Alright, time for a post-classics picking apart of my team; I'll probably do another one after the TdF.
Guys I'm wildly thrilled with:
Contador - definitely the shining star of the team. He's not exactly above the best I thought he could be; I thought he could be this good (although July will be the real litmus test, if he's better than Froome he's better than I thought he would be), but it's more that this is as good as he's been in a season where he's won the TdF in the past and then stopped racing. The fact that he's this good, and still is riding both the Tour and Vuelta, is tantalizing for CQ points.
Sam Bennett - totally at the ceiling of where I thought he could be. I picked him because he was a consistent finisher and showed flashes of goodness, like finishing only behind Cav and ahead of Viviani in a bunch sprint in Britain. Anyone who could do that could pull out something good and get a few points, I thought. But 2 1.1 races, top 5 in Scheldeprijs and top 15 in Gent-Wevelgem is definitely consistent and great. Should be interesting if he gets picked for the TdF team.
Guys I've seen encouraging signs from and am happy with:
Danny Van Poppel - good sprinter, 3rd in Scheldeprijs, got his first pro win, not many sprinters at Trek so lots of chances - I hope the rest of the year brings him some decent finishes, like Paris-Tours or Paris-Brussels, those flat HC races everyone forgets about.
Fabio Aru - I know he hasn't done much yet, but this week was encouraging for the Giro. He's just such a monster talent.
Jelle Vanendert - he was a grudging inclusion, as I was eye-rollingly consigned to the fact that I guess I had to take him in case he was good. He definitely showed good over the Ardennes week; if he can have good form sometime later in the season that'd be great.
Davide Formolo - he's only at 56 points but only cost 59, and he's shown his penchant for attacks and consistency. He can pull out some top 10s in 2.1 and HC races, no doubt.
Daniele Colli - pretty much what I expected/hoped - some solid overall finishes.
Winner Anacona - I figured that if he got his Visas sorted out and raced a full season, it'd be a sure thing. His 2nd in the depleted-field Columbia nats was encouraging, his fading in Trentino was not. Hopefully the Giro offers enough consistency for a top 15-20.
Jhoan Esteban Chaves - only on the back of one race, but I was worried his injuries would have more lasting effects.
Guys I'm just happy with:
Daan Olivier - encouraging results in both stage races and the ardennes, but not enough to get him points, more like a 'this would be a good rider next year' consistency.
Jerome Coppel - scored most of his points in the first race of the year, but has been invisible since.
Dylan van Baarle - showed he could hang in the cobbled classics, has looked like a good attacker in Dwaars Door and earlier in Dubai, but hasn't reaped points. I just saw he's on the Giro team, maybe he can do one of those 'neo-pro shows his talent on the world stage by winning a third-week break' things.
Riders I'm cool with but can't help but be a bit disappointed with:
Tom Boonen - yeah his points haul is a good improvement, percentage-wise, but did you really expect Boonen to be off the podium in Flanders and Roubaix? Hell no.
Boasson Hagen - friggin' invisible. It's a long season. Turn it up at the Giro, win 2 stages like you did 5 years ago! He could win the sprinters jersey; instead he'll probably lead out Ben Swift (who, I guess, looks like he'd also be a good bet for that, but he's not on my team so he can suck an egg).
Taylor Phinney - but for ill-timed illness, he could have had a couple hundred more points in the classics. Dunno about P-R though, he should have been better, illness or no.
Rohan Dennis - the crash in the Aussie TTs wasn't his fault, but it screwed up a whole mountain of early season points he could have gotten. Seems like he's getting it back on track, but I counted on those points.
LL Sanchez - came storming out of the gate and then nothing. Looks like Turkey could suit him though - he hung in today, and the last hill finish looks like his type (although it'd be better with a descent).
You'll notice most of my big picks fall in this category, as without Contador my team would be dead meat.
Meh
Ryder Hesjedal - We'll see after the Giro.
Thomas De Gendt - didn't expect anything yet; same as above.
Damien Howson - they haven't put him in a friggin' race with a TT. He's the U23 champ, guys!
