The 2015 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[The Hitch]

Wow, I got few of those and took Zabel out and Goss out at the last minute. Pretty much traded Goss for Hoogerland and since Zabel was on my team every year I gave up on him

I think our teams are a little different.

Every year I have one of the most popular (in terms of how many common riders) teams so if you have more than half your picks different to me you have a pretty unique team

 

[CQmanager]

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
FROOME Chris
RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquim
YATES Adam
TALANSKY Andrew
KÖNIG Leopold
PORTE Richie
VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen
GESINK Robert
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
DE GENDT Thomas
BOSWELL Ian
LUDVIGSSON Fredrik
SENNI Manuel
KOSHEVOY Ilia
TURGIS Anthony
RICKAERT Jonas
MANZIN Lorenzo
PELLAUD Simon
COLEDAN Marco
SCHWARZMANN Michael
CHETOUT Loïc
SILVESTRE Fabio Andre Tomas
VAN DER HAAR Lars
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd
DOUGALL Nicolas
SIMION Paolo
THEVENOT Guillaume
WOOD Oliver
MORTON Lachlan
KACZMAREK Jakub
SOLER GIMENEZ Marc

 

[The Hitch]

No Froomey, Hitch?

Rodriguez is already my most expensive ever pick and he was at least closer to 1000 than 1500.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Even though I have him too, I don't think EBH will be a good/great pick.

I don't know. If he has anything like a normal level for him and he isn't wasting his season domestiqueing in the sky train, it should be okay. He'll still waste his early season in the classics, but after that at least now he has the liberty to do what he does best; stage hunting. However, I'm so used to seeing him underperforming, I have to admit that I too find it difficult to imagine that he will be a great pick.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

SAGAN Peter
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
BOOM Lars
PORTE Richie
PHINNEY Taylor
GESINK Robert
SENECHAL Florian
BENOOT Tiesj
YATES Simon
BRAJKOVIC Janez
QUINTANA ROJAS Dayer Uberney
KÜNG Stefan
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin
EWAN Caleb
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
MOSER Moreno
LATOUR Pierre-Roger
GOSS Matthew
BOUDAT Thomas
SCHUMACHER Stefan
DE GENDT Thomas
TURGIS Anthony
CHETOUT Loïc
VAN DER HAAR Lars
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd
ZORDAN Andrea
REIMER Martin
URTASUN PEREZ Pablo
ROLLIN Dominique
MORTON Lachlan
BOUHANNI Rayane

Hesitated for a long time between Quintana and Coquard + Barguil + VDB2 + Zepuntke. I went with Quintana, but now I'm sure I'm going to regret it later.

 

[oliveira]

Didn't save my team... Anyway 17 in common with Hitch should be a good sign.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I'm really annoyed that I couldn't find room in my team to pick Barguil. I'm quite sure he will be a good pick.

I have Wellens though.

 

[skidmark]

Nothing official yet, but based on my remaining inbox and my count of a few folks I asked to get back to me in the proper format that haven't that I'll have to go back to the inbox and edit myself, I *think* this is going to be the biggest edition yet, by at least 1 team (ie. 151 teams). But I'll be taking the next little while to figure it out for sure.

As for my team, I'd love to do a big reveal and go through my reasoning for each pick, but I'm a bit busy here so it'll have to wait at least a day. I will say that this year was super interesting in that there were 4 really expensive riders that were really tempting to build a team around in any combination (to my eyes those were Sagan, Froome, Rodriguez and maybe Quintana). The other option was to start at about Cav-price level and go with a bunch of guys from there. I decided to go all out, and my team is headlined by Sagan and Rodriguez. More on that later.

 

[The Hitch]

Good to see quite a few people pick Murito. I feel more confident about that now. Its by far the riskiest pick ive ever made on here.

A 36 year old at over 1000 points goes against most cq principles I've had since the game began.

 

[Jancouver]

Nothing official yet, but based on my remaining inbox and my count of a few folks I asked to get back to me in the proper format that haven't that I'll have to go back to the inbox and edit myself, I *think* this is going to be the biggest edition yet, by at least 1 team (ie. 151 teams). But I'll be taking the next little while to figure it out for sure.

