The 2024 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Hugo Koblet]

Re: cheaper riders - am I the only one who feels like the 100-200 range is particularly stacked this year? Stands out even more to me because I can’t find many options I like in the double digits and especially the 200s.

I feel the exact opposite 😁

 

[vladimir]

I feel the exact opposite 😁

I am down to a rather long shortlist of 69 riders. 16 of those are in the 100-200 range, while 12 are in the 200-300 range. I actually find it extremly difficult to put together a team for 2024. Cannot find any obvious picks that would be in over 80 % of the teams, so probably missing out of one or two obvious ones...

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Oh man, thought I had my team, exactly 7500 points and all, but only now do I discover that there are 34 riders.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Sent in my team rather than re-examine my thought patterns ceaselessly, but my problem was in finding some more expensive riders so that I was using a sensible proportion of the budget.

 

[Anderis]

I am down to a rather long shortlist of 69 riders.

You call that long?

Mine is 90 riders for this game and over 150 for some others.

 

[vladimir]

Team submitted. Some random statistics: Riders from 19 different countries, Italy and Spain with 4 riders each. Average age 24,6 years based on CQ download from November so probably close to 25 now . No riders over 850 points and no riders below 30 points. So if there is a new Tarling amongst the zero pointers, I have certainly missed him. Good luck to everyone and looking forward to team reveal as always!

 

[Anderis]

My team isn't fully ready, yet, but I can already see that it will be muuuuuch more GC riders heavy than last year, which was all about classics riders basically.

 

[Anderis]

My team isn't fully ready, yet

It already is. And I like it more than my last year's team. It was surprisingly easy to complete, not many of "I would also really like to have this guy in my team but I'm out of budget/space" situations I often get in these games.

Not sending it yet to the game host, though, because it's still early, and there may be some news about injuries or other problems.

 

[ingsve]

I haven't really had a problem finding riders but my problem is that I haven't followed the sport closely enough in the past years so I have no idea who many of the lesser known riders are and who is about to explode and who is a dud. So I'm mainly going by numbers, guesswork, feels and some patriotism.

I'm sure I'll end up missing out on some obvious choices that people will be picking but hopefully it will still be fun to follow the year and hopefully I'll have a better leg to stand on for next year.

 

[RedheadDane]

So I'm mainly going by numbers, guesswork, feels and some patriotism.

Can't be that much, though. Decent Swedish riders are hard to come by these days.

 

[ingsve]

Can't be that much, though. Decent Swedish riders are hard to come by these days.

Well, my mother is Norwegian.

 

[bminchow]

Well, my mother is Norwegian.

haha. I was wondering about that myself. I do wish there were a few more swedish riders though.

 

[bminchow]

I haven't really had a problem finding riders but my problem is that I haven't followed the sport closely enough in the past years so I have no idea who many of the lesser known riders are and who is about to explode and who is a dud. So I'm mainly going by numbers, guesswork, feels and some patriotism.

I'm sure I'll end up missing out on some obvious choices that people will be picking but hopefully it will still be fun to follow the year and hopefully I'll have a better leg to stand on for next year.

Glad to have you in this year. You are probably in the same boat as many of us. And this boat will stay afloat. I find myself hanging on to riders that are getting a little older. But i know their names and what they have done and they cant all be Sagan of the last 3 years.

 

[bminchow]

I have to say that this is really hard this year. It is quite frustrating. I came up with 33 names. i dont love it but dont want to spend another two weeks stressing out over this.

Some random statistics: Riders from 17 different countries, way too many of them are British. Average age 23.5 years based on CQ download from November so probably close to 24 now . No riders over 1100 points and no riders below 0 points.

 

[postmanhat]

Drunkenly dropped my laptop on Christmas Eve, nacking it and losing unsaved files such as my longlist which was in Libre Office

Luckily, have three days off over New Years to make another one, though probably not with those riders I 'spotted' in a .1 race in March, and also not enough time to convince myself they will be game-changers, which they invariably aren't.

 

[RedheadDane]

and no riders below 0 points.

What about exactly 0 points

 

[ingsve]

haha. I was wondering about that myself. I do wish there were a few more swedish riders though.

Ya, I don't know what's going on there. A lot of the last decent batch of Swedish riders including Thomas Löfkvist, Gustav Larsson, Fredrik Kessiakoff all came through a continental team called Team Crescent (later Team Bianchi Scandinavia) led by Tommy Prim but that was like 20 years ago now and since then it has been pretty dismal with only a pro here or there at times like Tobias Ludvigsson. The last swede to crack the top 200 in CQrankings was Fredrik Kessiakoff in 2012.

It's a shame really given the history that Sweden has in the sport.

 

[hfgon1]

I submitted my team but doesn't feel very comfortable or optimistic with it. I picked a lot of riders I believe in but am not yet convinced they are worth my trust. It feels like last year there were more obvious picks. There are a lot of riders coming out of an disappointing year but not sure a lot of them will be able to bounce back.

My team is mostly Italian (6 riders) while I picked only one rider from my home-nation Germany. Most riders are from the 100-200 points margin (13 riders). A single zero-pointer is with me and only one rider above 700 points.

 

[postmanhat]

I have to say that this is really hard this year. It is quite frustrating. I came up with 33 names. i dont love it but dont want to spend another two weeks stressing out over this.

Some random statistics: Riders from 17 different countries, way too many of them are British. Average age 23.5 years based on CQ download from November so probably close to 24 now . No riders over 1100 points and no riders below 0 points.

Yes, before I lost my longlist, remember thinking that there seemed to be fewer riders I was excited to follow than usual. Maybe because, as Anderis said, there's of lot of GC riders this year and am more of one-day fan? Will see how it looks as I put together a new one, and all my biases come into play when it comes to the final selections.

 

[RedheadDane]

Some statistics:

Blatantly patrionistic; one redhead.
Average age of just over 25, though in one case I went by the age a rider will turn in two days, rather than his current age.
One rider over 1700 points.
One rider at exactly 0 points.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Mathematician's quibble: if you are going to claim an average age for your team, add 6 months to it, as the mean average age of a person reported as being (for example) 25 is 25 1/2.

 

[RedheadDane]

Mathematician's quibble: if you are going to claim an average age for your team, add 6 months to it, as the mean average age of a person reported as being (for example) 25 is 25 1/2.

Average age at the start of 2024.
I don't deal with mean average ages, only nice average ages.

 

[Anderis]

Re: cheaper riders - am I the only one who feels like the 100-200 range is particularly stacked this year? Stands out even more to me because I can’t find many options I like in the double digits and especially the 200s.

I didn't really have the same impression but I checked the spreadsheet with my last year's team and it turns out I indeed have more riders from the 100-200 range than last year, which surprised me a bit.

 

[Salvarani]

Mathematician's quibble: if you are going to claim an average age for your team, add 6 months to it, as the mean average age of a person reported as being (for example) 25 is 25 1/2.

This is how I have done to calculate an average age for my team:

Riders born Jan-June + 1

Riders born July-Dec stays at their current age

 

[skidmark]

Six days to publication deadline! I see that the entries are starting to pour in - I'll be starting to process them in the next day so you should receive a confirmation message soon if you've submitted your team already.