The 2024 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Armchair Cyclist]

I'm surprised you didn't do it already.

You have for me, but stay tuned...

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

In the other other game (the new cycle of Emerging riders), the list of 193 men eligible there and picked here is now available.
So all you have to do is pick 18 out of those 193, no budget calculations necessary. Could hardly be easier: no excuse not to really.

 

[laarsland]

In the other other game (the new cycle of Emerging riders), the list of 193 men eligible there and picked here is now available.
So all you have to do is pick 18 out of those 193, no budget calculations necessary. Could hardly be easier: no excuse not to really.

I find it almost harder - no budget contraint means you don’t reduce the pool of possible picks as you start with the most desired ones.

 

[ingsve]

4 riders already into profit after the Aus ITT even if it is only with a handful of points. Doubt any of those were picked though.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

6 teams with Van Aert, about as expected as he can be hard to fit in. I had hoped he'd be on perhaps double as many teams, I think he is likely to be a good (enough) pick.

I was toying with building a team around WvA, probably as close as I've ever been to picking someone really expensive. He should see a 40%+ points increase from last season. Seeing that Kooij is also lined up for the Giro put me off in the end

 

[Leadbelly]

Okay my 96% Non-WT team.

It seemed to come together fairly easily, but maybe in another year the rider costs would have made it necessary to start picking riders I wasn't so keen on.

Lotto

De Lie
Van Eetvelt
Segaert

De Lie scored a bit too much at the tail of the season tbh, but in the normal scheme of things the other two will give me a Lotto profit.

Uno-X

THJ
Leknessund
Kulset (Johannes)
AHJ

AHJ is an interesting one. He posted recently that he'd had no back issues for a while and he showed at Sibiu this year that the climbing legs are still there.

Cort was never really on my mind - great at picking up stages (in GTs especially), but not really a force in one-day races.

IPT

Teuns
Bennett
Sheehan
Riccitello
Raisberg
Pickrell

The team I follow, so not too surprising that they're the most represented. I had Dylan last year and he disappointed, with his off the bikes issues impacting on his racing and scoring.

We'll see what happens with Sheehan. Will he be another Piccolo? Both had a "easier" calendar in the first half of the relevant year (RS in '23 and AP in '22) and were then fresh in the second half to get results and look impressive, but over the course of the following full year? AP didn't do very well.

Tudor

Storer

Just the one rider here and their best climber. I was thinking about Brenner and the fact that they've given him a three-year contract shows they (Tudor) have some confidence in him and his injuries, but I'd have preferred to have seen some results to back that up.

Q3.65

Calzoni
Steimle

Only three of us went with Walter?! I thought his brand of aggressive racing last year would have won him a few more fans than that. Jannik is also fairly unpopular, but ticks a lot of scoring boxes with his TT and fast-ish finish.

Nizzolo was a late withdrawal with his leg break being announced yesterday.

Total

Jegat
Gachignard
Vadic

A few less distracting WT races for Total this year and hopefully they can fill up with their bread and butter races in the French and Belgian calendars

Bingoal

Vliegen

I was trying to include as many ProTeams as I could and while Bingoal are far from the best, Vliegen is a good signing for them.

Kern Pharma

Soto
Iribar

Both are refugees from Euskaltel as Kern had to rebuild after losing their best riders this year and amazingly neither are members of the Basque Boys this year.

Euskaltel

Berasategi
Azparren

.....and neither are these two! Azparren is in his last espoir year, so hopefully we'll get to see him in l'Avenir etc.

Bardiani

Pinarello

The hunt for the next Pellizzari begins. Not that Guilio has gone anywhere yet, but surely he'll be racing a bit less with the U23 squad that's contained within Bardiani this year and more in the bigger races, which leaves more room for others to shine. Was looking at Paletti was well, but his selection got trimmed at the end.

TDT

Loockx

TDT have made some interesting signings, but that doesn't always = points. Loockx was the one I went for in the end. CX background, fast-ish finish.

