The 2022 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[armchairclimber]

But at that time, wasn't Rodriguez some way back as well. No matter, I hope you are right as I do have him in my team.

 

[SafeBet]

But at that time, wasn't Rodriguez some way back as well. No matter, I hope you are right as I do have him in my team.

They were maybe 5/10 seconds behind the front group and he looked a bit labored, but I don't think he finishes behind the Jumbo duo without a mechanical. I mean he lost more than 3 minutes in 2 km.

 

[repre]

I think he was dropped before the gravel.

nope it wasn't on TV i guess, but they said afterwards that he had a mechanical and waited for help for a quite some time

 

[skidmark]

Update #4: MaximIsTheBest

The CQ season has truly kicked off in earnest, with this being the first week with multiple stage races taking place, and televised to boot! CQ game fanatics are no longer confined to the margins of following the Mallorca Challenge live feed twitter updates, dreaming about what the action might look like. And it was quite a fun and unpredictable week as well, with all Vlasov, Van Gils, and Thomas picking up their first stage race wins of their careers (I think - didn't look it up so apologies if I'm wrong), and all three of them being quite rare picks in this game. As always, it's the teams that have the best combo of rare riders with a good week and more popular riders with a good week that fill out the top of the standings.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	EvansIsTheBest	607
2	comodoro	550
3	Crevaison	463
4	repre	461
5	Sneekes	459

Two teams stand out above the rest, and one in particular. EvansIsTheBest hit the jackpot on numerous fronts this week, with Maxim Van Gils (139 points, 2 teams) and Santiago Buitrago (112 points, 3 teams) cleaning up in the Saudi Tour, and Carlos Rodriguez (117, 16) and Remco Evenepoel (151, 35) doing well in Spain - despite his performance inspiring reactionary panic as to whether Evenepoel is actually good, he did still get second place and a boatload of points. comodoro slots in second thanks largely to the guy who beat Evenepoel, unqiue pick Aleksandr Vlasov (206 points), with help from Evenepoel and Bettiol (93, 35). Crevaison edges out repre for third on the podium with Remco and a strong supporting cast scoring in the 20-90 point range.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Nakazar	52
1	Eyeballs Out	52
3	comodoro	51
4	Jakob747	50
5	repre	47

The two teams that tied for the first week win are now tied for first in the green jersey ranking, with Nakazar scoring 12 points this week to match the 12 that Eyeballs Out got last week. comodoro scores 35 this week to get within a point, and other teams are not far behind.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(+15)	mayomaniac	708
2	(+62)	EvansIsTheBest	697
3	(+14)	Nakazar	682
4	(+7)	Jon_Ezeitza	663
5	(+13)	will10	660
6	(+7)	SafeBet	652
7	(-5)	Eyeballs Out	643
8	(+54)	comodoro	642
9	(+5)	DJ Sprtsch	634
10	(-4)	Martin	630

There's quite the flip in the standings this week! mayomaniac makes it to the top spot, as EvansIsTheBest was a bit further back in the overall to allow their team's great week to convert into the top spot overall. (I should note that mayomaniac's top scorer thus far is the 41-year-old Valverde) Nakazar rounds out the podium, while the only survivors remaining from last week's top 10 are Eyeballs Out and Martin.

This week, we have the return of the Tour of Oman, the Tour de Provence, a 2.1 stage race in Turkey, as well as the Murcia-Almeira double header of one-day races in Spain.

spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Happy to win the week but it's a bit frustrating to be this close to the top spot. If I want to overtake mayomaniac's team this week, I need Skjelmose and Battistella to outscore Valverde basically. I'm not holding my breath but I do need those two to perform this year if I want my team to get a decent ranking. Looking at Battistella's cq page, I have no clue how he made the final cut. Feels like I outthought myself and should have just taken Bettiol like any rational person (I reserve the right to take back this statement if Battistella outscores Bettiol this year). Of course like I alluded to earlier in the thread, the real play would have been Skjelmose + Battistella + low priced rider for Pidcock + whomever 1 + whomever 2. But it's too late to fix it.

