2026 Tour de France CQ game

[Armchair Cyclist]

Stage 16 ITT

Yellow points

Well that's going to scupper the game for 11 teams

Rider	pts	Teams
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan	30	23
MARTINEZ Lenny	30	2
JEGAT Jordan	20	1
PIDCOCK Thomas	20	1
VAN WILDER Ilan	20	6
SEIXAS Paul	15	18
CATTANEO Mattia	13	1
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	12	2
CRAPS Lars	-20	5
LIPOWITZ Florian	-292	11

Daily swings

For the most part, modest gains or huge losses: Avoriaz manages modest loses and Craps is his 4 th DNF

Rank		Pts
1	Shakes	58
2	Squire	52
3	Madrazo	48
4	Search	46
5	Leadbelly	45
5	Laarsland	45
7	Onizuka999	43
8	ZigZagWanderer	42
9	Bminchow	39
10	EvansIsTheBest	38
11	Josedin	37
12	YellowKnight	34
12	Mikks	34
12	LosBrolin	34
12	Del1962	34
16	PostmanHat	33
17	MagliaNera	32
17	IlMaestro	32
17	Dogboy	32
20	Hayneplane	30
21	Ingsve	29
22	Triley36	28
22	Kazistuta	28
24	JumboVismaFan	26
25	PeteTurbo2	23
26	QueenStagiaire	22
27	DevilsElbow	18
27	BsAsCycling	18
29	Vladimir	16
30	SamuCuenca	15
31	RedheadDane	13
32	Lecko	6
33	Avoriaz	-5
34	AmisVelo	-259
35	TotalPackage	-261
36	Nightowl	-262
36	DJW	-262
36	BicycleBoy	-262
39	Armchair_Cyclist	-269
40	BluesInTheBottle	-277
41	SlowClimber	-283
42	Rufs	-288
43	Schachus	-292
44	DJSprtsch	-294
	Collective_Wisdom	28
	Default	23
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	124
	Torito_y_amigos	0

Standings

I reported this morning that 6 of the top 12 have Lipowitz: not any more. Amis Velo, who was 3rd, has dropped to 16th, and similar plummeting from the othe =r ipowitz teams.

Rank		Pts	+/-
1	Madrazo	1470	(-)
2	Leadbelly	1456	(-)
3	Hayneplane	1276	(+1)
4	Search	1274	(+1)
5	LosBrolin	1245	(+2)
6	DevilsElbow	1234	(-)
7	Laarsland	1223	(+3)
8	Kazistuta	1182	(+4)
9	Triley36	1165	(+5)
10	QueenStagiaire	1164	(+3)
11	Ingsve	1146	(+5)
12	Del1962	1142	(+6)
13	Shakes	1101	(+8)
14	Mikks	1099	(+5)
15	PostmanHat	1076	(+5)
16	AmisVelo	1071	(-13)
17	IlMaestro	1041	(+5)
18	Bminchow	1001	(+8)
19	Josedin	1000	(+6)
20	Dogboy	960	(+9)
21	EvansIsTheBest	943	(+11)
22	Avoriaz	932	(+6)
23	BicycleBoy	931	(-15)
24	Nightowl	928	(-15)
25	JumboVismaFan	916	(+8)
26	TotalPackage	912	(-15)
27	Squire	882	(+9)
28	MagliaNera	875	(+6)
29	Armchair_Cyclist	856	(-14)
30	ZigZagWanderer	853	(+8)
31	SamuCuenca	852	(+4)
32	DJW	847	(-15)
33	BsAsCycling	831	(+4)
34	Vladimir	790	(+5)
35	YellowKnight	776	(+5)
36	DJSprtsch	713	(-13)
37	Schachus	708	(-13)
38	Onizuka999	696	(+4)
39	BluesInTheBottle	683	(-12)
40	RedheadDane	680	(+1)
41	Lecko	640	(+2)
42	SlowClimber	622	(-11)
43	Rufs	621	(-13)
44	PeteTurbo2	511	(-)
	Collective_Wisdom	1279
	Default	427
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	1509
	Torito_y_amigos	896

That table of DNF's by net cost I posted a few hours ago is very much out of date now.

Spreadsheet

 

[RedheadDane]

Hold on, I actually got Yellow Points, and rose - very slightly - in the ranking?
I changed my mind. I totally care about the yellow points.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Hold on, I actually got Yellow Points, and rose - very slightly - in the ranking?
I changed my mind. I totally care about the yellow points.