Ol' Caja

Guardeno

Things have gone quiet for the time being with regard to their involvement in anything dodgy, so I risked a Caja rider. Guardeno is young (2003) and had a great Volta with the team as a stagiaire.

Flanders

Craps

Decent year for him with Quickstep Devo, but no room in the main team. Good all-rounder

So that's all the ProTeam riders. The only teams to miss out on selection were Burgos (was looking at Chumil for a while), Corratec (Darbellay), Novo Nordisk (Ridolfo) and Polti (Gomez).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a handful of CT riders. There just didn't seem to be many good picks on teams I liked or ones with many potential days of racing.

Van Tricht (IPT Devo) - Still not officially announced. Is no longer an espoir so I expect him to be racing a fair bit with the main team

Jasim (UAE Gen Z) - The best local rider. The big risk ofc is that he gets overshadowed by all the other talent in the team, but it will be fun to see how he gets on.

Jaladeau (Nantes) - With Jegat moving on there should be room for others to have their chance, and I like the team.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which leaves two WT riders and they both ride for the same team - Arkea.

Demare - Showed what he could do towards the end of the season with his new team and with that mid-season transfer there shouldn't be any teething problems in 2024. Senechal's signing could be a big help too.

Albanese - My replacement for Nizzolo. His skill set should mean he gets leadership in a lot races and Arkea's need for points I think will influence his calendar a lot. Yes some big WT races, but a lot of lower hanging fruit as well.

 

[ingsve]

THJ

I was planning on having Tobias Halland Johannessen in my team all since the Tour pretty much but then he went and scored WAY too many points during September and October so that ruined those plans. I still had him in my first draft but felt he was too risky at that price while also not knowing what races they'll get invited to.

 

[Earns1985]

4 riders already into profit after the Aus ITT even if it is only with a handful of points. Doubt any of those were picked though.

Yeah, but most important Plapp gave today a 50 point kick start to all of his 40 owners (including me)

 

[Squire]

I love the team with Pogacar AND Remco (Amethyst). There's also an interesting one with Remco, Van Aert and Van der Poel (Bicycle_boy).

Interestingly, there are three Nacer Bouhannis picked.

 

[Salvarani]

Maybe a mistake but @Gotland has Andrea Piccolo twice named in the spreadsheet.

@skidmark

 

[Earns1985]

The Collective Wisdom team
There were 32 riders selected 23 times or more, but that already bust the budget at 7646. Removing the only rider picked 23 times (Hertzog) would have made precious little difference to that, so instead Carlos Rodriguez, with 24 picks, had to go for the sake of economy. That left 2 spaces, 664 points, and 4 riders on 22 teams to select between. The pairing that came closest to filling that budget allowance was Sheffield and Walls, with Ricitello and Wright missing out on the grounds of unnecessary underspend.

So the team to beat to consider yourself better /luckier than average is:
CQ Ranking

	Price	Teams
AYUSO PESQUERA Juan	1023​	39​
UIJTDEBROEKS Cian	574​	40​
SHEFFIELD Magnus	573​	22​
CARAPAZ MONTENEGRO Richard Antonio	496​	69​
HAYTER Ethan	476​	45​
GIRMAY HAILU Biniam	456​	48​
PLAPP Lucas	341​	40​
NYS Thibau	305​	28​
BENNETT Sam	302​	26​
ARENSMAN Thymen	283​	64​
MARTINEZ POVEDA Daniel Felipe	279​	60​
BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley	262​	43​
VANSEVENANT Mauri	207​	24​
LAURANCE Axel	187​	31​
LAMPERTI Luke	176​	39​
GLOAG Thomas	171​	33​
TURNER Ben	158​	54​
COVI Alessandro	141​	24​
MORGADO Antonio Tomas	132​	37​
DEL TORO ROMERO Isaac	124​	47​
STEWART Jake	113​	24​
STAUNE-MITTET Johannes	108​	53​
RAFFERTY Darren	103​	26​
PICCOLO Andrea	94​	47​
VALGREN HUNDAHL (ANDERSEN) Michael	89​	27​
MOSCON Gianni	68​	32​
CHRISTEN Jan	59​	36​
QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander	50​	78​
RYAN Archie	45​	56​
WALLS Matthew	18​	22​
CAPIOT Amaury	10​	50​
HERZOG Emil	4​	23​
AUGUST Andrew	0​	53​

