The 2024 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Salvarani]

Poole with a late surge in the season to win Tour of Langkawi. Into profit now.

Currently he is also listed for Tour of Guangxi.

 

[Squire]

Poole with a late surge in the season to win Tour of Langkawi. Into profit now.

Currently he is also listed for Tour of Guangxi.

Great for me in the podium fight, as has already been mentioned by my rivals @EvansIsTheBest and @Earns1985. Makes the battle even more fun to follow when all the involved players are so active in the thread!

I was disappointed when I saw that Langkawi had a much easier queen stage this year, and was definitely not sure that Poole could win a sprint from a small group to take the GC. So that was a nice surprise. On the other hand, after one great month this season, Van Uden continues to be a thief. His performances in this weak sprint field are quite shocking, to be completely honest. His June results turned him into a decent pick anyway, but I expected much more considering the chances he has had. At the start of the year I also had a very good feeling about Milan Fretin, who I ended up not picking, so it's a bit annoying to see him do so well while Van Uden is underwhelming.

 

[Salvarani]

Great for me in the podium fight, as has already been mentioned by my rivals @EvansIsTheBest and @Earns1985. Makes the battle even more fun to follow when all the involved players are so active in the thread!

I was disappointed when I saw that Langkawi had a much easier queen stage this year, and was definitely not sure that Poole could win a sprint from a small group to take the GC. So that was a nice surprise. On the other hand, after one great month this season, Van Uden continues to be a thief. His performances in this weak sprint field are quite shocking, to be completely honest. His June results turned him into a decent pick anyway, but I expected much more considering the chances he has had. At the start of the year I also had a very good feeling about Milan Fretin, who I ended up not picking, so it's a bit annoying to see him do so well while Van Uden is underwhelming.

Yeah, Van Uden seems like a very one-dimensional type of sprinter right now. Maybe needs to move to another team at this point.

Fretin was on my radar as well. Didnt end up picking him. He would have been a good pick.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Langkawi and Emilia are .2 races that somehow give out .Pro points. No I'm not bitter at at all.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Aranburu has now surpassed his own CQ record from last season. If it hadn't been for a slight dip in results in his first season with Astana, which was caused by the Covid affected calendar, he would have had a perfect streak of improving his score every season since joining the elite ranks.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Pesenti second in Langkawi! Too bad the rest of my riders are not up to speed at the moment.

 

[ingsve]

My gut feeling is that he's been a shoe-in for the optimal team for some time already.

There should be enough Zambaninis and Christens (and not enough Girmays and Carapazes) to make that equation work.

Oh, and despite being bored out of my mind watching it, the Giro dell'Emilia was at least kind to me in CQ terms. Piganzoli was a big pleasant surprise.

Not sure he would make the best list. I think there are enough Girmays and Carapazes. O'Connor is 1083 profit on 811 for example and then you also have the likes of Jonathan Milan, Benoit Cosnefroy, Maxim Van Gils, Stephen Williams and Jhonathan Narvaes who all would have better percentage returns than Pogacar and they would also fit in most of the cheapest big retunerns.

 

[Panda Claws]

At the moment Pogacar would still only make the 3rd best team. He'd need almost 6500 to actually make the best team.

Perhaps still a better pick to have than many of the super inexpensive riders that make these teams though imo.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Finally Busatto performs really well in a sprint, and then it's the sprint for the 8th place.
Oh well. At least he is now into profit.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Stan Van Tricht winning .Pro races in 2024 instead of 2022 when he was actually on my team. No I'm not bitter at all.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Van Tricht looked like a really great pick for 2025.
And another certain rider in today's race who has had a a rotten 2024 will probably score some 300 points in October

 

[ingsve]

Van Tricht looked like a really great pick for 2025.
And another certain rider in today's race who has had a a rotten 2024 will probably score some 300 points in October

Not sure why he's been bad though in 2024. He seems to have ridden a full schedule without and long breaks for injury or so. It's always a red flag when someone has just been bad for no reason rather then having struggled with injury or illness etc.

 

[skidmark]

Update #38: Jakob747 wins the week and heats up Green Jersey race

With another week in the books full of one-day races, we are down to two weeks left in the season. As has been noted in this thread by the participants themselves, the battle for the podium and top 10 are far from decided, as is the points race/green jersey contest.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	Jakob747	542
2	Nyssinator	498
2	Salvarani	498
4	Eric10	476
5	Squire	473

Always a team to take a chance on some rare riders and diamonds in the rough, Jakob747's team takes their third weekly win on the year. This week it was thanks primarily to a very helpful "win a hill sprint and hang on for GC points in a 2.Pro race" performance from Max Poole in Langkawi, netting 215 points for his 16 owners. Jakob also got good contributions from Tobias Lund (108, 7) for a stage win and 2nd in the Cro Race, Fred Wright (69, 22) for 3rd in the same, and Luke Lamperti (56, 39) for top 10s in a couple of 1-days.

