The 2016 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[skidmark]

Will there be another game in 2017 and if yes: how can I join?

You bet there will - game thread will be up in this forum within a week, instructions will be detailed there. But it will be pretty much the same as this year, so you can read the first posts of this thread to familiarize yourself with the general rules, if you are keen on it.

 

[del1962]

Can we have a 2017 discussions thread outside the main thread where potential pick are mentioned or alluded to or is that a bad idea

 

[skidmark]

Final Update (#42)

Hi all, this is my belated (sorry) end-of-year update, taking into account the races in November. There was very little scoring, but enough that a few dozen teams picked up some points. For posterity's sake, I'll include a link to the final official standings.

For those curious about the 2017 game, the game thread will be up very soon! I am hoping to get it up in the next 5 days.

November's Top Scorers

Rank Team Points this week
1 laarsland 96
2 BalearicBeats 85
3 ItalianGigolo 65
3 18-Valve. (pithy) 65
5 skidmark 55
5 Schleckamagurky 55
5 archieboy 55

Unique picks Mareczko (for laarsland) and Yonder Godoy (for BalearicBeats) were enough for these teams to get an end-of-year shoutout. The 5 teams that picked Eduard-Michael Grosu finally saw a bit of payoff for him as well, as he picked up 55 of his 163 points in November.

November's High Movers

Rank Team Up/down
1 laarsland (+7)
2 the asian (+3)
2 Schleckamagurky (+3)
2 Londonpat (+3)
5 18-Valve. (pithy) (+1)
5 ItalianGigolo (+1)
5 bort (+1)
5 fauniera (+1)

The top 5 captures all the upwards movement in the table, which is unsurprising at the end of the year.

Final Green Jersey Standings

Rank Team Total
1 Emericlabordure 308
2 Eric10 227
3 togo95 209.7
4 Slapshot 202
5 scrooll07 180
6 Jancouver 175
7 Roda_na_Frente 173
7 freshman 173
9 LaVelocipede 170
10 Roubaix 169

No movement here - Eric10, already firmly in 2nd overall, was the only scorer this update.

Final Polka Dot Jersey Standings

Rank Team Points Wk42
1 Emericlabordure 155.4
2 scrooll07 130.3
3 the_fool_on_the_hill 118
4 freshman 117
5 just some guy 100.5
6 Sasquatch 98.7
7 Eric10 96
8 Roubaix 94.5
9 ironted 94
10 Sneekes 90

No movement or points in the top 10.

Congratulations to Emericlabordure, who picked high-cost, high-reward riders (sprinters) that tend to score in clumps, and also picked three French sprinters, which maximized chances of scoring in the same periods (lots of the HC and .1 French races had at least two of the three of Bouhanni, Coquard and Demare lining up). These choices allowed their team to dominate both competitions this year.

Final top 10

Rank Team Points
1 skidmark 15392
2 jeroenk 14707
3 abbulf 14448
4 Squire 14340
5 togo95 14332
6 Eric10 14316
7 Hugo Koblet 14206
8 Kazistuta 14100
9 search 14097
10 CraZyCaLL 13818

No movement this update, and the final podium is in - team skidmark becomes the first two-time winner of this game, while jeroenk and abbulf pick up hard-fought podium spots.

Thanks to everyone for playing, and we will talk very soon about next year!

Spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[Jancouver]

Thanks for the update and for the running the game!

I finished 16th (tie with LaFlo so I'm at a good company ) which is my best so far. Also a little surprising as I always go for many "unusual" picks and also pick too much with my heart. Also leaving out Lopez just because he is on Astana probably cost me Top 10.

On the other hand, my rare picks delivered 6th place at the Green Jersey competition so at least I had some luck there.

Thanks all for playing and looking forward to 2017. No big hopes for me next year as I again have too many "wishful" names on my short list

 

[Squire]

Re:

Thanks, skidmark, for all the hard work, and congratulations on the victory!