 

[Jakob747]

Happy to win the week but it's a bit frustrating to be this close to the top spot. If I want to overtake mayomaniac's team this week, I need Skjelmose and Battistella to outscore Valverde basically. I'm not holding my breath but I do need those two to perform this year if I want my team to get a decent ranking. Looking at Battistella's cq page, I have no clue how he made the final cut. Feels like I outthought myself and should have just taken Bettiol like any rational person (I reserve the right to take back this statement if Battistella outscores Bettiol this year). Of course like I alluded to earlier in the thread, the real play would have been Skjelmose + Battistella + low priced rider for Pidcock + whomever 1 + whomever 2. But it's too late to fix it.

Maybe, Brenner and Toumire for a GC assault in Oman?

 

[Koronin]

Amazing my team is in 20th. I'm sure this won't last, but nice to see. Also nice to see my unique 0 pointer now has 4 points.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Immense joy seeing my team in the top ten.
The upcoming week is more worrying. I mean, I have had a look at the startlist for Antalya ten times by now I think, and there still isn't anyone from my team in there. The points rewarded in Turkey are the same as in the Etoile de Bessèges!
Should be easy points for Jay Vine, maybe even in the magnitude as Thomas in Bessèges. Jay Vine was another rider I decided against, as I found the cost of 156 too risky. Now he could be up there in the middle of February.

 

[will-10]

I opted out from picking Vine as by his own admission he still has much to learn on the days when it's not all about horsepower - case in point him finishing out of GC at Besseges - which would limit his ceiling points-wise, and maybe make him a good pick for next year.

That said, Antalya has been a w/kg top 10 before so decent chance he proves me wrong again

 

[Mayomaniac]

Wait, I'm actually nr. 1 atm?
That's a bit unexpected, but I can't complain.

 

[jon ezeitza]

The last points achieved by Johannessen Tobias, Rodriguez Carlos, Girmay and Evenepoel have raised me to fourth place, the one that gives the right to the chocolate medal. Satisfied and happy .

 

[skidmark]

Well my week 3 was much better than the first two... Remco lost out on 40 points between 2nd and 1st (and some leader jersey points), but still looks like a lock for most stage races that don't have such a steep mountain stage and/or has a time trial. Bettiol looks determined to be back, Pinot would have normally dusted the competition at Besseges but 11th is better than most of his placings last year, and I didn't even realize Ciccone was racing until he was top 10! Beyond that, Jay Vine looks great if he can stay in the peloton on regular stages.

This week:

Oman

Kaden Groves
Henri Vandenabeele

What a bizarre startlist. A couple of teams are not complete, but I can't see more than a couple of GC contenders here. Maybe a chance for Vandenabeele? I'm hoping Groves can contest some finishes after the team withdrawal last week.

Provence

Giulio Ciccone
Filippo Baroncini
Carl Fredrik Hagen
Ivan Sosa


Ciccone is consistently good, and Sosa is the opposite so I'm hoping for a good one from him. Hagen... we'll see if he can start to rebuild a GC resume, and Baroncini I dunno what to expect from his first race in the pros.

Antalya

Jay Vine

I don't wanna get my hopes up, but this seems like a pretty good opportunity for him.

 

[Salvarani]

Baroncini I dunno what to expect from his first race in the pros.

He raced in Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard. 92th.

Might get better with more racing and races.

 

[Salvarani]

Provence
Ilan Van Wilder
Nicolas Edet
Carl Fredrik Hagen

Will be interesting to see Ilan here. I hope he is in good form already. Maybe not with the game in mind because he is on a lot of teams, so good or bad does not make that much of a difference, but will be good to see him race again.

Oman
Søren Kragh Andersen
Campbell Stewart

If good Kragh turns up it could be "easy" points here for him and he would be off to a good start, but bad Kragh could DNF or end up finishing 95th.

Campbell Stewart first race with BE, so I dont know what to expect. Im alone in this pick, so anything would be great. Hope he passes Groves, who Im not that impressed by, in the pecking order sooner rather than later.

Colombia Nationals
Dani Martinez
Sergio Higuita

Two good chances for some points.

