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The 2020 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

Page 28 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Well Pinot didn't hold on for the win, but second place is good points, and he's already about 2/3 of his last year's points. If he avoids disaster in the Tour (which is easier said than done...)

Other than that, Eekhoff with a good 2nd place too, but not much from Lombardia. What's next?

Emilia


Andrea Bagioli
Fabio Aru
Marco Canola

Hmm. Doesn't seem too promising. Maybe someday Bagioli will be good enough for races like this. One day in the past, Aru was too. Canola has done okay on his best days in races like this, but with the fields that are reducing in the reduced calendar, no chance.

Limousin

Alberto Dainese
Max Kanter
Sergei Chernetski
Sean De Bie
Danny Van Poppel

Well, this is the kind of punchy race that Chernetski has done well in before. Other than that, not much of a week. Obviously will have a bunch of guys starting nationals, so who knows how the week will go?
 
Having half the top 8 in the Dauphiné is good, not getting anything from other races isn't great. Of course none of that matters, since my team's season is over but it's tough to get to invest in that right now. I'm just glad that Evenepoel's injuries aren't more severe and that he should make a full recovery in time. That crash was scary.
 
Update #17: Another 1000 point week, but crashes change the complexion of the game

We are flying getting back in action this season, with some very exciting racing on the last day of the Dauphine, and some pre-TdF drama with racers crashing out or pulling out or having aftereffects of crashes that raise question marks for nearly all the favourites for the Tour (let alone the poor form that seems to exist on the two Ineos British former Tour winners). But for any racing fan, it was one particular crash this weekend that left you with your heart in your throat for about 20 minutes on Saturday. The (almost literally) unbelievable phenom Evenepoel had his season seemingly end on a very scary crash on the descent of the Sormano, and although the severity of what could have happened far overshadows the consequences for this frivolous game, those CQ game consequences are not minor. He was looking to be the most essential pick of the game, and most of the top of the field had him. So obviously, his absence will be felt in this game. Here is hoping for a full recovery and future inspiration and excitement in the CQ game for him.

This Week's Top Scorers

RankTeamPoints this week
1BlueRoads1260
2DJ Sprtsch1178
3sodak_za981
4Manafana957
5oliveira913

Some big points again this week. BlueRoads rockets up the standings (more on that below) with a huge 1260 points, and a duo of high scoring rare picks. Dani Martinez (305 points this week) and George Bennett (300) were both picked by 9 teams, and BlueRoads was one of those 9 for both. Padded by good points from more popular picks like Pinot, Dumoulin and an impressive Lennard Kamna, as well as >100 points for a still-rolling-in-the-points Wout Van Aert, BlueRoads has a hugely top-heavy lineup - aside from those named riders, their team had one rider at 15 points and then a handful at 5 or less on the week, but that was it. DJ Sprtsch nabs 2nd with a pretty incredible in its own right 1178 points, from most of the top riders named above sans Bennett, but plus >100 points from Romain Bardet and Sepp Kuss. sodak_za rounds out the podium by getting almost 1000 points with a very similar lineup to DJ Sprtsch, minus Kuss and a few minor contributors.

This Week's High Movers

RankTeamUp/down
1BlueRoads(+51)
2DJ Sprtsch(+47)
3oliveira(+31)
4flashke(+27)
5Gigs_98(+26)

The top 2 from the previous listing top this one too by a wide margin, both moving up nearly half the table in a single week. Third goes to oliveira, moving up 31 spots on the backs of most of the previously mentioned riders, plus hitting the jackpot with 130 points from Jonas Rickaert, who was picked by 13 teams at a cost of 23 points, which he bettered significantly with a win in Hageland.

Green Jersey Competition


RankTeamTotal
1Jakob747230.7
2ChrisDK139
3EvansIsTheBest131
4Hakkie2122
5karaev103.3

ChrisDK nabs 20 points this week for 6th place on the week, which catapults their team into 2nd overall. The rest of the leaderboard stays static.