Or maybe the question should be: Who of the above do you not have, and why not?

Huyy, I am 6th in the popularity table, but don´t have the three most expensive picks in this list.

So that means, that I have to hope for bad seasons from Ayuso (well kind of like him), Uijtdebroeks (not that difficult for me after his departure from Bora) and Sheffield (well also kind of like him)

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Every 1000+ points pick this season:

POGACAR Tadej + EVENEPOEL Remco
Amethyst

POGACAR Tadej
Googolplex

EVENEPOEL Remco + VAN AERT Wout + VAN DER POEL Mathieu
Bicycle Boy

ROGLIC Primoz + MOHORIC Matej
kingcycling

VAN AERT Wout
hayneplane, pman, rote_lanterne, the asian, vickyriso

VAN DER POEL Mathieu
peixotini

SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias + KOOIJ Olav
Jon_Ezeitza

SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias
RedheadDane

DE LIE Arnaud
Josedin, JumboVismaFan, Leadbelly

LANDA MEANA Mikel + BILBAO LOPEZ DE ARMENTIA Pello
Samu Cuenca

MADOUAS Valentin
Simurgh

POWLESS Neilson
firefly3323

AYUSO PESQUERA Juan
adamski101, AlTarf_ua, Anderis, Berflamand, Crevaison, Devils_Elbow, Eric10, EvansIsTheBest, Fivezzz, greenedge, hfgon1, Hugo_Koblet, Jpettersen, jsem94, Lortnoc, MARDRAZO, Mushroom, Nyssinator, Object, oliveira, Popchu, postmanhat, Rakim, repre, Rufs, SafeBet, Salvarani, search, Senderos, Shakes, shalgo, skidmark, tobydawq, Total_Package, trackstand, triley36, zaka_fan, zigzag_wanderer

None
Every other team

Seems like the debate this year was to Ayuso or not to Ayuso. Van Aert (6) and De Lie (3) are the next "most" popular picks in that range. Bicycle_Boy looks like an early contender for the green jersey with a team build to dominate the classics.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

For the teams that didn't go down the road of a 1k+ rider, here are their most expensive guys:

VAN WILDER Ilan
armchairclimber

VLASOV Aleksandr
ingsve, nbfc1962

PIDCOCK Thomas
Amis Velo, Blues in the bottle, karaev, Squire, Yellow Knight

RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos
Analnyi khirurg, bminchow, del1962, Earns1985, Eyeballs Out, laarsland, Manafana, ray10, Riverside, vladimir

HINDLEY Jai
NorthAmericanScum

GREGOIRE Romain
18-Valve. (pithy), LosBrolin, Nakazar

DEMARE Arnaud
Boris98, Panda Claws, slow_climber, Sneekes, Poles & Co

JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland
Jakob747

MAS NICOLAU Enric
Armchair cyclist, Gotland

GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
DJ Sprtsch, Kazistuta, Nevs

MATTHEWS Michael
RestInPunk

And finally the three teams that didn't pick any of the 100 most expensive riders:

EWAN Caleb
will10

CARAPAZ MONTENEGRO Richard Antonio
HoudiniCycling, vsd88

 

[Squire]

Bicycle_Boy looks like an early contender for the green jersey with a team build to dominate the classics.

I don't think so.

They really only have three guys who are gonna score serious points (Carapaz and Quintana are negated by 'everyone' else having them).