A tiny nitpick is that for the green jersey competition to be entirely fair, all gameweeks should count (I think you combined the two weeks of Tour of Taihu, IIRC). I can see why it may feel a bit stupid having a few tiny CQ points spread over two weeks and potentially award two weekly wins, but if anyone is aiming for the green jersey competition, this is exactly the sort of situation they would be planning for and trying to take advantage of. Randomly combining two gameweeks could be a bit unfair. Of course I can also see that it's not extremely motivating making these small updates at the end of the season.


On another note: In January I wrote this:

Anything less than top 5 would disappoint me!

Target reached! I made some stupid picks, like Sergent and Farrar, the types of which I intend to avoid next year. Next step will be aiming for a podium, although a lot can happen in this game.

Hopefully StephenC2020 can provide us with the optimal 2016 team.

 

[skidmark]

Re: Re:

Thanks, skidmark, for all the hard work, and congratulations on the victory!

A tiny nitpick is that for the green jersey competition to be entirely fair, all gameweeks should count (I think you combined the two weeks of Tour of Taihu, IIRC). I can see why it may feel a bit stupid having a few tiny CQ points spread over two weeks and potentially award two weekly wins, but if anyone is aiming for the green jersey competition, this is exactly the sort of situation they would be planning for and trying to take advantage of. Randomly combining two gameweeks could be a bit unfair. Of course I can also see that it's not extremely motivating making these small updates at the end of the season.


On another note: In January I wrote this:

Anything less than top 5 would disappoint me!

Target reached! I made some stupid picks, like Sergent and Farrar, the types of which I intend to avoid next year. Next step will be aiming for a podium, although a lot can happen in this game.

Hopefully StephenC2020 can provide us with the optimal 2016 team.

Hey Squire, point taken, for sure. Situationally, the two weeks weren't 'randomly' combined - it was just that the situation you described, of a result that would be relevant in any way to the results of the competition, did not arise, and so I felt fine combining the two weeks. If there was a result forthcoming that involved riders and teams fighting at the top of the standings, I would certainly play out those weeks 'by the books' and have done updates for both. That in itself is playing a bit loose and fast with the rules, as 'properly' I should update each week. So yeah, I was a bit lazy, guilty as charged. I'll think on how to better handle the end of season next year.

Aside from that, I just want to say congratulations to you on a successful season and return to the game! Obviously, you stated at the outset that you did a lot of analysis about what it takes to be successful in the game, and it worked! There is definitely an element of luck to everything here, so a bit of health and form from a few riders will determine whether you finish first, fifth or twentieth, but the bulk of it is in the work you do, so congrats and good luck next year.

 

[Squire]

To all of you for your entertainment in the off-season, here are a lot of CQ game statistics!


Top overall score
Rank, name, total score
1 skidmark 84660
2 Kazistuta 78266
3 MADRAZO 77845
4 mc_mountain 77078
5 EvansIsTheBest 76506
6 ingsve 76139
7 Hugo Koblet 75730
8 will10 74841
9 Armchair cyclist 74734
10 Ferminal 74422

Kazistuta made a big leap in this list compared to last year: From 7th to 2nd!


Average placement (3+ participations)
Rank, name, (no. of participations), average placement
1 Geraint Too Fast (5) 16
2 skidmark (6) 16,2
3 The Hitch (5) 16,4
4 freshman (3) 23
5 gustienordic (4) 24
6 Kazistuta (6) 25
7 Nyssinator (3) 26
8 Kjellus (3) 26
9 Cykeltyven (3) 27
10 bicing (4) 28

This year, previous leader The Hitch was finally overtaken by both Geraint Too Fast and skidmark.


Top weekly scores
Rank, name, weekly score, (after which race)
1 Ben1376 2146 (Giro d'Italia 2014)
2 fauniera 2101 (Giro d'Italia 2014)
3 CQmanager 2063 (Tour de France 2015)
4 Kwibus 1962 (Vuelta a Espana 2011)
5 kurtinsc 1940 (Vuelta a Espana 2011)
6 Milanello 1930 (Giro d'Italia 2014)
7 Ruvu75 1899 (Tour de France 2015)
8 highoctane 1885 (Giro d'Italia 2014)
9 Slow_Rider 1875 (Giro d'Italia 2014)
10 MCardinalR 1874 (Giro d'Italia 2014)

Despite having the entire podium of the 2014 Giro, Ben1376 finished the year in 82nd place.


