The 2023 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

Gorka Izagirre is my fourth rider to have already outscored their 2022 season. However most of my riders are just stealing points away from my other picks, so there might not be much of a profit in the end.

Oman
Pelayo Sanchez (who's lost too much time already)

Andalucía
Mikel Landa
Omar Fraile
Gorka Izagirre
Igor Arrieta
Juan Jose Lobato
Txomin Juaristi
Gotzon Martín
Joan Bou
Ibai Azurmendi

Algarve
Sergio Higuita
Jonathan Castroviejo

 

[RedheadDane]

Andalucía
Mikel Landa
Omar Fraile
Gorka Izagirre
Igor Arrieta
Juan Jose Lobato
Txomin Juaristi
Gotzon Martín
Joan Bou
Ibai Azurmendi

Which of the Euskaltel riders for Andalucia are not on your team?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Which of the Euskaltel riders for Andalucia are not on your team?

Luis Ángel Maté and Xabier Isasa. I also wanted to include riders from Burgos, Caja Rural, Movistar and Equipo Kern as well, so not all EE riders ended up in my team.

 

[postmanhat]

Casper Pedersen was a correct pick.

I'll admit to one of those who chose him without knowing that his stated role was taking over as a dom from Morkov. How good a pick he becomes depends on what Lefevre decides to do with him now I suppose?

Algarve
Van Uden
Mikhels
Pidcock
Baroncini
Asgreen
Vacek
Fisher-Black
Waerenskjold
Pedersen

Big team, small expectations. The latter three will mostly be domming, whilst the first two are mostly there for the experience. Maybe Vacek or Pidcock can get in the top ten?

Andalucia
Battistella
Haig
Strong

Could do with a better performance from Samuele. A top 5 would be a big improvement given the field. No idea why Strong is here, but not at any of the preceding one-day Spanish races where he could have scored points.

 

[zigzag wanderer]

I No idea why Strong is here, but not at any of the preceding one-day Spanish races where he could have scored points.

He also missed the NZ Championships last weekend - could have ridden those instead , or even both as PCS lists George Bennett as doing

 

[skidmark]

Hey all, just wanna say I haven't abandoned this thread and I'm hoping to get this week's update up in the next 24 hours - just the busiest week of the year for me, pardon the delay!

 

[bminchow]

Hey all, just wanna say I haven't abandoned this thread and I'm hoping to get this week's update up in the next 24 hours - just the busiest week of the year for me, pardon the delay!

Thats cool. The longer we wait the longr i get to say I'm still in first place

 

[Earns1985]

Time for me to climb up a few places here:

Tour des Alpes Maritimes: Gregoire, Brenner, van Eetvelt

Don´t have much expectacions, but I hope my youngsters will surprise me here.


Andalucia: Haig, Rodriguez, Arrieta

Not a lof of quantity, but a lot of quality. Rodriguez and also Haig will hopefully give me a huge amount of points here.


Algarve: Padun, Kwiatkowski, Pidcock, Asgreen, van Uden, Vacek, Fisher-Black, Johannessen

The opposite to Andalucia, but I hope for Pidcock and Johannessen. Kwiatkowski wasn´t in good shape in Besseges, let´s hope he improved. Already have the feeling, that Padun was a wasted pick...

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

So far this season feels very low-scoring compared to the previous two for me. Given that I’m inside the top-20 it must be that way for most of us, and I don’t see that changing radically this week. Of course, the likes of Roglic and Ayuso haven’t started their season yet, but right now I would be surprised if we get a massive winning score for the third year running.

Yeah let's see how those guys do once they really get going (plus riders like Van der Poel and Pidcock that haven't really raced yet either) but it feels like it's trending that way. I'm already behind my pace of last year despite the fact that we've had an entire australian summer of racing that we didn't get last year (although to be fair my 2022 team is also way outperforming my 2023 team this season so it's entirely possible that my 2023 team is just way worse and it says nothing of the scoring environment in general).

 

[Earns1985]

Yeah let's see how those guys do once they really get going (plus riders like Van der Poel and Pidcock that haven't really raced yet either) but it feels like it's trending that way. I'm already behind my pace of last year despite the fact that we've had an entire australian summer of racing that we didn't get last year (although to be fair my 2022 team is also way outperforming my 2023 team this season so it's entirely possible that my 2023 team is just way worse and it says nothing of the scoring environment in general).

About the winning score, it will also play a role how the most popular riders like Bernal, Alaphilippe, Asgreen and Schachmann will perform. Because nearly everyone has them, they are nearly unimportant for the placing, but for the winning score, they certainly play a role...

 

[armchairclimber]

What is the highest ever individual rider score. Looks like Pogacar is going for it.

Absolutely gutted about Hirschi. He was going really well and pretty much nailed on for profit. Ah well, the curse of Armchairclimber strikes again.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

What is the highest ever individual rider score. Looks like Pogacar is going for it.

Absolutely gutted about Hirschi. He was going really well and pretty much nailed on for profit. Ah well, the curse of Armchairclimber strikes again.

Pogacar 2021 with 3656 just in front of Pogacar 2022 with 3398. Seems like there is a theme developping there.

