The 2021 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[BlueRoads]

Here is an in depth analysis of why my team sucks :

Total cost of my three most expensive riders = 2052
Total point scored by said riders = 213

Rest of team cost = 5430
Rest of team score = 6738

Evenepoel, Pinot and Higuita, please perform better during the second half of the season.

I feel you.
I have Schachmann, Hirschi, Kämna, Higuita as my most expensive riders.
Maybe Schachmann can still become a good choice, the others... 17, 10 and 26% of their budget in.
Some of my cheap riders are really good picks, looking at the percentages, but none of them will reach 2000 points.

Edit: And taking a closer look, Romo (cost: 0) so far has 2 points more than Hirschi (cost: 826), also more than Kuss or Sivakov for instance.

 

[repre]

Here is an in depth analysis of why my team sucks :

Total cost of my three most expensive riders = 2052
Total point scored by said riders = 213

Rest of team cost = 5430
Rest of team score = 6738

Evenepoel, Pinot and Higuita, please perform better during the second half of the season.

Same with Hirshi, Pinot and Cosnefroy. Rest of the team is good.

 

[Tigerion]

Up 7 spots, snagged the last green jersey points and overall my team is into profit
I'll call that a successful week

Update #19: Dauphine shakes up standings

No rest after the Giro finish - the Dauphine started on the last day of the Giro, and after 8 stages, a good number of high profile riders of medium popularity in the game filled up the overall standings. Without the baseline of Bernal's points to raise most teams, there was some more differentiation this week than last, which led to some fluctuation at the top.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	Tigerion	959
2	Bonimenier	825
3	escartin	781
4	laarsland	767
5	Object	755

Tigerion blew away the competition this week, scoring almost 1000 points with a lineup including 255 points from Lutsenko (who is finally performing for the 31 teams that have him), 210 from Geraint Thomas (31 teams), 136 from Jack Haig (4 teams), 128 from Superman Lopez (15 teams), and 87 from Gaudu (19 teams). An impressive array. Bonimenier is over 130 points back in second place, with Lutsenko/Thomas being supplmented by a good week from Colbrelli (151, 18) and the evergreen Valverde (111, 4). escartin squeezes into third with a similar lineup (swap out Valverde for Gaudu and you've got the gist of it).

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Tigerion	(+15)
1	del1962	(+15)
3	Bonimenier	(+13)
4	Rebecops	(+11)
5	laarsland	(+10)
5	bminchow	(+10)

There's a tie atop these standings, with Tigerion getting the double win but sharing this one with del1962, who was 12th in the Top Scorers ranking but was evidently at a bunched up point in the standings.

Redefining what a successful week means

 

[Earns1985]

Here is an in depth analysis of why my team sucks :

Total cost of my three most expensive riders = 2052
Total point scored by said riders = 213

Rest of team cost = 5430
Rest of team score = 6738

Evenepoel, Pinot and Higuita, please perform better during the second half of the season.

Yeah, my worst pick so far also had been Pinot.
With Evenepoel at least I have the feeling, that he will score better in the second half of the season.
Alaphilippe's riding isn't bad, but if he continues to prioritise the birth of his own child over scoring GC points for me in the Tour de Suisse, I'll have to have another serious word with him.

 

[Earns1985]

My best investments so far:

Rider	Points last season​	Points actual season​	Return on Investment
CAVENDISH Mark	15​	353​	2353,33%
PIDCOCK Thomas	57​	534​	936,84%
DE PLUS Laurens	5​	34​	680,00%
LATOUR Pierre	49​	249​	508,16%
TIBERI Antonio	16​	80​	500,00%
BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley	450​	1449​	322,00%
SOSA CUERVO Ivan Ramiro	68​	211​	310,29%
POLITT Nils	89​	232​	260,67%
BEVIN Patrick	52​	97​	186,54%

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Of those I only have De Plus, Latour, Bernal and Politt...

 

[BlueRoads]

Hm, let's see, my most successful picks in terms of percentages...
Bernal, Mollema, Vingegaard, Politt, Pidcock, Latour, Vansevenant, Romo, Ayuso. All above 190%, setting 0=1.
In absolute points: Bernal, Thomas, Mollema, Vingegaard, Pidcock, Vansevenant, all over 300 points income.
So I suppose Vansevenant, with 2373% and 341 points plus should be my best pick overall so far.

I didn't pick Cavendish this year, nonbeliever that I am!! Why did he not have that season last year?!

 

[tobydawq]

Hm, let's see, my most successful picks in terms of percentages...
Bernal, Mollema, Vingegaard, Politt, Pidcock, Latour, Vansevenant, Romo, Ayuso. All above 190%, setting 0=1.
In absolute points: Bernal, Thomas, Mollema, Vingegaard, Pidcock, Vansevenant, all over 300 points income.
So I suppose Vansevenant, with 2373% and 341 points plus should be my best pick overall so far.