We have a very interesting tie for 2nd, where Nyssinator and Salvarani each got contributions from 8 riders this week, 7 of which they shared (and the other scored 5 points in each case). Riders they shared included the aforementioned Poole, Wright and Lamperti, as well as Bini Girmay (106, 48), Archie Ryan (28, 56), Nairoman (12, 78) and Ben Turner (7, 54). The only difference being that they got their 5 pointer from different Norwegians - Nyssinator had Staune-Mittet and Salvarani had Hagenes.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Googolplex	329
2	Jakob747	306
3	Amethyst	287
4	JumboVismaFan	243
5	shalgo	229

It's never a guarantee that any of the top overall teams in this competition will score at the end of the year to make it exciting, but in this case, they did and it is. Jakob747 takes 45 points on the week to move only 23 away from the lead (and further down, teams in 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th all scored this week). It could be an interesting final two weeks - Googolplex as a Pogi owner is likely to score 280 points on Saturday, although the cancellation of Tre Valli probably took away over 100 more. Jakob747 has an eclectic enough team that it's possible that their team's obscure Italian picks might pick up some in the Veneto races to end the season, or a few random riders pick up end of season points the same week in Asia. We'll see! As of now, with only two weeks left, only the top 4 can mathematically win.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	shalgo	16035
2	(-)	EvansIsTheBest	14351
3	(-)	Squire	14343
4	(-)	Earns1985	14214
5	(+4)	Salvarani	14175
6	(-1)	MADRAZO	14162
7	(+3)	JumboVismaFan	14099
8	(-1)	Gotland	14033
9	(-3)	adamski101	13933
10	(-2)	HoudiniCycling	13918

No changes in the top 4 but Squire gains a whopping 251 points on EvansIsTheBest to land only 8 points out of 2nd place. Earns1985, Salvvarani and MADRAZO are all within 200 points of the podium as well with two weeks left. 10th place is over 400 points off the podium, which is not impossible but not too likely (without looking at the team lineups - one or two riders scoring surprising end of season points can make a difference!) No ins and outs of the top 10 this week, and 11th place Hugo Koblet is a little less than 200 points out of 10th, so there's a bit of a gap.

This week is a little less busy than last, especially with the cancellation of Tre Valli Varesine. We've got Piemonte and Lombardia, of course, and the 1.1 Chrono Des Nations on Sunday, as well as the somehow 2.Pro rated Tour of Taihu Lake and a race I don't recall ever hearing of before, the 2.1 Tour de Kyushu in Japan on an odd Saturday-Monday calendar.

Then, the next week, that's it!

spreadsheet link

 

[skidmark]

Let's see what I have to 'look forward to' (ie hope I don't drop any further in the standings) this week:

Gran Piemonte

Ben Turner
Francesco Busatto
Emil Herzog
Antonio Morgado

*Shrug emoji*

Lombardia

Juan Ayuso
Axel Laurance
Thymen Arensman
Francesco Busatto
Nairo Quintana
Dani Martinez
Davide Piganzoli

Wow a few guys who would've been great if this race was in May, mostly running on fumes now. Ayuso (that's one of them) theoretically has the highest ceiling but I'm skeptical. Piganzoli just had the best result of his career but that was over 200km, so we'll see. Still he's one of my rarest picks so that's where my hope lies really if I wanna gain a spot or two (or hold my own).

Chrono des Nations

Uh, nobody

Woof my team is really limping through this second half of the season. Excited to start research for next season

 

[Hugo Koblet]

11th place. So close, yet so far. I still hope for a top 10, but I think I'll just miss out.

 

[RedheadDane]

Looks like the only hopes I have left of any more people getting into profit are Bjerg and Price-Pejtersen in CdN.
However, that would require a podium - well, third would only mean breaking even - from Bjerg, and a top-20 from Price-Pejtersen. And also that Price-Pejtersen just stays off the bloody bike path! He would have been into profit already after the nationals if not for that mess-up!

 

[Earns1985]

So the podium fight and the fight inside the Top 10 really comes to its climax in the next couple of days. Nothing decided yet.

News today came out, that Ayuso ended his season (so no Lombardia and also no China and no Veneto for him), which should also be to the likes of @Squire.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1843944310703845538

View: https://x.com/As_Ciclismo/status/1843944310703845538


For Lombardia I am most worried right now about Mas, since three very close competitors from me, have him in their team.

 

[Netserk]

News today came out, that Ayuso ended his season (so no Lombardia and also no China and no Veneto for him), which should also be to the likes of @Squire.

