picking the two most expensive riders would leave me just shy of the budget for a former Cofidis rider and leaving him off seems like a terrible idea.

 

[RedheadDane]

then fill the team out with also-rans from the 1908 Paris-Brest.

Hey it worked in 2023, it could work again.

You had riders from the 1908 Paris-Brest on your team in 2023? Is that even allowed? Are we allowed to pick riders who are no longer living?

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

You had riders from the 1908 Paris-Brest on your team in 2023? Is that even allowed? Are we allowed to pick riders who are no longer living?

Not quite. In 2023 I spent all my budget on Van der Poel/Pidcock/Alaphilippe and then picked meme riders (I'm still undefeated in CQ games when picking Boaro) to fill out the last slots. In recent years I've decided to lean into the meme aspect even more since those random fillers never bring in any points any way so I've had guys that I just could never afford in CQ games during their careers like Valverde or Gilbert. Have never gone for someone dead before but would like clarification on that point from @Armchair Cyclist for, uhm, reasons.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Have never gone for someone dead before but would like clarification on that point from @Armchair Cyclist for, uhm, reasons.

In this game (not the GT games, where all picks must actually be riding) it is allowable to leave a spot empty, but perhaps marginally better to pick freebies even if they are unlikely to score, so by extension it is permissible to pick anyone who might not score, and technically that does not exclude the deceased.

But a zero cost rider (there are 34 of them in the main game, so it shouldn't be too hard to find some) will certainly not do worse, and might even do better.