The 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Shakes]

Quick note on my team:
Jonas Vingegaard (1760) - Did not ride much second part of the year and was out for some one week competitions last year. However, my main bet is that he will do two grand tours again. Let family travel with you or whatever but get on the bike!
Wout van Aert (1259) - Kept falling in 2024. If he stays on bike he will score points almost everywhere he starts. It's Mr Podium after all. In CX he clearly shows he still has the power.
Filippo Ganna (644) - Wants to focus on actual road races this year, rather than track and TT. Showed in some races he can challenge the top. Hopefully he does this year.
Axel Laurance (414) - Only in five teams! Was strong at Alpecin, hopefully makes a next step at Ineos. Quite expensive though and not sure he will do much better though, at least something different in terms of picks.
Yves Lampaert (220) - Let's see if Quickstep can step up in the classics... Not sure about this one.
Soren Kragh Andersen (205) - Please repeat your first year at Alpecin.
Fabio Jakobsen (189) - I actually have little faith in the guy. However, his team is focused on him and he can't do worse than 2024. Bought him for the off chance that he can surprise me.
Victor Lafay (182) - Was a surprising monster in the tour of 2023. Last year full of injuries but came back ok and hopefully benefits from the Decathlon effect.
Cian Uijtebroeks (176) - Most popular pick in this game... Definitely should triple his score if he rides and not dealing with same issues as 2024.
Jorgen Nordhagen (165) - Already some really strong performances with the elites. Expect him to continue that.
Jesus Herrada Lopez (164) - Only in three teams. Getting older. Usually scored around 500 points so let's see if he reverts to the mean.
Johannes Staune-Mittet (150) - Seems to get focus in Decathlon. Let's see if he delivers on his promise.
Michal Kwiatkowski (147) - Not sure about this. Always had the talent but at times seems to lack drive to be good throughout. Last year of contract so if he wants to keep cycling he needs to score.
Nils Eekhof (142) - Had some decent results. Let's see if he can step up.
Tao Geoghegan Hart (137) - Not a real believer in his GC capabilities but should definitely score more points than this if he is fit.
Felix Engelhardt (133) - Honestly? Not sure.
Arne Marit (128) - Also doubts, hopefully takes advantage of freedom at Intermarche. Also quite a unique pick.
Pablo Torres (122) - Question will be if he gets enough chances, normally in UAE they do. Still young though but monster watts/kg. Not particularly unique in terms of pick!
Damiano Caruso (120) - Getting old... let's see. Can defintely get more points than 2024.
Anthony Perez (111) - My real unique pick! Old. Cofidis lifer. Not sure...
Lennard Kamna (108) - Picked often. Should do well.
Andrea Bagioli (106) - Should do better than in 2024
Davide Ballerini (102) - Same
Florian Samuel Kajamini (96) -Hopefully benefits from freedom at Astana that needs to hunt for points. Did well as a u23 in avenir.
Taco van der Hoorn (95) - Injury ridden 2024. Performed well at return and now had whole winter to prepare. Only way is up.
Tibor del Grosso (95) - Does very well in CX. Should score well on road.
Huub Artz (90) - Did well in U23. Should benefit from freedom in team.
Remi Cavagna (80) - Can't do much worse...
Florian Vermeersch (51) - Injury ridden 2024. Hopefully gets enough changes at UAE.
Ide Schelling (45) - Should benefit from freedom at Astana
Dylan van Baarle (35) - Absolute steal as he barely finished anything in 2024.
Max van der Meulen (29) - Should get chances at Bahrain.
Paul Seixas (0) - Only zero pointer in my team...

 

[Shakes]

Yeah, I guess some people have points now because of the Aussie TT Nationals.

Should pop up tomorrow!

 

[Earns1985]

So the day has come! Really looking forward for the season!

Two things have come to my mind, when I checked the popularity table.

1.) I am really surprised, that Vingegaard is in less than half of the teams!
2.) Matthew Dinham is the Amaury Capiot for me of last season. Damn, how could I have missed him.

So here are my most expensive picks and my rarer picks:

1.) VINGEGAARD HANSEN Jonas (1760 points, 33 teams): Well, as I said in the beginning. I am really surprised, that he is in less than half of the teams. His schedule isn´t out, but if he reaches his normal level 3000 points are pessimistic in my eyes, but let´s see. His performance will be of course one of the most importantn ones for this game.

2.) VAN AERT Wout (1259 points, 60 teams): I thought, that van Aert would be the rarer pick in comparison to Vingegaard. He will ride this year the giro and the tour and in both he will not be able to ride every stage on his own. But still I think, because of the classics the potential up to 3000 points is there. 2000 points in a normal season, so I picked him.

3.) LIPOWITZ Florian (676 points, 11 teams): I knew, when I picked him, that he would be my most rare expensive pick. But the first big german talent since Jan Ullrich, I really want to cheer for him this year. I already prayed, that he would get caught in last seasons Giro dÉmilia, so that he doesn´t get to expensive for this season. Of course, it will take a really good progression for him to be a really good pick this year, but for me the risk is worth it!

