The 2017 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[HelgeBlendet]

Thanks for the update!

Dropped down a bit to 21, but that was expected. Very happy with Valls and McCarthy so far hope they'll get some more chances during the season.

This week, I've got:
Dubai
Degenkolb
Dillier
Maronese
Teuns
Viviani

Degenkolb to conquer the Dam

Bessèges
Boeckmans
Politt
Van Keirsbulck

Go on... surprise me!

Valenciana
Kwiatkowski
Küng
Lampaert
Mamykin

Hopefully, Kwiat feels better than last year. Looking forward to what Mamykin shows, but I don't expect anything and the same goes for Küng and Lampaert.

Herald Sun Tour
Power

Guess Orica is all in for Chaves/Gerrans? Power in a breakaway maybe? Anyone knows something about his form? Why did he disappear?

 

[GP Blanco]

Happy to move up some spots.

This week:
Dubai Tour
VIVIANI Elia
DEGENKOLB John
CONSONNI Simone

Hopefully Degenkolb for the dam. The other two sprinters for some points.

Herald Sun Tour
POWER Robert

Depends on his role.

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
GOUGEARD Alexis
KÜNG Stefan
LAMPAERT Yves
ROGLIC Primoz

Roglic hopefully top 10 and the others minus Gougeard TTT points.

 

[ThePirate81]

My riders for the upcoming races:

Dubai Tour (2.HC)
Degenkolb
Viviani

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.1)
De Marchi
Kung
Adam Yates
De Plus
Mullen
Kruijswijk
Mamykin
Ludvigsson

Herald Sun Tour (2.1)
-

Etoile de Bessèges (2.1)
Van der Sande
Peters

GC points from Adam Yates and Kruijswijk,TTT points from De Marchi,Kung,Mullen and Ludvigsson. I don't expect anything from Mamykin so early in the season,but who knows?

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

My team for coming week:

Dubai Tour
DILLIER, Silvan
VIVIANI, Elia
DEGENKOLB, John

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
KWIATKOWSKI, Michal
ROGLIČ, Primož
GOUGEARD, Alexis
MAMYKIN, Matvey
DE PLUS, Laurens

Herald Sun Tour
POWER, Robert

Etoile de Bessèges
VAN KEIRSBULCK, Guillaume

 

[Valv.Piti]

So gutted I didn't make a team. I guess Ill have to wait to next year and play Velogames instead..

 

[armchairclimber]

Can we please finish the competition now, whilst I am above Skidmark. Ta.

 

[Squire]

I'm 2nd out of the teams who haven't had an Aussie score points yet (1st if you count points scored after last update). Good place to be at the end of January.

 

[skidmark]

Well, let's see how my teams are doing this week:

Dubai

Elia Viviani
John Degenkolb
Simone Consonni

Dege is of course doing well, but everyone has him, so that's more about taking top points instead of other riders. Viviani isn't doing so well but everyone has him, so it doesn't matter much. Consonni has finished up there, and I thought he'd be a good one for the Hatta Dam finish, but it got cancelled so he's in 24th place and will likely roll in for a handfull of points.

HST I've got nobody.

Valenciana

Michal Kwiatkowski
Stefan Kung
Matvey Mamykin
Yves Lampaert
Simone Ponzi

Kwiat didn't feature on the finish I thought would suit him; Kung was on the winning TTT for a few points but nothing in this race suits him; Lampaert was 4th on a sprint and Ponzi/Mamykin have been nowhere. Kinda blah, but it's early going - I expect Kwiat in the big points races, Lampaert in the classics, and the other guys later in the year.

Etoile de Besseges

Kris Boeckmans
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck

Anonymous - kind of a blah week for me. Again, I'll start getting worried when these guys are repeatedly not showing up in the one-day semi-classics, that'll be the real test.

Etruschi

Eduard-Michael Grosu
Filippo Ganna
Simone Petilli

Who knows? It's the start of the season in Italy, maybe Grosu will sprint for it?

 

[skidmark]

The week was pretty quiet for team skidmark - baseline points from Degenkolb and Vivani, which are necessary to build off of, but I'll need rarer picks to contribute more. Lampaert showed he's in good form with a few high finishes, but he's not fast enough to be a bunch sprinter and they only got him 6 points. But that's a good sign for the classics, if he can get in a small group with no one faster than him.

Two of my rarer picks, Grosu and Petilli, got 9th and 10th in Etruschi; only 16 and 12 points, but again, if they can do 5-10th placings in some .HC and .1 races that will build up by season's end. Next week is going to be boring with the cancelled races, but then it should pick up by the end of the month and Het Volk.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I scored 315 points in Dubai, don't think I scored any in other races. Really happy with Minali's performance and although Consonni didn't finish high up on GC, he still showed fast legs on stage 1.

 

[lenissart]

For me, : Minali, Degenkolb, Viviani, Roson, Laporte, and Dillier/Vliegen (with a stupid 10 places lost grrrr).

Probably not enough for a first top15 (and some green jersey points), but maybe a new top25 ^^

 

[Pentacycle]

@lennissart
The cancellation of Hatta and that last stage indeed ruined two possible top tens for Dillier and Vliegen...