Teklehaimanot - invisible, but jury's out until after Giro.
Andy Schleck - I couldn't really call it 'disappointment', could I? Come on, we all expected this.
Alexey Lutsenko - I'd expect more growth from him, but again the season is long.
Bummer
Johan Le Bon - looks like the crash in Flanders did him in good. I expected far more, probably too much, but yeah, fingers crossed for a good Giro (probably not, he'll be one of those guys you see in one BotD on an obvious sprint stage and that's it) and French TTs and then some one-days in the fall to at least break even.
Jurgen Van den Broeck - wtf?
Janez Brajkovic - I know, lots of leaders at Astana. If he surprises at the Giro (probably not with 2 above him on the team) I'd be happy, but I'm pessimistic.
Enrico Battaglin - this is the third year I've picked you dude! PICK IT UP.
The less said the better:
Moreno Moser - should change the 'M' at the start of his name to an 'L'.
Matt Goss - should change the 'G' at the start of his name to an 'L'.
Lawson Craddock - one of two still-zero-pointers. C'mon Cali!
Caleb Ewan - YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD.
Dombrowski - zero-pointer number two. Goddamn Americans.
Guys I'm wildly thrilled with:
Contador - definitely the shining star of the team. He's not exactly above the best I thought he could be; I thought he could be this good (although July will be the real litmus test, if he's better than Froome he's better than I thought he would be), but it's more that this is as good as he's been in a season where he's won the TdF in the past and then stopped racing. The fact that he's this good, and still is riding both the Tour and Vuelta, is tantalizing for CQ points.
Sam Bennett - totally at the ceiling of where I thought he could be. I picked him because he was a consistent finisher and showed flashes of goodness, like finishing only behind Cav and ahead of Viviani in a bunch sprint in Britain. Anyone who could do that could pull out something good and get a few points, I thought. But 2 1.1 races, top 5 in Scheldeprijs and top 15 in Gent-Wevelgem is definitely consistent and great. Should be interesting if he gets picked for the TdF team.
Guys I've seen encouraging signs from and am happy with:
Danny Van Poppel - good sprinter, 3rd in Scheldeprijs, got his first pro win, not many sprinters at Trek so lots of chances - I hope the rest of the year brings him some decent finishes, like Paris-Tours or Paris-Brussels, those flat HC races everyone forgets about.
Fabio Aru - I know he hasn't done much yet, but this week was encouraging for the Giro. He's just such a monster talent.
Jelle Vanendert - he was a grudging inclusion, as I was eye-rollingly consigned to the fact that I guess I had to take him in case he was good. He definitely showed good over the Ardennes week; if he can have good form sometime later in the season that'd be great.
Davide Formolo - he's only at 56 points but only cost 59, and he's shown his penchant for attacks and consistency. He can pull out some top 10s in 2.1 and HC races, no doubt.
Daniele Colli - pretty much what I expected/hoped - some solid overall finishes.
Winner Anacona - I figured that if he got his Visas sorted out and raced a full season, it'd be a sure thing. His 2nd in the depleted-field Columbia nats was encouraging, his fading in Trentino was not. Hopefully the Giro offers enough consistency for a top 15-20.
Jhoan Esteban Chaves - only on the back of one race, but I was worried his injuries would have more lasting effects.
Guys I'm just happy with:
Daan Olivier - encouraging results in both stage races and the ardennes, but not enough to get him points, more like a 'this would be a good rider next year' consistency.
Jerome Coppel - scored most of his points in the first race of the year, but has been invisible since.
Dylan van Baarle - showed he could hang in the cobbled classics, has looked like a good attacker in Dwaars Door and earlier in Dubai, but hasn't reaped points. I just saw he's on the Giro team, maybe he can do one of those 'neo-pro shows his talent on the world stage by winning a third-week break' things.
Riders I'm cool with but can't help but be a bit disappointed with:
Tom Boonen - yeah his points haul is a good improvement, percentage-wise, but did you really expect Boonen to be off the podium in Flanders and Roubaix? Hell no.
