The 2012 CQ Ranking Manager Game

[mc_mountain]

Just missed on getting back to back top 10's

I wonder what combined 2011 and 2012 looks like. I see ws in top 20 so i think he could lead that.

Skidmark's domination of 2012 means he leads the aggregate of the two years - the very very unofficial standings according to my calculations (i might not actually have the last spreadsheet for 2011 so the figures might not be spot on) -

1. skidmark 29988
2. mc_mountain 29119*
3. Armchair cyclist 28969*
4. Waterloo Sunrise 28454
5. The Hitch 28247
6. ingsve 27855
7. EvansIsTheBest 27753
8. MADRAZO 27687
9. Luke Schmid 27514
10. theyoungest 27232

*top 10 both years.

@EvansIsTheBest your pick of Bouhanni is indeed an excellent one,
the best unique picks (using CqManager's stats page) are
Wiggins - adamski101
Tiernan-Locke - The Cobra
Purito - flyers
Julian Kern - the_fool_on_the_hill

although Im sure you make a case for some others too.

Best unpicked rider Lars Peter Nordhaug...

 

[Netserk]

Just managed a top-10 with great finishing sprint! F*cking only 10 points!!

 

[The Hitch]

Skidmark's domination of 2012 means he leads the aggregate of the two years - the very very unofficial standings according to my calculations (i might not actually have the last spreadsheet for 2011 so the figures might not be spot on) -

1. skidmark 29988
2. mc_mountain 29119*
3. Armchair cyclist 28969*
4. Waterloo Sunrise 28454
5. The Hitch 28247
6. ingsve 27855
7. EvansIsTheBest 27753
8. MADRAZO 27687
9. Luke Schmid 27514
10. theyoungest 27232

*top 10 both years.

@EvansIsTheBest your pick of Bouhanni is indeed an excellent one,
the best unique picks (using CqManager's stats page) are
Wiggins - adamski101
Tiernan-Locke - The Cobra
Purito - flyers
Julian Kern - the_fool_on_the_hill

although Im sure you make a case for some others too.

Best unpicked rider Lars Peter Nordhaug...

thank you very much.

As the years go on im looking for this ranking to gain some prestige too

 

[LaFlorecita]

WOW Ludvigsson woke up... almost makes me want to take him again next season.


...not.

Fermie he's into profit now because of a third place in Tour of Hainan

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/rider.asp?riderid=16694

 

[Squire]

WOW Ludvigsson woke up... almost makes me want to take him again next season.


...not.

Doh! I had him nailed on for my 2013 team, then he goes away and gets 100 pts in the last serious race of the season.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Today is actually the last day of the season as the Tour of Taihu Lake finishes today.

I assume that the next update is up on sunday or monday.

 

[skidmark]

Well, it's done. Season over. The game that I've been interested in, perhaps you could even say 'obsessed about' at some points, more than any other sports fantasy game I've played, has been good to me this year.

I love cycling, I love analyzing numbers, I love a game that's both so simple (pick some riders and wait for the year to play out) and so complex (finding the right mix of breakthroughs, neo-pros, underperforming riders). I appreciate that it's made me, in the last 2 years, take an already very strong interest in cycling and turn it into a rich appreciation of the smaller races, the U23 races, the way that teams set their lineups, the way that riders use races in their seasonal schedule, etc, etc.

I have ambivalence towards the way it makes me cheer for riders just because I have them on my team (Andy Schleck's gonna be a hilarious one for everyone next year - can everyone just pick him so it nullifies it and we can all cheer against him?) But whatever. I like the discussion here when a rider on someone's team does well, when someone picks a breakthrough rider that no one else has, when someone has a successful rider that they were also a huge fan of before this game came along.

Last year, I spent alot of time picking my team. Really thought through it, thought I had a good chance. Then, boom, first week of February, I lose Ricco (serves me right, really). One of the most expensive picks. Pelizotti's ban is confirmed, one other pick down the drain. Boonen has an even worse year, and Kreuziger underperforms. Most of my most expensive picks have my team listing, about to sink. A decent August-through-October gets me limping into about 20th.