I didn't pick Cavendish this year, nonbeliever that I am!! Why did he not have that season last year?!

Because he wasn't riding for Deceuninck.

 

[Salvarani]

Uran almost broke even from that race. Top 10 and more should be achievable if he can keep that form in the Tour. My hopes are up at least.

Gesbert keep picking up points.

Decent last week.

 

[Tigerion]

Uran almost broke even from that race. Top 10 and more should be achievable if he can keep that form in the Tour. My hopes are up at least.

Gesbert keep picking up points.

Decent last week.

Uran was the worst performing of my 'expensive' riders so good that he is finally scoring some points. Now I need a sprint battle between Gaveria and Matthews for them to improve their current status.
Lopez is in a similar position points wise but much more confident in him bagging points than those 2

 

[skidmark]

Update #20: Bicing's big week

The Tour du Suisse is in the rearview, and it's full speed ahead to La Tour! With a flurry of activity in Belgium, France and elsewhere, it was an eclectic week, with teams scoring a wide range of points.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	Bicing	851
2	del1962	800
3	NorthAmericanScum	663
4	Salvarani	661
5	R_O_Shipman	632

Two teams stood out from the rest this week, with Bicing and del1962 clearing 800 points. Bicing gets the nod for top spot though thanks to some rare picks. Leading the pack is 250 points from a resurgent Rigoberto Uran (8 teams). Bicing is also among the 39 teams breathing a sigh of relief that Evenepoel's disastrous (for CQ purposes) Giro wasn't an inidcator that his year will be a writeoff, as he nabbed 222 points for a win in Belgium. But what put Bicing over the top was 114 points from bold pick Pozzovivo (2 teams) and 119 from unique pick Oscar Rodriguez. del also had Uran and Remco, but supplementary points were a little less, with Oomen (90 points, 13 teams) and Mohoric (86 points, 5 teams) as support. NorthAmericanScum just nabs third spot thanks to Uran and 215 points from a now-in-profit Michael Woods (3 teams), who could prove to be a great pick with the Tour and Olympics still to come.

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Tigerion	(+10)
1	JPettersen	(+10)
3	search	(+9)
3	NorthAmericanScum	(+9)
5	Wallenquist	(+8)

Although finishing in 25th and 15th respectively in points scored on the week, Tigerion and JPettersen move up the standings the most thanks to being in a closely bunched part of the standings. Each team moves up ten spots, splitting the top spot. NorthAmericanScum is the only repeat podium finisher, tying with search for third on the week.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Hugo Koblet	198.67
2	Otoxiep87	190
3	Boris98	168.67
4	postmanhat	126
5	Hakkie2	123.67

Nobody in the top 5 (or, for that matter, the top 17 overall) scores any Green Jersey points this week, so Hugo stays on top.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Total Package	9944
2	(+1)	Object	9750
3	(-1)	Squire	9685
4	(-1)	Northerner	9530
5	(-)	Boris98	9520
6	(+4)	Otoxiep87	9416
7	(-1)	Armchair cyclist	9415
8	(-1)	Hugo Koblet	9336
9	(-)	MADRAZO	9308
10	(-2)	Fivezzz	9233

It was a quiet week at the top, with only 2 of the top 10 overall finishing in the top 50 scores for the week. As a result, no one moves in and out of the top 10, and there's only some swapping of minor placings. Total Package maintains an almost 200 point lead at the top, with Object and Squire flipping the other podium spots.

This week - it's national championship week! This one's always a bit unpredictable with so many riders gaining varying points here and there, it's best just to follow along as best you can and wait until the dust settles.

spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[Koronin]

Here's my Tour team:

Ion Izagirre
Sonny Colbelli
Kasper Asgreen
Sergio Higuita
Anthony Perez
Nils Politt
Neilson Poweless
Jonas Koch
Chris Froome
Mark Donovan
Tiesj Benoot
Jesus Herrada
Alejandro Valverde
Enric Mas
Ivan Cortina
Miguel Angel Lopez

At least it's a bunch of people, maybe a couple GC top 10's and a couple of stage wins?

 

[BlueRoads]

Ah, my team... these are my guys:
Half of the Jumbo team: Vingegaard, Kruijswijk, Teunissen, Kuss
Hirschi
Thomas
Lutsenko
Mollemix
Hamilton
Politt, Buchmann
Higuita, Powless
Latour
Froome

Don't know. Not a bad team, but basically I would have to hope for Roglic, Kelderman and Uran to crash out on the first stage, which I actually don't do; cq-wise I can only hope Thomas wins, although in real life I don't want him to. I really, really wonder in what shape Higuita will be, but if he's fine he will very probably work for Uran anyway.

