The 2024 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

Like some others I've gone for a themed team this year as well. The theme being non-WT.

Not 100% though as I thought if Nans Peters can join the Basque Brigade then I can have a single WT rider (but not Nans). However some unfortunate news today means that after some shuffling that number has jumped to two (still no Nans!).

Good luck all.

It was an obvious mistake that I was the only one who had Nans last year, but he's probably not going to be a good pick this season. That should of course not keep people from picking him regardless.

 

[Sneekes]

I found it more of a challenge this year, fewer 500+ 'must have' picks means more choice IMHO.

I've been a bit of a homer this time too:

GBR 6
Ned & Bel 4 each
Col, Fra, USA 2 each

EF 5
INEOS 4
Astana & DSM 3 each
Visma, Lidl, Quickstep, Intermarche, FDJ 2 each

Age range is 18-38, average is 24

1000+: 0
500-999: 3
200-499: 14
0-199: 16

 

[escartin]

my breakdown:

5 - FRA
4 - COL, ESP, ITA,
3 - GBR
2 - BEL, NOR, USA
1 - 7 countries

5 - IGD, SOQ
4 - MOV, UAD
3 - EFE
2 - GFC
1 - 10 teams

1 - 1000+
3 - 501-1000
9 - 251-500
5 - 101-200
13 - 1-100
2 - 0

 

[Googolplex]

Let's see. Hopefully I won't be last.

1000+: 1
500-999: 0
200-499: 6
1-199: 19
0: 7

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So what are we allowed to do in the next 24 hours?

Guess the percentage of teams that include the most popular pick? (I'll go for 92%)
Number of riders on >50% of teams? (6 is my guess)

Are we allowed to do anything else?

 

[skidmark]

Yes, the next 24 hours are about speculating without naming... or focusing on building CQ teams for other games

I posted this a few hours ago but it's on the last page so just wanna say again - the 'submission deadline' has just passed, but it's still 24 hours until the 'publication deadline' - the official start of the game. So please refrain from discussion of teams until then.

This 24 hour deadline lag will allow me to process teams and note mistakes and allow time to correct them. As a bonus, I hopefully will make some headway on assembling the popularity tab on the spreadsheet so the stats will be ready not long after the publication deadline.

importantly, if you have not yet submitted a team and are upset that it's past the deadline, I will be accepting teams right up until the publication deadline 24 hours from now, so feel free to DM me up until then. You just will not have the opportunity to make alterations if you're over budget or anything like that.

Thanks to everyone who has sent in so far!

 

[manafana]

bloody hell this deadline is soon, any chance i can submit in next while?

 

[manafana]

sorry seen post

bloody hell this deadline is soon, any chance i can submit in next while?

will do a team now

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

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.

Yup, that's the most US riders I've had ever. I had only 5 on my longlist so it's pretty weird that 4 ended up making the cut. One of them is there because I wanted a rare pick and another is there because he really doesn't cost much so I would guess only two are obvious picks.

I do have one guy from Great Britain but there was three of them before my last reshuffle when I swapped out 3 riders so we aren't as far apart as it might seem at first glance. There are a few other guys from that country that are interesting picks but I never really considered because of their price.

 

[Boris98]

I also submitted (a bit after the deadline) a team that I made without much thought. It will definitely end up lower in the ranking than during my previous and ony participation in 2021 when I finished 9th, but lets hope for some miracle this year.

 

[Panda Claws]

My team got confirmed so here are some stats:
1000+: 0 (I had Roglic, Van der Poel and Girmay last year)
500+: 5
250+: 8
100+: 5
50+: 6
0-49: 9

I have 0 zero cost-riders this year and am also not at exactly 7500 for the first time.
I don't know I feel like my team is better than in previous editions but am not that confident in a lot of my picks regardless. There's just no random riders in it this year.

I didn't put in that much effort into tracking down every rider that massively under performed due to crashes though so it's possible that I missed someone there.

Nationality-wise I really tried to stay away from just picking Belgians.
Italy: 6 picks
Colombia: 5 picks
France: 4 picks

Colombian riders look like such fool's gold when you are picking them though. I hope they pan out.

