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Mental or random cycling statistics

Page 28 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I randomly decided to do a thing.
How many CQ points did the top-10 of the Junior ranking (on FirstCycling) since 2012 score the following year?
Blank spaces in the point columns means the rider was still a junior.

2012
Rider2013 CQ Score
Matej Mohoric126
Mads Pedersen
Piotr Havik1
Idar Arslanov10
Tiesj Benoot30
Søren Kragh Andersen2
Quentin Jauregui0
Kevin Deltombe0
Mathieu Van der Poel
Taylor Eisenhart8

2013
Rider2014 CQ Score
Mathieu Van der Poel168
Mads Pedersen15
Elie Gesbert0
Tao Geoghegan Hart37
Nathan Van Hooydonck0
David Per20
Jenthe Biermans :beercheers:0
Christoffer Lisson0
Stepan Kurianov
Mathias Rask0

2014
Rider2015 CQ Score
Lennard Kämna89
Magnus Bak Klaris4
Tom Wirtgen35
Jordi Warlop2
Rayane Bouhanni0
Erlend Jordbrekk Blikra
Will Barta5
Aleksandr Vlasov8
Edoardo Affini0
Wiebren Plovie0*
*Doesn't seem to have a CQ page, so presumably didn't score in 2015, or ever...

2015
This is retroactively the saddest Junior top-10 in the period...
Rider2016 CQ Score
Adrien Costa274
Bjorg Lambrecht89
Thomas Vereecken0
Brandon McNulty
Anthon Charmig
Marc Hirschi
Pascal Eenkhoorn13
Gino Mäder0
Felix Gall
Max Kanter51

2016
Rider2017 CQ Score
Jaka Primozic9
Marc Hirschi50
Brandon McNulty35
Jarno Mobach6
Ide Schelling0
Nils Eekhoff33
Tadej Pogacar135
Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev24
Andreas Kron25
Jakob Egholm0
Pogi wasn't even the best Slovenian Junior in 2016!

2017
Rider2018 CQ Score
Andreas Leknessund58
Niklas Märkl7
Tom Pidcock47
Søren Wærenskjold
Andrea Innocenti6
Michele Gazzoli0
Florian Kierner1
Julius Johansen117
Dan Hoole6
Tobias Bayer5

2018
Rider2019 CQ Score
Remco Evenepoel952
Ilan Van Wilder98
Karel Vacek1
Søren Wærenskjold23
Andrea Piccolo
Marius Mayrhofer2
Xandres Vervloesem0
Ludvig Fisher Aasheim0*
Alexandre Balmer0
Jacob Hindsgaul10
*No data for 2019

2019
Rider2020 CQ Score
Marco Brenner
Quinn Simmons205
Hidde Van Veenendaal0
Maurice Ballerstedt22
Andrea Piccolo5
Hugo Toumire0
Michel Hessmann12
Sam Watson33
Andrii Ponomar
Vegard Stokke0

2020
Rider2021 CQ Score
Tobias Lund13
Arnaud De Lie57
Marco Brenner31
Andrii Ponomar64
Max Poole
Kasper Andersen13
Matic Macek6
Ilia Shchegolkov0
Jordan Labrosse10
Viacheslav Ivanov6

2021
Rider2022 CQ Score
Per Strand Hagenes66
Romain Grégoire108
Cian Uijtdebroeks253
Alexander Hajek14
Trym Brennsæter0
Alec Segaert67
Maxence Place
Tibor Del Grosso10
Moritz Kärsten0
Stian Fredheim25

2022
Rider2023 CQ Score
Emil Herzog4
António Morgado132
Max Van der Meulen11
Menno Huising15
Vlad Van Mechelen13
Mathieu Kockelmann10
Thibaud Gruel48
Jørgen Nordhagen
Artem Shmidt15
Frank Aron Ragilo0

So, yeah... some riders who looked like they were destined for greatness, but faded into obscurity (or worse), and others who looked only "okay", but have definitely made up for it.
The extreme case for the latter is probably Vingegaard, though. He came in at a whopping 180th place in the 2014 ranking!
 
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And now, I'll compare birth dates - year and month - to see how much difference it makes.

