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The 2021 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

Page 27 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Busy week!

Luxembourg - Have six riders, but only two still in contention after today - Formolo and Latour

Slovakia - Sagan, Hagen, Jansen

Wallonie - Calmejane, Wellens, Buchmann, Politt, Vanmarcke, Laporte, Van Der Hoorn

Alfredo Martini - from the partial startlist so far, Moscon, Colbrelli, Gavazzi

The time of year when my classics-oriented team hopefully starts making some gains
 
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Update #33: Jon Ezeitza has another good week as Green Jersey tightens up

A smattering of 1-day races colored the week, and the highest-prestige race in the Euros didn't actually give a ton of points. So this week was always going to be a bit lower than last week's Vuelta GC points. Let's see how it shook out!

This Week's Top Scorers

RankTeamPoints this week
1Jon_Ezeitza564
2Bicycle_Boy549
3armchairclimber545
4merengues513
5Nicosix502

Jon Ezeitza's team gets their second win of the year, 30 weeks after the first! Despite having Alaphilippe (120 points, third in Tour of Britain) and Colbrelli (100 points, Euro champ), Jon Ezeitza's top scorer this week was Elia Viviani, who got 130 points for his biggest win of the year in a French 1.PS race that you likely didn't see. Those three plus Evenepoel (85 points, in profit for the year for all his 39 worried owners) drove the week, with Hodeg and Trentin adding 40 more points each. Bicycle Boy comes close to a second weekly win of the year as well (winner of week 24), with a different strategy - this is the top-heavy team that has been mentioned in prior updates with WvA (235 points), MvdP (80 points), and JA (okay Alaphilippe doesn't have a pithy acronym, but his 120 points certainly helped). armchairclimber claims the last podium spot with Ethan Hayter (191 points) as the top scorer, buffered by Alapilippe and Evenepoel and 66 by Gaviria.

This Week's High Movers

RankTeamUp/down
1Crevaison(+8)
1mineralJ(+8)
3Bicycle_Boy(+6)
4Nicosix(+5)
4merengues(+5)
4comodoro(+5)

Crevaison and mineralJ both move up 8 spots in the rankings this week, with Alaphilippe and Gaviria common riders scoring between them (Crevaison had help from Remco and Colbrelli, while mineralJ had Viviani). Bicycle Boy doubles up on the podium here.

Green Jersey Competition

RankTeamTotal
1Otoxiep87251
2Bicycle_Boy248
3Jon_Ezeitza244
4Object216
5Hugo Koblet212.67

Well, things have gotten interesting here! Bicycle Boy gets 35 points for 2nd place on the week to pull within a mere 3 points of Otoxiep87's previously large lead, and Jon Ezeitza scores 45 for first and is only 8 out of first place. With a month to go in the season, this competition is far from over.

Top 10 Overall


RankUp/downTeamPoints
1(-)16607
2(-)Total Package15457
3(-)Squire15251
4(+1)Otoxiep8715068
5(+1)Northerner14887
6(-2)Nakazar14844
7(-)JPettersen14726
8(+2)Jon_Ezeitza14714
9(+2)Galpedal14532
10(-2)laarsland14390

Object drops 113 points to Total Package, but can afford it - there aren't enough weeks left in the season for gains like that to add up to overturning first place. A few small movements further down, weekly winner Jon Ezeitza moves up to 8th, Galpedal gets back in the top 10, while Boris98 slides right back out.

This week, I am reminded how wild the late season can be. First, we have the Tour of Luxembourg, and there is a total of eleven one-day races this week - 5 in Belgium (two 1.PS, two 1.1, and the WCTT), 4 in Italy, one in France and the very rescheduled Eschborn-Frankfurt. Should be a bevy of points on offer, good luck keeping track!

Spreadsheet at dropbox
 
Now that Viviani and Hodeg have woken up after a long winter slumber, we will continue to fight for the green jersey with Colbrelli, Evenepoel and Alaphilippe, without giving up the GC podium. I also hope that Sagan still gives me a lot of points. How many hopes! :cool:
 
I know there have been approximately a thousand races this week, so a lot of riders have scored points but with Colbrelli, Trentin, Sagan, Remco, Kristoff, Laporte, Pinot, Matthews, Modolo (!) and Formolo all picking up points, I can't have faired too badly.
 
I have the same first six as you, except for Viviani instead of Kristoff. I think those five riders we share will be the most successful combination this week, unless there's a team out there with Phillipsen, Jakobsen and Hirschi?

I have Jakobsen and Hirschi... but no Philipsen... no Viviani, no Kristoff, no Evenepoel, no Sagan, no Colbrelli, no Trentin...etc, etc, ah, basically, nobody except for Fabio and Marc. A few minor points from some others.
But hey, the result of the WCRR will be:
1 Hirschi
2 Schachmann
3 Teunissen
4 Powless
5 Politt
6 Pidcock
7 Gaviria
8 Higuita
9 Lutsenko
10 Mollema
and things immediately look better for me.
 