Only 132 points since the Tour--just 167 points since Romandie! That's 253 points of profit for a cost of 1023. Bad pick in retrospect.

@Squire's fears didn't come to fruition:

Ayuso leaving the Tour is potentially quite bad for us non-Ayuso pickers. Vuelta podium with a bunch of stage points is worth much more than a mid top ten in the Tour plus fatigue for the rest of the season.

Can't say I was surprised (yes, a little told-you-so is of great joy, let me have it).

I think it's quite likely that he will end up as an average pick, but depending on his race program he can also end up not scoring much for the rest of the year.

 

[Earns1985]

Only 132 points since the Tour--just 167 points since Romandie! That's 253 points of profit for a cost of 1023. Bad pick in retrospect.

Yes, who would have thought that a couple of month ago. In May I was about to suggest that a separate ranking be introduced for all players with Ayuso and one without, so that all non-Ayuso owners can still have something to follow this season.

 

[Netserk]

Is there anyone who has picked Ayuso for all seasons he has been eligible[EDIT: I meant from since he signed with UAE] (and who still hasn't lost faith and will pick him again next year)?

 

[Earns1985]

Is there anyone who has picked Ayuso for all seasons he has been eligible (and who still hasn't lost faith and will pick him again next year)?

Had Ayuso in 2022 and 2023, not this year.

What you mentioned, I had done for C. Rodriguez. Had him in 2022, 2023, 2024, but will definitly not select him for 2025.

 

[ingsve]

Only 132 points since the Tour--just 167 points since Romandie! That's 253 points of profit for a cost of 1023. Bad pick in retrospect.

Ya, it's a wonder people picked him over Ben O'Connor...

 

[Netserk]

Ya, it's a wonder people picked him over Ben O'Connor...

I don't think anyone would pick him in retrospect, and I only called him a bad pick in retrospect.

So no, I don't think it was a wonder that many picked him before the season began.

 

[Squire]

Only 132 points since the Tour--just 167 points since Romandie! That's 253 points of profit for a cost of 1023. Bad pick in retrospect.

@Squire's fears didn't come to fruition:

Can't say I was surprised (yes, a little told-you-so is of great joy, let me have it).

I think I was mainly not trying to be optimistic for my chances so I wouldn't set myself up for disappointment, but I was also surprised how little of note he did post-Tour. So I'll give you your told-you-so!

But I also wrote this at the team reveal, to give myself a bit of a pat on the back too:

Evenepoel screwed me in 2022, Roglic screwed me in 2023, but will Ayuso do the same this year? At least he's not as obvious as the two others. He's awesome and can win almost anything, but I'm slightly worried about him doing a full season, as he still rides with pain in his leg from the injury and there might be a slight risk of having to take more time off the bike.

I don't know if that injury played any part, but at least I was somewhat right in my general skepticism about him having a full season of consistent great performances. But I will also gladly admit that for most of the season I wished he was in my team.

Wouldn't call Ayuso a particularly bad pick though, looking at the general context of the game. Of course, he probably wouldn't be very popular if you knew pre-season that he would only score 1276 points, but he's on the winning team and unless Mas has a superb Lombardia, he's still the highest-scoring realistic option in that price bracket. Turns out it would have been a pretty decent year to go for a more 'egalitarian' strategy in terms of cost distribution, but I'm happy I went away from that, because I was initially planning to go with Vine as my most expensive rider before I switched to Pidcock.

--

Speaking of Pidcock, and the podium battle ...

His 12 points in Piemonte puts me above @EvansIsTheBest as far as I can tell. It was probably a bummer for me that Varesine was cancelled, because that would likely have meant more Pidcock points. But I'm starting to think I'm looking good for my third 2nd place overall. The provisional startlist for Guangxi looks better for me than for EITB, and with Pidcock maybe getting some Lombardia points it's only really a Girmay raid in Veneto or something like that which could mess it up. That would be a bit typical of this season though. @Earns1985 has Teuns who could win the Japan Cup, but hopefully my Brits can counteract that.

 

[Shakes]

I haven't paid much attention to this game unfortunately. Also easy to tell trajectory after a few months and it wasn't a great one.

Nonetheless, was some fun. Maybe we can have sub periods whereby one swap is allowed per period? Might increase attention span of people like me.

Anyway, I had created https://www.savius.at/CQGame/cqgame.php and surprisingly it works quite well without me touching anything! It's just quite slow but I think that's the server as it's not the most expensive package. Could pre process data automatically though. Is anyone using it and us it useful for next year? It's grabbing data from cq daily so just need team names and cq rider ids next year to have it all running again. Although only worth the effort if it's used. Could probably check stats but havent logged into admin of domain for a long time.