This year, I spend weeks and weeks picking my team after taking notes all year. I knew I had a good chance. Then, day after the game starts, Offredo's done (even though not officially banned for a month and a half after that). I thought it was all over, I'd have to have a perfect team otherwise if I wanted to win.

I was tickled pink when the first event of the season, the Aussie TT champs, gave me 4 of the top 5 finishers. I was even more pleased when, in mid-February, I got into the top 10 overall. The next week I fell to 12th, and thought oh well, at least I got one week there. Then I went back in it the next week and never left. After Romandie, 5 of the top 6, I thought I really had a chance of winning. And the momentum kept going - 2 weeks in a row being the top scorer when already on top of the rankings was beyond my wildest dreams.

Thanks for putting on this awesome game, Hugo. I appreciate everyone who talked things up endlessly before the season started, and I can't wait to do it again next year. Such good cycling minds in this game, and articulate posters like hrotha, hitch, theyoungest. Such awesome work running stats by skibby and ingsve at the start of the year. Such a great job doing updates by cqmanager and teosheva throughout the year.

That was fun, guys; I can't wait to defend the title next year.

 

[greenedge]

@Skidmark when you pick your team and everyones' is revealed you have to do an in depth analysis and tell us why you chose your team, as defending champ.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Thanks for the kind words, skidmark, and congratulations. You had an awesome team!

I agree with greenedge that you have to do an indepth analysis of your team once they're all revealed

I just hope we'll get as much discussion and statistics next year as this one.

 

[Netserk]

Well, it's done. Season over. The game that I've been interested in, perhaps you could even say 'obsessed about' at some points, more than any other sports fantasy game I've played, has been good to me this year.

I love cycling, I love analyzing numbers, I love a game that's both so simple (pick some riders and wait for the year to play out) and so complex (finding the right mix of breakthroughs, neo-pros, underperforming riders). I appreciate that it's made me, in the last 2 years, take an already very strong interest in cycling and turn it into a rich appreciation of the smaller races, the U23 races, the way that teams set their lineups, the way that riders use races in their seasonal schedule, etc, etc.

I have ambivalence towards the way it makes me cheer for riders just because I have them on my team (Andy Schleck's gonna be a hilarious one for everyone next year - can everyone just pick him so it nullifies it and we can all cheer against him?) But whatever. I like the discussion here when a rider on someone's team does well, when someone picks a breakthrough rider that no one else has, when someone has a successful rider that they were also a huge fan of before this game came along.

Last year, I spent alot of time picking my team. Really thought through it, thought I had a good chance. Then, boom, first week of February, I lose Ricco (serves me right, really). One of the most expensive picks. Pelizotti's ban is confirmed, one other pick down the drain. Boonen has an even worse year, and Kreuziger underperforms. Most of my most expensive picks have my team listing, about to sink. A decent August-through-October gets me limping into about 20th.

This year, I spend weeks and weeks picking my team after taking notes all year. I knew I had a good chance. Then, day after the game starts, Offredo's done (even though not officially banned for a month and a half after that). I thought it was all over, I'd have to have a perfect team otherwise if I wanted to win.

I was tickled pink when the first event of the season, the Aussie TT champs, gave me 4 of the top 5 finishers. I was even more pleased when, in mid-February, I got into the top 10 overall. The next week I fell to 12th, and thought oh well, at least I got one week there. Then I went back in it the next week and never left. After Romandie, 5 of the top 6, I thought I really had a chance of winning. And the momentum kept going - 2 weeks in a row being the top scorer when already on top of the rankings was beyond my wildest dreams.

