The 2019 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[jon ezeitza]

During these days, I will collect few points. We hope to have some pleasant surprise. Maybe I'll collect something in the Herald Sun Tour and the Marsaillaise

HERALD SUN TOUR: STANNARD Robert - HALVORSEN Kristof

SAN JUAN: EVENEPOEL Remco - VAKOC Petr - DEWULF Stan

MALLORCA; INTXAUSTI Beñat

MARSEILLAISE: MADOUAS Valentin

 

[Salvarani]

Posted San Juan line-up before it started on previous pages I think.

But teams now official for Herald Sun and Mallorca, here is some riders I have that gonna race.

Herald Sun
HAMILTON Lucas
MCLAY Daniel

Cmon Mclay, be better than in TDU. Lucas Hamilton hopefully places high on GC.

Mallorca
LANDA Mikel
CONCI Nicola (?)
KITTEL Marcel
ARU Fabio
TOUZE Damien (?)
RIABUSHENKO Alexandr
TRENTIN Matteo (?)

(MS only listed on Trofeo Ses Salines of the 4 races. And Simon Yates the only rider listed. Will they race and will Trentin race? He is going to Valenciana, so should be here too?)

Unsure about this since no official line-ups. Im obviously hoping Landa x Trentin shows up. Aru and Kittel not really important since almost everybody has them. The rest who knows. Anything can happen.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Posted San Juan line-up before it started on previous pages I think.

But teams now official for Herald Sun and Mallorca, here is some riders I have that gonna race.

Herald Sun
HAMILTON Lucas
MCLAY Daniel

Cmon Mclay, be better than in TDU. Lucas Hamilton hopefully places high on GC.

Mallorca
LANDA Mikel
CONCI Nicola (?)
KITTEL Marcel
ARU Fabio
TOUZE Damien (?)
RIABUSHENKO Alexandr
TRENTIN Matteo (?)

(MS only listed on Trofeo Ses Salines of the 4 races. And Simon Yates the only rider listed. Will they race and will Trentin race? He is going to Valenciana, so should be here too?)

Unsure about this since no official line-ups. Im obviously hoping Landa x Trentin shows up. Aru and Kittel not really important since almost everybody has them. The rest who knows. Anything can happen.

Landa is in Mallorca. Movistar is currently doing some training rides for the 9 riders they have for the 4 races. I'd guess Landa will race 2 of the 4. Valverde likely will race 3 if not all 4 of the races. Don't know if Landa will get to race one of the 4 for himself or if he'll be riding for Valverde in the races he does. For Mallorca the teams give an overall list for the 4 races and can change the line-ups daily as riders/teams can pick and choose which races each rider does.

 

[tobydawq]

I think Evenepoel will be worth the pick

 

[skidmark]

Update #3: Boni's Fast, Yo! Once Again.

It's likely that the 7 teams that put up 735 points for Andre Greipel thought this week in Gabon would be a nice little appetizer of him dominating the French CT calendar; although he did end up pulling out a stage at the end and getting 114 points, it was another sprinter moving down from WT level - one that cost about a third of the price - that ended up turning heads, as Nicolo Bonifazio dominated Tropicale Amissa Bongo to come home with 221 CQ points. This was, March 2015 aside, his biggest haul in a short span since he burst on the scene lapping up points in Hainan at the end of 2014 (which, I believe, was when I first used the above title for an update). He may only be on 9 teams, but players should beware that last year's 1st, 2nd and 4th placed teams all have him (as well as the winner from 2017), so he's a pick backed up with game pedigree. As no one has VIviani, there weren't any riders close to those points this week, and that shows up in the weekly rankings.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank Team Points this week
1 TheArt 414
2 Jancouver 360
3 ruvu75 326
4 Googolplex 301
5 tobydawq 290

After a sizzling debut season in the game in 2018, TheArt wastes no time getting on the board in 2019, garnering an impressive 414 points this week from a rare tandem of Bonifazio and another excellent early-season pick, Ryan Gibbons (also 9 teams), who got 4th in the Cadel race, not to mention 6th place points from Luke Rowe. Jancouver slots into 2nd with Bonifazio and Ewan (and a bit from the popular Gaviria for stage 1 of San Juan), and last year's winner ruvu75 takes the last podium spot with Bonifazio and Rowe.