As for my team, I'd love to do a big reveal and go through my reasoning for each pick, but I'm a bit busy here so it'll have to wait at least a day. I will say that this year was super interesting in that there were 4 really expensive riders that were really tempting to build a team around in any combination (to my eyes those were Sagan, Froome, Rodriguez and maybe Quintana). The other option was to start at about Cav-price level and go with a bunch of guys from there. I decided to go all out, and my team is headlined by Sagan and Rodriguez. More on that later.

Sorry to hear you got Sagan too. For some naive reason I thought he will not be as popular as there for Froome and Quintana to pick for less and I was hoping to have somewhat unique top pick.

 

[Jancouver]

Good to see quite a few people pick Murito. I feel more confident about that now. Its by far the riskiest pick ive ever made on here.

A 36 year old at over 1000 points goes against most cq principles I've had since the game began.

I was tempted to take him but he is on a Russian team and UCI, EU, US, NATO and everyone else is against Russia therefore I thought it was too risky for political (and doping) reasons. Katusha nd Astana will be taken out by the UCI. Mark my words!

 

[mc_mountain]

Rodriguez is already my most expensive ever pick and he was at least closer to 1000 than 1500.

Ever?

You forget Alberto so soon?

 

[Tigerion]

I had been putting off making a team since I thought I had plenty of time and as the days went the deadline crept closer. I finally managed to sit down and make a team with merely hours to go. Hopefully it won't suck too bad but I'm sure I've missed a few obvious choices. I know one rider I missed already.

So my prediction this year is that I'll be somewhere in the middle of the pack.

I did that last year and had to chuck a team together in an afternoon. Ummmmm it didn't go well
Good luck

 

[The Hitch]

Ever?

You forget Alberto so soon?

Yes

He was such an obvious pick for me last year I didn't even think about it.

Old man Murito was a much harder decision.

 

[Tigerion]

My prediction for most popular riders (based on standardised participation figure of 130)

122 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
118 Mark Cavendish
115 El Gordo
108 Ewan Caleb.
107 Richie Porte
105 Moser Moreno
100 EBH
97 Stefan Schumacher
94 Igor Anton Hernandez
90 Yates Simon

I think DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd will be right up there

 

[cineteq]

SAGAN Peter
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
BOOM Lars
PORTE Richie
PHINNEY Taylor
GESINK Robert...

So far, I like these picks the best.

I was tempted to take him but he is on a Russian team and UCI, EU, US, NATO and everyone else is against Russia therefore I thought it was too risky for political (and doping) reasons. Katusha nd Astana will be taken out by the UCI. Mark my words!

Good point. I didn't consider picking him because he's not the same rider anymore.

 

[MADRAZO]

My team:

RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquim 1150
BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto 616
BARGUIL Warren 546
TALANSKY Andrew 534
CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban 476
PORTE Richie 415
ROELANDTS Jürgen 365
GESINK Robert 274
VISCONTI Giovanni 272
STANNARD Ian 250
POZZATO Filippo 241
JUNGELS Bob 240
HAUSSLER Heinrich 237
BENOOT Tiesj 214
YATES Simon 207
HIVERT Jonathan 169
LE BON Johan 169
QUINTANA ROJAS Dayer Uberney 161
STUYVEN Jasper 158
LADAGNOUS Matthieu 145
ELISSONDE Kenny 115
EWAN Caleb 95
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis 92
GOSS Matthew 66
SCHUMACHER Stefan 60
MOHORIC Matej 55
DE GENDT Thomas 54
WACKERMANN Luca 37
KUMP Marko 28
MANZIN Lorenzo 18
MARECZKO Jakub 15
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd 10
MARINI Nicolas 8

33-7492


I was only almost sure about Porte, Sergio Henao, Ewan, Hivert, D. Quintana and Rodriquez (safest most obvious expensive rider) so it could have ended up in many ways.

After my expensive picks have failed a lot all the other years of this competition, especially those that had had a bad season the year before and generally in a career downperiod (last season Boasson and Voeckler) I tried to skip those even if my head wanted to pick them (like Cavendish or for instance Boasson and Voeckler again) and go a little more with the younger guys, even if my team is propably still relatively conservative.

Ofcourse also a crusial rider for the game is Froome, and I was also quite close to pick him, but in the end opted for Betancur, Chaves and Barguil instead, even if Froome could have given room for 2 more cheap riders where there were many good options. Mostly I regret not fitting in the young sprinter Sarreau.

Also I tried to skip Astana-riders for obvious reasons. Mostly I fear a rider like Landa could end up a great pick

Finally I mostly look forward to follow my young cheap sprinters Mareczko, Manzin and Marini. They should all be very good picks for sure.