 

[skidmark]

Update #6: It's escartin's week

Last week was relatively sparse, at least in terms of race days - most of the week was quiet. But the trend of tacking one-day races onto the start of stage races helped cycling and CQ fans, with new one-day races in Oman and Portugal tacked onto their stage races joining the now 3 one-days in Spain.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	escartin	355
2	NielsB	316
3	tobydawq	267
4	Amis_Velo	264
5	NorthAmericanScum	260

Escartin hit the proverbial three cherries on the slot machine this week, picking winners in Ameira (Moschetti, 130 points, 15 teams), Murcia (Turner, 80 points, 12 teams) and Portugal (Pedersen, 80 points, 14 teams). Their team's points total was enough to win the week even before Armchair Cyclist helpfully pointed out that CQ had changed from 'Benjamin' to 'Ben' Turner and his points weren't reading (fixed now!) NeilsB snags second spot with Moschetti, 'Ben' Turner and no fewer than 3 riders scoring exactly 24 points. tobydawq nabs the final podium spot with Moschetti, Pedersen and fewer supporting points.

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	NielsB	(+40)
2	escartin	(+38)
3	Amis_Velo	(+24)
3	NorthAmericanScum	(+24)
5	Kazistuta	(+22)

The top 2 of the last ranking leap up the overall standings, with NeilsB and escartin switching spots but maintaining the top 2. Amis Velo and NorthAmericanScum tie for the last podium spot, gaining 24 places.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	bminchow	137.3
2	Jakob747	100.3
3	DJW	75
4	zaka_fan	58.3
5	tobydawq	56

bminchow gains another 17 points in this competition this week for a tie for 7th on the week, and so pads out an already comfortable lead in the green jersey. tobydawq is the only other scorer in the top 5, gaining 30 points to make it onto this list.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	bminchow	1653
2	(-)	Jakob747	1428
3	(+1)	zaka_fan	1245
4	(+1)	DJW	1209
5	(+5)	tobydawq	1173
6	(-3)	Poles & Co	1138
7	(+1)	ray10	1105
8	(-1)	greenedge	1104
9	(-3)	Basque Street Boys	1057
10	(-1)	firefly3323	1018

bminchow extends their early season lead in the overall, which is now over 200 points. Things stay relatively similar below that, with tobydawq vaulting up in the top 10 but otherwise, no one drops in or out of the top 10 from last week.

This week, things pick up with some of the classic February races - Oman, Algarve, Andalucia, Haut Var! Lots of racing and potential points on offer.

spreadsheet at dropbox

 

[RedheadDane]

Thats cool. The longer we wait the longr i get to say I'm still in first place

Look! You're still in first place!

 

[Panda Claws]

Oof I am dead last now.
Really need the classics season to begin.

 

[Riverside]

thanks for update!
leader got 1.6k.... mamma mia.... guys in the middle of the peloton, we need to work together to catch that breakaway!

 

[postmanhat]

Somehow still 14th but not looking forward to the next update. Even my really boring riders (Lutsenko, Haig) are letting me down this week, with just Pidcock left in the GC from a 9 man team at Algarve. Only Piccolo and Van Eetvelt at Haut Var can save me this week.

Meanwhile, suffering massive seller's regret over Ben Turner and Van Wilder

 

[tobydawq]

I have Moschetti? Lol, I had no recollection of that

But cool!

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Escartin's points total was enough to win the week even before Armchair Cyclist helpfully pointed out that CQ had changed from 'Benjamin' to 'Ben' Turner and his points weren't reading (fixed now!)

I should deflect the gratitude to @Salvarani, who drew it to my attention in relation to the Spring Classics CQ Game. Which affords me a sneaky opportunity to drop in a reminder (and I'm not going to promise that it'll be the last one) that entries for that game finish in 8 days time, at the starting time of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad.

 

[Salvarani]

I have Moschetti? Lol, I had no recollection of that

But cool!

Maybe you had a birra moretti while you added him to your team.

 

[tobydawq]

Maybe you had a birra moretti while you added him to your team.

Ha, something to that effect, probably

But really, it's quite strange to suddenly be pretty hyped for a result in a random one-day race five days after it took place!

 

[SafeBet]

Time to hit the panic button with Tobias Johannessen?

 

[repre]

Time to hit the panic button with Tobias Johannessen?

Time for that was probably 3 month ago))

 

[postmanhat]

Exactly. I haven't got Johannessen only because I read a couple of comments about possible knee issues, which may prove to be completely wrong in the medium/long term.

It's only his 3rd day after a very long spell without racing. Some people seem keen to write off Pidcock already on the same basis.

 

[Earns1985]

Exactly. I haven't got Johannessen only because I read a couple of comments about possible knee issues, which may prove to be completely wrong in the medium/long term.

It's only his 3rd day after a very long spell without racing. Some people seem keen to write off Pidcock already on the same basis.

Well Pidcock last season didn´t deliver in terms of CQ points, also because the beginning of the season due to his knee issues hadn´t been as good as expected.

The same in terms for the CQ game also accurs now for Tobias Johannessen. I don´t say that his career is in danger, but for this game the 1000 points (which I forecasted for him this season, for this reason I picked him) doesn´t seem to be realistic anymore for this season. So for this game it´s not a good signal at all for everyone, who have him.. I would like to be wrong...