2012
RiderYearMonth
Matej Mohoric1994October
Mads Pedersen1995December
Piotr Havik1994July
Idar Arslanov1994April
Tiesj Benoot1994March
Søren Kragh Andersen1994August
Quentin Jauregui1994April
Kevin Deltombe1994February
Mathieu Van der Poel1995January
Taylor Eisenhart1994June
Being by far the youngest - even about a year between him and VDP - doesn't seem to have slowed Mads P. down much...

2013
RiderYearMonth
Mathieu Van der Poel1995January
Mads Pedersen1995December
Elie Gesbert1995July
Tao Geoghegan Hart1995March
Nathan Van Hooydonck1995October
David Per1995February
Jenthe Biermans :beercheers:1995October
Christoffer Lisson1995November
Stepan Kurianov1996December
Mathias Rask1995October

2014
RiderYearMonth
Lennard Kämna1996September
Magnus Bak Klaris1996January
Tom Wirtgen1996March
Jordi Warlop1996June
Rayane Bouhanni1996February
Erlend Jordbrekk Blikra1997January
Will Barta1996January
Aleksandr Vlasov1996April
Edoardo Affini1996June
Wiebren Plovie1996July

2015
RiderYearMonth
Adrien Costa1997August
Bjorg Lambrecht (RIP)1997April
Thomas Vereecken1997July
Brandon McNulty1998April
Anthon Charmig1998March
Marc Hirschi1998August
Pascal Eenkhoorn1997February
Gino Mäder (RIP)1997January
Felix Gall1998February
Max Kanter1997October

2016
RiderYearMonth
Jaka Primozic1998December
Marc Hirschi1998August
Brandon McNulty1998April
Jarno Mobach1998August
Ide Schelling1998February
Nils Eekhoff1998January
Tadej Pogacar1998September
Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev (RIP)1998July
Andreas Kron1998June
Jakob Egholm1998April

2017
RiderYearMonth
Andreas Leknessund1999May
Niklas Märkl1999March
Tom Pidcock1999July
Søren Wærenskjold2000March
Andrea Innocenti1999October
Michele Gazzoli1999March
Florian Kierner1999May
Julius Johansen1999September
Dan Hoole1999February
Tobias Bayer1999November

2018
RiderYearMonth
Remco Evenepoel2000January
Ilan Van Wilder2000May
Karel Vacek2000September
Søren Wærenskjold2000March
Andrea Piccolo2001March
Marius Mayrhofer2000September
Xandres Vervloesem2000May
Ludvig Fisher Aasheim2000February
Alexandre Balmer2000May
Jacob Hindsgaul2000July
So, yeah... it's possible Evenepoel might have had a bit of an advantage being a January kid. But mostly it probably just boils down to the fact that he's that much better.

2019
RiderYearMonth
Marco Brenner2002August
Quinn Simmons2001May
Hidde Van Veenendaal2001February
Maurice Ballerstedt2001January
Andrea Piccolo2001March
Hugo Toumire2001October
Michel Hessmann2001April
Sam Watson2001September
Andrii Ponomar2002September
Vegard Stokke2001April

2020
RiderYearMonth
Tobias Lund2002August
Arnaud De Lie2002March
Marco Brenner2002August
Andrii Ponomar2002September
Max Poole2003March
Kasper Andersen2002July
Matic Macek2002October
Ilia Shchegolkov2002June
Jordan Labrosse2002September
Viacheslav Ivanov2002August

2021
RiderYearMonth
Per Strand Hagenes2003July
Romain Grégoire2003January
Cian Uijtdebroeks2003February
Alexander Hajek2003July
Trym Brennsæter2003May
Alec Segaert2003January
Maxence Place2004January
Tibor Del Grosso2003July
Moritz Kärsten2003April
Stian Fredheim2003March

2022
RiderYearMonth
Emil Herzog2004October
António Morgado2004January
Max Van der Meulen2004January
Menno Huising2004April
Vlad Van Mechelen2004June
Mathieu Kockelmann2004January
Thibaud Gruel2004May
Jørgen Nordhagen2005January
Artem Shmidt2004January
Frank Aron Ragilo2004March

So, yeah... all that work just to conclude that a few months probably doesn't make that much of a difference.
Make sense, really. The older you get, the less significant age gaps becomes.
Of course, in pro sports eventually it will become significant the other way around, and the years will start slowing you down a little... unless your name is Alejandro Valverde.
 
