The 2022 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Kazistuta]

Agreed. That's why I picked only expensive rider (jokes about Pogacar asides, I'm fairly certain it's the same one as Kazistuta) and a bunch of mid priced options.

I'm sure it was, but last night I dismissed his services,because I took exactly the approach you advocated for in your last part, and instead picked one of my favorite riders despite his seemingly rapid decline and the aforementioned talents very high ceiling.

Reg. Pogacar, why don't you try and put together a team with him in it, just for the giggles, and just keep it as a personal reference? I don't think it'll be competitive at all, but it would be interesting to see how many cheap hits you'd get in 2022.

 

[SafeBet]

Just sent my team.
Having less time than usual and not liking any of the team I was putting together with a rational approach I decided to go with a ton of riders I really enjoy cheering for. I actually had a team ready to be sent but this morning I removed a high priced rider I picked every year since he became eligible and went with some more riders I enjoy cheering for.
It's kind of a crazy team for my standards and I don't think it's particularly good, but who cares!

 

[Hugo Koblet]

So I decided to scrath my initial "serious" team because I didn't think that I've spent enough time on it for it to be competitive anyway. So instead I've submitted a team solely consisting of youngsters which I'm much more excited to cheer for next year than well-known riders that I don't really have any attachment to anyway. Can't wait to see everyone's teams and participate in the discussions afterwards

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

As a reminder, less then 12 hours remain.Regarding my team,I don’t have a rider over 800 and a lot of sneaky potential rebound candidates.

 

[Tigerion]

That was the quickest team I have ever put together and sure I am missing a ton of super obvious picks
But figure it's better to have a team to cheer for than not so the first draft gets submitted

 

[shalgo]

This is also the fastest I have ever put together a team. I kept thinking I would have time to work on it, but that time never came. So I am sure there are many oversights, but it is better to get into the game than to regret it for the rest of the year.

 

[skidmark]

Okay, I just got done a bunch of team processing and we've just passed the 70 team threshold with 7 hours until deadline. Keep 'em coming!

Just a reminder - the deadline in 7 hours is the initial submission deadline. After that, it's another 24 hours until the publication deadline. It is only after that deadline, in 31 hours from this post, that you should publish your team publicly here. So don't reveal your team tonight!

The reason for this intermittent period is that there has historically been a large amount of submissions on the last day, and some of them are inevitably teams that are over budget or have duplicate riders, etc. The extra 24 hours allows me to notice these and give participants a chance to make last minute changes.

That also means that you can make revisions up until that later deadline. And finally, if you just remembered the CQ game and are reading this now and just missed the initial deadline, you can still submit a team and I'll accept them at my discretion. Generally I've thought it's fair to accept any team until the point where all the teams are made public, so please just PM me if that is your issue.

I'll be at work today (it's 10am where I live) so I may not get your PMs today until later, but I'll get to them in the next 15 hours, I promise!

 

[Salvarani]

Just sent in my team now with less than 24 hours to go, and looking forward to a good battle with everyone. A tricky year I think especially with so many good (but not obvious) options amongst the medium priced and also with some more expensive riders, meaning all the hardest choises and cuts had to be made amongst these, so that the hardest choises will likely also be the most decisive picks, instead of just amongst a lot of cheaper candidates to fit the puzzle in the end. In the end I do feel satisfied with my team though.

Yes, the medium priced is where I had a hard time too. Im happy I had some time to think about those a lot. I swapped a bunch of times before I landed on the ones I did land on.

 

[the asian]

Sent a team.

Did not have lot of time.

 

[postmanhat]

Team submitted.

Having had quite a lot of today to think about this, my team is slightly more balanced than it was in terms of points distribution, but still very different than normal. My first ever 1000+ point rider, meaning five riders account for over half the total. As a consequence, definitely the highest % of young riders I've ever had.

As others have said, when it came to the final decisions my heart won over my head 90% of the time. And I have a strong preference for classics/versatile riders as opposed to pure GC/sprint specialists, so hopefully that will make my team a little bit different.

 

[manafana]

If anyone is stuck & needs a 0pt for there roster dm me and i will help

 

[manafana]

I have also submitted my team. It seems to me that there are relatively few 'must have picks' this year (hopefully I haven't overlooked some obvious riders), which would mean we could see some very diverse teams. Looking forward to the team reveals!