Top 10 Overall

RankUp/downTeamPoints
1(-)4603
2(-)Jakob7474463
3(+2)18-Valve. (pithy)4151
4(-1)Hakkie23951
5(+1)karaev3933
6(-2)western_grebe3901
7(-)hfgon13884
8(+17)sodak_za3880
9(+4)mineralJ3829
10(-1)Object3822

EvansIsTheBest maintains their team lead, and in fact gains 80 points on Jakob747. Things did not go quite as hoped for Jakob this week, with his 3 expensive studs getting results from 'pretty good' (Pogacar with 188 points despite an off day in the Dauphine) to 'bad but understandable' (Higuita with an opening day crash that doesn't appear to impede his prospects for the remainder of the season) to 'Remco Evenepoel at Lombardia' (Remco Evenepoel at Lombardia). Still, the two are still quite out front, although of course with 1000 point weeks flying around these days, a 300 point gap isn't much. 18-Valve jumps a couple of spots to round out the podium, and sodak_za catapults into the top 10 alongside mineralJ, while Londonpat and skidmark slide out.

Spreadsheet at dropbox
 
Oh, the joy of being in the top 5 of a week.
After having so many riders taking part of Dauphiné, this week will be back to normal - I have only spotted three of my riders in action:
one rider in Emilia yesterday (Garrison, DNF), Steimle in Tour de Wallonie (currently 5 minutes behind) and Sean de Bie in Limousin (finished as 129th out of 136, 23 minutes behind Wackermann).
 
Update #18: A Quieter Week Still Reshuffles the Standings

With no WorldTour races, and riders that weren't picked or were quite rare in the game taking up the wins in the major national championships as well as Wallonie, Emillia and Limousin, it was a bit of a breather in between the last few frantic weeks and the start of the TdF in terms of point totals. Still, although the very top of the overall standings remains stratified, it is quite the jumble just below jockeying for position.

This Week's Top Scorers


RankTeamPoints this week
1Nathanptz439
2ChrisDK419
3Mayomaniac401
4Nyssinator390
5Luthor378
5Wallenquist378

It's not an 1000 point week, but 439 points will still serve you well in this game, and Nathanptz takes the week by 20 points over ChrisDK. Nathanptz collected a good breadth of points from national championship placings for relatively rare riders, like 84 from Eekhoff and Ballerini (18 and 22 teams), 78 from Ruben Fernandez (17 teams), 70 from the eternal fountain of Wout van Aert (11 teams), and 62 from Ivan Garcia Cortina (10 teams). ChrisDK took a different route as their team often has this year, front-loading with 137 points from unique pick Clement Venturini, 130 from the impressive Vlasov (2 teams), and 78 from unique pick Senechal. Mayomaniac rounds out the podium and cracks 400 points as well.

This Week's High Movers

RankTeamUp/down
1Nathanptz(+18)
2ChrisDK(+16)
3Mayomaniac(+15)
4Sestriere(+13)
5VeloRooms(+12)
5Luthor(+12)

The exact same top 3 in the exact same order top this list as well; all 3 teams parlay their points gains into double digit leaps up the standings.

Green Jersey Competition

RankTeamTotal
1Jakob747230.7
2ChrisDK174
3EvansIsTheBest131
4Hakkie2122
5Sestriere107.3

Some teams on the Green Jersey standings are also the teams right at the top of the overall standings, and some have teams more suited to weekly bursts, and this mix is no different. ChrisDK gains 35 points (on top of 20 last week) to solidify second, although Jakob747 is still comfortably in first by over 50 points. ChrisDK's team is full of rare or unique riders, and the combo is going impressively this year, with their team inside the top 25 overall, but with some very strong weeks in the rankings due to distinct riders standing out. Sestriere gets 18 points on the week to jump into the top 5 too.

Top 10 Overall

RankUp/downTeamPoints
1(-)4801
2(-)Jakob7474699
3(-)18-Valve. (pithy)4282
4(-)Hakkie24152
5(+9)Nyssinator4093
6(-1)karaev4054
6(+3)mineralJ4054
8(+5)skidmark4053
9(-1)sodak_za4050
10(+5)BlueRoads4032

Jakob747 gains 38 points on EvansIsTheBest this week, but none of the top 4 overall finished in the top 30 of the week. Even so, their built lead was such that they weathered the storm and maintained the status quo. Not so in the second half of the top 10. A mere 61 points separate 5th to 10th, and in fact going down further, 16th place is only 82 points back of 10th. So there is quite the battle for positioning coming into the Tour - especially note that 6th to 9th are separated by a mere 4 points!! Very exciting stuff. Nyssinator, skidmark and BlueRoads enter the top 10 this week, while western grebe, Object and hfgon1 fall out (but, as noted, are not far away from a potential return).

This week the points action is all in France - Bretagne Classic and Euros in Brittany, and the Tour gets underway in Nice on Saturday. Big daily points over the next 3 weeks as we get into Grand Tour season!

