Update #8: Upheval in the standings as LightBing takes over
Just like the unpredictable, exciting racing we saw this weekend at Strade Bianche and in the opening day of Paris-Nice, the overall standings of the CQ game got shredded this week, with a brand new overall podium, and 3 teams doing a double-digit leap into the top 10 overall. Up until this point rare picks have been driving the standings, but with sort-of popular riders like Kwiatkowski (62 teams), Van Keirsbulck (48 teams), Benoot (49 teams) and Carapaz (40 teams) scoring big this week, there were some clear differences between teams who gained and teams who suffered this week. Of course, to reach the top of the weekly standings, you have to gain an edge somewhere on top of these popular picks, like, say, a unique pick who scores big.
This Week's Top Scorers
Rank Team Points this week
1 shalgo 729
2 AlyKaptan 615
3 Kazistuta 597
4 fauniera 593
5 Maaaaaaaarten 568
This one wasn't even close. The only team to have breakout Langkawi star Ryan Gibbons was shalgo; that's a handy 176 points for a unique pick, almost as much as Kwiatkowski got for winning Strade Bianche (who shalgo also has). The other boxes are checked with Benoot, Van Keirsbulck and Carapaz, but then just for fun their team got 74 points from Mekseb Debesay (2 teams). Handy points, but shalgo would have won the week even without them. Second place AlyKaptan didn't have either of the Africans, but did have all the other above-mentioned riders plus Adam Yates, who also won in Italy. Third place Kazistuta had a similar makeup, but swap Yates for Egan Bernal and you've got it.
This Week's High Movers
Rank Team up/down
1 AlyKaptan (+48)
2 adamski101 (+39)
3 Popchu (+38)
4 Kazistuta (+37)
5 shalgo (+35)
Some solid moves up the chart this week. shalgo was too high up in the overall to move up much higher, so ends up 5th in this category and AlyKaptan wins the week. adamski101 and Popchu do better than their top 10 scores in the top scorer category and appear on the update this week.
Green Jersey Competition
Rank Team Total
1 ItalianGigolo 71.2
2 Nicosix 67
2 DJW 67
2 Trudgin 67
5 the asian 61
5 LightBing 61
5 GP Blanco 61
Wow! The overall is very strangely tied in a number of ways. ItalianGigolo stays on top, but Nicosix gets 8 points for the week to make a three-way tie for 2nd place; the asian scores 16 points to move into a 3-way tie for 5th. It seemed like only yesterday teams were getting in the top 5 overall for winning a week, but this week's winner shalgo only makes it to 12th overall this week with the 45 points for the win.
Top 10 Overall
Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (+3) LightBing 2360
2 (+7) HelgeBlendet 2300
3 (+7) Pentacycle 2291
4 (+12) tom_jelte 2276
5 (-) Total Package 2264
6 (-) Russell23 2255
7 (+10) Nicosix 2240
8 (-7) greenedge 2233
9 (+35) shalgo 2225
10 (-7) jeroenk 2221
As promised, mostly big moves! greenedge, who's led this thing since Obama was still president, finally has his hold broken on the top spot and tumbles down to 8th. LightBing has a quietly solid week, and is on top! HelgeBlended and former winner Pentacycle jump up to the podium. Pandemonium elsewhere, with Total Package and Russell23 staying put as a collective sea of calm in all the turmoil. tom_jelte, Nicosix and weekly winner shalgo just vault into the top 10, while Eyeballs Out, Squire, and lenissart fall out. But really, it's carnage everywhere - I count 69 teams - more than half the teams in the game - that either rose or fell 10 spots or more. Paris-Nice is the main draw this week, and with many of the GC points likely to be taken up by rare/non-picked riders, it might be a more subdued week; although Tirenno is starting, and if the last few days of racing have shown us anything, it's that anything can happen.
spreadsheet at dropbox
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