This Week's High Movers

Rank Team Up/down
1 ruvu75 (+65)
2 AupaPyama (+57)
3 Jancouver (+56)
4 fauniera (+54)
5 Nicosix (+51)

Still some big jumps, this being the third week and things getting sorted out. Very similar to the first list, with 2 of the 3 podium places the same. ruvu75 gets the win here, and not-mentioned-in-the-last-section AupaPyama gets 2nd overall through (who else) Bonifazio and a few scraps from other riders.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank Team Total
1 just_some_guy 60
2 Googolplex 56
3 TheArt 48
4 MADRAZO 43
5 Amis_Velo 40

Already some stratification in this competition, and uniquely, no one is sitting on exactly 45 points, with the first two weeks having ties at the top, and TheArt having already picked up 3 points in Week 1. Their team, of course, picks up 45 for the win this week, and Googolplex adds 26 points to the 30 they picked up for the tied win in Week 1.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Up/down Team Points
1 (-) MADRAZO 640
2 (-) just_some_guy 593
3 (+31) TheArt 590
4 (+1) Blues in the bottle 588
5 (+18) Googolplex 576
6 (+6) PremierAndrew 567
7 (+6) Squire 565
8 (-4) Otoxiep87 558
9 (-6) Amis_Velo 538
10 (-4) yoyokt 511

Despite middling weeks for the top 2 overall, there weren't enough points scored this week to dislodge them from the top, as MADRAZO stays on top by a decent margin and just some guy clings to second, while weekly winner TheArt rounds out the podium. Too much movement to sum up all the ups and downs in the top 10, but we see some early season presence from long-time game factors Blues in the bottle and Squire. San Juan is in full swing this week, but also in the southern hemisphere is the Herald Sun Tour. Aaaand... racing starts in Europe! The Mallorca races and GP Marseillaise may just be 1.1 races, but the opening of European racing is always a milestone in the advent calendar full of treats that is the early season calendar.

Spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[skidmark]

Well, he may not get any points from San Juan, but Vakoc is showing some positive signs - 32nd on the TT today, right there with the likes of Machado, Sepulveda, Poljanski, etc. And was anonymous on the hilly finale yesterday, but still finished 4 minutes ahead of the last WT riders. So he's not struggling to stay with the pack, that's a positive sign for his career, and at least a sign that he won't be a zero-pointer for the whole year. We shall see if he gets anywhere near his previous top end.

Here's the rest of my week:

Herald Sun Tour

Kristoffer Halvorsen
Pavel Sivakov
Dan McLay

Halvorsen should be in with a shout at some of the sprints; McLay has looked anything but good so far. Sivakov showed himself on his first day of racing with an attack 2.5km or something from the end of the Cadel race, and although that move was never gonna work, that he's showing aggression that never came out last year is a good sign this early. Elissonde and Van Baarle are likely ahead of him on the pecking order, but if he's better than them, he'll be better than them.

Mallorca

Marcel Kittel
Fabio Felline
Ilnur Zakarin
Fabio Aru

That's all I have from all those races, hey? Hmm, guess I'm pulling for Felline, being my least popular amongst those.

GP Marseillaise

Tom Van Asbroeck

Okay so my team is getting off to a slow start to the 2019 season. Theoretically TvA could feature in the finale, but Sbaragli is on the team and is also fast, and even so it's usually a pretty small group by the end. So I dunno. Good thing I'm so excited about the cycling season starting or else I'd be bummed about not having more riders riding.