 

[hayneplane]

First time ever entering this. Got 14 sub 100 pointers in my team and several of which are in new teams where they should have more freedom so feel good about their prospects.

Relying heavily on some redemption stories and a few bad boys making headlines for performances rather than antics in 2024.

Talked myself into 1 big hitter who I feel has some growth margin in his points total.

Overall considering I am primarily a GC stage race fan I found myself unable to find much value in this area.

 

[pman]

Will we get to see everyone's team/ the main spreadsheet after the publication deadline? It'll be interesting to see who everyone picked. Or is it up to us to share our teams here? If it's the later, how do we keep tab of the results? Sorry if those are basic questions. My wife and I are super excited to be playing this for the first time!

 

[ingsve]

Will we get to see everyone's team/ the main spreadsheet after the publication deadline? It'll be interesting to see who everyone picked. Or is it up to us to share our teams here? If it's the later, how do we keep tab of the results? Sorry if those are basic questions. My wife and I are super excited to be playing this for the first time!

Yes, a spreadsheet with everyones team will be published. Then each week pretty much a new spreadsheet with the results up to that date will also be published where you can look at the progress of all teams.

 

[skidmark]

Yes, a spreadsheet with everyones team will be published. Then each week pretty much a new spreadsheet with the results up to that date will also be published where you can look at the progress of all teams.

Yeah pretty much people reveal their teams here at the publication deadline individually, and I try to have the full spreadsheet available within a few hours of that, with a few extra goodies like rider popularity tab etc. I should be able to get some work done on that before the final deadline, so I'm hoping to post the official spreadsheet within about 24 hours.

 

[armchairclimber]

Although I had a long list in December, the deadline rather crept up on me, so my final selection was somewhat hurried. I just hope I haven't overlooked any of the "must haves". I did ok for a non-Roglic player last year, but was massivelt let down by some expensive picks. I should probably have picked one of them again this year, but didn't. I am thus light on Sprinters.

No 1000 pt picks
6 x 500 to 1000
13 x 100 to 500
14 x 0 to 100

Including 4 x 0 pointers (one of whom will be very popular I suspect).

Can't wait for it all to start. 9 riders in Oz. It's ridiculous how much this competition means in the grand life scale of things.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Ok, I have missed out on that zero pointer. Also on a couple of popular Ineos riders, as pretty much everyone revelaing their team composition have four or five of them (and I have two).
I have six riders for the TdU. It hurts a bit looking at that startlist, as it's full of riders that I had on my team at some point.

 

[armchairclimber]

Ok, I have missed out on that zero pointer. Also on a couple of popular Ineos riders, as pretty much everyone revelaing their team composition have four or five of them (and I have two).
I have six riders for the TdU. It hurts a bit looking at that startlist, as it's full of riders that I had on my team at some point.

Don't worry, it's not one that will score a lot. Just more or less nailed on to score something.
I have always favoured youth .... which is how I had Pogacar in his breakout year, and De Lie ... amongst other great finds.

I don't know that I'll have a De Lie of a Pog this year though. So many young riders being signed up by WT teams.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Personally I spent a lot of time making a short (long) list and doing research in November, but in December I have had almost no time to work on my team, so unfortunately the final iteration was very rushed, and I'm not really that confident in the choices I've made. I feel like I have a very solid core, but I had difficulties finding those "game winning" picks and a lot of riders on my team feel like fillers. I have a very hard time spotting the new De Lie of the game on my team.

My thoughts this year is that there isn't that many "must haves", so I predict that we'll see more diversity than usual (is there a method to assess that in some way?). Especially in the cheaper categories, I at least couldn't find that many super obvious picks, so hopefully it's not just me who has overlooked a lot of obvious riders. It might also be because I have been out of the game for a year - I didn't have that good of a "feel" for the game this year. Anyway, excuses aside, I really look forward to the reveal tomorrow!