Spreadsheet at dropbox
 
Well, the Bretagne Classic went okay for me, with Eekhoff looking super impressive pulling the leading group away in the final km and Quinn Simmons living up to what I thought his ceiling could be this year. Now, who've I got to track the next three weeks in France?

Tour


Michal Kwiatkowski
Pierre Latour
Thibaut Pinot
Fabio Aru
Esteban Chaves
Soren Kragh Andersen

I don't mind this lineup. Usually I am not thrilled about my Tour team, and want guys to be put on smaller races where they have a better chance of points. The only guy I feel is wasted here is Kwiatkowski, it hurts to see him take up 21 precious racing days on this when the opportunity cost is literally any other race where he'd be a bigger threat to score points.

All eyes are on Pinot, of course, and I'm hoping for him for more than just the reason that he's on my team. Aside from him, I dunno. Chaves has looked solid, and it seems like he's a half-step up from last year, and I think he can score points regardless of how he approaches the Tour - if he hangs on for GC, he can get decent top 15 points, or if he loses time early he can be a threat in multiple stages and for polka dots. Aru and Latour have looked like garbage, so might as well put them in this race where they could ride into some form. It's a dice roll. Andersen hasn't looked so hot since the restart, but there are a lot of stages where he'd be a perfect breakaway threat with the hilly parcours and the fact that a lot of guys are going to be down half an hour within the first few stages.

I'm very excited for the Tour this year for the first time in awhile, I guess partially because I'm excited for any racing to be happening, but also because I don't really know what to expect! Hopefully it approaches last year for excitement.

Oh yeah, there are other races this weekend.

Overijse

Davide Ballerini
Nathan Haas
Max Kanter
Sean De Bie

Ballerini or even Kanter could feature here, or Haas if it's a bit more selective. Not bad.

Matteotti

Startlist not complete. Guess we'll see!
 
Tour team:

Daniel Martinez
Thibaut Pinot
Esteban Cheves
Tom Dumoulin
Niklas Eg
Fabio Aru
Enric Mas
Alejandro Valverde
Carlos Verona
Marc Soler (?) Question mark as they haven't given the final line up yet.

Hmmmm......Maybe a halfway decent lineup for the Tour.

European Championships:
Gabriel Cullaigh
Juri Hollmann


Poitou-Charentes
Niki Terpstra
 
Hand't checked the spreadsheet in a long time. I'm 40th and probably bound to finish lower.
Losing Remco was a big blow, but my team wasn't particularly good to begin with. Ballerini and Mclay finally showing some form is good news though.

Edit: now I see Soler has been selected to ride the Tour. Total waste of a pick.
 
Tour team:

Daniel Martinez
Thibaut Pinot
Esteban Cheves
Tom Dumoulin
Niklas Eg
Fabio Aru
Enric Mas
Alejandro Valverde
Carlos Verona
Marc Soler (?) Question mark as they haven't given the final line up yet.

Hmmmm......Maybe a halfway decent lineup for the Tour.

European Championships:
Gabriel Cullaigh
Juri Hollmann


Poitou-Charentes
Niki Terpstra

Looks like a great tour team to me. Would love to have Martinez and Pinot, along with the popular suspects of Chavez, Dumoulin and Aru. And if Mas and Soler would show they've been saving form for this, a really good team. But what's up with Soler? I was counting on him this year. What a bust.
 
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Tour team:
ARU Fabio
CHAVES RUBIO Jhoan Esteban
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
DUMOULIN Tom
KWIATKOWSKI Michal
LATOUR Pierre
VAN AERT Wout

This is really not good. At all. I guess my team is built for the Giro. Let's hope they have it.
 
Looks like a great tour team to me. Would love to have Martinez and Pinot, along with the popular suspects of Chavez, Dumoulin and Aru. And if Mas and Soler would show they've been saving form for this, a really good team. But what's up with Soler? I was counting on him this year. What a bust.

This may be the first time I've had a competent Tour team. Your guess on Soler is as good as anyone's. Granted I know his big goal of the year is supposed to be the Giro, so his form being a bit behind Mas is understandable. I'm more worried about Mas. Why is his form worse than Valverde's? Valverde's bit goals were supposed to be the Worlds (unlikely now), LBL and la Vuelta which are all after the Tour. Mas' goal is the Tour. However, I'm with you on having been counting on him although for me it was counting on him and Mas as far neither are doing anywhere near close to what I had hoped for. I guess at least Soler has that win back at Mallorca at the start of the season?
 