Almost everyone in the top 50 gained places by moving up one place with Lipowitz's crash. Including your Johannessen and Foss.

 

[RedheadDane]

Almost everyone in the top 50 gained places by moving up one place with Lipowitz's crash. Including your Johannessen and Foss.

YAY!
GO TOBIAS(es)!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Stage 17
Bunch sprinters without a bunch sprint

Green points

Without Merlier, fewer points being taken in such a stage

Rider	pts	Teams
PHILIPSEN Jasper	80	0
SCHMID Mauro	50	0
KOOIJ Olav	35	15
ASKEY Lewis	25	0
PLUIMERS Rick	15	1
RUSSO Clément	10	0
ARTZ Huub	5	1
PEDERSEN Mads	3	0
MATTHEWS Michael	2	3
GATE Aaron	1	0

Daily gains
Matthews and Kooij for Hayneplane; Pluimers and Matthews for Samu Cuenca

Rank		Pts
1	Hayneplane	37
2=	AmisVelo, BicycleBoy, DJSprtsch, Ingsve, Josedin, Kazistuta, Laarsland, Leadbelly, Madrazo, Nightowl, PostmanHat, Shakes, TotalPackage, Triley36	35
16	SamuCuenca	17
17	Onizuka999	5
18	SlowClimber	2
19=	others	0
	Collective_Wisdom	35

Standings

cc

Rank		Pts	+/-
1	Kazistuta	707	(-)
2	PostmanHat	656	(-)
3	Hayneplane	650	(-)
4	Triley36	617	(-)
5	DJSprtsch	600	(-)
6	Shakes	572	(+1)
7	Del1962	541	(-1)
8	Madrazo	510	(+2)
9	Leadbelly	510	(+2)
10	QueenStagiaire	508	(-2)

Collective Wisdom is on 647c

Yellow points

Very little other than stage points

Rider	pts	Teams
KOOIJ Olav	35	15
PLUIMERS Rick	15	1
MARTIN GUYONNET Guillaume	6	8
ARTZ Huub	5	1
BALDERSTONE ROUMENS Abel	4	5
GEE-WEST Derek	4	3
BAUDIN Alex	3	1
MATTHEWS Michael	2	3
TEJADA CANACUE Harold Alfonso	1	2
CATTANEO Mattia	-1	1
HIGUITA GARCIA Sergio Andres	-1	1
VACEK Mathias	-1	1
ARENSMAN Thymen	-2	2
FOSS Tobias Svendsen	-2	5
GROSSSCHARTNER Felix	-2	1
PARET PEINTRE Valentin	-2	7
PARRA CUERDA Jose Felix	-2	4
VAN EETVELT Lennert	-2	21
VERONA QUINTANILLA Carlos	-2	4
VAN GILS Maxim	-6	9

Daily swing

Rank		Pts
1	BicycleBoy	39
1	Laarsland	39
3	Kazistuta	37
4	Nightowl	35
4	Shakes	35
6	AmisVelo	33
6	DJSprtsch	33
6	Madrazo	33
6	TotalPackage	33
6	Triley36	33
11	Ingsve	31
11	Josedin	31
11	Leadbelly	31
14	Hayneplane	29
14	PostmanHat	29
16	SamuCuenca	17
17	IlMaestro	8
18	MagliaNera	7
19	QueenStagiaire	6
20	BluesInTheBottle	4
20	BsAsCycling	4
20	EvansIsTheBest	4
20	JumboVismaFan	4
24	Vladimir	2
25	Avoriaz	0
25	LosBrolin	0
25	Rufs	0
25	Squire	0
25	ZigZagWanderer	0
30	Onizuka999	-1
30	RedheadDane	-1
32	Lecko	-2
32	PeteTurbo2	-2
32	Search	-2
32	SlowClimber	-2
36	Schachus	-3
37	DevilsElbow	-4
37	DJW	-4
37	Dogboy	-4
37	YellowKnight	-4
41	Armchair_Cyclist	-8
42	Del1962	-9
43	Bminchow	-10
43	Mikks	-10
	Collective_Wisdom	33
	Default	3
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	-2
	Torito_y_amigos	-2

Standings

Maybe we should have given more consideration to picking Evenepoel: did anyone really consider it?