SO many cheap buys this year, i could built a team i was happy with for 3,500pts

 

[Squire]

So... earlier today I realised it was time to start working on my CQ team! Didn't have time for a lot of thorough research this time, and I haven't followed cycling very closely in 2021, so I'm probably missing some obvious picks. But I did try to apply my usual approach for trying to find the best picks.

Maybe this is not the year where I'll step up from my string of 2nd places, but we'll see! Looking forward to the big reveal! And big thanks again to skidmark for organizing the game.

 

[Squire]

SO many cheap buys this year, i could built a team i was happy with for 3,500pts

Really? I had it the complete opposite way. So few cheap picks that I liked, that I realized I needed to scratch my most expensive pick and go with more medium prized riders. I therefore made a big decision in leaving out one rather expensive heavy hitter that might be on most teams, but I just didn't find any good cheapos who could make, let's say, him and two cheap guys more worth it than three mid-prized ones.

 

[MADRAZO]

Really? I had it the complete opposite way. So few cheap picks that I liked, that I realized I needed to scratch my most expensive pick and go with more medium prized riders. I therefore made a big decision in leaving out one rather expensive heavy hitter that might be on most teams, but I just didn't find any good cheapos who could make, let's say, him and two cheap guys more worth it than three mid-prized ones.

As usual it sounds like we have had a very similar thought proces. I too were long time in doubt between 1 specific expensive riders and 2 extra cheap ones compared to 3 mediumpriced riders, that ended out in favour of the 3 middlepriced ones, also due to the cheaper ones left were not adding enough extra value, even if it was a difficult choise. And I have a feeling the expensive rider we talk about here is the same

 

[manafana]

i suppose i looked at it, that i could see alot of <100 who could get to 200+ as opposed to 300-400s who could get to 600-700.

I had few freebies up my sleeve but ended up using just the one. Left out the two big MTB converts

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Actually managed to send in my team slightly after the deadline because it took me a little longer than anticipated to shave off 4 points. So much for me claiming I had too much time on the first page

 

[skidmark]

Phew, had a flurry of entries to process after my workday - I think unofficially we're at 90 teams, very close to last year! We will see if my math is wrong or if a couple of stragglers come in before the publication deadline to match or eclipse last year's participation... either way, very much looking forward to the publication of the teams, always one of my favourite times of early January! Hope springs eternal when all the points are left to be scored

 

[Nyssinator]

Went a bit overboard with riders in development teams. They are great talents, but will likely not score many points this year because of the race schedules.

 

[manafana]

Went a bit overboard with riders in development teams. They are great talents, but will likely not score many points this year because of the race schedules.

Yeah with covid i try keep as much to WT riders as can, lower down you go more impactful race cancellations get

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Went a bit overboard with riders in development teams. They are great talents, but will likely not score many points this year because of the race schedules.

Seems like you have the basis for a sound team in the 3 year Emerging Riders CQ game in that case. If you are too late for this one, or simply think that you would like to have a second game while you are in prospect searching mode, have a look. (Essentially, you need18 male riders early in their careers, less than 200 CQ points scored to date: totals between now and the end of 2024 determine the winner)

 

[Nyssinator]

Seems like you have the basis for a sound team in the 3 year Emerging Riders CQ game in that case. If you are too late for this one, or simply think that you would like to have a second game while you are in prospect searching mode, have a look. (Essentially, you need18 male riders early in their careers, less than 200 CQ points scored to date: totals between now and the end of 2024 determine the winner)

I actually made a team yesterday for the Emerging Riders game! Just haven't sent it yet.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I was really early because I already had made a list of riders, I only had to make 1-2 changes because of the Lex Groene, if you wanna call it like that.

 

[bminchow]

Got my team submitted. And then made some last minute changes. I always seem to pick too many GC guys and not enough variation on my squad. And i wanted to add a little risk to make my team a little bit different from the others. Spending >1000 pts was hard to commit to. It was easier last year when values were so much lower. I know from my one lucky year that the key it so get lucky with 2-3 big surprises that most others don't. So I tried to find that. I can't wait to see all the rosters again and see how we compare. Always a really fun day. So thankful for this game. I have learned a lot.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

The Highlight of my day today and tomorrow will be comparing the rosters