Yeah, it was the most important decision while putting your team together this year and we made the wrong decision... one must say in conclusion.
Also selecting Herzog over Tarling now really start to hurt..
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Also selecting Herzog over Tarling now really start to hurt..
Very quietly Tarling has become one of the very best zero pointers I can recall. Off the top of my head, only Cobo and Remco have had better seasons as "free" picks.
Update #37: Blues in the bottle seals the deal as Amis Velo has a monster week
With Sepp Kuss becoming the unlikely winner of the Vuelta after wearing the leader's jersey for over two weeks, the 9 teams in this game who had him were bound to benefit. And it certainly didn't help the teams from 2nd to 103rd place in this game that one of those teams was the leader Blues in the bottle, who has had a significant lead for much of the year. Kuss' win should, barring a miraculous end-of-season run from another team, seal up the victory for the season. But there are still weekly honours to sort out, and with the Vuelta GC it was quite a huge week for many teams, with 33 teams clearing 1000 points on the week.
This Week's Top Scorers
As I said above, 33 teams cleared 1000 points this week, but Amis Velo isn't so far away from clearing 2000, winning the week by over 160 points, and with only 4 other teams within 500 points! Of course, the must have for this week was Sepp Kuss and his 626 points, and the must have for the season in Primoz Roglic (403, 57 teams) brought Amis Velo over 1000 with two riders alone. Also contributing strongly was a promising performance from Cian Uijtdebroeks (170, 67), a top 10 from Joao Almeida (157, 15), and some good one-day results from Alexey Lutsenko (132, 23) and Matteo Moschetti (112, 15).
shalgo has an extremely strong week too and lands in second, with Kuss/Roglic/Uijtdebroeks joined by Juan Ayuso, who scored 281 for his 25 teams to squeak into profit for the year. Otoxiep87 rounds out the podium thanks to Kuss/Roglic/Uijtdebroeks/Moschetti.
This Week's High Movers
Otoxiep87 grabs a double podium for the week, moving up a massive (for this late in the year) 22 spots on the overall table. Rufs slots into second on this ranking, although with a few less points (1319) on the week than the top 5 of the previous ranking, suggesting their team occupies a relatively congested part of the ranking. Amis Velo double podiums as well, sharing a spot with vsd88 and Jon Ezeitza (the only Vingegaard-holder, which turned into a 900-point profit) in third.
Green Jersey Competition
Blues in the bottle gets 18 points for 7th place on the week, adding to an already formidable lead, and extending it out to almost 80 points. I just checked and BITB has had 11 weeks out of 37 in the top 10 this year. Hard to beat that!
Top 10 Overall
Hard to beat, indeed. Although both Riverside and repre cleared 1100 points on the week, they lost 100 and 200+ points to BITB respectively, meaning BITB's lead extends to four digits. There are still a few weeks of racing left, and end-of-season runs have happened before, but it would take something unprecedented for anyone to close that gap.
The rich got richer this week, with Riverside and repre gaining on their closest competitors, even as they lost ground to BITB. The podium looks increasingly consolidated, with 4th place HoudiniCycling almost 500 points out of a podium place.
Although there is a lot of bouncing around in the standings, the only team in the top 10 that wasn't there last week is shalgo, who moves up 9 spots to replace will10, who plummets out. A notable mention - with their team's monster week, Amis Velo moves up 15 spots to 12th place, just 51 points out of the top 10.
We are finally caught up on our updates, and look to this week to start the cool-down period towards the end of season, with the 2.PS Tour of Luxembourg, 2.1 Adriatica Ionica race, and a few 1-day races. We are going to be wrapping up soon! Only a few more chances to cheer on your team.
spreadsheet at dropbox
With Sepp Kuss becoming the unlikely winner of the Vuelta after wearing the leader's jersey for over two weeks, the 9 teams in this game who had him were bound to benefit. And it certainly didn't help the teams from 2nd to 103rd place in this game that one of those teams was the leader Blues in the bottle, who has had a significant lead for much of the year. Kuss' win should, barring a miraculous end-of-season run from another team, seal up the victory for the season. But there are still weekly honours to sort out, and with the Vuelta GC it was quite a huge week for many teams, with 33 teams clearing 1000 points on the week.