 

[adamski101]

Here is my team for le Tour;

Teunissen
Kruijswijk
Thomas
Laporte
O'Connor
Sagan
Politt
Buchmann
Higuita
Gaudu
Madouas
Froome
Van Der Poel

Thomas is the main hope for GC, but hoping for top 10 from Gaudu. O'Connor could be top 15 on GC if he maintains the form he's shown this year. Buchmann is on majority of teams so hardly a difference maker. Higuita, who knows? Madouas finally showed signs of life at the Nationals.

Van Der Poel will hopefully grab a stage win or two and perhaps take yellow for a few days. Sagan should be favourite for Green and will hopefully get in the mix on a few stages.

 

[skidmark]

Update #21: Nationals are kind to Koronin as leaders pass 10,000 points

With the Dauphine and Tour du Suisse wrapped up, and most national championships happening in the last week, we are decisively turning to Tour season. Nationals week is always an eclectic mix in the CQ game, with so many riders and so many points on offer at once, it often comes down to who has a few high scoring rare riders and the best mix in all. Let's see how it went down.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	Koronin	795
2	Bonimenier	756
3	tom_jelte	687
4	Jon_Ezeitza	678
5	tobydawq	670

Koronin has the most unique team in the competition this year (check out the "Rank Popularity" tab on the sheet) and it pays off this week, as their team gets a weekly win! This is driven by two riders winning NC1 races and the 140 points that come with it, Remi Cavagna in France (3 teams) and Sonny Colbrelli in Italy (18 teams). Add to this 70 points from Matthias Norsgaard (5 teams), 60 each from unique picks Jonas Koch and Jesus Herrada, and several more rare picks scoring handfuls here and there, and it translates to first place! Bonimenier is the only team that comes close, with Colbrelli also leading the charge but support coming from 114 points from Remco Evenepoel (who has scored 336 in the last two weeks, blunting the Giro disappointment a bit more) and several riders scoring 40-70 points. One rider on Bonimenier's roster to look out for is Tom Dumoulin, who was only included on 4 teams after he put his career on hold, but had 50 this week and is now starting to look a bit like his old self. tom-jelte nabs third place, with another NC1 winner in Wout Van Aert leading the way and Remco included as well.

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Jon_Ezeitza	(+11)
2	tobydawq	(+8)
2	skidmark	(+8)
2	Bonimenier	(+8)
5	Salvarani	(+6)
5	Galpedal	(+6)
5	the asian	(+6)

As the season goes on, the fluctuations in the standings get smaller, and as such Jon Ezeitza is the only team to move up double digits this week. tobydawq, skidmark and Bonimenier tie for second by moving up 8, and all of the podium teams are similarly led in points by Colbrelli and Evenepoel.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Hugo Koblet	198.67
2	Otoxiep87	190
3	Boris98	168.67
4	Jon_Ezeitza	146
4	postmanhat	146

Some movement on this chart this week - postmanhat was in 5th last week and scored 20 points to skip over Hakkie2, whereas Jon Ezeitza was 6th last week and scored 26 points, the result of which is that both teams are now tied for 4th. Neither are within 45 points of Hugo Koblet in the lead, however, and none of the top 3 have closed the gap.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Total Package	10447
2	(-)	Object	10259
3	(-)	Squire	10231
4	(-)	Northerner	10030
5	(-)	Boris98	9981
6	(-)	Otoxiep87	9973
7	(-)	Armchair cyclist	9837
8	(+8)	Bonimenier	9795
9	(+3)	postmanhat	9752
10	(-)	Fivezzz	9720

No changes at the very top this week, as the top 7 all finished within 150 points of each other and therefore didn't flip spots. There were some leaps further down, as Bonimenier and postmanhat jumped into the top 10, while Hugo Koblet (after a long time in the top 10) and MADRAZO fall out for now.

This week sees the start of the biggest bike race in the world, but in CQ terms it is actually one of the quietest weeks of the calendar. With all eyes on the Tour, the rest of the calendar mostly clears out, with two 1.1 races and the first two stages of the Tour the only .1 or higher points on offer this week.

Spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[Koronin]

Wow, I get a weekly win!!!!!! Thank you Cavagna and Colbrelli!!!!! I knew when they won their respective races I should have good week, but didn't expect the win.

 

[Boris98]

My team for the Tour de France:

Steven Kruijswijk
Alexey Lutsenko
Christophe Laporte
Jasper Stuyven
Michael Matthews
Amund Grøndahl Jansen
Sonny Colbrelli
Dylan Teuns
Greg van Avermaet
Oliver Naesen
Nils Politt
Emanuel Buchmann
Chris Froome
Tiesj Benoot
Pierre Latour
Edvald Boasson Hagen

No high hopes for points for the GC, but some stage wins should be possible.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Since everyone's sharing their Tour teams:

Bjerg
Formolo
Kuss
Kruijswijk
Thomas
Mollema
Colbrelli
Van Avermaet
Naesen
Sagan
Politt
Buchmann
Bissegger
Gaudu
Bol
Latour

Looks solid enough for both GC and stage points. Then I also have my rarest pick Covi at both 1.1 races this week (plus Pidcock at Appennino today), so the potential is definitely there.