On a positive note for my team, Ludvigsson has found his climbing legs again, and Latour is off to a promising start with decent GC points in Besseges, a race that was more suited for rouleurs and puncheurs.

 

[lenissart]

Re:

@lennissart
The cancellation of Hatta and that last stage indeed ruined two possible top tens for Dillier and Vliegen...

I know, I know ...

 

[skidmark]

Update #4: Standing on the Shoulders of Giant-Alpecin's Former Stars

If there has been a theme of the first few weeks of the season, it has been that the person with the best rare picks has won the week. That also means that the more popular riders haven't really scored big yet. That all changed this week with the Dubai Tour, with the two most popular picks in the game, Degenkolb and Viviani, scoring 138 and 89 points respectively. Of course, if most teams scored those points, it would be whoever had those guys AND some unique points that would take the week - picking up points from the Herald Sun Tour, Valenciana, and Besseges would be key to a big week.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank Team Points this week
1 scrooll07 581
2 Guigsteam 466
3 Roar Like A Mouse 449
4 Spice_Girls 412
5 DJW 387

scrooll07 gets huge points this week with the former dynamic duo from Giant-Alpecin - but who are both with different teams now (and of course that team has become Team Sunweb) - John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel. Of course, Kittel was the most popular pick last year, and Degenkolb is this year; Kittel also, of course, scored a ton last year and so he is now one of the least popular picks, on two teams. This 'tale of two cities' pairing in terms of popularity carries over to scrooll's 3rd and 4th biggest weekly scorers, Vivani (2nd most popular) and Froome (unique pick at over 2500 points!!) This combo of riders might net scrooll's team a few appearances on this leaderboard before the year is up. Second was the other Kittel team, Guigsteam - although, they didn't have Degenkolb or Viviani, but were backed up by their own unique expensive pick, Nairo Quintana. Phew! That is quite the firepower in those two teams. Third is Roar Like A Mouse, with Viviani/Degenkolb points supplemented by another high-scoring rare pick, Lilian Calmejane, who is already at 195 of his surprising 2016 total of 338.

This Week's High Movers

Rank Team up/down
1 Roar Like A Mouse (+49)
2 scrooll07 (+48)
2 Guigsteam (+48)
4 Spice_Girls (+32)
5 DJW (+29)

No surprise that on such a week where some big guns in terms of riders are flexing their muscle for the first time, the high movers are the same as the high scorers. Exactly the same top 5 but in different order.

Sidenote: last week I could have done January's monthly high scorers and movers, but of course the high scorer table was the same as the overall, and the top mover was just everyone moving down from being tied for spot 1. I forgot to mention it last week.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank Team Total
1 LightBing 61
2 archieboy 59
3 greenedge 46.2
4 scrooll07 45
4 Nicosix 45

Last week's winner LightBing holds onto top spot, although the first week's winner archieboy gets 14 points for a top-10 placing and moves into second overall. The table is starting to take shape, but a weekly win will still get you in the top 5 overall.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (-) greenedge 1324
2 (-) LightBing 1203
3 (+3) jeroenk 1085
4 (-) karaev 1078
5 (-2) Jancouver 1053
6 (+1) sublimit 1051
7 (+4) 18-Valve. (pithy) 1035
7 (+13) lenissart 1035
9 (-) Eyeballs Out 1026
10 (+48) scrooll07 1008

Some strong holds here, things are mostly status quo, with the eye-popping jump of weekly winner scrooll07 being notable; as well, lenissart and 18-Valve jump into the top 10, while ansimi, Total Package, and Guybrush fall out. There's a slow week coming up after the cancellation of Qatar and Oman, we only have 2 1.1 Spanish races and a 1.HC Italian race. But then it heats up as we build up to the traditional European openers.

Spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[Guybrush]

tragic week for team Guybrush (powered by Grog) ®, but hey! the season is long!

riding this week (so far):

Murcia: Yoann Offredo, Emanuel Buchmann
Almeria: Yoann Ofrredo

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Turned out to be a petty useless week for me, but with Dillier not having Hatta Dam and with Roglic losing 8 minutes in the TTT it could have gone very different. At least Roglic showing good climbing form is promising for his season overall. If he can keep this level of climbing and finds his TT legs again, he could be a good pick.

 

[barmaher]

So any regrets yet?

I know he has yet to ride, but I am beginning to regret picking Adrien Costa. He is too expensive. I think he will get 300-400 points, but is too expensive for that.

I also think I did a bad job with my expensive picks. My 5 most expensive are below, and I would repick them now if I got the chance. I did a good job with the cheaper picks, but I think I messed up with the expensive ones.

LANDA MEANA Mikel
DEGENKOLB John
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
URAN URAN Rigoberto
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel

 

[GP Blanco]

Re:

So any regrets yet?

I know he has yet to ride, but I am beginning to regret picking Adrien Costa. He is too expensive. I think he will get 300-400 points, but is too expensive for that.

I also think I did a bad job with my expensive picks. My 5 most expensive are below, and I would repick them now if I got the chance. I did a good job with the cheaper picks, but I think I messed up with the expensive ones.