 

[Salvarani]

Ok, I have missed out on that zero pointer. Also on a couple of popular Ineos riders, as pretty much everyone revelaing their team composition have four or five of them (and I have two).
I have six riders for the TdU. It hurts a bit looking at that startlist, as it's full of riders that I had on my team at some point.

You are not alone, if that is the case.

With the Ineos picks... I guess it depends if you have gone for the bounce back/cost factor or the high potential/ceiling factor.

I have only picked two that might be "obvious" out of the five I have. The others are more on exciting/daring kind of picks imo.

How people have thought regarding picks from this team could vary. We will see.

 

[Squire]

Ok, I have missed out on that zero pointer. Also on a couple of popular Ineos riders, as pretty much everyone revelaing their team composition have four or five of them (and I have two).
I have six riders for the TdU. It hurts a bit looking at that startlist, as it's full of riders that I had on my team at some point.

(apologies if this is a bit too specific considering some people might not have sent in their team yet)

I don't have any zero pointers. In the history of the CQ game, there have only really been one must-have pick coming straight from juniors (Evenepoel) and one semi-must-have (Tarling last year).

Regarding TDU, I also used to be somewhat influenced by the startlist of that race, but I've come to realize that it means basically nothing over the course of a season (unless there's some cheap Cameron Meyer kinda guy who wins it and gets a big profit immediately). Often, going well in the TDU can be a bad sign for the rest of the season. There have been soooo many who looked like great picks after January who never really got going later in the year.

I have a very hard time spotting the new De Lie of the game on my team.

Gotta remember that De Lie wasn't exactly screaming 1000+ points in January 2022 either. But I felt I was being realistic when I was hoping for at least 300-400 for him.

I think there are several riders in quite a similar position to where he was, but they could just as well score 100 instead of 1000. Some of them I've been forced to leave out due to other picks being prioritized, and I'm a bit scared of some of them. I'll put forward some candidates that I'm thinking about after the reveal.

My thoughts this year is that there isn't that many "must haves", so I predict that we'll see more diversity than usual (is there a method to assess that in some way?). Especially in the cheaper categories, I at least couldn't find that many super obvious picks, so hopefully it's not just me who has overlooked a lot of obvious riders.

I share this assessment. There are a lot of riders who could turn out to be must-haves though, but picking them out pre-game is not as easy as some previous years. There are a lot of good options in all price categories, and very few who really, really stand out. The fact that younger riders are now quick to score big results opens up so many possibilities. As I've probably stated multiple times, I think it's the most exciting CQ season I've taken part in and I think we well have a lot of riders who are picked between 10-40 times and fewer who are shared by a majority of teams.

In my statistics sheet, I do a 'uniqueness factor' thing, where I very simply divide number of unique riders by number of teams. But this is very easily skewed by stuff like @Samu Cuenca's Basque team. I guess a more scientific way would be to do the same for all riders who are picked more than 5 times or something.

 

[Salvarani]

Personally I spent a lot of time making a short (long) list and doing research in November, but in December I have had almost no time to work on my team, so unfortunately the final iteration was very rushed, and I'm not really that confident in the choices I've made. I feel like I have a very solid core, but I had difficulties finding those "game winning" picks and a lot of riders on my team feel like fillers. I have a very hard time spotting the new De Lie of the game on my team.

My thoughts this year is that there isn't that many "must haves", so I predict that we'll see more diversity than usual (is there a method to assess that in some way?). Especially in the cheaper categories, I at least couldn't find that many super obvious picks, so hopefully it's not just me who has overlooked a lot of obvious riders. It might also be because I have been out of the game for a year - I didn't have that good of a "feel" for the game this year. Anyway, excuses aside, I really look forward to the reveal tomorrow!

I picked a rider who I am hoping could score some points, but if he can do De Lie numbers I will only view as a utopia for now.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I picked a rider who I am hoping could score some points

Dammit, I wish I had thought of doing that.

 

[Salvarani]

Dammit, I wish I had thought of doing that.

Sorry that it was not mentioned earlier.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Sorry that it was not mentioned earlier.

Sneaky move that, not revealing your tactic until after the deadline.