Spanish one day races
Max Kanter
MAL
Lennard Kämna

Very provisional startlists for these ones. Maybe someone more will/could be added. Hopefully Max Kanter could have a good start in Clasica Almeria. There are some points up for grabs if could finish top 5 or something.

 

[postmanhat]

Seem to have been big changes to the line-ups of tomorrow's races in the last 24 hours. Lots of my riders have been scratched from the startlists - Ciccone, Baroncini, Calmejane, Vernon, Kron. Has lessened my interest and potential points tally

Oman
Andersen
Rex

Provence
Van Wilder
Askey
Edet
Hagen

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Seems like this will be a lower-scoring week than anticipated with relatively popular picks falling off startlists everywhere and Vine abandoning in Antalya. Here's what I have left...

Oman
Mauro Schmid
Jonas Hvideberg

Provence
Ilan Van Wilder
Michael Storer

Murcia
Biniam Girmay
Pelayo Sanchez

Colombia nationals
Daniel Martinez

Almeria
Iuri Leitao

Antalya - nothing

Pretty poor quantity-wise but at least some of these riders should be able to pick up meaningful points.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Minor placings from Groves and Battistella today. Martinez with 50 easy points.

 

[Popchu]

Kudos to all the Carlos Rodriguez and Tobias Halland Johannessen backers, looking very strong at these early stages! I would lie if I said I considered them myself - Carlos Rodriguez was a team hierarchy thing, I honestly didn't think it was his time (yet) and Halland Johannessen points-tag I thought was too risky to gamble with, ha.ha.ha, and even though it's still only early February, I feel they will be excellent investments. Let's wait and see!

I don't have anything point-wise to show for it yet, but I am super optimistic about my Alejandro Osorio gamble. In theory, he should be the best Colombian bet out of the new generation by far! Post Egan. His engine is fantastic, - good rouleur, and when on his climbing is pure poetry. Last year he finally started to show glimpse of his potential (Maurizio Fondriest and Gabriel Jaime Velez) predicted him a HUGE future already 3 years ago, but he was diagnosed with mononucleosis last year and didn't ride a single race after July.

However now fully recovered, he is putting in beastly rides here locally. 2 days ago he averaged 400watts on the climb to La Union, where he broke Jose Tito Hernandez, Strava record by 41 seconds - this is at 2600 meters of altitude climbing with over 30 km/h. Absolutely sick potential!

Any idea about the startlist for the Colombian nationals RR? Is Osorio riding?

 

[Jakob747]

Any idea about the startlist for the Colombian nationals RR? Is Osorio riding?

Yeah, Osorio is riding. I add you the start-list here below! Let's see what we can expect on a route like this!

http://www.federacioncolombianadeciclismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LISTADO-ACTUALIZADO-INSCRITOS-NACIONALES-RUTA-2022.pdf

 

[will-10]

Finally one of my last-minute changes actually going my way Had left Groves out when Greenedge signed Groenewegen, then heard how bullish Matt White was on Groves' prospects and he was more-or-less the last change I made. Looking good the last couple of days at least, wasn't far off Cav today.

 

[Jakob747]

Yeah, Osorio is riding. I add you the start-list here below! Let's see what we can expect on a route like this!

http://www.federacioncolombianadeciclismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LISTADO-ACTUALIZADO-INSCRITOS-NACIONALES-RUTA-2022.pdf

Daniel Martinez won't ride the road race on Sunday - Boarded a flight to Europe last night after his TT title.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Another positive result from Groves. Van WIlder, Battistella and Skjelmose all made the front group in Provence and are now well positioned for some GC points.

 

[del1962]

I picked Groves and I thought he would be more popular

 

[postmanhat]

Line-ups still incomplete for the Spanish races this weekend, but so far:

Murcia
Rosa
Modolo

Almeria
Modolo
Rosa
Lawless

Jaen Parasio
Uitjdebroeks
Lopez

Didn't have very good teams for the ongoing races, but Van Wilder's looking good in Provence, and Andersen could still get a decent result in Oman.

 

[BlueRoads]

I am really waiting for the next week... my riders don't seem to like riding yet... have hardly started their season... and in Spain I also have hardly anyone.