The 2023 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Whoops]

Thanks Skidmark for the update! Congrats to bminchow, jakob and DJW for an amazing week! The Vine/Yates combo is paying off already.

I'm probably the lowest placed Vine team, but really happy with 9th place. First mini-goal of the season reached, just wanted to be mentioned on the update post once
Only a few of my riders have started their seaon, only 7 and Moscon already out for some time. Simmons had a nice win yesterday and scored some points so he's off to a good start.

With the Challenge Mallorca the European season is started for real, so quite excited to see how my guys will perform:

Alaphilippe
Uijtdebroeks
Politt
Schelling
Van Eetvelt
Asgreen
Padun
Healy

 

[Earns1985]

That was a pretty awful start. I had 6 promising riders in the TDU (Hamilton, Storer, Schachmann, Moscon, Fisher-Black, L.Hayter) but none of them scored more than five points there..
At least Simmons gave me a first win yesterday, so it can just get better.

I hope, I will get some GC points out of San Juan with Bernal, Brenner, Simmons and Vacek.

 

[skidmark]

Just a quick correction on the spreadsheet - the column headers have last year's years (2021 and 2022 instead of 2022 and 2023)

Right, thanks, I had it on my radar to correct that and keep forgetting. It'll be done by next update.

 

[RedheadDane]

Oh wait. I still have the great ocean road race (which you should def drive if you havent already). So maybe my Australia centric team can get me a few more points.

I definitely should not drive the Great Ocean Road! Or any road for that matter.
I'm also not too keen on driving the race.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

C Pedersen into profit on his first race day. I have a feeling this is going to be a good pick for me and the ten other Pedersen believers.

 

[Anderis]

C Pedersen into profit on his first race day. I have a feeling this is going to be a good pick for me and the ten other Pedersen believers.

Yeah, a man who won Paris-Tours just a bit more than 2 years ago, is not that old and switched from DSM to Quickstep. I knew he was at the very least going to be up there in a couple of smaller classics. No brainer for 24 points.

 

[tobydawq]

Too bad Eenkhoorn hit the wall but with Casper Pedersen and Alaphilippe, it was a fine day.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Antonio Jesús Soto is already close to his 2022 points tally, so he's looking like a decent investment. Some more top 10 and 20 finishes in the remaining Mallorca races and an Higuita Monster win in San Juan, and it would be a great week for me.

 

[Squire]

Yeah, a man who won Paris-Tours just a bit more than 2 years ago, is not that old and switched from DSM to Quickstep. I knew he was at the very least going to be up there in a couple of smaller classics. No brainer for 24 points.

Looking at it now, you're absolutely right. I should have included him. Cheap Quickstepper is always a profit guarantee. Didn't learn from my Vernon exclusion last year. Should also have gone with my gut feeling that Vader would be good. Pedersen and Vader have a higher ceiling than my picks Lecerf and Piganzoli probably. But I couldn't help making some fun picks like Carstensen. The cynical route to go would be Bol and Schelling.

On a positive note, Salby is doing as expected in Gabon, being second behind Tesson today. Promising with regards to all those flat Belgian 1.1 races. But as the pure sprinter he is, he didn't survive the 'queen stage' on day one with a small climb near the end, so not many GC points incoming. I kinda knew Tesson would dominate this race, so I should have kept him in my team probably. He will get tons of chances later in the season too. Congrats to those who took the gamble.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Tesson with back to back victories now. Hopefully he can keep the jersey for a few days, those points add up after a while.

Not much going on with the rest of my team.

 

[Squire]

Tesson with back to back victories now. Hopefully he can keep the jersey for a few days, those points add up after a while.

Not much going on with the rest of my team.

I still believe my prediction from the team discussions we had that he will win all stages and the overall (minus the one stage his teammate won). Stage one was by far the most difficult. Salby will probably not survive the climb near the end tomorrow, so that should be an even easier sprint win, then the final three stages are completely flat. Bingoal is probably also interested in a sprint on those days, so controlling the break should be no problem.

 

[BR2]

I'm hoping for a few points for Mulubrhan in Gabon.
Otherwise nice win for Simmons, some nice early points for Pedersen, that's all for my team at the moment I think.
Everyone has Bernal, so it doesn't matter, but for him personally I hope Bernal can have a nice season's start in San Juan.

 

[postmanhat]

Looking at it now, you're absolutely right. I should have included him. Cheap Quickstepper is always a profit guarantee. Didn't learn from my Vernon exclusion last year. Should also have gone with my gut feeling that Vader would be good. Pedersen and Vader have a higher ceiling than my picks Lecerf and Piganzoli probably. But I couldn't help making some fun picks like Carstensen. The cynical route to go would be Bol and Schelling.

On a positive note, Salby is doing as expected in Gabon, being second behind Tesson today. Promising with regards to all those flat Belgian 1.1 races. But as the pure sprinter he is, he didn't survive the 'queen stage' on day one with a small climb near the end, so not many GC points incoming. I kinda knew Tesson would dominate this race, so I should have kept him in my team probably. He will get tons of chances later in the season too. Congrats to those who took the gamble.

Very similar here as have Salby (promising start), but not Tesson. The latter was one of the last to be cut from my team and that was mainly due to the amount of DNF's he had last year which I didn't know the reason for. Had a feeling would regret that decision before this race started. He'll be great fun to follow for those who picked him.