 

[skidmark]

Quick game note - I am finished my annual spring work commitments (that take me to remote places away from internet), so updates should be able to be done on Mondays for the most part for the rest of the season.

And now that I have more than just the time it takes to do an update, might as well lay out my Tour team:

Mike Teunissen
Steven Kruijswijk
Ion Izagirre
Christophe Laporte
Bauke Mollema
Amund Jansen
Sonny Colbrelli
Greg Van Avermaet
Oliver Naesen
Nils Politt
Emanuel Buchmann
Sergio Higuita
Chris Froome
Pierre Latour
Edvald Boasson Hagen

Well, that's 15 of my 33 riders, so I've got alot of volume... not sure how much substance there is though. Kruijswijk, Mollema, Izagirre, Buchmann and Froome fall into the category of 'have gotten a top 10 before but have shown in 2021 that they probably won't do that'; Higuita and Latour are my two other GC guys and the former has been a huge disappointment and the latter has been solid but seems to have a ceiling of 11th-15th in this kind of race.

Laporte and Colbrelli have been strong this year, and Sonny in particular seems to be in the form of his life, so sprint stages (especially tough ones) could be where I pull some points for my team. I'm not forgetting that Teunissen took yellow a couple of years back and so if he's finally healthy and in shape I wouldn't count him out (although Wout probably gets the leadership role most times).

GvA, Naesen and Politt are the types of guys who could win from a break and even take yellow for a few days if it works out right, but that's a crapshoot. Jansen and EBH I expect will ride around France for 3 weeks and get finishing points if they don't crash out.

All in all, my hopes are pretty muted for the Tour.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

If you are interested enough in CQ games to be following this thread, you would probably also be interested enough to try the Tour de France CQ game. About 25 hours from the timestamp of this post to get your team in.

 

[escartin]

my Tour team is:

Oliver Naesen
Greg van Avermaet
Alexey Lutsenko
Sonny Colbrelli
Emanuel Buchmann
Nils Politt
Peter Sagan
Sergio Higuita
David Gaudu
Geraint Thomas
Chris Froome
Steven Kruijswijk
Mike Teunissen
Pierre Latour
Mads Pedersen
Davide Formolo

16 riders and, in theory, there could easily be at least one in contention for every stage and every jersey.. that is, of course, not going to happen but I would like to think that a top 10 or two and some stage victories should at least be doable.

 

[Salvarani]

Tour team:

Marc Hirschi
Steven Kruijswijk
Mike Teunissen
Chirs Froome
Alejandro Valverde
Peter Sagan
Emanuel Buchmann
Nils Politt
Christophe Laporte
Rigoberto Uran
Stefan Bissegger
Oliver Naesen
Greg Van Avermaet
Elie Gesbert
Jasper De Buyst
Amund Gröndahl Jansen
Alexey Lutsenko
Pierre Latour

It is a pretty decent team if they perform. Could be some stage wins and a couple that are capable to be within the top 10 in this race. Perhaps even more.

Maybe some places up in the rankings after this one. We will see.

 

[Bicycle Boy]

My Team is:

Wout Van Aert
Mathieu Van Der Poel
Julian Alaphilippe
Peter Sagan
Geraint Thomas
Bauke Mollema
Emanuel Buchmann
Nils Politt
Amund Grøndahl Jansen
Chris Froome
Mark Cavendish

Not too many riders but if they perform well I am hoping for a few points.....

 

[Bonimenier]

Last couple of weeks have been good for me, but I'm not expecting too much points in the TdF.

Peter Sagan
Alejandro Valverde
Greg Van Avermaet
Geraint Thomas
Alexey Lutsenko
Sonny Colbrelli
Oliver Naesen
Philippe Gilbert
Mike Teunissen
Emanuel Buchmann
Nils Politt
Steven Kruijswijk
Amund Grondahl Jansen
Chris Froome

 

[BlueRoads]

Last couple of weeks have been good for me, but I'm not expecting too much points in the TdF.

Peter Sagan
Alejandro Valverde
Greg Van Avermaet
Geraint Thomas
Alexey Lutsenko
Sonny Colbrelli
Oliver Naesen
Philippe Gilbert
Mike Teunissen
Emanuel Buchmann
Nils Politt
Steven Kruijswijk
Amund Grondahl Jansen
Chris Froome

Hello? That's a great team.