The weeks where Remco, WVA and VDP are gonna score big are generally big weeks in the game. Having one or two guys on the podium of the major races in a week and then nothing else is easily countered by someone having a couple of guys in a monument top 10 and then a random 1.1 win and a 4th and a 7th in some random stage race. From memory, a lot of these weeks are in the 600-900 point range, and the big trio is gonna struggle to get Bicycle_boy those green points enough times that they total 300+ green points.

I think a better strategy if you were going for the green jersey would be to really target smaller French, Belgian, Spanish and Italian races. Then you'd have a good chance of getting lots of points in quiet weeks during GTs or inbetween big races in June or February f.ex.

As for the 1000+ picks, I think Ayuso was the only properly viable one this year, with WVA and De Lie a distant 2nd and an even more distant 3rd. Maybe VDP also can keep you there if you have good enough cheap picks.

I'm a bit jealous of the egalitarian teams of HoudiniCycling and vsd88 But I didn't trust Girmay, Cosnefroy and Higuita enough, and there were a number of cheap picks that I needed to fit in. At least my big hitter is really rare.

 

[laarsland]

So for my 2023-team, riders picked by 5 or fewer:

The great: Gall and Badilatti
The good: Isidore
The subpar: Eenkhoorn, Gudmestad, Tivani
The bad: Bissegger, Vercher
The terrible: Tran Jatnik

Overall quite subpar, which means I'm not getting my hopes too far up for this years cadre of 5 of fewer picked:

Dewulf, Ballerini and Allegaert all at 2 picks each should all be better place in their respective teams classics squad this season. I have especially irrationally high hopes for Dewulf to start turning his big watts into results this season with GvA gone and Oli slipping into obscurity.

Bonnamour: very low buy-in for a rider who had last season derailed by injuries. In a squad where I reckon a lot of riders will get the nod for smaller races/breakaways in bigger this season.

Ivan Romeo: light program last season, nice embers from Avenir onwards. Should finish in the top 10 in a a handful smaller races this year

Nicolo Buratti: a unique pick, quite strangely. Quite clearly a good finisher by his 2022-season and a sensible 2023-program with decent placings in the CRO tour. Should be afforded the chance to contest quite a few reduced sprints this season, but could also turn out another 2023-Zambanini

 

[Eyeballs Out]

...
Bonnamour: very low buy-in for a rider who had last season derailed by injuries. In a squad where I reckon a lot of riders will get the nod for smaller races/breakaways in bigger this season.
...

I had Bonnamour last year as a unique pick at 243 pts! In retrospect I think the mistake I made with him was that he was a very late signing for AG2r and therefore seemed to start the season quite a way down their pecking order which went against my opinion that he would be one of their better riders based on what he'd done in previous seasons. Plus, as you say, an enforced spell out didn't help. A much better pick this year and he was in a couple of iterations of my team but missed the cut somehow.

 

[armchairclimber]

It always concerns me when I am so out of step. Especially with my 3 most expensive picks being so rare.
Have I missed some bad injury news re. Van Wilder, or is it simply that people think there's not much up side with him?

 

[Salvarani]

It always concerns me when I am so out of step. Especially with my 3 most expensive picks being so rare.
Have I missed some bad injury news re. Van Wilder, or is it simply that people think there's not much up side with him?

To be a good pick he would probably have to score +1250 points.

Ideally even have the possibility to score +1500 points.

Sort of like Skjelmose 2023.

If he does that, great pick.

I, personally, was just not willing to take that risk. It was sort of how I thought about C. Rodriguez as well.

I "only" settled on Ayuso. Since he has potential for +2000 points imo.

 

[armchairclimber]

To be a good pick he would probably have to score +1250 points.

Ideally even have the possibility to score +1500 points.

Sort of like Skjelmose 2023.

If he does that, great pick.

I, personally, was just not willing to take that risk. It was sort of how I thought about C. Rodriguez as well.

