The 2018 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Popchu]

Decent week again which sees me in second place for another week. Looking forward how Paris-Nice unfolds, since I think this week is my only chance to grab the first position. Alaphilippe needs to score big, and even then it is not guaranteed I'll lead the competition. Nathanptz (1st) and Squire (3rd) both have Geraint Thomas so even if I'll take the first spot, it won't last long.

Thanks for the update, skidmark.

 

[Riverside]

Soooolre... probably I'll finally wouldn't be the last one

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Meh with Izagirre, Alaphilippe and Oomen I'd have hoped for a bit more than this. :Neutral:

Overall Izagirre is actually looking pretty good so far though. Long way to go before he'll definitively be a good pick of course, but he seems to be on the right track. Can't help but think about what would have happened if he didn't drop back from the Soler move though.

 

[Koronin]

At least I should get some good points from Soler for this week.

 

[skidmark]

Hmm, not the best week for my team... more of a 'defensive' week, ie. hoping that popular high-profile picks that I don't have don't score too many points. On that front, Alaphilippe's showing in the first 6 stages and 173.5km was worryingly good, but then the high mountains were a little too much. That is a relief for me because my showing there was terrible. Oomen is incredibly solid as usual, finishing 13th (last year he was 14th, and has been 15th, 13th and 13th in 3 stage races this year), but I picked him hoping he'd take a leap. Certainly he still can, since his 3 races were the TdU, Algarve where he almost dropped out with knee pain, and a wet, unpredictable Paris-Nice. Still plenty of road to go this year. Other than that, Chaves didn't do anything and Craddock, although he looked good through the TT, didn't even hang around for 5 points. Other than that, a few people have Soler and a few have Ion, but overall the damage is limited.

T-A has given me very little, and Geraint Thomas (who I don't have) looks poised to pick up some points. He keeps his reputation of being snakebitten intact with the mechanical, but really he's lined up for 2nd place at least. So that's not great for my team, especially since Cav was out before he started and Lopez is looking not so great.

Capiot got 13th in Drenthe, but when you're citing a couple of 13th places as highlights of the week, you know it's more of a survival week.

 

[armchairclimber]

Having Soler, this should be a reasonable week for me .... but I am disappointed that Alaphilippe and Jungels have failed so badly in the mountains.

 

[fauniera]

T-A has given me very little, and Geraint Thomas (who I don't have) looks poised to pick up some points. He keeps his reputation of being snakebitten intact with the mechanical, but really he's lined up for 2nd place at least.

Caruso lost only 16 seconds to Thomas at last years San Benedetto time trial. If he can repeat that it will be "only" third place for Thomas.

Bad week for me as well. I knew that Alaphilippe doesn't like long climbs, but 18th place in the gc is a disappointment. Lots of points for Thomas and Ion Izagirre (who i both don't have) is obviously bad, but it easily could have been even worse.

DJ Sprtsch will be happy with this week, as he has Thomas and Izagirre. Plus Valverde! Alaphilippe really needs to perform in April to counter that.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Yes, I am pretty happy! But still, what was Izaguirre doing, first the dropping back and then crashing into his brother! And Gesink disappoints (again). As well as Chaves.
Anyway, as for now it seems I have a pretty solid team for the year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Think I scored maybe 50 points, max.

 

[Netserk]

If Thomas gets 3rd, he will lose ~40 points compared to last year in T-A.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Yes, I am pretty happy! But still, what was Izaguirre doing, first the dropping back and then crashing into his brother! And Gesink disappoints (again). As well as Chaves.
Anyway, as for now it seems I have a pretty solid team for the year.

I don't have either of the Izaguirre brothers, however, someone needs to make sure they stop crashing into each other. That is never a good thing.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Very disappointing week with Alaphilippe completely letting me down in Paris-Nice and Gaviria now out of Milan-Sanremo. Oh well, there's always next year

 

[postmanhat]

A little bit heartening to see others having a poor week, as I thought Porte's absence from Tirreno would be pretty costly. As it is, Crddock's showing enough to suggest he'll pick up some points in the American races at least. Formolo will likely suffer in the ITT, but seems rejuvenated at Bora. And Capiot moves into profit and should get better. He's going in Danlith, along with Smith, Halvorsen and De Bie. Will be disapointed to not get at least one top ten there. Handzame, just Menten and Halvorsen, who won it last year, so potentially a good midweek