 

[markene2]

As trying this game for the first time, i decided to go for the young guns, inexpensive and quantity. No riders over 700 points. I think i can get in the top 50. At least i hope so. Heres my team!

BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto
GATTO Oscar
LUTSENKO Alexey
MOSER Moreno
PONZI Simone
ZARDINI Edoardo
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
GASPAROTTO Enrico
GULDHAMMER Rasmus
YATES Adam
HEPBURN Michael
CORT NIELSEN Magnus
EWAN Caleb
TXURRUKA ANSOLA Amets
POZZATO Filippo
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
GESINK Robert
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd
MOHORIC Matej
KUDUS GHEBREMEDHIN Merhawi
BENNETT Sam
MEINTJES Louis
NIBALI Antonio
CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban
HENAO GOMEZ Sebastian
QUINTANA ROJAS Dayer Uberney

Betting on the Italians to perform.

 

[search]

ULISSI Diego
STYBAR Zdenek
CAVENDISH Mark
BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto
MODOLO Sacha
PORTE Richie
LUTSENKO Alexey
GESINK Robert
VISCONTI Giovanni
STANNARD Ian
SEPULVEDA Eduardo
POZZATO Filippo
JUNGELS Bob
DURASEK Kristijan
WESTRA Lieuwe
OSS Daniel
HIVERT Jonathan
STUYVEN Jasper
DEVENYNS Dries
WEGMANN Fabian
CRADDOCK Lawson
RUFFONI Nicola
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
MANCEBO PEREZ Francisco
EARLE Nathan
GOSS Matthew
BOUDAT Thomas
SCHUMACHER Stefan
DE GENDT Thomas
FAVILLI Elia
KUMP Marko
STORTONI Simone

first competition in Switzerland tomorrow, could be all over soon

 

[diggercuz]

Would be interested how my team will go as this is my first go so hoping to be mid pack at best!

Also if anyone has any feedback on my team would be good to hear as was not sure on a few... i do think i have gone aussie heavy as they were the riders i knew and also had a few fan picks in there with the OGE guys... So im thinking there is my first mistake... but Chaves is gonna smash it this year! hopefully...

Looking through the list though i was staggered at how many riders i had absolutely no idea on...

I did really want to pick Tim DE TROYER though purely as i thought his name was destroyer and thought that was a great name... but alas he was too expensive for a throwaway pick...

Anyway here is my team

ANACONA GOMEZ Winner Andrew
ARGUELYES RODRIGES Arkimedes
ARU Fabio
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin
BARGUIL Warren
BECKERINGH Derk Abel
BLYTHE Adam
CAVENDISH Mark
CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban
DE BOER Joris
DE GENDT Thomas
DECLERCQ Tim
EIJSSEN Yannick
EWAN Caleb
FLAKEMORE Campbell
GOSS Matthew
HEPBURN Michael
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
LE MEVEL Christophe
MOSER Moreno
NIEMIEC Przemyslaw
PORTE Richie
POWER Robert
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
ROULSTON Hayden
STETINA Peter
SULZBERGER Bernard
SULZBERGER Wesley
TANNER David
VAN DER SANDEN Harm
YATES Simon
ZABEL Rick

And i have just realised i forgot to put the Morton brothers in there! Argh.. i reckon Lachlan will go somewhat better this year as he seems way more relaxed with his brother.. Oh well... thats not gonna be the only pick i have realised i forgot i reckon...

 

[cineteq]

Team cineteq

KITTEL Marcel
CAVENDISH Mark
BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto
TALANSKY Andrew
CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban
PORTE Richie
HOFLAND Moreno
GUARDINI Andrea
GESINK Robert
DOWSETT Alex
WESTRA Lieuwe
HAIG Jack
STETINA Peter
POWER Robert
CAPECCHI Eros
QUINTANA ROJAS Dayer Uberney
BOOKWALTER Brent
ROSSKOPF Joey
KEISSE Iljo
ZABEL Rick
ELISSONDE Kenny
VERVAEKE Louis
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin
EWAN Caleb
PAOLINI Luca
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
MOSER Moreno
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel
BOBRIDGE Jack
FOLIFOROV Alexander
DE GENDT Thomas
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd
BETTIOL Alberto