I "only" settled on Ayuso. Since he has potential for +2000 points imo.

I saw him with similar potential to Skjelmose ... who I omitted at the last minute last year.

 

[repre]

It always concerns me when I am so out of step. Especially with my 3 most expensive picks being so rare.
Have I missed some bad injury news re. Van Wilder, or is it simply that people think there's not much up side with him?

He needs to score x2 point to be great pick, whick is not attainable, even x1.5 to be good pick seems questionable. You could pick Ayuso or Sheffield+Hayter for his price. He is just too expensive for a rider who will be domestic in some biggest races

 

[bminchow]

Okay, I'll just have time to post my prefabricated thoughts on my own team, will return after work to see what I striked out on:

GEOGHEGAN HART Tao (696): I’m still not completely sold on his skill set, but after all he looks like the closest GC competitor to the big 4, if he returns from his pelvis injury at his old self. Not a slob in uphill sprints either. Hoping for 1500 points return. Oh yeah, he was at INEOS in 2023 - you’ll get the theme later.

VAUQUELIN Kévin (517): One of my last additions. Saw him rival Matthias Skjelmose several times in ’22, and seeing the leap Skjelmose made last year, I’m hoping and thinking the talented Frenchman can do the same in ’24. 1000+ points if he avoids bad luck like last year. Probably not going to get more than 10-15 backers, so it's gonna be fun to cheer extra for a more expensive guy.

JAKOBSEN Fabio (502): A former World beater, which for some odd reason lost his Mojo last season. Guys like Ewan, Gaviria, Ackermann and perhaps even Matthews roam in this point range, but the ceiling for the Dutchman is higher, though it seems like a boom-or-bust pick. My boom is 1000 points.

CARAPAZ MONTENEGRO Richard Antonio (497): Carapaz is such an interesting rider to watch, and last years results definitely didn’t match his efforts. There is so much room for improvement points wise. He should comfortably break the 1000 point barrier, but here’s hoping for 1500. Probably a candidate for top5 consensus.

HAYTER Ethan (496): I wouldn’t call myself a Hayter, but I’m not particularly fond of the Brit. Can’t really put a finger on it, might be ‘cause he rarely seems to be giving his all. There’s no denying he has the abilities to score in a lot of races all season long, and if last seasons collective INEOS23 downturn was a one-off, I might better get on the comeback-train, Hayter or not. 1000+ points.

GIRMAY HAILU Biniam (476): The first pick on my list. Should a top5 consensus pick, if everyone sees with fresh eyes (pun intended). The young Eritrean is a CQ-top10 scorer waiting to happen. So here it is, I’m picking Bini for 1800+ points.

COSNEFROY Benoît (456): Yesyes! Last year I couldn’t find room for any riders for the big French calendar, this year I have at least three, perhaps even four. I’ve always loved Benoits racing pedigree, though the results don’t always show what a quality rider he is. I’m sure he’ll get back to his 2022 level and get 1000 points again.

PLAPP Lucas (341): Plapp seemed out-of-it at In-e-os, but now he returns to the safe haven of his national team Jayco. This guy showed so much promise early on, both in climbing and time trialing, that he easily can top 750 points, if he gets his legs and mind back on track, now when leaving INEOS23.

BENNETT Sam (302): I think Bennett’s a fragile mind, but I know he’s not done yet. An easy French calendar and a clear captain status will hopefully get his confidence going, so a 800-1000 point season is possible.

ARENSMAN Thymen (283): What’s that, INEOS23 you say? The spicy guy stays at the British team, but he’ll have to get back to his diesel TT and climbing abilities to work out as a pick. The ceiling is around 1000 points, but have to be satisfied with 500.