This Week's Top Scorers
As I said above, 33 teams cleared 1000 points this week, but Amis Velo isn't so far away from clearing 2000, winning the week by over 160 points, and with only 4 other teams within 500 points! Of course, the must have for this week was Sepp Kuss and his 626 points, and the must have for the season in Primoz Roglic (403, 57 teams) brought Amis Velo over 1000 with two riders alone. Also contributing strongly was a promising performance from Cian Uijtdebroeks (170, 67), a top 10 from Joao Almeida (157, 15), and some good one-day results from Alexey Lutsenko (132, 23) and Matteo Moschetti (112, 15).
shalgo has an extremely strong week too and lands in second, with Kuss/Roglic/Uijtdebroeks joined by Juan Ayuso, who scored 281 for his 25 teams to squeak into profit for the year. Otoxiep87 rounds out the podium thanks to Kuss/Roglic/Uijtdebroeks/Moschetti.
This Week's High Movers
| Rank | Team | Up/down |
| 1 | Otoxiep87 | (+22) |
| 2 | Rufs | (+16) |
| 3 | Amis_Velo | (+15) |
| 3 | vsd88 | (+15) |
| 3 | Jon_Ezeitza | (+15) |
Otoxiep87 grabs a double podium for the week, moving up a massive (for this late in the year) 22 spots on the overall table. Rufs slots into second on this ranking, although with a few less points (1319) on the week than the top 5 of the previous ranking, suggesting their team occupies a relatively congested part of the ranking. Amis Velo double podiums as well, sharing a spot with vsd88 and Jon Ezeitza (the only Vingegaard-holder, which turned into a 900-point profit) in third.
Green Jersey Competition
| Rank | Team | Total |
| 1 | Blues in the bottle | 304.5 |
| 2 | HoudiniCycling | 226 |
| 3 | Senderos | 223 |
| 4 | Jon_Ezeitza | 214 |
| 5 | rote_laterne | 210.5 |
Blues in the bottle gets 18 points for 7th place on the week, adding to an already formidable lead, and extending it out to almost 80 points. I just checked and BITB has had 11 weeks out of 37 in the top 10 this year. Hard to beat that!
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Up/down | Team | Points |
| 1 | (-) | Blues in the bottle | 14917 |
| 2 | (+1) | Riverside | 13873 |
| 3 | (-1) | repre | 13850 |
| 4 | (+3) | HoudiniCycling | 13381 |
| 5 | (-) | Sneekes | 13378 |
| 6 | (+2) | Senderos | 13368 |
| 7 | (-3) | tobydawq | 13315 |
| 8 | (+9) | shalgo | 13309 |
| 9 | (+1) | Kazistuta | 13266 |
| 10 | (+3) | waku_waku | 13175 |
Hard to beat, indeed. Although both Riverside and repre cleared 1100 points on the week, they lost 100 and 200+ points to BITB respectively, meaning BITB's lead extends to four digits. There are still a few weeks of racing left, and end-of-season runs have happened before, but it would take something unprecedented for anyone to close that gap.
The rich got richer this week, with Riverside and repre gaining on their closest competitors, even as they lost ground to BITB. The podium looks increasingly consolidated, with 4th place HoudiniCycling almost 500 points out of a podium place.
Although there is a lot of bouncing around in the standings, the only team in the top 10 that wasn't there last week is shalgo, who moves up 9 spots to replace will10, who plummets out. A notable mention - with their team's monster week, Amis Velo moves up 15 spots to 12th place, just 51 points out of the top 10.
We are finally caught up on our updates, and look to this week to start the cool-down period towards the end of season, with the 2.PS Tour of Luxembourg, 2.1 Adriatica Ionica race, and a few 1-day races. We are going to be wrapping up soon! Only a few more chances to cheer on your team.
spreadsheet at dropbox
Bummer. Adriatica Ionica is cancelled, had hoped to score some relatively easy points with Lutsenko there.
Yeah, I had some interesting names on that startlist, too. And Nathan Earle has just been taken off the startlist for Langkawi. So much for my planned late-season Asian boost. I think my entire team has just decided this wasn't our year and has put the bike in the garage for the off-season. Gaudu packing it in almost before he started in Luxembourg, too.
Shoot. From being in the top ten for quite a while to now being 17th, I'll settle for a top 20 then. Tip of the cap to Blues, hell of a team.
Update #38: Sneekes attack
With riders starting to wind down their seasons, the late-season races are always an interesting opportunity for some riders to step to the fore and pad their CQ stats, which is of course of more interest to CQ managers than riders. This week the big one was the Tour of Luxembourg, with some 1-days as well. The European championships were the marquee race of the week, but the points for that were on par with a 1.PS race, plus the podium was full of riders rarely if at all picked in this game.