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And now, I'll compare birth dates - year and month - to see how much difference it makes.

RiderYearMonth
Matej Mohoric1994October
Mads Pedersen1995December
Piotr Havik1994July
Idar Arslanov1994April
Tiesj Benoot1994March
Søren Kragh Andersen1994August
Quentin Jauregui1994April
Kevin Deltombe1994February
Mathieu Van der Poel1995January
Taylor Eisenhart1994June
Being by far the youngest - even about a year between him and VDP - doesn't seem to have slowed Mads P. down much...

RiderYearMonth
Mathieu Van der Poel1995January
Mads Pedersen1995December
Elie Gesbert1995July
Tao Geoghegan Hart1995March
Nathan Van Hooydonck1995October
David Per1995February
Jenthe Biermans :beercheers:1995October
Christoffer Lisson1995November
Stepan Kurianov1996December
Mathias Rask1995October

RiderYearMonth
Lennard Kämna1996September
Magnus Bak Klaris1996January
Tom Wirtgen1996March
Jordi Warlop1996June
Rayane Bouhanni1996February
Erlend Blikra1997January
Will Barta1996January
Aleksandr Vlasov1996April
Edoardo Affini1996June
Wiebren Plovie1996July

RiderYearMonth
Adrien Costa1997August
Bjorg Lambrecht (RIP)1997April
Thomas Vereecken1997July
Brandon McNulty1998April
Anthon Charmig1998March
Marc Hirschi1998August
Pascal Eenkhoorn1997February
Gino Mäder (RIP)1997January
Felix Gall1998February
Max Kanter1997October

RiderYearMonth
Jaka Primozic1998December
Marc Hirschi1998August
Brandon McNulty1998April
Jarno Mobach1998August
Ide Schelling1998February
Nils Eekhoff1998January
Tadej Pogacar1998September
Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev (RIP)1998July
Andreas Kron1998June
Jakob Egholm1998April

RiderYearMonth
Andreas Leknessund1999May
Niklas Märkl1999March
Tom Pidcock1999July
Søren Wærenskjold2000March
Andrea Innocenti1999October
Michele Gazzoli1999March
Florian Kierner1999May
Julius Johansen1999September
Dan Hoole1999February
Tobias Bayer1999November

RiderYearMonth
Remco Evenepoel2000January
Ilan Van Wilder2000May
Karel Vacek2000September
Søren Wærenskjold2000March
Andrea Piccolo2001March
Marius Mayrhofer2000September
Xandres Vervloesem2000May
Ludvig Fisher Aasheim2000February
Alexandre Balmer2000May
Jacob Hindsgaul2000July
So, yeah... it's possible Evenepoel might have had a bit of an advantage being a January kid. But mostly it probably just boils down to the fact that he's that much better.

RiderYearMonth
Marco Brenner2002August
Quinn Simmons2001May
Hidde Van Veenendaal2001February
Maurice Ballerstedt2001January
Andrea Piccolo2001March
Hugo Toumire2001October
Michel Hessmann2001April
Sam Watson2001September
Andrii Ponomar2002September
Vegard Stokke2001April

RiderYearMonth
Tobias Lund2002August
Arnaud De Lie2002March
Marco Brenner2002August
Andrii Ponomar2002September
Max Poole2003March
Kasper Andersen2002July
Matic Macek2002October
Ilia Shchegolkov2002June
Jordan Labrosse2002September
Viacheslav Ivanov2002August

RiderYearMonth
Per Strand Hagenes2003July
Romain Grégoire2003January
Cian Uijtdebroeks2003February
Alexander Hajek2003July
Trym Brennsæter2003May
Alec Segaert2003January
Maxence Place2004January
Tibor Del Grosso2003July
Moritz Kärsten2003April
Stian Fredheim2003March

RiderYearMonth
Emil Herzog2004October
António Morgado2004January
Max Van der Meulen2004January
Menno Huising2004April
Vlad Van Mechelen2004June
Mathieu Kockelmann2004January
Thibaud Gruel2004May
Jørgen Nordhagen2005January
Artem Shmidt2004January
Frank Aron Ragilo2004March

So, yeah... all that work just to conclude that a few months probably doesn't make that much of a difference.
Make sense, really. The older you get, the less significant age gaps becomes.
Of course, in pro sports eventually it will become significant the other way around, and the years will start slowing you down a little... unless your name is Alejandro Valverde.