MARTINEZ POVEDA Daniel Felipe (279): WTH happened to Martinez last year? I’ve heard nothing about any serious problems, so it puzzled me how a talented rider like himself ended below 300 points - except that he got struck by the INEOS23 curse. Now he’s at Bora, where he will have just as many top riders to compete with - don’t know if that’s sustainable. I threw another Colombian overboard due to the presence of Roglic, just couldn’t do it again. Give me 500 points to not regret it, Daniel!

BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley (262): Those darn’d Columbians. Bernal is/was so gifted, and we’re still to see if he can return to his old self after the horrible accident, but just the fact that he was able to finish two grand tours last year while at INEOS23 tells me his core power is right. Still have to show his peak power though, and this pick is mostly to avoid losing out, because I’m not totally sold on him. A hopeful 500 points?

LAURANCE Axel (187): Definitely a rider that is on upwards trajectory points wise. Way to good, and hopefully Alpecin will let him captain a lot of the races that suit him. Fast, but still very interesting to see which way he transforms. I shall let him prove me right when hitting +500 points.

BUSATTO Francesco (186): Should have the skill set to be an absolute points burner for Intermarche, if they choose his schedule carefully. Fast, punchy and with a knack for hitting the right moments. I dream high and predict a +700 season.

VAN UDEN Casper (177): With the arrival of Jakobsen the former U23 sprint dominator should be poised for a lot of chances in second rate races in 2024. He hasn’t exactly set the pro scene on fire, but not all sprinters are Arnaud De Lies. DSM seem to trust their project, so why shouldn’t I? 500 points if he gets the ball rolling on an easy schedule.

LAMPERTI Luke (176): A young, fast sprinter on Soudal, who’s losing 2/3 of their best sprinters? Count me in! Lamperti will likely be on many teams this year, but he should rather easily pick up 400+ points judging by his skillset and supposed role on the team. Is he the De Lie of this season?

GLOAG Thomas (171): One of three talented young riders from Visma, I couldn’t steer clear of. He might have a bit of a bike handling problem, but he looks aggressive and impressive as a climber. I’m unsure of his role this year, but it seemed like he already got some chances last year, so the potential for a +400 season is there.

HONORE Mikkel Frølich (169): A repeat from my team last year, since Honore didn’t exactly live up to anyones expectations in 2023. He really didn’t have a lot of major excuses, but his Autumn of ’21 still plays in my mind. Potential for 500+, but it could just as easily be another bummer.

BARONCINI Filippo (163): I think the verdict is still out on him, even though many have written him off by now. I’ve seen enough to still hope for a resurgence of the WCU23 road race champion from 2021 and a ensuing point explosion. A new environment might help on the way. +300 points, higher ceiling.

RICCITELLO Matthew (169): I loved his racing in Avenir, and the American should definitely be one to watch in the future. Might be a little too soon picking him, but it’s nice to have up-and-coming riders to cheer for, and Israel is not a particularly GC loaded team, so Ricci could get some freedom during the year. +200 points.

TURNER Ben (158): Okay, I have to embarrassingly admit, that I couldn’t really tell the two Ben T’s from each other even after two seasons - who was good at what and all that, and never really bothered to really dig into it. Both seem pretty talented, though, so I picked the cheapest one to really get to know him. And lo and behold: He actually is a rider for the cobbled races, where my team lacks at bit. And oh yeah - he was yet another underperforming INEOS23 rider. Should be able to reach +400 points. Top10 consensus pick?

FRIGO Marco (117): I don’t recall the particular races, but last year I saw several races in the spring, where Frigo showed real strength without getting any results from it. That’s where I noted him on my long list, and I’m pretty sure he won’t be picked by many (<10), but since I couldn’t shy away from Israel this year, I had to pick him as hopefully a rare-ish pick. Frigos strength will this year result in +300 points.

STEWART Jake (113): I know he’s going to be a leadout rider for guys like Ackermann and Vernon, but guaranteed leadership in the classics to go with it? For a fast, strong guy that sounds promising. Just one good semi-classic and he’s even, I think a 3-4 doubling should be doable.

