The 2024 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Kazistuta]

I feel like I missed some obvious choices this year, looking forward to seing which ones

Thankfully in the last minute of restructuring/finalizing I found two more guys for the random French races, including one major steal I totally forgot on my long list.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Happy new year everyone and I hope your CQ picks underperform mine.

On that note, a few facts about my 2024 team below.

1000+ pts: 1
500-999 pts: 3
300-499 pts: 5
100-299 pts: 13
0-99 pts: 11

Average age: 22.5 (yes I know I have issues picking old riders bouncing back from injury)

Countries with multiple riders
4: Belgium, USA, Italy
3: France, Norway, Spain, Colombia
2: Ireland

Most frequent last name initial: B

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

My mob:
Average age 26.6

Assumed first languages:-
English: 8
Spanish: 7
Italian: 7
Dutch: 6
French: 3
Tigrinya: 1
Portuguese:1

>500: 3
250-499: 8
125-249: 13
50-124: 3
1-49: 6

More points in 2023 than in 2022: 7
More points in 2023 than in 2021: 8
(which probably means that, despite promising myself I wouldn't, I have gone for riders who *might reverse that decline* yet again, which has been rather unsuccessful for many years)

Eligible for the Emerging Riders Game: 2
Eligible for the Women's CQ Game: 0 (but it gives an excuse for a reminder)

Surnames beginning with a vowel: 4
Surnames ending in a vowel: 18
First names beginning with a vowel: 10
First names ending with a vowel: 14
(Yes: I know that the fact I have an Tigrinya speaker and the concept of counting surnames are incompatible)

 

[Squire]

Thankfully in the last minute of restructuring/finalizing I found two more guys for the random French races, including one major steal I totally forgot on my long list.

So you might have the same two guys as I have then. Or one who is among the omissions that I'm most scared about. Or a bit of both.

Countries with multiple riders
4: Belgium, USA, Italy
3: France, Norway, Spain, Colombia
2: Ireland

That's a lot of freedom fighters! But I guess I have four on my longlist myself, so maybe not that surprising. Interesting that my second-most picked nationality is not on your list, and there are several more from that nation who are/were close to being included.

Spanish: 7

I've actually made an alternative CQ team consisting solely of Spanish speaking climbers, which is an interesting proposition this year. Might post it later when we're done discussing the actual teams, just so I can revisit it at the end and see how it would have done.

Excited for the reveal in a couple of days!

 

[skidmark]

Okay we've passed the 50 team mark! Obviously with the game starting so early this year, I'm guessing there will be a lot of teams in the last day (day and a half before publication deadline), so I'm hoping we'll get close to the 103 we had last year.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Team submitted! Looking forward to be joining the game again - and of course the big reveal and everyone's thoughts on their teams. GL to everyone!

 

[Salvarani]

I think many of us can barely wait for the reveal, so in the meantime here are some facts about my 2024 team below.

1000+ pts: 1
500-999 pts: 2
300-499 pts: 7
100-299 pts: 10
0-99 pts: 13

Average age: 23,97.

Countries with multiple riders:

5: Great Britain, Colombia and Italy.
4: -
3: Belgium.
2: USA and Netherlands.

1: 11 other nations.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Some stats for my team:

Youngest rider: 18 (2)
Oldest rider: 33
Average age: 22,6

Countries with multiple riders:

5: UK
4: Belgium
3: Colombia, Italy
2: USA, Norway, Netherlands, Ireland, France, Eritrea

Teams with multiple riders:

5: Ineos, UAE
4: EF, Visma
3: -
2: Bora, DSM, Intermarche, QuickStep

Points distribution:

1000+ pts: 1
500-999 pts: 1
300-499 pts: 7
100-299 pts: 15
0-99 pts: 9

Most frequest last name initial: C (4)

 

[Anderis]

Okay we've passed the 50 team mark!

Hey, skidmark. I sent you my entry on Saturday but still haven't received any message back. Can you confirm that you've received my entry?

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Hey, skidmark. I sent you my entry on Saturday but still haven't received any message back. Can you confirm that you've received my entry?

You are listed in post 2, so yes.

 

[Anderis]

You are listed in post 2, so yes.

Ah, yes, didn't realise this list was a thing.

I was starting to get worried because I've always received a confirmation message well within 48 hours before.