Top yearly scores
Rank, name, yearly score, (year)
1 skidmark 19372 (2012)
2 Kvinto 18106 (2012)
3 Nyssinator 17785 (2012)
4 FF'Wilco 17116 (2012)
5 TeoSheva 17096 (2012)
6 Armchair cyclist 17092 (2012)
7 EvansIsTheBest 16911 (2012)
8 mc_mountain 16479 (2012)
9 shalgo 16446 (2012)
10 Netserk 16319 (2012)

The first non-2012 yearly score on the list is at no. 13: Cykeltyven's 2015.


Most popular picks
Rank, name, percentage of teams, (year)
1 BOONEN Tom 92,0 % (2014)
2 KITTEL Marcel 91,7 % (2016)
3 SCHLECK Andy 90 % (2013)
4 HUSHOVD Thor 89 % (2013)
5 HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis 86 % (2015)
6 EWAN Caleb 85 % (2015)
7 SCHLECK Andy 85 % (2014)
8 BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto 84 % (2016)
9 BRESCHEL Matti 83 % (2012)
10 HAUSSLER Heinrich 82 % (2011)

On 16 occasions has a rider been picked by more than 3/4ths of all teams. Andy Schleck is the only one to have had this honour twice.


Top overall picks
Rank, name, overall picks
1 PHINNEY Taylor 293
2 GOSS Matthew 289
3 DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd 279
4 BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto 272
5 MOSER Moreno 260
6 SCHLECK Andy 257
7 BOONEN Tom 252
8 HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis 215
9 EWAN Caleb 213
10 DE GENDT Thomas 208

Numbers 6, 7 & 8 in this list are the only riders who have been the top pick for a particular year.


Trivia

skidmark is the only player to double the value of his team on more than one occasion - and he has done it three times!

Master of consistency I: Geraint_too_Fast is the only player with five or more participations who has never finished outside the top 30.

Master of consistency II: If we look past the rather meaningless last weekly update (#42), skidmark comfortably won the 2016 game by placing in the weekly top 10 just once, and that was a 9th place!

Go big or go home: Pentacycle's only top 60 placing in four participations came in 2014 - when he won the game!

This year we lost five of the ever presents. There are now only 19 people who have participated every year of the game.

No weekly score outside the end week for a GT has ever reached 1500 points.

2016 is the only year where the top weekly score hasn't come after a GT: 1387 points for Kjellus after Tour de Suisse.

As many as 59 riders have been picked at least once every year of the game. This includes two pairs of brothers (Sagan and Velits).

Carlos Betancur has incurred the biggest net loss in the game (counting both profitable and non-profitable season): -34198 points!

Carlos Betancur also has the single biggest loss-incurring season: Losing a total of 39228 points in 2015. Ricco's 2011 is in second place with a total loss of 30744 points for all players combined (-31752 if we go by the rules that was in place in 2011: That riders caught doping lost all their scored points).

Tom Boonen's net score of 206108 points is the highest in the game, highly influenced by his successful 2012 and 2014 seasons both coming on the back of very unsuccessful seasons (which made him a popular and cheap pick).

Marcel Kittel has the record for the most points earned in one season across all players, with 136488 points in 2016.



Let me know if anyone wants me to post the entire list for any of the categories!

 

[Jancouver]

Thanks Squire for the interesting numbers. Quite fascinating.

 

[Kazistuta]

Fun reading indeed. Thx Squire!

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Yeah that's some great research! Well done!

 

[Netserk]

Congratulations skidmark with the overall win and your first top-5 in an update this year! (If I'm not mistaken, it is your only top-8 in an update for this season , which boggles the mind, since so few points were on the table)

I guess it would have been quite cool to win the game without being among "This Week's Top Scorers" in any update, but Grosu cost you the ninja title