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I have Jakobsen and Hirschi... but no Philipsen... no Viviani, no Kristoff, no Evenepoel, no Sagan, no Colbrelli, no Trentin...etc, etc, ah, basically, nobody except for Fabio and Marc. A few minor points from some others.
But hey, the result of the WCRR will be:
1 Hirschi
2 Schachmann
3 Teunissen
4 Powless
5 Politt
6 Pidcock
7 Gaviria
8 Higuita
9 Lutsenko
10 Mollema
and things immediately look better for me.

A top 10 without Danes, Italians or Belgians does seem exceedingly likely.
 
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Update #34: The Contenders Make a Final Push

It was a very busy week, with 1-day races aplenty and the kick off of the Worlds. It is also one week closer to the end of the season, and so for a lot of teams it was now or never.

This Week's Top Scorers


RankTeamPoints this week
1Squire1495
2Total Package1260
3zaka_fan1233
4Nyssinator1162
5tobydawq1157

Indeed it was a wild week in the game, with Squire cleanly taking care of the competition with almost 1500 points, a truly "GC week of a grand tour" level of points. The biggest contribution was from Michael Valgren coming alive this week, scoring 210 points after getting less than that for the whole rest of the season for his 18 teams. But that was hardly it for Squire, who had 184 from Christophe Laporte, 158 from the gift that keeps on giving ie Sonny Colbrelli, 151 from Sagan (which I didn't even realize he scored until right now, too many races this week!), 116 from Trentin, and over 50 from Kristoff, Gaudu, Moscon and Latour. Phew! Total Package lands in second with a none-too-shabby 1260 points with the exact same >100 point scorers as Squire but less support. zaka_fan lands in third with a similar group sans Valgren and Colbrelli, but with 166 from a finally-coming-into-form Marc Hirschi. A big week overall, with 17 teams scoring over 1000 points.

This Week's High Movers


RankTeamUp/down
1Nyssinator(+13)
2postmanhat(+11)
3Salvarani(+9)
4Nicosix(+8)
4Wallenquist(+8)

A different list here (the top 2 of the leaders of the prior ranking are quite high overall already), with Nyssinator moving the most at 13 places. postmanhat is the only other team to leap double digits, while Salvarani moves up 9 spots for third on this ranking.

Green Jersey Competition

RankTeamTotal
1Otoxiep87251
2Bicycle_Boy248
3Jon_Ezeitza244
4Object216
5Hugo Koblet212.67

After tightening up significantly at the top last week, none of the top 5 score this week. Total Package moves into 6th just out of this ranking with 35 points on the week, but at 187 overall is still a significant way from the top.

Top 10 Overall

RankUp/downTeamPoints
1(-)17496
2(+1)Squire16746
3(-1)Total Package16717
4(-)Otoxiep8715776
5(-)Northerner15762
6(+1)JPettersen15696
7(+1)Jon_Ezeitza15663
8(+4)skidmark15391
9(+5)tobydawq15382
10(+1)Boris9815266

I implied last week that Object looked to have an insurmountable lead, and with 889 points (29th on the week), their team did a decent job of defendnig that lead. But the problem for Object is that #1 and 2 on the week were their team's closest competitors in Squire and Total Package. Squire gained 606 points on Object this week, while Total Package gained 351. Still, Object has a 750 point lead, so Squire would have to have a similarly successful week and then keep gaining in the few remaining weeks in the season to overturn that lead. The Worlds gives 400 CQ points to the winner, the biggest remaining race on the calendar, so the likelihood of such an upheaval will become clearer after this weekend.

Lower down on the rankings, things are solidifying. Team skidmark makes a reentry into the top 10 after several months away from it, and tobydawq moves back in with Boris98 as well, at the expense of Nakazar, Galpedal and laarsland.

This week is quieter in volume than last week, with a 1.PS, two 1.1 races, and a 1.WC, but that last one is definitely the main event.

spreadsheet at dropbox
 
Object has a pretty commanding lead but there's still a fascinating race involving their team. Can they chase down the all time record of 19345 (by skidmark in 2012) ? 2000 points with the fall classics (+ Paris-Roubaix) and the World Championships remaining on the calendar seems tough for any team that doesn't have Gilbert in 2011 form (I don't think anybody picked him that year but what a legendary pick that would have been). Should be pretty fun to follow for people like me who are completely out of it this year.
 
