Update #29: Overall and weekly leaders singing Teuns of happiness
The Tour is over, July is over, and we are into the final phase of the season. That means that the table is set for the endgame of the CQ Manager game, which is always a little more exciting in the late summer and fall. It's pretty easy to guess in advance of the year who is going to score big points in the spring classics and the Giro/Tour (although of course there are always surprises), but there are still lots of points up for grabs in the summer and fall, and the races often depends on who's in form, who has shifted their goals from earlier this year, and sometimes even just who shows up to a thinned-out start line.
At any rate, the first post-Tour week resulted in a fair amount of movement, and both the top weekly scoring and top overall scoring tables are very tight.
This Week's Top Scorers
Rank Team Points this week
1 del1962 806
2 Roubaix 805
3 Sneekes 786
4 postmanhat 708
5 Kazistuta 705
It was a close one this week, with del1962 taking it by 0.125% or so over Roubaix, 1 point difference with over 800 points, phew! Both had Kwiatkowski and Teuns as the big scorers, as well as decently scoring popular picks Gougeard (FINALLY scoring some points this year) and Landa. The difference was made in the little points, with each team having points from 16 riders. It's impossible to tell where the one-point difference was made, but let's highlight that del's pick, old man Stijn Devolder, got 45 points this week. I didn't think I'd be spotlighting him in any more CQ updates, so might as well take the opportunity when possible. Let's not let this battle overshadow the fact that third place Sneekes was tantalizingly close as well, with main points coming from the same popular bunch as the top two (Kwiatko, Teuns, Landa, Gougeard, Power, Viviani), but fewer minor points.
This Week's High Movers
Rank Team up/down
1 Spice_Girls (+17)
2 Roubaix (+13)
3 Gotland (+10)
3 Martin (+10)
5 Kjellus (+9)
5 Armchair cyclist (+9)
Wow, only one name in common between the two lists, that's rare! That's indicative of the fact that 4 of the 5 top scorers on the week were already in the top 25 overall and so didn't have very much further to move up. At any rate, Spice_Girls tops the list this week (I think the first time I've seen them at the head of an update this year, congrats!), moving up 17 spots on the back of contributions from the usual suspects (all the popular riders from the previous part of the update), but is the only team I've mentioned so far with both Tuens and Theuns, the latter of which contributed 18 points. Roubaix ends up bridesmaid again, although the 4-place difference between 1st and 2nd here wasn't quite as close as the 1-point difference on the previous list. Gotland and Martin tie for the last podium place.
Green Jersey Competition
Rank Team Total
1 fauniera 208
2 scrooll07 206
3 the asian 195
4 Kazistuta 179
5 Blues in the bottle 172
After the flurry of TdF results, the top 2 teams in this competition take a back seat, while 3rd and 4th draw closer. the asian gets 16 points this week and Kazistuta gets 22 as the top 5 are all within a week's points of the overall lead.
This Month's Top Scorers
Rank Team Points this month
1 scrooll07 2812
2 fauniera 2762
3 the asian 2479
4 del1962 2421
5 Kazistuta 2415
July is over, and it's no surprise that its biggest returns came from those teams who dominated the Tour updates. scrooll07 rode the combo of unique pick Froome and almost-unique pick Kittel to win the month, albeit not handily, with second place fauniera (largely getting points from Uran/Landa/Aru at the Tour) only 50 points back. Theirs was a classic 'you take the stage and I'll move up GC' breakaway move, with scrooll taking 3 weeks in a row, but fauniera being rewarded for consistency in those same weeks (two 2nd places and a 6th) culminating with the overall lead last week.
This Month's High Movers
Rank Team Points this month Up/down this month
1 scrooll07 2812 (+34)
2 adamski101 2297 (+29)
3 R_O_Shipman 1983 (+25)
3 postmanhat 2366 (+25)
3 Gotland 1993 (+25)
scrooll07 had a slow start to the year, but July was a big springboard for what could be a strong end to the year. With Froome targeting the Vuelta pretty seriously this time around, the 34-place jump from July may not be the highest left in the year for this team. adamski101 had a solid month as well; despite being overlooked in the Froome/scrooll dominance, their team parlayed strong months from Aru/Barguil/Landa/Bernal/Benoot/Degenkolb to rest just outside the top 40 overall at month's end. There's a 3-way tie for third on the month, with all 3 teams getting a healthy 25-spot jump.
Top 10 Overall
Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (+1) the asian 11110
2 (-1) fauniera 11081
3 (-) GP Blanco 10705
4 (-) tom_jelte 10518
5 (+6) del1962 10405
6 (+3) Kazistuta 10343
7 (-2) Gigs_98 10320
8 (-1) Squire 10312
9 (+1) HelgeBlendet 10308
10 (-4) Object 10303
Things are darn tight at the top, and the lead switches hands again! the asian takes the lead by a mere 29 points over previous week's leader fauniera, while former leader GP Blanco holds solidly to 3rd. With 12 teams over 10000 points, it's all to play for heading into the Vuelta. Only one change in the top 10, as weekly winner del1962 rockets into the top 10 (and in fact top 5), while Maaaaaaarten falls just out.
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