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

SAGAN Peter
RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquim
STYBAR Zdenek
CAVENDISH Mark
BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto
PORTE Richie
GESINK Robert
HAUSSLER Heinrich
NERZ Dominik
GATTO Oscar
BRAJKOVIC Janez
HIVERT Jonathan
LADAGNOUS Matthieu
RUFFONI Nicola
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin
KRUOPIS Aidis
HENAO GOMEZ Sebastian
EWAN Caleb
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel
SCHUMACHER Stefan
RATTO Daniele
EIJSSEN Yannick
DIAZ Daniel Ricardo
BRENES OBANDO Gregory Juel
BOL Jetse
CAPIOT Amaury
KUMP Marko
BEVIN Patrick
ISTA Kevyn
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd
URTASUN PEREZ Pablo
BLAIN Alexandre

Hopefully there's a few of unique picks in there. I thought Urtasun might be one of them, but already I see EvansIsTheBest has him as well.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Hopefully there's a few of unique picks in there. I thought Urtasun might be one of them, but already I see EvansIsTheBest has him as well.

Sorry about that but having spent 7500, I really needed 0-pointers and it's not like there were Cobo-level 0-pointers this year so I had to take Urtasun. I almost took Blain too but went with Bouhanni's brother instead (Nacer was one of the best picks I ever so I decided to give his little brother a chance (that and Rayane was probably the best french junior in 2014)).

 

[ingsve]

Here is the team I got together. I pretty much started tonight at 8pm CET and spent about an hour on it.

MARECZKO Jakub
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael
EWAN Caleb
TEUNS Dylan
OLIVIER Daan
LARSSON Gustav Erik
FROOME Chris
YATES Simon
CAVENDISH Mark
PORTE Richie
GESINK Robert
KANGERT Tanel
HAUSSLER Heinrich
CARBEL SVENDGAARD Michael
CORT NIELSEN Magnus
BAUHAUS Phil
KÜNG Stefan
EIKING Odd Christian
FLAKEMORE Campbell
HIVERT Jonathan
ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor
PAOLINI Luca
REICHENBACH Sébastien
MOSER Moreno
ELISSONDE Kenny
GOSS Matthew
MOHORIC Matej
KUMP Marko
SILVESTRE Fabio Andre Tomas


One rider I'm hoping will do well is Marko Kump. He usually does very well when he rides for Adria Mobil but when he went to Geox and later Saxo-Tinkoff he has struggled. Now he's back with Adrai Mobil again and I'm hoping he'll get the same points bump he got last time he rejoined them.

Otherwise I have no idea how the team will do. I missed Rick Zabel who I had planned to have in my team but today when I put it together I forgot about him.

 

[Jancouver]

Would be interested how my team will go as this is my first go so hoping to be mid pack at best!

Also if anyone has any feedback on my team would be good to hear as was not sure on a few... i do think i have gone aussie heavy as they were the riders i knew and also had a few fan picks in there with the OGE guys... So im thinking there is my first mistake... but Chaves is gonna smash it this year! hopefully...

Looking through the list though i was staggered at how many riders i had absolutely no idea on...

I did really want to pick Tim DE TROYER though purely as i thought his name was destroyer and thought that was a great name... but alas he was too expensive for a throwaway pick...

Anyway here is my team

ANACONA GOMEZ Winner Andrew
ARGUELYES RODRIGES Arkimedes
ARU Fabio
ATAPUMA HURTADO Jhon Darwin
BARGUIL Warren
BECKERINGH Derk Abel
BLYTHE Adam
CAVENDISH Mark
CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban
DE BOER Joris
DE GENDT Thomas
DECLERCQ Tim
EIJSSEN Yannick
EWAN Caleb
FLAKEMORE Campbell
GOSS Matthew
HEPBURN Michael
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
LE MEVEL Christophe
MOSER Moreno
NIEMIEC Przemyslaw
PORTE Richie
POWER Robert
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander
ROULSTON Hayden
STETINA Peter
SULZBERGER Bernard
SULZBERGER Wesley
TANNER David
VAN DER SANDEN Harm
YATES Simon
ZABEL Rick

And i have just realised i forgot to put the Morton brothers in there! Argh.. i reckon Lachlan will go somewhat better this year as he seems way more relaxed with his brother.. Oh well... thats not gonna be the only pick i have realised i forgot i reckon...

I think LE MEVEL Christophe just retired.

BTW I was looking at Atapuma too

Edit: I was not looking at Atapuma but Arredondo from Trek