 

[skidmark]

Update #9: Soler Power Fuels Top Teams

**note: I'm still looking for people to take on the posting of the updates for June and July. If you are interested, please let me know either here or by PM, thanks!**

With Paris-Nice the only major points on offer this week, plus some stages of Tirenno-Adriatico, it had the potential for an interesting week. And the big points were picked up by pretty rare riders. Accordingly, there were some serious runs up the overall table by a number of teams.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank Team Points this week
1 archieboy 650
2 DJW 501
3 Riverside 486
4 Blues in the bottle 484
5 drebelo 474

archieboy absolutely crushes it this week, outscoring second place by almost 150 points! The 13 teams that had Marc Soler (327 points from Paris-Nice) were always going to have the advantage this week, but it was his breakaway companion on stage 8, unique pick David De La Cruz (130 points), that puts archieboy over the top. 61 points from Carapaz (8 teams) and 53 from Oomen (33 teams) help out as well. DJW turns in a more-than-respectable 2nd place, breaking 500 points almost entirely on the back of Soler, Oomen and almost unique pick (2 teams) Patrick Konrad with a breakthrough performance and 116 points. Riverside squeaks into third with Alaphilippe and Landa bolstering Soler's haul.

This Week's High Movers

Rank Team Up/down
1 archieboy (+75)
2 drebelo (+46)
3 Eyeballs Out (+44)
4 Eric10 (+42)
5 scrooll07 (+40)

archieboy doubles up with the domination, and no matter how you slice it, a 75-spot leap in a single week is pretty incredible. Don't let this overshadow the other impressive leaps, such as 46 places for second-place drebelo (notable rider that hasn't been mentioned: Fraile, 4 teams, got 66 points) and 44 places for third-place Eyeballs Out.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank Team Total
1 Jon_Ezeitza 90
2 Kryvo 80
3 archieboy 77
4 18-Valve. (pithy) 74
5 ChrisDK 72

No team can yet touch the early season double-weekly-win total of Jon Ezeitza, but archieboy enters the conversation at #3 overall with the 45 points this week adding to 2 for 14th last week, and 30 more for 3rd place in week 6. Other than that the top 5 doesn't score, and lower down Blues in the bottle moves to 6th and last year's winner scrooll07 into 10th.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (+15) Blues in the bottle 2625
2 (-1) Nathanptz 2537
3 (-1) Popchu 2534
4 (-1) Squire 2464
5 (-1) Kryvo 2449
6 (+1) DJ Sprtsch 2417
7 (+34) CQmanager 2406
8 (+12) trackstand 2390
9 (-1) Valv.Piti 2386
10 (+2) TheArt 2371

Normally, the leaping about in the standings happens farther down, and the very top is a game of inches and incremental movements. But that gets thrown out the window this week as Blues in the bottle jumps fifteen places into the top spot! Their team is solid throughout, with 30 out of 33 riders having scored this year, and this week's haul from Soler puts them over the top. Everyone else in the top 5 gets displaced one spot by this huge move, and the only other entries into the top 10 are from other big movers, CQmanager in 7th from 41st, and trackstand to 8th from 20th. abbulf, kabete, and minessa say goodbye to the top 10 for now, falling out after last week.

spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[CQmanager]

Thanks for the update!

If only Gaviria didn't get hurt today, I would have some chances of keeping the Top 10. Now that my most expensive pick is out for a few weeks (along with Vakoc) the slide will be very fast.

BTW Soler was a good pick but I'm also excited about the showings of my other rare pick Nils Politt.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Update #9: Soler Power Fuels Top Teams

Top 10 Overall

Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (+15) Blues in the bottle 2625

Blues in the bottle jumps fifteen places into the top spot!

Also top of the 2018-20 Emerging riders game, and of the Spring Classics game. He can do no CQ wrong at the moment.

 

[Koronin]

Soler saved my team this week, plus he's close to equaling his points from last year. Now if only Roson can hold onto his top 10 at T-A in the ITT tomorrow. Otherwise I'm going to be hurting at the end of this week.

 

[SafeBet]

Well I had both Soler and Mas in my shortlist a couple of days before the deadline but then decided I wanted just one of them.
And I obviously picked Mas.