This Week's Top Scorers
Some modest scores this week, but Sneekes pulls out the win by almost 50 points. The big scorer was the gift that keeps on giving, Ben Healy (4 teams, 125 points), who is now up to 1082 at a cost of 167. Ilan Van Wilder (81, 34), Gerben Thijssen (80, 4) and Josh Tarling (70, 45) also helped put Sneekes on top. armchairclimber lands in second with a higher topline in Marc Hirschi (173, 4) and the support of IVW, Thijssen, Tarling, but Sneekes had more small support while that was about it for armchairclimber. Familiar names are further down in the top 10, as will10, the ever-present Blues in the bottle, and Senderos round out the top 5.
This Week's High Movers
armchairclimber moves up one step on the podium in this ranking, moving up a whole 7 spots on the overall. RedheadDane moves up 5 places for 2nd in this ranking, and will10 rounds out the podium despite already starting the week at 13th in the overall standings.
Green Jersey Competition
Like Jumbo Visma nabbing stages in the 3rd week of the Vuelta just to make sure no one else gets anywhere close to the top, Blues in the bottle gets another 26 points in this competition to put the lead even further out of hand. Senderos gets 22 to keep pace in 2nd, while Sneekes' 45 for the weekly win vaults them into the top 5. But the lead is secure - Senderos could win two weeks in a row and get 90 points, and Blues gets shut out, and Senderos would barely eke out the win. Everyone else has even more to make up.
Top 10 Overall
Same story here, as Blues gains 200+ points on the other podium teams to balloon the lead out to over 1250 points. 2nd/3rd is quite close, and the teams below gained enough to make a podium shakeup a non-trivial possibility, but that's most of the intrigue that's left. will10 makes it back into the top 10 at the expense of waku waku who slides out.
This week sees an interesting collection of those late season races you forget about until they're happening - points are on offer for those who have riders in Langkawi, while back in Europe there's the 1.PS Circuit Franco-Belge and Emilia in Italy, while the 2.1 CRO race is happening as well.
spreadsheet at dropbox
With riders starting to wind down their seasons, the late-season races are always an interesting opportunity for some riders to step to the fore and pad their CQ stats, which is of course of more interest to CQ managers than riders. This week the big one was the Tour of Luxembourg, with some 1-days as well. The European championships were the marquee race of the week, but the points for that were on par with a 1.PS race, plus the podium was full of riders rarely if at all picked in this game.
This Week's Top Scorers
| Rank | Team | Points this week |
| 1 | Sneekes | 463 |
| 2 | armchairclimber | 414 |
| 3 | will10 | 403 |
| 4 | Blues in the bottle | 385 |
| 5 | Senderos | 367 |
Some modest scores this week, but Sneekes pulls out the win by almost 50 points. The big scorer was the gift that keeps on giving, Ben Healy (4 teams, 125 points), who is now up to 1082 at a cost of 167. Ilan Van Wilder (81, 34), Gerben Thijssen (80, 4) and Josh Tarling (70, 45) also helped put Sneekes on top. armchairclimber lands in second with a higher topline in Marc Hirschi (173, 4) and the support of IVW, Thijssen, Tarling, but Sneekes had more small support while that was about it for armchairclimber. Familiar names are further down in the top 10, as will10, the ever-present Blues in the bottle, and Senderos round out the top 5.
This Week's High Movers
| Rank | Team | Up/down |
| 1 | armchairclimber | (+7) |
| 2 | RedheadDane | (+5) |
| 3 | will10 | (+4) |
| 4 | Mellow Velo | (+3) |
| 4 | Bonimenier | (+3) |
| 4 | zigzag_wanderer | (+3) |
| 4 | Nakazar | (+3) |
| 4 | Squire | (+3) |
armchairclimber moves up one step on the podium in this ranking, moving up a whole 7 spots on the overall. RedheadDane moves up 5 places for 2nd in this ranking, and will10 rounds out the podium despite already starting the week at 13th in the overall standings.
Green Jersey Competition
| Rank | Team | Total |
| 1 | Blues in the bottle | 330.5 |
| 2 | Senderos | 245 |
| 3 | Sneekes | 226 |
| 3 | HoudiniCycling | 226 |
| 5 | Jon_Ezeitza | 214 |
Like Jumbo Visma nabbing stages in the 3rd week of the Vuelta just to make sure no one else gets anywhere close to the top, Blues in the bottle gets another 26 points in this competition to put the lead even further out of hand. Senderos gets 22 to keep pace in 2nd, while Sneekes' 45 for the weekly win vaults them into the top 5. But the lead is secure - Senderos could win two weeks in a row and get 90 points, and Blues gets shut out, and Senderos would barely eke out the win. Everyone else has even more to make up.