STAUNE-MITTET Johannes (109): Another big talent I might be picking a year too soon. He’s already shown he can compete with the pros, and the youngsters at Visma actually get quite an amount of “ride your own chance”, despite the amount of big names on the team. He will build upon last year and hopefully get to 300 points.

VAN DIJKE Mick (105): Mick seems like the most talented twin of him and Tim, and I’m sure he’ll be back on track to be Vismas second sprinter after Kooij (WVA is another category, especially this year when setting GT sights). +300 points would be a natural progression.

PICCOLO Andrea (94): Let’s just forget 2023, shall we? Took the cycling World by storm in the Autumn of 2022, and apparently this little guy shows his premier skills in lumps. Let’s say we get two lumps this year, early spring and again in Autumn, ok? Then 500 points it is.

VALGREN HUNDAHL (ANDERSEN) Michael (89): A serious injury, almost a year out, but my countryman has shown his desire to be back at his best. Doesn’t excel at anything, but he has an instinct for the right racing moments. As much as a hope as a belief in him, but it’s nice to have a couple of Danes to cheer for in this game. +300 points

MOSCON Gianni (68): If Lefevre can’t perform his magic with Il Trattore, then no one can. When at his best, Moscon is flying, so hopefully the proven winning environment at Soudal-Quickstep can do wonders for the troubled Italian. I believe he’s not done yet. +400 points envisioned.

CHRISTEN Jan (59): A young talented guy already with a decent amount of pro racing in his legs. He wants to win races this year, and even though he’s on a loaded UAE team, we saw plenty of “support” riders get chances with the Arabian team’s massive calendar. 200 points would be a little upscale, so why not dream of more?

QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander (50): Okay, couldn’t really afford to leave him out. Noone knows how he’ll fare back at Movistar, but at least there should be plenty of chances to ride for himself, even though he might ride in the service of Mas in the biggest stage races. My guess is 400 points and the overall consensus pick for this year’s CQ game.

RYAN Archie (45): Seems like such a great talent, and even though I apparently have a thing for the EF riders this season, it’s also fun to have some up-and-coming riders to root for. Should get more chances to ride for GC riding for the American team than with Visma. +200 points is easily attainable.

WALLS Matthew (18): Didn’t race very much last season, and with the departure of Demare, Groupama looks like a team where the battle for first sprinter status is up for grabs. Should easily improve to 300+, and the ceiling is unknown, depending on how that battle turns out.

CAPIOT Amaury (10): I almost didn’t select him, as I wasn’t really vary of his problems last year. He was a great, versatile point scorer at Topsport and his first years at Arkea, so with a very rewarding French calendar I’m looking for a 400+ season for the Belgian.



Last omissions:

Sergio Higuita - I had him locked in for half a year, until Bora signed Roglic, who does everything Higuita does, but a tad better. We all know how much of a monster Rogla is, so unless he focuses solely on the TDF (which wouldn’t be like him), that diminishes the chances for Higuita to shine. Took Vauquelin instead, but will likely get to +800 points himself.

Fausto Masnada - Two years with problems, close to a career stop. I like his style, and hope for him to improve, but I had to cut budget somewhere to fit Vauquelin instead of Higuita - and it gave me the opportunity to select a rider for the spring classics (where my team lacks a bit), Jake Stewart. Should be able to reach 2-300 points.

Let's see if these two changes come back to haunt me. Last years last minute changes gave me +1000 points, the year before it gave a deficit. Here's to hoping it's not a pattern.

Good luck to all this year!

Spicy Guy. hehe. That is funny

 

[Salvarani]

I saw him with similar potential to Skjelmose ... who I omitted at the last minute last year.

Then you just gotta have faith! It might turn out great.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

I don't think so.

They really only have three guys who are gonna score serious points (Carapaz and Quintana are negated by 'everyone' else having them).