Edit: forgot I have Baptiste Planckaert in Marseille. I'm not used to looking at the Wallonie Brussels lineup :lol:

 

[drebelo]

Well, he may not get any points from San Juan, but Vakoc is showing some positive signs - 32nd on the TT today, right there with the likes of Machado, Sepulveda, Poljanski, etc. And was anonymous on the hilly finale yesterday, but still finished 4 minutes ahead of the last WT riders. So he's not struggling to stay with the pack, that's a positive sign for his career, and at least a sign that he won't be a zero-pointer for the whole year. We shall see if he gets anywhere near his previous top end.

Here's the rest of my week:

Herald Sun Tour

Kristoffer Halvorsen
Pavel Sivakov
Dan McLay

Halvorsen should be in with a shout at some of the sprints; McLay has looked anything but good so far. Sivakov showed himself on his first day of racing with an attack 2.5km or something from the end of the Cadel race, and although that move was never gonna work, that he's showing aggression that never came out last year is a good sign this early. Elissonde and Van Baarle are likely ahead of him on the pecking order, but if he's better than them, he'll be better than them.

Mallorca

Marcel Kittel
Fabio Felline
Ilnur Zakarin
Fabio Aru

That's all I have from all those races, hey? Hmm, guess I'm pulling for Felline, being my least popular amongst those.

GP Marseillaise

Tom Van Asbroeck

Okay so my team is getting off to a slow start to the 2019 season. Theoretically TvA could feature in the finale, but Sbaragli is on the team and is also fast, and even so it's usually a pretty small group by the end. So I dunno. Good thing I'm so excited about the cycling season starting or else I'd be bummed about not having more riders riding.

You were saying... :lol:

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Anyone have a team loaded with sprinters?

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Anyone have a team loaded with sprinters?

I got a few fast finishers, but over the years, I have learned that GC is where you get the points and usually, right after Giro, my team is gone from the Top 50.

I'm sure others have more ...

EWAN Caleb
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
NIZZOLO Giacomo
BOUHANNI Nacer
COQUARD Bryan
KITTEL Marcel
MARECZKO Jakub
FELLINE Fabio
BONIFAZIO Niccolo
BAUHAUS Phil
CAVENDISH Mark
HOFLAND Moreno
VAN ASBROECK Tom
MCLAY Daniel
SWIFT Ben

Either way, my name does not get too many mentions in these reports, so being 2nd last week, I will take the early year success as my little victory

And congrats to Dan McLay on his W!

BTW, this sprint alone is the reason why I picked McLay

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX1AZuHmxPc

Gif:

 

[ThePirate81]

Vuelta a San Juan
Evenepoel
Vakoc
Cavendish
Cattaneo
Barbier
Minali

Challenge Mallorca
Felline
Kittel
Zakarin
Spilak
Aru
Intxausti
Boom
Van Staeyen

Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise
Navardauskas
Hardy
Lietaer
Planckaert

Cattaneo and hopefully Hardy could do well this week.
Don't know what to expect from Challenge Mallorca.
So far,pleased with Cosnefroy and Bettiol and disappointed by Pelucchi who destroyed his Tropicale Amissa Bongo GC placing in the first 3 stages.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

I think Evenepoel will be worth the pick

Yup, looks like it. Lets see where he lands on the GC though when San Juan is over. He could just be in top-form and really inspired atm to prove himself. While some of the other riders are not in peak condition at all.

I wonder what the ceiling for the season will be though. A couple of hundred points?

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

I think Evenepoel will be worth the pick

Yup, looks like it. Lets see where he lands on the GC though when San Juan is over. He could just be in top-form and really inspired atm to prove himself. While some of the other riders are not in peak condition at all.

I wonder what the ceiling for the season will be though. A couple of hundred points?

He could get more points in UAE. That should suit him as well.

He would have won yesterday if he hadn't been way too eager in the first part of the course.

 

[shalgo]

Re:

Anyone have a team loaded with sprinters?

That would be me:

EWAN Caleb
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose
KITTEL Marcel
THEUNS Edward
JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
CAVENDISH Mark
GIBBONS Ryan
VAN ASBROECK Tom
BARBIER Rudy
SWIFT Ben
KUMP Marko

These guys will obviously be stealing points from each other in some races, but at least I will be more invested in the outcome of sprint stages than I normally am.