 

[search]

My team is in as well. As usual, it's fairly old:

Youngest rider: 18
Oldest rider: 37
Average age: 27

1000+ pts: 1
500-999 pts: 3
300-499 pts: 4
100-299 pts: 14
0-99 pts: 11

28x WT, 4x PT, 1x CT

5x ITA
4x COL, DEN
3x USA
2x BEL, ESP, FRA, GER, NED
1x ECU, GBR, NOR, NZL, POR, SLO, SUI

I was struggling a lot to find interest in the more expensive (>250pt) riders this year, so I am fairly uncertain about almost all of my choices in the price range, tbh.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I have now submitted my team.
Here are some stats:

Countries represented:
Spain (28), France (2), Colombia (2), South Africa (1)

Most common first name: Unai (4)
Total XYZ score in the riders full names: 27 (up 3 from last year)

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I have now submitted my team.
Here are some stats:

Countries represented:
Spain (28), France (2), Colombia (2), South Africa (1)

Most common first name: Unai (4)
Total XYZ score in the riders full names: 27 (up 3 from last year)

Someone has their eyes set on the prestigious "Top Scorer in Itzulia Week" award again.

 

[Anderis]

I'm intrigued by that South African rider.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Someone has their eyes set on the prestigious "Top Scorer in Itzulia Week" award again.

I predict that my team will score fewer points during Itzulia than it did last year, but it might still take the win.

I'm intrigued by that South African rider.

He's not my most controversial pick.
Also one of my French riders might not be the one you think it is.

 

[ingsve]

I don't remember how much overlap there usually was between teams but going just by the number of countries it becomes clear that at theoretically I can only have like a dozen riders in common with some of these teams at best.

Not sure I should be happy or worried about that.

 

[ingsve]

Interesting to see more people going for 18 year olds. I guess it might be obvious who those are. I wonder if anyone will end up having 3 18 year olds like me.

 

[bminchow]

Youngest rider: 20
Oldest rider: 36
Average age: 24

1000+ pts: 0
500-999 pts: 3
300-499 pts: 5
100-299 pts: 15
0-99 pts: 10

5x BEL, GBR
4x NED
3x USA, ESP
2x ITA, COL, FRA, NOR
1x Five Countries

 

[Squire]

I don't remember how much overlap there usually was between teams but going just by the number of countries it becomes clear that at theoretically I can only have like a dozen riders in common with some of these teams at best.

Not sure I should be happy or worried about that.

There has been an overlap of 22 or 23 riders before (basically me and @MADRAZO every year ). But usually the most similar teams tend to share just below 20 riders, if I'm not completely wrong. It's one of the few things I don't keep a record of in my spreadsheet! It might be less 'bad' this year, because I think there is a bigger than usual pool of attractive picks.

All these teasing team breakdowns make me second-guess everything about my team though! I better just send it to skidmark and be done with it! @Hugo Koblet and @bminchow seem to have the most relatable statistics for me so far.

I can share a fact about my own team, too: If it ends up winning, it's gonna absolutely smash at least one record.

 

[Salvarani]

Teams with multiple riders:

5: Ineos, UAE

Dito.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

When the spreadsheet comes out, you can paste your 33 riders into the page that I think will probably be called '2024 points', give them 1 point each, and then the main results page will show you how many riders you have in common with each other team.
That's what I do to make a Team similarity tab in the games I do, but there is a lot of copying and pasting involved, and to do it for upwards of 100 teams would be a mammoth task.
Unless someone much more skilled in Excel than I am knows a more efficient way.

 

[skidmark]

I've had a message that the link to the Create Your Team file isn't working for everyone - I share the links as 'view only' so that people don't have editing powers and can accidentally delete info or something. That should still allow you to download it, but that doesn't appear to work for everyone (I also recall this issue with a few updates last year). Anyway, if people are having trouble, I do have an editable link here that you can use, so if you use that just be careful to either download it and make any changes with your copy. Thanks! Keep those entries coming!

 

[ingsve]

Here is my breakdown

Youngest rider: 18 (3)
Oldest rider: 33
Average age: 23,4

1000+ pts: 0
500-999 pts: 3
300-499 pts: 6
100-299 pts: 13
0-99 pts: 11

Multiple rider countries:
7: Norway
5: Belgium
4: Colombia
2: Denmark, Ireland, Italy
1: 11 countries

I may have gone a little overboard with the patriotic picks (Norwegians).

 

[RedheadDane]

I may have gone a little overboard with the patriotic picks (Norwegians).

That's not overboard.