Rank		Pts	+/-
1	Madrazo	1503	(-)
2	Leadbelly	1487	(-)
3	Hayneplane	1305	(-)
4	Search	1272	(-)
5	Laarsland	1262	(+2)
6	LosBrolin	1245	(-1)
7	DevilsElbow	1230	(-1)
8	Kazistuta	1219	(-)
9	Triley36	1198	(-)
10	Ingsve	1177	(+1)
11	QueenStagiaire	1170	(-1)
12	Shakes	1136	(+1)
13	Del1962	1133	(-1)
14	PostmanHat	1105	(+1)
15	AmisVelo	1104	(+1)
16	Mikks	1089	(-2)
17	IlMaestro	1049	(-)
18	Josedin	1031	(+1)
19	Bminchow	991	(-1)
20	BicycleBoy	970	(+3)
21	Nightowl	963	(+3)
22	Dogboy	956	(-2)
23	EvansIsTheBest	947	(-2)
24	TotalPackage	945	(+2)
25	Avoriaz	932	(-3)
26	JumboVismaFan	920	(-1)
27	Squire	882	(-)
28	MagliaNera	882	(-)
29	SamuCuenca	869	(+2)
30	ZigZagWanderer	853	(-)
31	Armchair_Cyclist	848	(-2)
32	DJW	843	(-)
33	BsAsCycling	835	(-)
34	Vladimir	792	(-)
35	YellowKnight	772	(-)
36	DJSprtsch	746	(-)
37	Schachus	705	(-)
38	Onizuka999	695	(-)
39	BluesInTheBottle	687	(-)
40	RedheadDane	679	(-)
41	Lecko	638	(-)
42	Rufs	621	(+1)
43	SlowClimber	620	(-1)
44	PeteTurbo2	509	(-)
	Collective_Wisdom	1312
	Default	429
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	1507
	Torito_y_amigos	894

 

[RedheadDane]

So, I got a point from Tejada, and lost two points from Foss?
Talk about "one step forwards, two steps back."

 

[Peteturbo2]

i honestly thought Kiwat had a shout at winning yesterday.
Hold on, no i didnt. Nice to see him at the front though.
Kwiat has done so much i will be sorry to see him go, but its time.

 

[bminchow]

Ok. Maintaining myself in the top half of the standings. Today may be my last day to gain points with Arensman and Carapaz. Would have been nice for Rubio to try something today as well.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Stage 18

He did it, after several attempts

Green points

Rider	pts	Teams
CARAPAZ MONTENEGRO Richard Antonio	80	23
SCHMID Mauro	50	0
JORGENSON Matteo	35	1
PARET PEINTRE Valentin	25	7
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	15	2
GARCIA PIERNA Raul	10	0
CASTRILLO ZAPATER Pablo	5	3
MARTINEZ Lenny	3	2
EVENEPOEL Remco	2	0
PIDCOCK Thomas	1	1

Daily gains
So who had someone else as well as Carapaz?

Rank		Pts
1	Lecko (Carapaz, Jorgenson and Paret-Peintre)	140
2	YellowKnight (Carapaz, Paret-Peintre and Martinez)	108
3=	Squire, Mikks, Ingsve (Carapaz & Paret-Peintre)	105
6	JumboVismaFan (Carapaz and Castrillo)	85
7=	The rest of the Carapaz teams	80
24=	Dogboy, EvansIsTheBest	25
26	Onizuka999	18
27	RedheadDane	15
28=	Armchair_Cyclist, Shakes	5
30	PeteTurbo2	1
31=	Others	0
	Collective_Wisdom	80
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	82

Standings
I thought Kazistuta was set to stay top here, but it's not just about sprinters.

Rank		Pts	+/-
1	Hayneplane	730	(+2)
2	Kazistuta	707	(-1)
3	Triley36	697	(+1)
4	PostmanHat	656	(-2)
5	DJSprtsch	600	(-)
6	Madrazo	590	(+2)
7	Leadbelly	590	(+3)
8	QueenStagiaire	588	(+2)
9	Shakes	577	(-3)
10	DevilsElbow	563	(+1)
	Collective_Wisdom	727

Yellow points

Carapaz, and others in the break, moved up a couple of GC places, as well as getting stage points.