The weeks where Remco, WVA and VDP are gonna score big are generally big weeks in the game. Having one or two guys on the podium of the major races in a week and then nothing else is easily countered by someone having a couple of guys in a monument top 10 and then a random 1.1 win and a 4th and a 7th in some random stage race. From memory, a lot of these weeks are in the 600-900 point range, and the big trio is gonna struggle to get Bicycle_boy those green points enough times that they total 300+ green points.

I think a better strategy if you were going for the green jersey would be to really target smaller French, Belgian, Spanish and Italian races. Then you'd have a good chance of getting lots of points in quiet weeks during GTs or inbetween big races in June or February f.ex.

As for the 1000+ picks, I think Ayuso was the only properly viable one this year, with WVA and De Lie a distant 2nd and an even more distant 3rd. Maybe VDP also can keep you there if you have good enough cheap picks.

I'm a bit jealous of the egalitarian teams of HoudiniCycling and vsd88 But I didn't trust Girmay, Cosnefroy and Higuita enough, and there were a number of cheap picks that I needed to fit in. At least my big hitter is really rare.

Agree on the 1000+ riders. Ayuso is clearly the most enticing option. I gave Van Aert some serious consideration but once I decided on Ayuso + Rodriguez there just wasn't any way to fit him in.

I've been very high on Girmay for a while now. I was one of three people to pick him back in 2021. He was also on my classics team in 2022 as a unique pick (he would have won me the game if the rest of my squad hadn't been utter trash) and obviously on my main team (where he did help me win because the rest of that team wasn't utter trash). I just think he was very unlucky last year and 2022 is a better reflection of his true talent level. But there's a case to say that he hasn't been the same since his Giro incident whether it's the after effects of said incident or the pressure of representing an entire continent at the top level.

Cosnefroy and Higuita are talented but inconsistent so they might put up a couple big results but I found it hard to believe they would sustain their peak long enough to push into 1000+ territory and burn me too much if I omitted them.

I understand what you are saying about the green jersey and I don't necessarily disagree. I just think that any time you have a completely uniqe team construction + a team that doesn't suck (which means getting some unexpected contributions down the roster for Bicycle Boy because three guys alone isn't going to cut it) then you have a decent chance. Especially when all the Ayuso team are going to spread out the points between themselves if/when he performs well.

Looking at your team, Pidcock is a fun gamble as an expensive guy that has some upside left. I'm just not sure if it's the right year for him with the Olympics. Then again that might mean fewer stage races and more one day classics to reduce his workload which could actually help him score much.

Segaert and Foss I didn't really consider but all they need is a couple of good TTs at the Worlds and Olympics and you are in business. Oldani makes theoritical sense but I just can't trust a rider going to Cofidis.

Van Uden is an interesting candidate to break out in year 2. Lots of sprinters need a year to get used to the pros. Piganzoli I liked but he was too expensive to fit in. Beyond that we have a ton of cheaper guys in common (which is good news for me because that's where you tend to vastly outperform me).

 

[laarsland]

It always concerns me when I am so out of step. Especially with my 3 most expensive picks being so rare.
Have I missed some bad injury news re. Van Wilder, or is it simply that people think there's not much up side with him?

Great rider, I just think he'll get caught up in the vortex of Big Pat listening to just 1 album on repeat in 2024 - case in point when Ilan was miffed about his race program for the second half of 2023

 

[Squire]

I saw him with similar potential to Skjelmose ... who I omitted at the last minute last year.

I share some of the skepticism about Van Wilder's upside, but I had him last year and I believe in his talent so he could spring a surprise. Just think there were a lot of safer picks in his price range.

Speaking of potential, I'm curious to hear what kind of expectations some of the 28 Thibau Nys backers have, considering he starts his season at Romandie.

I briefly touched on Cian when replying to skidmark's team, but I'm also curious to hear predictions from some more of the Cianistas.

Would also be interesting to read the thoughts on Andew August, Emil Herzog, Markel Beloki and Joshua Tarling from some of their many backers.