Boasson Hagen - friggin' invisible. It's a long season. Turn it up at the Giro, win 2 stages like you did 5 years ago! He could win the sprinters jersey; instead he'll probably lead out Ben Swift (who, I guess, looks like he'd also be a good bet for that, but he's not on my team so he can suck an egg).
Taylor Phinney - but for ill-timed illness, he could have had a couple hundred more points in the classics. Dunno about P-R though, he should have been better, illness or no.
Rohan Dennis - the crash in the Aussie TTs wasn't his fault, but it screwed up a whole mountain of early season points he could have gotten. Seems like he's getting it back on track, but I counted on those points.
LL Sanchez - came storming out of the gate and then nothing. Looks like Turkey could suit him though - he hung in today, and the last hill finish looks like his type (although it'd be better with a descent).
You'll notice most of my big picks fall in this category, as without Contador my team would be dead meat.
Meh
Ryder Hesjedal - We'll see after the Giro.
Thomas De Gendt - didn't expect anything yet; same as above.
Damien Howson - they haven't put him in a friggin' race with a TT. He's the U23 champ, guys!
Teklehaimanot - invisible, but jury's out until after Giro.
Andy Schleck - I couldn't really call it 'disappointment', could I? Come on, we all expected this.
Alexey Lutsenko - I'd expect more growth from him, but again the season is long.
Bummer
Johan Le Bon - looks like the crash in Flanders did him in good. I expected far more, probably too much, but yeah, fingers crossed for a good Giro (probably not, he'll be one of those guys you see in one BotD on an obvious sprint stage and that's it) and French TTs and then some one-days in the fall to at least break even.
Jurgen Van den Broeck - wtf?
Janez Brajkovic - I know, lots of leaders at Astana. If he surprises at the Giro (probably not with 2 above him on the team) I'd be happy, but I'm pessimistic.
Enrico Battaglin - this is the third year I've picked you dude! PICK IT UP.
The less said the better:
Moreno Moser - should change the 'M' at the start of his name to an 'L'.
Matt Goss - should change the 'G' at the start of his name to an 'L'.
Lawson Craddock - one of two still-zero-pointers. C'mon Cali!
Caleb Ewan - YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD.
Dombrowski - zero-pointer number two. Goddamn Americans.
With the close of the classics I'm sad to say I'm out of this one. Needed Gilbert and EBH to perform a little better than they did, I think both will finish the year in profit, but not by as far as i'd hoped. When 1700 points where you were hoping for 3000 is more likely 2000, I think you're sunk.
- Dec 12, 2010
- 1,179
- 936
- 12,680
Out of the top ten this week as I expected with my poor Ardennes line-up (especially since Martin crashing out of the victory in Liege was a big blow, by letting Gerrans and Kwiatkowski score much more than they probably should have). However, with Degenkolb's 84 points today and Turkey going pretty well (Taaramäe, Kudus, Cobo and L.L. Sanchez), I'm confident I should be back soon. Now I just need Cunego, Hesjedal and De Gendt to ride the Giro like it's 2012 all over again.
The first points for Niccolo BONIFAZIO in Turkey.
For the GIRO D'ITALIA:
> Nairo QUINTANA, Rigoberto URAN, Damiano CUNEGO, Fabio DUARTE, Peter KENNAUGH and my "special" Fabio ARU (for Général)
> Probably Diego ULISSI, Enrico BATTAGLIN and Moreno MOSER, Thomas DE GENDT? (for the stages).
Big Team. Vediamo...
For the GIRO D'ITALIA:
> Nairo QUINTANA, Rigoberto URAN, Damiano CUNEGO, Fabio DUARTE, Peter KENNAUGH and my "special" Fabio ARU (for Général)
> Probably Diego ULISSI, Enrico BATTAGLIN and Moreno MOSER, Thomas DE GENDT? (for the stages).
Big Team. Vediamo...
- Dec 29, 2011
- 299
- 3
- 9,035
- Jan 2, 2010
- 479
- 0
- 9,280
Jancouver said:No update this week?
Just wanted to see how many spots I dropped again this week
I reckon you could be jumping spots this week. No Yates but several other riders with decent points.