Rider	pts	Teams
CARAPAZ MONTENEGRO Richard Antonio	110	23
JORGENSON Matteo	43	1
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland	32	2
PARET PEINTRE Valentin	30	7
VAN GILS Maxim	8	9
CASTRILLO ZAPATER Pablo	7	3
HIGUITA GARCIA Sergio Andres	5	1
QUINN Sean	-10	7
VAN WILDER Ilan	-10	6
VAN EETVELT Lennert	-18	21
PARRA CUERDA Jose Felix	-26	4

Daily swings

Rank		Pts
1	Lecko	183
2	YellowKnight	145
3	Mikks	142
4	Rufs	122
5	JumboVismaFan	121
6	LosBrolin	112
7	BicycleBoy	110
7	Nightowl	110
7	SamuCuenca	110
10	IlMaestro	108
10	Ingsve	108
12	QueenStagiaire	104
13	Bminchow	98
13	Hayneplane	98
15	Leadbelly	94
15	Schachus	94
17	Triley36	92
18	DJW	90
18	Squire	90
20	Madrazo	82
20	Search	82
22	AmisVelo	80
23	DevilsElbow	76
24	Onizuka999	43
25	RedheadDane	32
26	EvansIsTheBest	30
27	Dogboy	24
28	PeteTurbo2	4
28	PostmanHat	4
30	BluesInTheBottle	0
31	Shakes	-3
32	Armchair_Cyclist	-5
33	Avoriaz	-6
34	MagliaNera	-7
35	Laarsland	-14
36	Vladimir	-17
37	DJSprtsch	-18
38	Kazistuta	-20
39	Del1962	-21
40	BsAsCycling	-22
41	SlowClimber	-24
42	ZigZagWanderer	-28
43	TotalPackage	-30
44	Josedin	-36
	Collective_Wisdom	86
	Default	-3
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	85
	Torito_y_amigos	-32

Standings

Among the top 10 this morning, only Laarsland and Kazistuta do not have Carapaz, which accounts for their drops down the table.

The Remco team takes over the nominal lead, while among real teams, the margin at the top is now just 4 points. More about that to follow.

Rank		Pts	+/-
1	Madrazo	1585	(-)
2	Leadbelly	1581	(-)
3	Hayneplane	1403	(-)
4	LosBrolin	1357	(+2)
5	Search	1354	(-1)
6	DevilsElbow	1306	(+1)
7	Triley36	1290	(+2)
8	Ingsve	1285	(+2)
9	QueenStagiaire	1274	(+2)
10	Laarsland	1248	(-5)
11	Mikks	1231	(+5)
12	Kazistuta	1199	(-4)
13	AmisVelo	1184	(+2)
14	IlMaestro	1157	(+3)
15	Shakes	1133	(-3)
16	Del1962	1112	(-3)
17	PostmanHat	1109	(-3)
18	Bminchow	1089	(+1)
19	BicycleBoy	1080	(+1)
20	Nightowl	1073	(+1)
21	JumboVismaFan	1041	(+5)
22	Josedin	995	(-4)
23	Dogboy	980	(-1)
24	SamuCuenca	979	(+5)
25	EvansIsTheBest	977	(-2)
26	Squire	972	(+1)
27	DJW	933	(+5)
28	Avoriaz	926	(-3)
29	YellowKnight	917	(+6)
30	TotalPackage	915	(-6)
31	MagliaNera	875	(-3)
32	Armchair_Cyclist	843	(-1)
33	ZigZagWanderer	825	(-3)
34	Lecko	821	(+7)
35	BsAsCycling	813	(-2)
36	Schachus	799	(+1)
37	Vladimir	775	(-3)
38	Rufs	743	(+4)
39	Onizuka999	738	(-1)
40	DJSprtsch	728	(-4)
41	RedheadDane	711	(-1)
42	BluesInTheBottle	687	(-3)
43	SlowClimber	596	(-)
44	PeteTurbo2	513	(-)
	Collective_Wisdom	1398
	Default	426
	Remco_en_zijn_vrienden	1592
	Torito_y_amigos	862

Spreadsheet

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So the battle at the top between @MADRAZO and @Leadbelly is essentially the battle between Sean Quinn (for Madrazo) and Carlos Verona (for Leadbelly). (They have five riders in common: the other differences in the teams are Walker and Stewart for Madrazo, and Allegaert and Dhondt for Leadbelly, are so far outside the top 50 that they aren't going to affect the scores)

Quinn already had an advantage of 2:14 from the Barcelona team time trial, 10:29 from stage 2, and 1:44 on stage 3 (14:27 in total), then on Stage 4 was in the breakaway that put Traeen into Yellow, and raised him to 2nd. At that point, the time difference between them was 27:26 (the placings difference between them is sort of irrelevant: it affects the size of the gap between those two managers, but not the order of their placings).