LANDA MEANA Mikel
DEGENKOLB John
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
URAN URAN Rigoberto
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel

I do not think that the first two are that bad. Degenkolb was the rider that was most obvious to chose and Landa has the chance to find his 2015 shape. I agree on Kruijswijk last year was his ceiling because one week races are not his strength. I did not pick Lopez Moreno after I heard he broke his leg. Uran I don't know, at least he his returning to classics.

 

[Popchu]

Re: Re:

So any regrets yet?

I know he has yet to ride, but I am beginning to regret picking Adrien Costa. He is too expensive. I think he will get 300-400 points, but is too expensive for that.

I also think I did a bad job with my expensive picks. My 5 most expensive are below, and I would repick them now if I got the chance. I did a good job with the cheaper picks, but I think I messed up with the expensive ones.

LANDA MEANA Mikel
DEGENKOLB John
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
URAN URAN Rigoberto
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel

I do not think that the first two are that bad. Degenkolb was the rider that was most obvious to chose and Landa has the chance to find his 2015 shape. I agree on Kruijswijk last year was his ceiling because one week races are not his strength. I did not pick Lopez Moreno after I heard he broke his leg. Uran I don't know, at least he his returning to classics.

I don't think Kruijswijk reached his ceiling yet, that's why I have him in my team too. He had that crash last year in the Giro, and was sick in the Vuelta. And I think he should be able to score more points in one week races than he did in the past. He's really one of the leaders of Lotto this year, and 8th in Valencia (even after a crash) was a good start imo.

At the moment the only rider I really regret is Mezgec. I should have put more thought into that decision. I included him in my team because I believe in him, but I didn't take into account the fact that he will have to work for Ewan, Cort and probably Keukeleire in almost every race he starts. So that's my only real regret so far. I know Lutsenko was way too costly with his 595 points (he needs like 900 points or more to be a good pick, I don't know?), although I firmly believe a big victory is within his reach this season (Amstel?). Maybe not the most rational pick, but overthinking every decision again and again takes the fun out of this game for me, and I'm very happy to have Lutsenko in my team.

Another rider I have doubts about is Moser. He is so allround, can almost do everything but that's also his weakness. Plus I see he's really incorporated in Aru's group, so I shouldn't hope for points in the Giro because he will work for Aru there. I hope he gets at least some chances to shine this year, but he's worth the gamble.

And of course I wish I had someone like Minali in my team instead of Van Staeyen or someone else, but I just don't have enough knowledge of the Italian U23-scene. And it's stil very early in the season so I won't draw too early conclusions.

Finally, I just forget König.

 

[barmaher]

Yeah I think we all had a few revelations when the teams were published, I am more wondering whether any buyer's remorse has kicked in yet.

I too believe in Kruijswijk, but I just don't see many opportunities for big points outside the Giro. And the competition in May will be fierce.

 

[armchairclimber]

For me the regrets are more about the riders that I jilted ... like Restreppo and Ewan. Both were largely underwhelming last year. Now I feel a bit like someone watching a couple of exes having rather too good a time with someone new.

 

[skidmark]

Re:

So any regrets yet?

I know he has yet to ride, but I am beginning to regret picking Adrien Costa. He is too expensive. I think he will get 300-400 points, but is too expensive for that.

I also think I did a bad job with my expensive picks. My 5 most expensive are below, and I would repick them now if I got the chance. I did a good job with the cheaper picks, but I think I messed up with the expensive ones.

LANDA MEANA Mikel
DEGENKOLB John
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
URAN URAN Rigoberto
LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel

I dunno, I think those are mostly good picks. Degenkolb obviously is good; obviously I think Landa is good since I have him; Uran has a high floor and a pretty good ceiling; Lopez is a phenom, injury or no, and will get alot of points and has room for growth and will get more chances without Nibali on the team (although I dunno how much he'll get in the Tour, it's not like he got much in his GT experience last year anyway)... Kruijswijk is the one I'd be skeptical of, as he's never shown a very high ceiling, other than of course his 'what if' of the Giro win. Even so, he got 4th still and got points for the stage win and jersey, so his best case scenario isn't that much higher in the Giro. He'd have to find that form in the Vuelta too to be really worthwhile.

My only regret so far is Machado. I had doubts, I shouldn't have picked him, he looks done. Should have taken Albanese instead. Maybe I'd trade out Boeckmans, but no one in that range really called to me. Trofimov is not an interesting pick, and someone else I considered like Garcia Cortina I dunno if he'll get enough experience this year to really step up.

 

[del1962]

There's a slow week coming up after the cancellation of Qatar and Oman

Is Oman cancelled?

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I only heard Ciccone has some heart problems a week or two ago; I don't know for how long this has been known but if I'd known that I wouldn't have picked him. Otherwise he seems like a very talented climber who can do well in anything from hilly terrain to high mountains and he would mostly be racing on the Italian domestic calendar where he would have plenty of opportunity to earn some points.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

well, I regret that I forgot about Calmejane (as I wrote in the 'lesser known race results' thread). Not that he for sure will double or so. But the gusto he proved already last year will for sure give more points this year with that practice. And he showed it in his first race!