Hoorah, 80 points by Taco today.
And must say I have some expectations with this team at the worlds
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
SAGAN Peter
HIGUITA GARCIA Sergio Andres
LUTSENKO Alexey
URAN URAN Rigoberto
VALGREN HUNDAHL (ANDERSEN) Michael
HONORE Mikkel Frølich
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose
BJERG Mikkel
POLITT Nils
 
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Hoorah, 80 points by Taco today.
And must say I have some expectations with this team at the worlds
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
SAGAN Peter
HIGUITA GARCIA Sergio Andres
LUTSENKO Alexey
URAN URAN Rigoberto
VALGREN HUNDAHL (ANDERSEN) Michael
HONORE Mikkel Frølich
HODEG CHAGUI Alvaro Jose
BJERG Mikkel
POLITT Nils

Van Der Hoorn has turned out to be a good pick, but probably my most exciting one as well I think. Plus I get to say his name a lot, which is always enjoyable. And I'm hoping for at least one top ten at the Worlds with this team.

Colbrelli
Trentin
Moscon
Evenepoel
Sagan
Higuita
Politt
Laporte
Pidcock

A bit Azzurri-heavy, but that's usually not a bad thing at The Worlds:)
 
Recovering a thousand points from those who occupy the podium seems impossible with the few races that remain. We will fight for fourth place. Which is very good.

I am sad enough to have counted that there are still 26 races left after the Worlds, including 2 WT, 8 Pro and 4 stage races. Agreed it's maybe not enough to challenge for the podium? But some of those in the top ten might not be that secure if they don't have a decent classics/fall team.
 
Update #35: Endgame takes shape as Object's lead halves and Green Jersey flips

The Worlds are in the bag, and things are coming down to the wire in CQ land. There are two WT races left on the calendar but they are both monuments in the rescheduled Paris-Roubaix and the regularly scheduled Lombardia in the next two weekends. It's natural that followers of the CQ Manager game will turn to the overall standings, and indeed things look more interesting there than they did a couple of weeks ago. But of course there is a weekly competition and so the winners there deserve their moment in the sun as well!

This Week's Top Scorers

RankTeamPoints this week
1Vipps966
2search931
3Galpedal928
4Northerner909
5MuddyWaters861

Vipps takes a big win this week with almost 1000 points - naturally, they were one of the 27 teams that got the full 400 points for having the successfully defending world champ Julian Alaphilippe. And their team is also one of the 18 that will be very relieved in the past few weeks to have Michael Valgren, who nabs 210 for third place in the Worlds. The more ubiquitous Pidcock (144 points, 76 teams) is the only other scorer on the team that clears 100 points, but the 78 points from Jordi Meeus (8 teams) from non-Worlds related activity is what really puts Vipps over the top this week. Search and Galpedal round out the podium, with the same big 3 highlighting the points this week, although notably Galpedal was one of the 5 teams that picked WvA and would have been surely expecting more than the 64 points he delivered. Don't worry, Roubaix is still coming.

This Week's High Movers

RankTeamUp/down
1MuddyWaters(+12)
1Lortnoc(+12)
3Armchair cyclist(+9)
3Vipps(+9)
5Jakob747(+8)
5Bicycle_Boy(+8)

A different podium here, with Muddy Waters and Lortnoc splitting the top spot as the only double-digit risers this week. Both had Alaphilippe and Pidcock, with the next highest scorer being Stybar (138 points, 3 teams) for Muddy Waters and Dainese (72 points, 19 teams) for Lortnoc. Vipps manages the double podium, sharing third with Armchair Cyclist.

Green Jersey Competition

RankTeamTotal
1Bicycle_Boy266
2Otoxiep87265
3Jon_Ezeitza244
4Hugo Koblet224.67
5Object216

Bicycle Boy edges into the lead in this competition by the slimmest of margins - their team got 18 points for 7th on the week to close the gap. Otoxiep87 got 14 points for 9th on the week, but was only ahead by 3 points going into the week and so is now behind by 1. Hugo Koblet also got 12 points for 10th on the week and is one of 4 teams within 45 points of the lead with only a few weeks left to go.

Top 10 Overall

RankUp/downTeamPoints
1(-)17806
2(-)Squire17472
3(-)Total Package17261
4(+1)Northerner16671
5(-1)Otoxiep8716560
6(+1)Jon_Ezeitza16278
7(+6)Galpedal16066
8(-2)JPettersen16010
9(+1)Boris9815797
10(-2)skidmark15780

No movement in the top 3 spots, but Object's lead has dwindled to a comfortable-but-not-invincible 336 points. Squire outscored Object by 416 points this week, so 336 points is by no means insurmountable. Total Package gained 234 points on Object as well, and is 545 back in third. A strong showing in the remaining monuments and one-day races could see this turn out any way, even though the top 3 are separated by hundreds. Further down, Galpedal goes back into the top 10, while tobydawq falls back out.

This upcoming week has some interesting end-of-season races that may give a chance for rare picks to score big, which often happens with a spread out calendar at the end of the season - 2.1 races in Croatia and Italy, 1.PS races in Belgium, Italy and Germany, several 1.1 races, and of course Paris-Roubaix. Very exciting!

Spreadsheet at dropbox
 

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