Hugo is on duty for the update, I'm sure it'll be up shortly.
- May 28, 2012
- 2,779
- 0
- 0
mc_mountain said:
Well, the game is over for me but I still like to follow and see the battle. The GTs are coming and boatload of points will be available so I'm expecting major moves. For some up, for me mostly down as my only GT hopeful Talansky is completely invisible this year.
- Feb 15, 2011
- 1,306
- 0
- 0
This is the first year in 3 that I left Taaramae off of my team. He would have been much better than Moser who I included cuz he's one of my favorites. Ughhh.
He would have been much better than Moser who I included cuz he's one of my favorites. Ughhh.
- May 9, 2010
- 11,065
- 2,536
- 28,180
- May 9, 2010
- 11,065
- 2,536
- 28,180
Update #17: We've got a new sheriff in town!
Better late than never they say, right? Well, I was quite busy this week and completely forgot about the update, so here it is - a few days late.
Armchair cyclist is this week's top scorer with a lot of points from the Tour of Turkey thanks to Taaramäe and Yates. The Hitch and mc_mountain share second place, while Lightbing and bicing rounds of the top 5.
This Week's Top Scorers
1. Armchair cyclist - 679
2. The Hitch - 596
2. mc_mountain - 596
4. LightBing - 576
5. bicing - 568
Lightbing and bicing are also both to be found on this week's high jumpers list, moving up 26 and 21 places, but it's Manafana who takes the honor this week, just edging out Lightbing. Yours truly and tomazo round off the top 5.
This Week's High Jumpers
1. Manafana (+27)
2. LightBing (+26)
3. bicing (+21)
4. Hugo Koblet (+19)
4. tomazo (+19)
And now to this new sheriff stuff. freshman overtakes Pentacycle for the prestigious leader spot, as he leads by 63 points. EvansIsTheBest makes his way back into the top 10 while Ferminal takes a big jump from 18th to 10th, while just some guy and Reno makes way.
Top 10
1. (+1) freshman - 5885
2. (-1) Pentacycle - 5822
3. (-) Geraint Too Fast - 5584
4. (-) rywann - 5527
5. (+2) knallertjeblaf - 5468
6. (-1) Martin - 5420
7. (+4) EvansIsTheBest - 5373
7. (-1) Ruvu75 - 5373
9. (-) Grimm - 5238
10. (+8) Ferminal - 5147
And let's take a look at the monthly figues. April was a month of many points. If you have any doubts, just ask our leader freshman, who's the top scorer this month, earning an enormous 2613 points. knallertjeblaf, rywann and Grimm are also among the top 5 earnes this month and they are all to be found in the overall top 10. The only one from this month's top scorers list who's not among the 10 best teams overall is will10 who's currently in 26th place.
This Month's Top scorers
1. freshman - 2613
2. knallertjeblaf - 2542
3. rywann - 2371
4. will10 - 2318
5. Grimm - 2300
will10 is, however, making his way towards the top, as he's also among the top 5 jumpers in April, moving up from 79th to 26th place. Handbrake has released the handbrake, moving up 60 spots, but he still has a long way to go, currently sitting in 56th place.
This Month's High Jumpers
1. Handbrake (+60)
2. Crevaison (+56)
3. will10 (+53)
4. HelgeBlendet (+51)
5. WonderLance (+48)
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/2h0nqrun96kh9gh/CQ+2014+update+17.xls
Better late than never they say, right? Well, I was quite busy this week and completely forgot about the update, so here it is - a few days late.
Armchair cyclist is this week's top scorer with a lot of points from the Tour of Turkey thanks to Taaramäe and Yates. The Hitch and mc_mountain share second place, while Lightbing and bicing rounds of the top 5.
This Week's Top Scorers
1. Armchair cyclist - 679
2. The Hitch - 596
2. mc_mountain - 596
4. LightBing - 576
5. bicing - 568
Lightbing and bicing are also both to be found on this week's high jumpers list, moving up 26 and 21 places, but it's Manafana who takes the honor this week, just edging out Lightbing. Yours truly and tomazo round off the top 5.