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Up/down | Team | Points |
| 1 | (-) | Blues in the bottle | 15302 |
| 2 | (-) | Riverside | 14047 |
| 3 | (-) | repre | 14011 |
| 4 | (+1) | Sneekes | 13841 |
| 5 | (+1) | Senderos | 13735 |
| 6 | (+1) | tobydawq | 13640 |
| 7 | (-3) | HoudiniCycling | 13549 |
| 8 | (-) | shalgo | 13520 |
| 9 | (+4) | will10 | 13493 |
| 10 | (-1) | Kazistuta | 13355 |
Same story here, as Blues gains 200+ points on the other podium teams to balloon the lead out to over 1250 points. 2nd/3rd is quite close, and the teams below gained enough to make a podium shakeup a non-trivial possibility, but that's most of the intrigue that's left. will10 makes it back into the top 10 at the expense of waku waku who slides out.
This week sees an interesting collection of those late season races you forget about until they're happening - points are on offer for those who have riders in Langkawi, while back in Europe there's the 1.PS Circuit Franco-Belge and Emilia in Italy, while the 2.1 CRO race is happening as well.
spreadsheet at dropbox
Here I was thinking I had a good week, and indeed I was 6th on the week but then of course 5 of the teams in front of me in the overall had to also be in the top 5 of the week... Pfff.
I need Simon Yates to go ballistic in Italy the next 10 days if I am to have a tilt for the podium.
I need Simon Yates to go ballistic in Italy the next 10 days if I am to have a tilt for the podium.
Update was delayed this week because of some annoying changes at CQ requiring some manual spreadsheet edits... I think I caught the 4 relevant name changes to this game, which were:
- formal first name upgrades for the former 'Eddie' (now 'Edward') Dunbar and 'Chris' (now 'Christopher') Hamilton
- a removal of the dash for both Paret-Peintre's (sorry, 'Paret Peintre's')
I'll be posting the update in the next hour, but if you see any other name changes that have lost you points please let me know.
- formal first name upgrades for the former 'Eddie' (now 'Edward') Dunbar and 'Chris' (now 'Christopher') Hamilton
- a removal of the dash for both Paret-Peintre's (sorry, 'Paret Peintre's')
I'll be posting the update in the next hour, but if you see any other name changes that have lost you points please let me know.
Armchair Cyclist
Moderator
Yep, been through those and a whole lot more name changes on the Emerging Riders' games this week. Reformatting of a lot of the Danes' names too.
Last edited:
Update #39: A Josedin Win
As the season winds down with a smattering of one-day races all over the European map, it's sometimes tough to keep track of it all. But one thing is for sure - if there are non-WT one-day races offering up points, Lotto is going to throw out Arnaud De Lie to get as many of them as possible to give enough of a buffer to carry them back to the WT in a couple of years.
This Week's Top Scorers
As one of two teams who boldly bet on the young Belgian phenom to improve on his sparkling but low-level-race-filled rookie year, Josedin has to be happy with weeks like this, where he can beat a good field on one leg. De Lie won the 1.PS Franco-Belge and 1.1 Famenne Ardenne Classic to pick up 210 points, and moving into profit for the year. Josedin also has the contributions of Ethan Hayter (74, 3 teams), Magnus Sheffield (72, 13) and Michael Woods (56, 6) to thank. HoudiniCycling didn't have De Lie, but did pick up more points from Roglic (130, 57) and Simon Yates (76, 7) on top of Sheffield and Woods. zaka fan ends up in third as one of the four teams to pick Langkawi winner Simon Carr (199), and one of the lucky/smart 4 to get under-the-radar points machine Marc Hirschi (another 48 this week).
This Week's High Movers
bminchow sits atop this ranking this week, riding Carr (no pun intended) and an opportune spot on the standing where it was easy enough to leapfrog 6 teams to the win. zaka fan double podiums, while four teams tie for third.
Green Jersey Competition
As mentioned previously, the win here is all but locked up, but there is some interesting jockeying in the other positions, with HoudiniCycling gaining 35 points to jump on the podium, Senderos getting 8 points to stay on the podium, and zaka fan nabbing 30 to get into the top 5.
Top 10 Overall
A mediocre week for the top 4, but they were quite far ahead so none of them drop, and repre pulls to wihtin 18 points of 2nd place. oliveira jumps into the top 10 at the expense of Kazistuta, who falls to 11th.