My Tour line up;

Dumoulin
Bardet
Latour
Kamna
Soler
Aru
Sagan
Kwiatkowski
Cavagna
Kragh Andersen

Main GC hope is Dumoulin, but then most teams have him.

Sagan should grab a few points courtesy of Green jersey and stage placings

Cavagna and Kragh Andersen hopefully can get in a break or two and get a stage win.

Don't expect anything from Kwiatkowski as he will be on domestique duty

Latour will probably get in a few breaks. Soler main target is Giro so not anticipating anything. Bardet, Aru and Kamna may sneak into top 20 on GC.
 
And here is mine, 11 riders, one third of my team is taking part in the spectacle:

Aru
Kuss
Pinot
Bardet
Kämna
Hirschi
Mohoric
Elissonde
Dumoulin
Kwiatkowski
Kragh Andersen

Not much for the sprint stages, let me correct that: there's nothing for the sprint stages. I am hoping for Kragh Andersen and Mohoric in breaks. Hopefully Mohoric will be allowed. Would also be good if Elissonde is allowed to not only babysit Porte. The two youngsters Hirschi and Kämna? No idea what to expect. Dumo and Pinot for the podium of course. Bardet to finish 7th. in the GC. And what about Aru? Is he still thinking of GC? Would love to see Aru target the polkadot with a stage win or two! Kuss showed some great form in the Dauphiné, but I doubt he will get many points. Kwiatkowski? Not a clue what to expect.
 
And here is mine, 11 riders, one third of my team is taking part in the spectacle:

Aru
Kuss
Pinot
Bardet
Kämna
Hirschi
Mohoric
Elissonde
Dumoulin
Kwiatkowski
Kragh Andersen

Not much for the sprint stages, let me correct that: there's nothing for the sprint stages. I am hoping for Kragh Andersen and Mohoric in breaks. Hopefully Mohoric will be allowed. Would also be good if Elissonde is allowed to not only babysit Porte. The two youngsters Hirschi and Kämna? No idea what to expect. Dumo and Pinot for the podium of course. Bardet to finish 7th. in the GC. And what about Aru? Is he still thinking of GC? Would love to see Aru target the polkadot with a stage win or two! Kuss showed some great form in the Dauphiné, but I doubt he will get many points. Kwiatkowski? Not a clue what to expect.

:D Our teams are not so different. This is mine:
Kwiatkowski
Aru
Dumoulin
van Aert
Kämna
Cosnefroy
Pinot
Martínez
Hirschi
G Bennett
 
Dumoulin, Tom
Bennett, George
Kämna, Lennard
Latour, Pierre
Peters, Nans
Carthy, Hugh
Rosa, Diego
Zakarin, Ilnur
Soler, Marc
Aru, Fabio
Chaves, Esteban
Gibbons, Ryan

I'm not sure what to expect. Either almost everyone has them, or they might be helpers, or maybe go for a stage or Kom or an anonymous Top20 GC. Definitely looking forward to it all, though.
 
Dumoulin, Tom
Bennett, George
Kämna, Lennard
Latour, Pierre
Peters, Nans
Carthy, Hugh
Rosa, Diego
Zakarin, Ilnur
Soler, Marc
Aru, Fabio
Chaves, Esteban
Gibbons, Ryan

I'm not sure what to expect. Either almost everyone has them, or they might be helpers, or maybe go for a stage or Kom or an anonymous Top20 GC. Definitely looking forward to it all, though.

What do you wish for? A potential podium candidate and multiple stage winner nobody else thought of? ;)
 
What do you wish for? A potential podium candidate and multiple stage winner nobody else thought of? ;)

Mostly I wish for a very subpar team... Just one or two guys who'll be mostly helpers and then go on to surprise me with a stage win or two. Every time my team looked as good on paper as that one I am massively disappointed ;)

Also, I'm in that stage of the year where I really don't know why I picked some of the guys I picked... Looking at you Peters and Gibbons...
 
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PINOT Thibaut​
BARDET Romain​
LATOUR Pierre​
SOLER GIMENEZ Marc​
DUMOULIN Tom​
ANDERSEN Søren Kragh​
ARU Fabio​
KÄMNA Lennard​
That's my team. Coincidentally that will also be the top 8 in Paris (in that precise order if you were wondering) :p I have six of my nine most expensive riders here (the absentees being Bouhanni, Gaviria and Evenepoel) so this will make or break my season basically.
 

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