Another 33 seconds on stage 5 for Quinn, then Verona pulled back 1:04 of stage 6 (26:55) only to lose 1:03 of stage 7 (27:58), and 35 seconds more in another sprint (St 8) in which the Spaniard was uninterested in staying with the bunch (28:33).

On stage 9, Quinn was involved in the ultimately unsuccessful chase of the break, Verona wasn't, and another 1:45 added to the gap between them, now 30:18. And then another 1:27 (31:45) on the road to Le Lioran before a stalemate in stages 11 and 12, with bunches of 100+ on the same time each day, and also in stage 13, with both in the fairly casual GC bunch.

Had he been looking at the timegaps, Madrazo would have been feeling fairly confident at that point, but Verona's fightback started with 8:55 on the Markstein Stage (22:50) and 10:31 to Plateau de Solaison, meaning a 12:19 gap on the rest day. Quinn had the better of the ITT, adding 2:19 to his advantage (14:38).


Both reached Voiron together yesterday, again in the peloton with the GC contenders, but today there was an 11:40 swing back to Verona.

So Quinn/Madrazo is 2:58 ahead of Verona/Leadbelly. The riders are 21st and 23rd on GC (Quinn Simmons being between them), so that is only 4 CQ points. But the unwitting battle between two riders 178 seconds apart is what this game pivots on, barring a DNF.

And people say there is no tension left in the Tour.

 

[MADRAZO]

It has been fun to lead a long time, but despite my lead I think my only chance now (with Quinn burning himself up for Carapaz in all the mountainstages) is to somehow get a stage placing in stage 21 if Verona does not have some bad luck at least

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

It has been fun to lead a long time, but despite my lead I think my only chance now (with Quinn burning himself up for Carapaz in all the mountainstages) is to somehow get a stage placing in stage 21 if Verona does not have some bad luck at least

You think Verona is going to do something special today or tomorrow?
Quinn looks like he will at least start the Alpe with an advantage over Verona today

 

[Schachus]

it was unlucky for you that Quinn did not wear yellow for a stage. Those 20 points could be worth the decisive difference

 

[MADRAZO]

You think Verona is going to do something special today or tomorrow?
Quinn looks like he will at least start the Alpe with an advantage over Verona today

I think he will be completely empty when he reaches the buttom, but I can ofcourse hope the gap to the peloton will be high, but I fear he will lose 20 minutes today alone. Verona will just be a solid helper losing less both days I guess

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Verona no longer alongside Ayuso and Skjelmose, so little support to offer them, or reason to ride hard.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Quinn drops anchor hard

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So now it's several minutes of refreshing the results page until Quinn/Verona appear.

 

[Schachus]

From my tesm, the only one I‘m happy with is carapaz and everybody has him^^
But at least I feel like I might have gotten an average placement, if Lipo wouldn‘t have crashed

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Quinn in at 11:09

No Verona 4 minutes later...

 

[QueenStagiaire]

So now it's several minutes of refreshing the results page until Quinn/Verona appear.

Quinn in at 11 minutes, he might have delivered a deciding blow

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

16:40 for Verona, so 5:31 on the day, 8:29 cushion for Madrazo

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Time for Jordan Jegat to implement operation 'Oscar Pereiro' to get my team out of the gutter.

I'm starting to think it might not happen.

 

[Leadbelly]

Looking at tomorrow's profile I think it's still up for grabs. A lot will depend on if Quinn gets in the break again and how Ayuso gets on.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Looking at tomorrow's profile I think it's still up for grabs. A lot will depend on if Quinn gets in the break again and how Ayuso gets on.

Fingers crossed!

If he took 11:40 on stage 18, then I guess 8:29 is not impossible. Are you sending messages to Lidl management?

 

[MADRAZO]

Looking at tomorrow's profile I think it's still up for grabs. A lot will depend on if Quinn gets in the break again and how Ayuso gets on.

Fingers crossed!

Surprisingly good day for me in that Quinn-Verona battle today, but its defiently not over yet.

If Verona overtakes Quinn tomorrow by a few minutes I think on the other hand there also is a little chance that he could take that time back on stage 21 where Verona might have to do some early work and wont like the Montmatre climb.