The 2024 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[shalgo]

Wow, I knew I had another good week but didn’t expect this! I’m sure the glory is fleeting, but I will take it while it lasts.

 

[postmanhat]

I had him in both ‘22 and ‘23. But wasn’t convinced after the results last year. Looks like a mistake right now.

Had FFB last year and didn't even think about him for a second for this season. Ridiculous slap in the face for our judgement so far.

Last seven days have been so mediocre, am pleased to have only dropped 12 places. But Tronchon has been an unexpectedly good start to the week, and will surely get more opportunities now in a fairly weak AG2R classics team. And Charmig is well-placed at the moment in Oman. Mainly hoping he finishes ahead of Busatto at least, so I don't have even more regrets about riders I omitted in the final selection process.

Ruta Del Sol
Laurance
Ayuso

Algarve
Battistella
Arensman
Martinez
Valgren
Leemreize

Martinez was a very borderline pick as there were more interesting riders (for me) at the same price level. Would be nice to see a bit of form from him.

Var
Vauquelin
Johannessen
Vliegen

My second and third most expensive riders go H2H, as they will for the next two races. Obviously expecting a 1-2 on the podium.

 

[postmanhat]

Covi looked alright today. I was beginning to be afraid he would have been a terrible pick.

Seems to be a lot of negativity about Covi so far, which I hope is true. Was nailed on for my team until I saw the moustache, and didn't want to see that any more than was absolutely necessary.

 

[armchairclimber]

I knew I was in for a poor week, and the same goes for this coming week I think. The loss of Riley Sheehan's GC points hurt though.

 

[ingsve]

I had him in both ‘22 and ‘23. But wasn’t convinced after the results last year. Looks like a mistake right now.

I personally had no idea who he was since I hadn't followed the sport close enough but even in hindsight if I had found him on CQ I wouldn't have guessed from his past couple of years that this would be his year at all.

 

[Earns1985]

Wow, I knew I had another good week but didn’t expect this! I’m sure the glory is fleeting, but I will take it while it lasts.

Just looked up your team and based on the performances we saw until now your team looks really scarry. You still have guys like Ayuso and Hayter, who didn't start to score yet..

 

[Anderis]

Damn, Capiot! I didn't even consider him this year. The highest rider in popularity ranking that wasn't on my long list, I think.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Holy top ten for the first time this is awesome. Maybe rushing my team was the way to go😂

 

[ingsve]

You know how everyone who finishes a WT race gets 5 CQ points. I got curious to see if I could find the highest score from last season by anyone who only got 5 pointers for basically just finishing races.

The highest score I could find was Jens Keukeleire who scored 65 points by finishing 12 WT races and the highlight of the season which was 25th place in 1.PS race Paris Tours.

If anyone manages to stumble upon someone who has done a similar feat that can beat Keukeleires score then I would be interested in knowing about it. I've only checked 2023 so far and only up to around 150 pts. Above that it seems less and less likely to find someone.

 

[Squire]

The highest score I could find was Jens Keukeleire who scored 65 points by finishing 12 WT races and the highlight of the season which was 25th place in 1.PS race Paris Tours.

Think it's very hard to beat that. There's almost always gonna be some random top 50 in a 2.Pro race, some NC points or some TTT points (in the case of Erviti, who I checked).

 

[repre]

You know how everyone who finishes a WT race gets 5 CQ points. I got curious to see if I could find the highest score from last season by anyone who only got 5 pointers for basically just finishing races.

The highest score I could find was Jens Keukeleire who scored 65 points by finishing 12 WT races and the highlight of the season which was 25th place in 1.PS race Paris Tours.

If anyone manages to stumble upon someone who has done a similar feat that can beat Keukeleires score then I would be interested in knowing about it. I've only checked 2023 so far and only up to around 150 pts. Above that it seems less and less likely to find someone.

Leadouts that races a lot of WT races are maybe only possible options. In my first year i picked Guarnieri who became good pick only finishing WT races leadouting Demare

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

You get 50 points from finishing all three GTs so my first guess was Adam Hansen who had that crazy streak of completed GTs. Of course the issue is that it eats up 63 race days so you aren't going to do too much around that to inflate your score. Still his consistency stands out.

2020 -> 35 points all for finishing
2019 -> 60 points all for finishing.
2018 -> 77 points, 65 for finishing, 12 for 5th in Hammer Series Hong Kong GC
2017 -> 78 points, 70 for finishing, 8 for 27th in Guangxi GC
Before that he had a couple of cracks at the GC of the Tour of Turkey but he didn't score a single non finishing point in Europe from stage 18 of the 2015 Vuelta (8th on the day) until his retirement at the 2020 Giro.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Leadouts that races a lot of WT races are maybe only possible options. In my first year i picked Guarnieri who became good pick only finishing WT races leadouting Demare

Guarnieri topped out at 68 points during his time at FDJ and even that season doesn't meet ingsve's criteria because he had a couple of "results" late in the season like 14th in the GP de Fourmies.

Late career Eisel is also a pretty good shout. Finished his careers with seasons of 50, 35, 65, 10, 35 points. All for finishing races. It's hard to find someone that's good enough to consistently finish WT races to pick up the points and yet gets absolutely zero results the rest of the time.

 

[Squire]

Guarnieri topped out at 68 points during his time at FDJ and even that season doesn't meet ingsve's criteria because he had a couple of "results" late in the season like 14th in the GP de Fourmies.

Late career Eisel is also a pretty good shout. Finished his careers with seasons of 50, 35, 65, 10, 35 points. All for finishing races. It's hard to find someone that's good enough to consistently finish WT races to pick up the points and yet gets absolutely zero results the rest of the time.