Have Pedersen though and don't know which is more surprising. That only 14 of us chose him, or that he was fourth on a hilly course today. Probably just one of those weird Mallorca results, but encouraging for his chances in races that should suit him better.

Also, didn't realise quite how bad the TDU was for the majority of teams. I'm 36th in the overall rankings and my highest placed rider on GC was Hugo Page in 19th.

 

[MADRAZO]

Yeah, a man who won Paris-Tours just a bit more than 2 years ago, is not that old and switched from DSM to Quickstep. I knew he was at the very least going to be up there in a couple of smaller classics. No brainer for 24 points.

Casper Pedersen were of course a potential pick given all the factors you mention there, but all both he and the team has talked about concerning his Quick Step move was that he would focus 100% on becomming a dedicated leadout rider and sort of become Mørkøvs apprentice, and the one that should take over his legacy in a couple of years, and for me that ment he did not make my team as leadoutriders rarely scores much. Not having him I certainly hope he or the team wont get any other ideas after todays great result, cause he certainly have the potential to score a lot if he suddenly gets another role. The fact that he started today and not tomorrow, as a leadout rider normally would have done, is a interesting sign though, as they must have really known he was in great shape and perhaps changed some plans for him already there.

 

[Earns1985]

Not so good news for all the Tobias Halland Johannessen owners (which includes me)!

Because of some knee issues he cancelled his starts in Marseille and Etoile and plans his debut in Almeria this season now..

https://www.eurosport.no/sykling/un...-utsette-sesongstarten_sto9351504/story.shtml

 

[Jakob747]

Not so good news for all the Tobias Halland Johannessen owners (which includes me)!

Because of some knee issues he cancelled his starts in Marseille and Etoile and plans his debut in Almeria this season now..

https://www.eurosport.no/sykling/un...-utsette-sesongstarten_sto9351504/story.shtml

It's never good news when you have to reschedule your calendar, but I am not too worried about it honestly.

Halland had a good December, you can see online he put in that work + like a week ago he was in Spain training, so I think he just over-did it a little.

Anyway he ran 15 kilometers today - 5m/km - so the knee cant be that bad.

 

[Earns1985]

It's never good news when you have to reschedule your calendar, but I am not too worried about it honestly.

Halland had a good December, you can see online he put in that work + like a week ago he was in Spain training, so I think he just over-did it a little.

Anyway he ran 15 kilometers today - 5m/km - so the knee cant be that bad.

Let´s hope you are right!

Last year in his first professional season he was 3rd in Besseges. So at least these points we will not get this year..

 

[RedheadDane]

I still believe my prediction from the team discussions we had that he will win all stages and the overall (minus the one stage his teammate won).

You were wrong!

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Tesson remains the only bright spot for my team and now with Johannessen delaying the start of his season it's not going to change any time soon.

 

[Jakob747]

Tesson remains the only bright spot for my team and now with Johannessen delaying the start of his season it's not going to change any time soon.

Let's wait and see on Tuesday when Ayuso kicks of his campaign. Together with Roglic no doubt a season out-liner between the teams who spend that bread and the squads who build their roster a bit more conservatively.

Igor Arrieta announced for Valenciana as well btw - I am so eager to see how he goes uphill against the best, I rate him insanely high, and hope he will show small glimps of his class already tomorrow on Mallorca.

Entrevista a Haimar Zubeldia: "intentaré aconsejar a Induráin en la Titan Desert"

El ex profesional guipuzcoano reflexiona sobre el futuro del ciclismo español, los recorridos del Tour y la Vuelta o su nueva etapa como excelso mountain biker. Una charl...

solobici.es

(Zubeldia a believer in Arrieta´s talent as well).

 

[bminchow]

Let's wait and see on Tuesday when Ayuso kicks of his campaign. Together with Roglic no doubt a season out-liner between the teams who spend that bread and the squads who build their roster a bit more conservatively.

Igor Arrieta announced for Valenciana as well btw - I am so eager to see how he goes uphill against the best, I rate him insanely high, and hope he will show small glimps of his class already tomorrow on Mallorca.

Entrevista a Haimar Zubeldia: "intentaré aconsejar a Induráin en la Titan Desert"

El ex profesional guipuzcoano reflexiona sobre el futuro del ciclismo español, los recorridos del Tour y la Vuelta o su nueva etapa como excelso mountain biker. Una charl...

solobici.es

(Zubeldia a believer in Arrieta´s talent as well).

Insane is a good word

 

[Jakob747]

Insane is a good word

What you mean?

 

[armchairclimber]

Weird races these. I have faired comically badly so far, given the squad in attendence.

So, let's see If Alaphilippe, Asgreen, Van Wilder, Kammna. Uidjtebroeks, Piccolo, Padun and Javier Serrano can scrape together even 20 points between them today.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Pelayo Sanchez officially the first rider to exceed his 2023 score... of the riders I had last year. Which puts him ahead of anyone I have this year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Pelayo Sanchez officially the first rider to exceed his 2023 score... of the riders I had last year. Which puts him ahead of anyone I have this year.

He's even managed to double his career total today, so I'm quite happy to have him as a unique pick