This week sees the spate of end-of-season 1-day races across Europe continue, including the weekend duo that to many cycling fans signify the end of the season, Il Lombardia and Paris-Tours. Of course, with the return of the WT stage race in China this year and the rescheduled Tour of Turkey, there are still some top points to be scored after this week, but we are fully in wind-down mode right now.
spreadsheet at dropbox
As the season winds down with a smattering of one-day races all over the European map, it's sometimes tough to keep track of it all. But one thing is for sure - if there are non-WT one-day races offering up points, Lotto is going to throw out Arnaud De Lie to get as many of them as possible to give enough of a buffer to carry them back to the WT in a couple of years.
This Week's Top Scorers
| Rank | Team | Points this week |
| 1 | Josedin | 462 |
| 2 | HoudiniCycling | 426 |
| 3 | zaka_fan | 382 |
| 4 | manafana | 380 |
| 5 | bminchow | 368 |
As one of two teams who boldly bet on the young Belgian phenom to improve on his sparkling but low-level-race-filled rookie year, Josedin has to be happy with weeks like this, where he can beat a good field on one leg. De Lie won the 1.PS Franco-Belge and 1.1 Famenne Ardenne Classic to pick up 210 points, and moving into profit for the year. Josedin also has the contributions of Ethan Hayter (74, 3 teams), Magnus Sheffield (72, 13) and Michael Woods (56, 6) to thank. HoudiniCycling didn't have De Lie, but did pick up more points from Roglic (130, 57) and Simon Yates (76, 7) on top of Sheffield and Woods. zaka fan ends up in third as one of the four teams to pick Langkawi winner Simon Carr (199), and one of the lucky/smart 4 to get under-the-radar points machine Marc Hirschi (another 48 this week).
This Week's High Movers
| Rank | Team | Up/down |
| 1 | bminchow | (+6) |
| 2 | zaka_fan | (+5) |
| 3 | manafana | (+4) |
| 3 | vladimir | (+4) |
| 3 | 18-Valve. (pithy) | (+4) |
| 3 | azazel | (+4) |
bminchow sits atop this ranking this week, riding Carr (no pun intended) and an opportune spot on the standing where it was easy enough to leapfrog 6 teams to the win. zaka fan double podiums, while four teams tie for third.
Green Jersey Competition
| Rank | Team | Total |
| 1 | Blues in the bottle | 330.5 |
| 2 | HoudiniCycling | 261 |
| 3 | Senderos | 253 |
| 4 | zaka_fan | 242.3 |
| 5 | Sneekes | 226 |
As mentioned previously, the win here is all but locked up, but there is some interesting jockeying in the other positions, with HoudiniCycling gaining 35 points to jump on the podium, Senderos getting 8 points to stay on the podium, and zaka fan nabbing 30 to get into the top 5.
Top 10 Overall
| Rank | Up/down | Team | Points |
| 1 | (-) | Blues in the bottle | 15483 |
| 2 | (-) | Riverside | 14193 |
| 3 | (-) | repre | 14175 |
| 4 | (-) | Sneekes | 14051 |
| 5 | (-) | Senderos | 14034 |
| 6 | (+1) | HoudiniCycling | 13975 |
| 7 | (-1) | tobydawq | 13868 |
| 8 | (-) | shalgo | 13854 |
| 9 | (-) | will10 | 13722 |
| 10 | (+3) | oliveira | 13615 |
A mediocre week for the top 4, but they were quite far ahead so none of them drop, and repre pulls to wihtin 18 points of 2nd place. oliveira jumps into the top 10 at the expense of Kazistuta, who falls to 11th.
This week sees the spate of end-of-season 1-day races across Europe continue, including the weekend duo that to many cycling fans signify the end of the season, Il Lombardia and Paris-Tours. Of course, with the return of the WT stage race in China this year and the rescheduled Tour of Turkey, there are still some top points to be scored after this week, but we are fully in wind-down mode right now.
spreadsheet at dropbox
Starting to work on next year's team earlier than normal has one major drawback, and that is how it makes it painful to watch the Italian autumn classics. Half my team has made themselves more expensive in the past week or two. And hardly anyone from my current team has scored any points to ease the pain. 
Turkey is 2.1 this year. So with Malucelli on my team too, I had the first two riders outside the points today.
Obviously. It's the first time in forever I didn't pick him.
Good results from Johannessen today. Hopefully that's enough to cling to a top 20.
I can top that with the first three riders outside the points!
I also have Salby.Can't wait for the new season. Had enough of getting decent weeks, but then Roglic outscores my entire team anyway. Loving the look of my longlist so far. So many exciting potential picks. It'll be hard work cutting it down to 33 chosen ones though.
Forget about Ben Healy, Adam Yates & Hirschi. Biggest regret this year is not picking Babyface Sevilla.
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