Thanks for putting on this awesome game, Hugo. I appreciate everyone who talked things up endlessly before the season started, and I can't wait to do it again next year. Such good cycling minds in this game, and articulate posters like hrotha, hitch, theyoungest. Such awesome work running stats by skibby and ingsve at the start of the year. Such a great job doing updates by cqmanager and teosheva throughout the year.

That was fun, guys; I can't wait to defend the title next year.

And so the name-dropping has begun

Perhaps I should create a thread for speculation/name-dropping so those who like to so can do it without harming others

 

[skidmark]

And so the name-dropping has begun

Perhaps I should create a thread for speculation/name-dropping so those who like to so can do it without harming others

Damn it, I gave away my secret pick for next year! I must have gotten too excited.

All seriousness, that's the last name-dropping you'll hear from me. I wouldn't do it with anyone who wasn't such an obvious, big-name rider. If you want to start a thread for that, that's cool, but I don't think it's a slippery slope really - I feel like if you don't pick that guy, you either have a reason not to (in which case you wouldn't even if his name was dropped), or you didn't notice him (in which case I don't think you have a hope in hell in this game, so it wouldn't help very much).

Regardless, I'm happy to respect your wishes if they are that there is no name-dropping. I thought that one was a safe joke, though.

 

[Netserk]

Damn it, I gave away my secret pick for next year! I must have gotten too excited.

All seriousness, that's the last name-dropping you'll hear from me. I wouldn't do it with anyone who wasn't such an obvious, big-name rider. If you want to start a thread for that, that's cool, but I don't think it's a slippery slope really - I feel like if you don't pick that guy, you either have a reason not to (in which case you wouldn't even if his name was dropped), or you didn't notice him (in which case I don't think you have a hope in hell in this game, so it wouldn't help very much).

Regardless, I'm happy to respect your wishes if they are that there is no name-dropping. I thought that one was a safe joke, though.

It was just joking, as I'm on the pro-name-dropping side (I was just glad that I wasn't the first to drop a name)

But I have also heard a lot of complains about name-dropping, so perhaps a separate thread is a good idea

 

[skidmark]

It was just joking, as I'm on the pro-name-dropping side (I was just glad that I wasn't the first to drop a name)

But I have also heard a lot of complains about name-dropping, so perhaps a separate thread is a good idea

Gotcha, glad you're not actually upset about Andy Schleck, haha.

 

[TeoSheva]

Hi all!
In the last month I was busy and I hadn't the time to write here... anyway first of all thanks to all of you because I really enjoyed to play this game with you! Even if I don't have any list ready, I will play the next year too

Back to this year, congratulations to skidmark for the victory! his team has been great! But congratulations also to Kvinto and Nyssinator for the podium!

I was lucky to come back in the top 5, just one point over Armchair! A good result for me! it's my first year and I was the leader for almost two month: happy of that

I will send the excel file to CQmanager, and I post here the rank:

EDIT: I remove the rank and let Hugo do the update tomorrow! so we can have a bit of suspance sorry Hugo!

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I will do the final update tomorrow... Haven't had the time today.

 

[will10]

I will do the final update tomorrow... Haven't had the time today.

Will it be the final update though? We still have the Colombian nationals which will dish out a few points

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Will it be the final update though? We still have the Colombian nationals which will dish out a few points

It is the final one

According to the rules:

1.2. Duration:

The season starts when the first race is held and ends when the last major race (.1 or higher) is held. The winner will be crowned when the next update after the last major race is out.

Sorry

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Final update: Congratulations skidmark!

The game has come to an end and it's time to crown our new champion. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has participated - I hope to see you again next in 2013

Second, thanks to everyone who have helped me out during the season when I've been busy, and a special "thank you" to CQmanager!

And then let's make it official: congratulations skidmark! It has been in the cards for a while, but now skidmark can finally brag about being the 2012 CQ Ranking champion.

Nothing changed in the top 3 this week, so a congratulations to Kvinto and Nyssinator seems appropriate as well. TeoSheva managed to sneak himself into the top 5 by overtaking Armchair cyclist, while Netserk pushed bicing out of the promised top 10 in the very last moment.