I noticed that ingsve's pick Keukeleire also had a 'non-eligible' result, as he also mentioned but I didn't notice at first. So a quick look through a couple of teams gives me Ben Swift as a good candidate for 2023 top scorer from only minimum finishing points in WT races with his 60 points.

 

[skidmark]

Okay, spreadsheet is caught up and update is out. Maybe I can finally look ahead to what my team is doing!

Oman

I have Lamperti in 2nd, and Herzog and Faure Prost a little lower down in GC but with potential to score some points. I'd imagine of those, Faure Prost has the best possibility of surviving for a decent result on Green Mountain.

Capiot also won a stage!

Andalucia

Juan Ayuso
Axel Laurance

Well clearly I'm hoping for an Ayuso win. Laurance may be able to haul himself over a few hills to contest a stage or two.

Algarve

Dani Martinez
Michael Valgren
Thymen Aresnman
Isaac Del Toro
Antonio Morgado

Hmm well I guess I hope Martinez repeats his only success of last year; hope Arensman gets off to a solid start, and that Del Toro continues to surprise in an impressive way.

Var and Alpes-Maritimes

Startlist not yet complete but unlikely I'll have anyone

Rwanda

William Junior Lecerf

Hard not to get my hopes up for this one - Lecerf looked world class in his first ever pro race, and this is not a world class field.

 

[ingsve]

Here are my starts for this week.

Tour of Oman
Johannes Kulset 50pts
Gil Gelders 5 pts
Henri Vandenabeele Trash

Ruta del Sol
-

Volta ao Algarve
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Sergio Higuita
Michael Valgren
Thymen Arensman
Per Strand Hagenes
Isaac Del Toro
Jan Christen
Antonio Morgado
Markus Hoelgaard
Andreas Leknesund

Classic Var and Haut Var
None yet

Tour du Rwanda
William Junior Lecerf

 

[Squire]

Herzog

He climbed surprisingly well today. And is also into profit, but that didn't take much. Could prove to be decent this year after all.

It seems like you were right to finally drop Vandenabeele from your team, on the other hand.

Faure Prost into profit already, and looking okay so far. Was hoping for more from Masnada. Fisher-Black profitable now too, and he is looking dangerous for us who don't have him. But hopefully he'll get some more donkey duties in big races going forward. Hirt starting well for the 15 people who have him, but I don't think he's guaranteed to be a great pick yet. A lot of guys have milked great February form and suitable parcours before, including Hirt himself on a couple of occasions.

 

[ingsve]

Hard not to get my hopes up for this one - Lecerf looked world class in his first ever pro race, and this is not a world class field.

My main worry with Rwanda is that there is a TTT and a ITT which I don't know how well he and his team will do. Then again the ITT is uphill by what seems like 4-5% so that should help. He did well in the uphill ITT in l'Avenir last year though that was even steeper.

 

[ingsve]

It seems like you were right to finally drop Vandenabeele from your team, on the other hand.

He's part of the reason I started looking at what type of points people had gotten by just finishing WT races. Then again with how he has looked so far I doubt he would even get selected for the WT races that Lotto will do this year.

 

[Salvarani]

He's part of the reason I started looking at what type of points people had gotten by just finishing WT races. Then again with how he has looked so far I doubt he would even get selected for the WT races that Lotto will do this year.

It was his first race since last spring/June, so I will cut him some slack for now.

He has room for improvement and as he only cost 5 points it wasnt the biggest investment in the first place.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Ruta del Sol being cancelled would be a disaster for me with five riders including Ayuso on the startlist and a weak field...

Oman also not as good as expected, stage points helped and Faure Prost went into profit but Vansevenant was at the lower end of expectations and Meintjes and Masnada were off the pace.

 

[Squire]

Ruta del Sol being cancelled would be a disaster for me with five riders including Ayuso on the startlist and a weak field...

For once it would actually be a good thing for my team. Taking away Ayuso points and potential Laurance/Covi points, while my only rider there, Tiberi, isn't likely to score that much anyway with Bahrain also having Buitrago, Caruso, Haig and Poels. But any race cancellation is bad news in general, of course.

 

[ingsve]

It was his first race since last spring/June, so I will cut him some slack for now.

Hmm, I was sure he had started other races before Muscat but apparently not. He must have been on the roster for something and then got replaced I guess.

 

[Salvarani]

For once it would actually be a good thing for my team. Taking away Ayuso points and potential Laurance/Covi points, while my only rider there, Tiberi, isn't likely to score that much anyway with Bahrain also having Buitrago, Caruso, Haig and Poels. But any race cancellation is bad news in general, of course.

I dont agree with that entirely.

I think it could have been some easy points for Tiberi here. Top 10 or even more. I think he has break-out potential this season. He is only picked by 15 or so teams... so him scoring points is one of the more important riders for myself and others. Him and Buitrago are on the way up. Caruso, Poels and Haig on the way down.

Ayuso on the other hand I am not too worried about atm. He will most likely get points elsewhere and is quite popular.

 

[Squire]

I dont agree with that entirely.

I think it could have been some easy points for Tiberi here. Top 10 or even more. I think he has break-out potential this season. He is only picked by 15 or so teams... so him scoring points is one of the more important riders for myself and others. Him and Buitrago are on the way up. Caruso, Poels and Haig on the way down.

Ayuso on the other hand I am not too worried about atm. He will most likely get points elsewhere and is quite popular.

Yes, I agree with you on his breakout potential (I picked him after all ), and I was definitely looking for a top 10 in Andalucia. But even if he scores 50-60 points, I still think I would suffer more if the others I mentioned score big. UAE aren't really scheduled for any good replacement races for Ayuso. I doubt he will be sent to the UAE Tour, so no Ruta del Sol points will just take away from his total I think.