Disappointing week for me, with Alaphilippe, Chaves and Kreuziger all disappearing from the top15 of PN in the last couple of stages.
I'm very worried about Pantano doing nothing so far. And Oomen+Latour look solid but unspectacular.

Hopefully Formolo can do a decent ITT today.

 

[Squire]

Re:

Thanks for the update!

If everything goes my way, I could end up having the winners of both Tirreno and Paris-Nice on my team.

So, my great hopes came crashing down, but I'm happy to stay in more or less the same position. At least Thomas will score some points for GC. I think I've been in 4th place for about half of the time I've been playing this game. :lol:

 

[shalgo]

Re:

If Thomas gets 3rd, he will lose ~40 points compared to last year in T-A.

He scores fewer points than in T-A proper last year, but is still about 130 points ahead of his score at this point last year overall.

Of course, without the bad luck he would be doing even better.

 

[Netserk]

The summer will be his make or break for this game. He should get his Trentino points in Romandie.

 

[shalgo]

Re:

The summer will be his make or break for this game. He should get his Trentino points in Romandie.

I agree. Part of the reason I picked him was that with Froome's troubles, Thomas might get more opportunities.

Some other thoughts from T-A:
- Formolo is looking like he is on track to be a good pick.
- Congratulations to Salvarani for the unique pick of Bagioli, who already has 173 points after 34 last year.
- Benoot looks like he might be on his way to a monster season. With only three managers picking him, those teams could benefit a lot.
- Dennis looks like the best time trialist in the world right now, but with his GC aspirations increasingly uncertain, it will be hard for him to make a substantial profit.

 

[Koronin]

Ok, I'm really, really, really happy Roson did a good enough ITT to not only stay in the top 10, but to move up solidly into the top 10.

 

[skidmark]

Here's the rest of my week:

Nokere Koerse

Kristoffer Halvorsen
Amaury Capiot
Bryan Coquard

Handzame Classic

Just Halvorsen, even though it's a sprinter's race and the teams of the other two are in there. Oh, and Sivakov?!?! An interesting place to make a season debut for a climber/TTer.

These are the types of races I thought my undercard of classics guys, like maybe Ivan Garcia, or Owain Doull might do well, but not much of my team here. Of course Halvorsen can do well and these races are now both HC so there are points, but I'm more worried about someone like De Bie (who I had on my team and then removed, ugh) or Jakobsen in a 'let's throw the young guys in there' QuickStep squad getting points than I am excited about my own guys.

MSR (so far)

Heinrich Haussler
Andrea Guardini
Jurgen Roelandts
Sondre Holst Enger
Danny Van Poppel
Lennard Kamna
Sam Oomen
Giacomo Nizzolo

Alot of guys, and a lot of fast guys, buuut.... who can make it to the end? Haussler can, but he'll be working for Colbrelli. Roelandts can, but he'll probably be working for GVA. Nizzolo maybe can, but again, Degenkolb. DvP probably can't, Guardini definitely can't, and the other two aren't sprinters. So I dunno. If I get lucky and one of those guys goes up the road to act as a foil I could get some points. One thing's for sure - Oomen will figure out some way to get 14th-19th place.

Wait, how is Guardini gonna do MSR and Langkawi? I hope if it's one or the other it's the latter...

GP Denain

No one! Aaaah, I just have to breathe into a paper bag until Valverde starts racing in Catalunya next week.

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

- Congratulations to Salvarani for the unique pick of Bagioli, who already has 173 points after 34 last year.

Haha thanks

For some reason a few of my unique picks and riders I picked for very little points are doing a lot better than what I expected. While other riders for more points have been just so and so or not at all in the beginning. Also was unfortunate to see Vakoc get injured because I think he would have had a few points with the early season races.

Bagioli and Areruya in particular has been really good. They have started their seasons great and I hope they continue.

Moschetti, a rider I picked at Polartec-Kometa (contador and basso team) for just 2 points, have won a few low level races with his sprint and has 25 points in total. Hopefully he might be able to get 100-200 by the end of the season if he continues to win.

Also have Chris Hamilton and Baska that have already scored the same points they did last year.

Had a rough of couple of weeks but expect to climb when Landa and Formolo GC points from T-A gets added and having Sagan with the classics season really picking up some pace this weekend with MSR.