What's the idea to pack everything behind spoiler tags?
 
And then we have to click ten times to see the brilliant points you're trying to make? How is that less annoying than a long post?

Okay... I'll remove the spoiler tags. If more people complain about having to scroll to get past it, I'll re-insert them...

My main idea was that maybe some people are only interested in certain years, maybe some are not interested in any of it.

And now it's just clear how the columns aren't aligned... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
 
And now, I'll compare birth dates - year and month - to see how much difference it makes.



So, yeah... all that work just to conclude that a few months probably doesn't make that much of a difference.
I can't find stats at the moment, but I have come across data in the past that September and October birthdays (ie, those who were the oldest in their school cohort) outrank other months in figures for England international footballers, with more than double the expected representation if I remember correctly.
Oldest and biggest among their peers in early stages of school leads to captaincy and frequent selection in school teams, and greater confidence, leads to being noticed by scouts leads to professional pathways at an earlier stage leads to higher level pro career. (It would be interesting to see whether the lop-sided birthday trend applies even more to positions on the pitch where size is an advantage: centre-backs or target man strikers perhaps)
And the reverse effect on summer births: more likely to be smaller when they are at an early stage of education, uncompetitive in physical games, lose interest, not making school team and no interest in joining local weekend teams, lower representation.

And maybe the pattern is not so prevalent among cyclists because it is less team structured and competitive from an early age? There's a grant in that...

Edit:
Did find a couple of articles: age bias is not as strong as I thought I had remembered it being (or maybe not as strong as several years ago when I first read about it)
 
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I can't find stats at the moment, but I have come across data in the past that September and October birthdays (ie, those who were the oldest in their school cohort) outrank other months in figures for England international footballers, with more than double the expected representation if I remember correctly.

When do kids start school in England?
In Denmark, it's the year they turn 6, which means that kids born September-December are younger than their classmates born earlier in the year, being only 5 when they start school.

But, back to cycling

And maybe the pattern is not so prevalent among cyclists because it is less team structured and competitive from an early age? There's a grant in that...

There's also the fact that cycling is a sport where being smaller is not always a disadvantage.
A sport that involves physically tackling each other would obviously put the larger kids at an advantage, whereas a sport that (sometimes) involves riding your bike quickly up a hill puts the smaller kids at an advantage.

And even then it seems like the majority of the younger riders doing well are the bigger classics type riders.
 
I can't find stats at the moment, but I have come across data in the past that September and October birthdays (ie, those who were the oldest in their school cohort) outrank other months in figures for England international footballers, with more than double the expected representation if I remember correctly.
Oldest and biggest among their peers in early stages of school leads to captaincy and frequent selection in school teams, and greater confidence, leads to being noticed by scouts leads to professional pathways at an earlier stage leads to higher level pro career. (It would be interesting to see whether the lop-sided birthday trend applies even more to positions on the pitch where size is an advantage: centre-backs or target man strikers perhaps)
And the reverse effect on summer births: more likely to be smaller when they are at an early stage of education, uncompetitive in physical games, lose interest, not making school team and no interest in joining local weekend teams, lower representation.

And maybe the pattern is not so prevalent among cyclists because it is less team structured and competitive from an early age? There's a grant in that...

Edit:
Did find a couple of articles: age bias is not as strong as I thought I had remembered it being (or maybe not as strong as several years ago when I first read about it)
Malcolm Gladwell also discusses this very quickly in his book Outliers. Worth the read.

 
When do kids start school in England?
Some variation, but typically in the September before their 5th birthday. Some children start in January or occasionally April if their birthday is between then and the start of the next school year.

I have never looked for it myself, but teaching colleagues observe an imbalance in autumn and summer birthdays can be seen in ability groups, especially in Maths, well into mid-teens.