This Week's High Jumpers
1. Manafana (+27)
2. LightBing (+26)
3. bicing (+21)
4. Hugo Koblet (+19)
4. tomazo (+19)
And now to this new sheriff stuff. freshman overtakes Pentacycle for the prestigious leader spot, as he leads by 63 points. EvansIsTheBest makes his way back into the top 10 while Ferminal takes a big jump from 18th to 10th, while just some guy and Reno makes way.
Top 10
1. (+1) freshman - 5885
2. (-1) Pentacycle - 5822
3. (-) Geraint Too Fast - 5584
4. (-) rywann - 5527
5. (+2) knallertjeblaf - 5468
6. (-1) Martin - 5420
7. (+4) EvansIsTheBest - 5373
7. (-1) Ruvu75 - 5373
9. (-) Grimm - 5238
10. (+8) Ferminal - 5147
And let's take a look at the monthly figues. April was a month of many points. If you have any doubts, just ask our leader freshman, who's the top scorer this month, earning an enormous 2613 points. knallertjeblaf, rywann and Grimm are also among the top 5 earnes this month and they are all to be found in the overall top 10. The only one from this month's top scorers list who's not among the 10 best teams overall is will10 who's currently in 26th place.
This Month's Top scorers
1. freshman - 2613
2. knallertjeblaf - 2542
3. rywann - 2371
4. will10 - 2318
5. Grimm - 2300
will10 is, however, making his way towards the top, as he's also among the top 5 jumpers in April, moving up from 79th to 26th place. Handbrake has released the handbrake, moving up 60 spots, but he still has a long way to go, currently sitting in 56th place.
This Month's High Jumpers
1. Handbrake (+60)
2. Crevaison (+56)
3. will10 (+53)
4. HelgeBlendet (+51)
5. WonderLance (+48)
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/2h0nqrun96kh9gh/CQ+2014+update+17.xls
Armchair Cyclist
Moderator
- Mar 22, 2010
- 15,073
- 11,091
- 28,180
Hugo Koblet said:
My elation is tempered by the realisation that the effect of this victory is that I have risen to 130th overall.
- Dec 12, 2010
- 1,179
- 936
- 12,680
It's nice to back in the top 10. The week could have been better if Simon Yates and Merhawi Kudus hadn't crashed but unfortunately that's part of pro racing.
Cobo and Taaramäe are now into profit
Sénéchal and Cobo are likely going to be my only scorers this week but I guess nobody is going to score huge anyway. To be honest, I'm more excited to see what Degenkolb can do next week against Cav.
Cobo and Taaramäe are now into profit
Sénéchal and Cobo are likely going to be my only scorers this week but I guess nobody is going to score huge anyway. To be honest, I'm more excited to see what Degenkolb can do next week against Cav.
Oof, down 12 places, after falling 6 places the week before. Well, I've got high hopes for the future, as always...
Giro
Aru
Brajkovic
Battaglin
Moser
Le Bon
Hesjedal
Van Baarle
Anacona
Colli
De Gendt
Boasson Hagen
California
Phinney
Dennis
Boonen
Van Poppel
Dombrowski
Goss
Chaves
Howson
Craddock
Olivier
Lots of options there. Phinney, Dennis and Howson could do well in the TT, Van Poppel and Goss can do well in the sprints, and (hopefully) Dennis, Chaves, Craddock and Olivier could do something for the overall. Dombrowski is an unknown, and Boonen is probably just there to ride. But it could be a good week.
Giro
Aru
Brajkovic
Battaglin
Moser
Le Bon
Hesjedal
Van Baarle
Anacona
Colli
De Gendt
Boasson Hagen
California
Phinney
Dennis
Boonen
Van Poppel
Dombrowski
Goss
Chaves
Howson
Craddock
Olivier
Lots of options there. Phinney, Dennis and Howson could do well in the TT, Van Poppel and Goss can do well in the sprints, and (hopefully) Dennis, Chaves, Craddock and Olivier could do something for the overall. Dombrowski is an unknown, and Boonen is probably just there to ride. But it could be a good week.
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