Final Top 10:

1. (1) skidmark - 19345
2. (2) Kvinto - 18087
3. (3) Nyssinator - 17761
4. (4) FF'Wilco - 17105
5. (6) TeoSheva - 17085
6. (5) Armchair cyclist - 17084
7. (7) EvansIsTheBest - 16900
8. (8) mc_mountain - 16474
9. (9) shalgo - 16435
10. (12) Netserk - 16314

Download: http://cqmanager.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CQ-Rankings-Final-Update.xls

The good, the bad and the ugly

Let's take a look at the backbone of the game: the riders.

A special award for the best unique pick percentage wise goes to the_fool_on_the_hill for including Julian Kern in his team. Kern managed a return of 13000% costing a single CQ point and giving 130 in return. This statistic doesn't include zero pointers, of course.

In absolute terms, Tom Boonen was the best rider costing 502 points and giving 2202 in return, but he was by no means a unique pick. Instead that price goes to adamski101 for picking Wiggins who, with a profit of 1365, was the second best pick in the game in absolute terms.

The best rider in absolute terms who wasn't picked by a single team was Lars Petter Nordhaug who turned out to be the 13th best pick in the game measured in this way, costing 180 points and giving 827 in return.

Percentage wise, the best rider not picked was the Russian Anton Samokhvalov who would have given you 113 points for the measly cost of 1 CQ point.

That was the good ones. Let's have a look at the bad - and the ugly!

In absolute terms, the absolute worst pick in the game was one of the best last year: Philippe Gilbert. Costing an extraordinary 3168 point noone was crazy enough to include Gilbert in their team and as he only would have returned 1086 points, that was probably a good decision.

Four teams was probably more than dissapointed by Andy Schlecks performances this year, though. Costing 1152 points, al_pacino, Blues in the Bottle, Swede1 and Team Kapiris spent the big bucks to include Andy in their teams, but I think they regret this decision now. Returning only 20 points - a measly 2% of his 2011 score - the younger of the Schleck brothers was arguably the worst pick in the game.

Two years running now...

2012 was quite a deroute for the defending champion. ingsve only managed a 49th place in his quest for an impossible double, but let's take a look at the standings when combining the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

With a third place last year and an eight place this year, mc_mountain is, with 11 points, the best team when combining both years. Only one other team has managed to finish top 10 both years: Armchair cyclist with a 9th and a 6th place for 15 points total. The Hitch takes third in this aggregated leaderboard with a 6th and a 13th place for 19 points total.

Aggregated top 5 based on placings:

1. mc_mountain - 11 points
2. Armchair cyclist - 15 points
3. The Hitch - 19 points
4. skidmark - 22 points
5. MADRAZO - 24 points
5. LukeSchmid - 24 points

Another way of determining the best team over the last two years is by looking at the combined amount of points earned. Here skidmark also leads because of his dominating 2012 while mc_mountain and Armchair cyclist's stability comes up short.

Aggregated top 5 based on points:

1. skidmark - 30429
2. mc_mountain - 29144
3. Armchair cyclist - 29126
4. Waterloo Sunrise - 28454
5. The Hitch - 28374

Error corrected

Thanks for a great season!

 

[al_pacino]

I'll add my congratulations to the winner and to those who pushed him close(ish) and had a team of good picks.

Also thanks to Hugo for running the game and CQmangager for the site and the GT games during the year.

I have only a small regret pick Andy. I didn't think he'd be a great pick but I didn't expect him to score basically nothing. I was maybe more disappointed with another couple of my selections who've lost points two years in a row, but not enough to not select one of those again.

 

[Nyssinator]

Thanks for all the effort Hugo_Koblet and CQManager!