 

[skidmark]

Re:

Anyone have a team loaded with sprinters?

I've definitely got more than I ever have...

GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
NIZZOLO Giacomo
BOUHANNI Nacer
COQUARD Bryan
KITTEL Marcel
PLANCKAERT Baptiste
BAUHAUS Phil
THEUNS Edward
HALVORSEN Kristoffer
CAVENDISH Mark
VAN ASBROECK Tom
BARBIER Rudy
MCLAY Daniel
SWIFT Ben
MARINI Nicolas

plus guys like Felline and Van der Poel that aren't gonna win bunch sprints but are Valverde-level handy in a reduced group.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Anyone have a team loaded with sprinters?

Definitely not. For that matter I had to go through and make sure I actually had a sprinter or two included.
I have 2
Coquard and Lobato. Unless you count Eisel and Valverde as sprinters. (I have Eisel because I needed a cheap pick and figure he should be able to get more than 10 total points).

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Re: Re:

I think Evenepoel will be worth the pick

Yup, looks like it. Lets see where he lands on the GC though when San Juan is over. He could just be in top-form and really inspired atm to prove himself. While some of the other riders are not in peak condition at all.

I wonder what the ceiling for the season will be though. A couple of hundred points?

In September, he'll be 6 months younger than Sagan during his first Paris-Nice when he was winning WT stages with ease. So there's a precedent for a guy performing at the WT level at roughly Evenepoel's age if he is really, really good. If he can do that, his ceiling is obviously quite a bit higher.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Anyone have a team loaded with sprinters?

Maybe not "loaded", but still a few....

EWAN Caleb
GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
TRENTIN Matteo
KITTEL Marcel
MARECZKO Jakub
TOUZE Damien
KANTER Max
BAUHAUS Phil
GIBBONS Ryan
BARBIER Rudy
MCLAY Daniel


Trentin I would say is more than just a pure sprinter though. I was very happy with what Gibbons showed in TDU. Showing he can do more than just sprint. He already has a 150% margin right now.

Im unsure how Kanter and Touze will develop though. I might have goofed picking both of them. Kanter struggled a lot in TDU and Touze havent raced yet. We will see how that turns out.

 

[Koronin]

Interesting way to start off Mallorca challenge with my team. Landa crashed and has a fractured collarbone. On the other hand Valverde finished 4th. Basically is off to a typical start of the season for him.

 

[Salvarani]

Yeah, not good with Landa being out for me. Although, if he was to get injured during the season at least the timing isnt that bad. He will hopefully be back for Tirreno at least.

 

[tobydawq]

Two injuries today for me with Landa and Byriel.

Aru and Spilak both did relatively well. Especially Spilak is important because he is quite a rare pick. Aru on the other hand is very, very non-rare.

Felline lost almost 6 minutes. I hope he was held back by the crash - otherwise that does not look good. The same goes for Óscar Rodríguez who was even behind the two sprinters on my team who participated in the race; Moschetti and Kittel who actually did surprisingly well and came in along with Lars Boom whom I also have and whose performance I'm not too disappointed with either.

My tenth and final rider, Danilo Celano, did very badly and doesn't seem to have been a particularly wise pick.

 

[Vitapen]

Aru got some points and Fabbro and Politt came 21st and 22nd.

 

[Koronin]

Today's stage my riders finishes:
Valverde 4th
Sicard: 15th
Canellas: 40th
Samitier: 102
Landa: DNF

 

[Jakob747]

Sergio Higuita with an excellent display (6th). Showcasing his climbing/puncheur abilities already on his first race-day! Only I and DJ Sprtsch have him so hopefully, he delivers an interesting campaign!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Aru and Barguil 8th and 9th, and Fabbro just outside of the top-20 which doesn't generate any points but is a decent result.

 

[del1962]

Just

GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
KITTEL Marcel
CAVENDISH Mark
MCLAY Daniel

plus

SWIFT Ben
BETTIOL Alberto
FELLINE Fabio

who aren't really sprinters