As a school governor, I was involved in a situation where "twins" had been born either side of midnight, and the midnight in question was the end of 31st August. You would not believe how difficult it was to get the local authority to agree to putting them into the same school year, and the older one was told that they would not be eligible for age specific school sports teams in any county recognised competitions ( by virtue of being over-age by about 20 minutes)
 
I can't find stats at the moment, but I have come across data in the past that September and October birthdays (ie, those who were the oldest in their school cohort) outrank other months in figures for England international footballers, with more than double the expected representation if I remember correctly.
Oldest and biggest among their peers in early stages of school leads to captaincy and frequent selection in school teams, and greater confidence, leads to being noticed by scouts leads to professional pathways at an earlier stage leads to higher level pro career. (It would be interesting to see whether the lop-sided birthday trend applies even more to positions on the pitch where size is an advantage: centre-backs or target man strikers perhaps)
And the reverse effect on summer births: more likely to be smaller when they are at an early stage of education, uncompetitive in physical games, lose interest, not making school team and no interest in joining local weekend teams, lower representation.

And maybe the pattern is not so prevalent among cyclists because it is less team structured and competitive from an early age? There's a grant in that...

Edit:
Did find a couple of articles: age bias is not as strong as I thought I had remembered it being (or maybe not as strong as several years ago when I first read about it)
Nobel laureates are more likely to be born at the end of the year.
 
Some variation, but typically in the September before their 5th birthday. Some children start in January or occasionally April if their birthday is between then and the start of the next school year.

In Denmark, everybody starts school together, in August. Though, a kid born late in the year can get special permission to start a year later.
And sometimes kindergarten kids get to spend time at the school they'll be starting at during the spring.

I have never looked for it myself, but teaching colleagues observe an imbalance in autumn and summer birthdays can be seen in ability groups, especially in Maths, well into mid-teens.

What are the statistics for April births and Math abilities? Asking for a friend...
 
In Denmark, everybody starts school together, in August.
Not any longer.
 
And maybe the pattern is not so prevalent among cyclists because it is less team structured and competitive from an early age? There's a grant in that...
I would assume this is true, and probably also the fact that your road cycling ability in your late teens or early adulthood is not anywhere near as dependent on the skills you developed as a kid, compared to football. As long as you have the genes and a solid background from any kind of physical activity, you'll be quite fine in cycling. I'd assume that the pattern is prevalent in most social sports, i.e. proper team sports.
 
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So, this weekend is all about Paris-Roubaix, with the Elite Women racing Saturday, and the full set of Men - Junior, U23, and Elite - racing Sunday.
And it seems it'll be a family affair, with multiple sets of siblings racing across the various races.

Askey, various
Ben will ride the U23 Men's race
Lewis will ride the Elite Men's race
(Both are riding for the FDJ organisation)

Bäckstedt, Elite Women
Elynor will ride for Trek
Zoe will ride for Canyon
(And Magnus will be sitting in the car behind Zoe.)

Kristoff/Ørn-Kristoff
Felix will ride the Junior Men's race
Alexander will ride the Elite Men's race

Milan, various
Matteo will ride the U23 Men's race
Jonathan will ride the Elite Men's race
(both are riding for the Trek organisation)

Norsgaard, various
Emma will ride the Elite Women's race
Mathias will ride the Elite Men's race
(Both are riding for the Movistar organisation. The only pair who'll have much of a chance for cheering for each other)

Pichon, U23 Men
Both will ride for Hauts-de-France

Pidcock, Various
Joe will ride the U23 Men's race
Tom will ride the Elite Men's race

Rex, various
Tim will ride the U23 Men's Race
Laurenz Will ride the Elite Men's race
(Both are riding for the Wanty organisation)

Ruiz Pérez, Elite Women
Both will ride for Movistar

Schweinberger, Elite Women
Christina will ride for Fenix
Kathrin will ride for WNT

Tarling, various
Finlay will ride the Junior Men's race
Joshua Will ride Elite Men's race

Van Dijke, Elite Men
Both will ride for Visma


There are also two married couples, in both those cases the wife will ride the Elite Women's race, while the husband will ride the Elite Men's Race:

Cecchini/Viviani
Norsgaard Bjerg
 
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