I really enjoyed this game. I'm a CQ-junkie and it was just awesome researching for this game. Finding talents and watch them blossom in the following year is pretty satisfying.
Getting a third place in this competition was really cool. Of course a bunch of luck involved, but I am really happy with my Degenkolb pick which was pretty rare among the top contenders. Congratulations to skidmark and Kvinto. skidmark was hugely impressive and almost demolished the rest of us!

I'm looking forward to start researching for next year. Gonna be awesome!

Is the web site gonna be updated next year like it was this year? I've read that people preferred the excel-document, but I really don't understand that. I thought the web site was pretty awesome and saved me from downloading stuff and opening Excel.
If we pick the team on the web site it would really take some of the mind numbing tasks of Hugo, but I guess the decision has been made.

 

[the asian]

Honored to finish in the middle. 65th out of 130 at my first attempt.

 

[auscyclefan94]

6th position for this week...not bad,eh?

 

[Team Riis]

Hello

I want to play this game, too, but i am a newbie and my english is not so good. Well, I have some questions.

Is it right, that I go to the website http://cqmanager.net/ and then I now can register. Then I have to send an PM with the name of the riders, I wish to have in my team for the season 2013? To which adress I have to send this PM? And how much money do I have and where can I see the Bikeriders, I can buy? During the season, can I buy riders again, or is the transfer period closed, when the first race started? Have I to nominated 8 or 9 riders of my team, before there is a race, or are automatically all my riders I have nominated?

Thanks for answers

 

[LaFlorecita]

Hello

I want to play this game, too, but i am a newbie and my english is not so good. Well, I have some questions.

Is it right, that I go to the website http://cqmanager.net/ and then I now can register. Then I have to send an PM with the name of the riders, I wish to have in my team for the season 2013? To which adress I have to send this PM? And how much money do I have and where can I see the Bikeriders, I can buy? During the season, can I buy riders again, or is the transfer period closed, when the first race started? Have I to nominated 8 or 9 riders of my team, before there is a race, or are automatically all my riders I have nominated?

Thanks for answers

Here you can find the riders and how much they cost
http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/cqRankingRider.asp?current=1

You need to pick 25 riders at least, and 33 is the max amount of riders you can have.

You can spend up to 7500 points.

The cost of a rider is the amount of points he scored in the last season (2012) BUT there are some exceptions, you find them here.

First of all, suspended riders are no longer unavailable. Last year you were not allowed to pick a rider who was suspended when the game started, but this year this rule has been deleted and all riders are now available.

Second, a rider’s [ex-doper] value is now equivalent to that of his last full season or if he in between has had a season in which he has earned more points, that season represents his value. It sounds complex, so let’s take a look at two examples:

Contador was suspended from July 2010 until August 2012. This means that 2010, 2011 and 2012 has been affected by his suspension. His last full season is therefore 2009, and the points earned in this season then represent his value: 2272. Had Contador hypothetically earned 2500 points this season, that number would have exceed that of his last full season and his value would then have been 2500.

This is more or less the case with Pozzato. Pozzato received a three months suspension in the middle of this season; hence his value should be that of his last full season, 2011, in which he scored 301 points. However, despite his suspension, he managed to earn 460 points this year which therefore represents his value.

Once your team is done, send it in a PM to Hugo Koblet, he is the organizer of this game. But you need to send in your team before the first race of the season starts (which is somewhere in the beginning of January) so make sure you send in your team before that date (I'm sure Hugo can tell you the date)

You need to use this layout for your team

CONTADOR VELASCO Alberto
POZZATO Filippo

After you have sent in the team there is nothing you need to do, you don't have to select teams for each race. At the end of the season the one who scored most points with his or her riders wins. So make sure you pick riders who can do better in 2013 than they did in 2012, picking for example Joaquin Rodriguez who scored 3000+ points in 2012 is not a good idea.

In the2013 thread you can find more information and in the speculation/namedropping thread you can find some good picks and you can ask questions when you're not sure if a rider is a good pick.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Congratz to the winners and close finishers!

Thanks for hosting Hugo looking forward to next years game.

Also thanks to CQManager