4.) GALL Felix (459 points, 22 teams): I remember 2023 Tour de France, where he had been in the third week the third best climber behind Vingegaard and Pogacar. Last season he was a bit unlucky. He was for example sometimes stronger than O'Connor in the vuelta, but had to work for him. For me he is someone like Carapaz last season. He also doesn´t have leadership issues in his team. I think potential for double of his score is there.

5.) MAGNIER Paul (405 points, 37 teams): He was the one of my expensive pick, which I included pretty late to my team. Didn´t had him last season, what I of course regretted. So in Quick-step also potential for up to 1000 points in there, if he has a good schedule and will be able to ride on his own most of the time. Bretagne showed last season, that he can also ride sprinter friedly classics quite well.

6.) RICCITELLO Matthew (333 points, 17 teams): Had him last season. He already had a small breakthrough with good performances in the Tour de Suisse and the first stages in the vuelta. But result wise he didn´t score that much, so he was still relatively cheap this season, so I decided to pick him again.

7.) DEMARE Arnaud (316 points, 14 teams): The oldie of my expensive picks this season. He is close to 100 wins, which will be his big remaining goal to reach. Means, that Arkea will use him a lot in these small sprinter one day races, which is good for this game. His wife had depression last season and therefore his performance lacked a bit last season. Let´s hope, that everything is fine now in his family.

HERZOG Emil (98 points, 13 teams): Last season was his first season as a Pro, so hope that he will progress even more this season. If he wouldn't be german, I wouldn´t have picked him perhaps. But as he is not that expensive, risk is limited.

GRAAT Tijmen (75 points, 9 teams): I really have 10 Visma riders in my team this season. Let´s hope, that this will not backfire at some point. He finished the Tour de lÀvenir as third last year and he was pretty cheap, so I thought it was worth picking him.

ORINS Robin (41 points, 6 teams): My rarest pick and I am a bit surprised about this. I really don´t know a lot about him, but he was last year really good in cobble classics and also second in Liege Bastogne Liege in the U23 ranks and his price is excellent for these results. So hopefully he will become the Jan christen or Archie Ryan of this season.

Popular picks I don´t have:

HAYTER Ethan (58 teams): Yes, it´s risky not to have him in my team, but it was just so annyoing having him last season in my team. Though still a lot including him, also because he changed teams, but still I decided myself against him. Just don´t want to annoy myself, when I see him again riding at the end of the peloton close to race-deciding points.

Fabio Jakobsen (31 teams): He seemed pretty odd the whole last season. Of course he can come back, but even if he does, potential is limited, due to the fact, that he often doesn´t survive even small hills.

 

[Salvarani]

Plapp wins the ITT and Vine 2nd. First points are in!

 

[Nyssinator]

Is Caleb Ewan retiring?
Haha, well I guess I am starting the game with 32 riders then

 

[tobydawq]

Is Caleb Ewan retiring?
Haha, well I guess I am starting the game with 32 riders then

I think he might be.

 

[ingsve]

Also can u tell me why this neo-pros was picked a lot less than others? Seemed like good talents to me, but again, i don't know much about youngsters, so it will be great to pick up your brain on them.

ISIDORE Noa

SENTJENS Sente

VAN DER MEULEN Max

VAN MECHELEN Vlad

I think it simply comes down to how many spaces that people have in their teams for riders of this type. Peoples first picks are clearly Nordhagen, Torres and Widar as well as Philipsen and Seixas as 0-pointers so have even more youngsters given all the "mandatory" obvious picks like Cavagna, Kron, Vermeersch, Senechal etc. there likely isn't room in peoples teams for these riders.

 

[Salvarani]

1.) I am really surprised, that Vingegaard is in less than half of the teams!

I thought him and Van Aert would be popular, so I actively decided to not do that to have a different team. Different strategy. Either it will put me miles off, or it will be an advantage.

At one point I had a bunch of young riders and the likes of Morgado, Hagenes, Christen... but I went full GC stage-racers with my top picks instead.

 

[Berflamand]

Magnier and Hayter are quite popular but my eight (!) other Soudal Quick-Step picks are all very rare (only picked 5 times or less):

Schachmann, Lecerf, Gelders, Reinderink, Vangheluwe, Garofoli, Pedersen and Raccagni Noviero.

Obviously more picks of the heart instead of the head but at least I'll have fun following and cheering on these (mostly) youngsters during the year.

 

[Berflamand]

I think he might be.

If so, it's a bit rude of him not to officially announce it before the all-important deadline of the 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Game!

 

[Anderis]

VINGEGAARD HANSEN Jonas
VAN AERT Wout
NYS Thibau
YATES Simon
HINDLEY Jai
MORGADO Antonio Tomas
UIJTDEBROEKS Cian
NORDHAGEN Jørgen
GELDERS Gil
BRENNAN Matthew
GRUEL Thibaud
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
TORRES ARIAS Pablo
BEHRENS Niklas
BAGIOLI Andrea
HERZOG Emil
ARTZ Huub
CARTHY Hugh
CAVAGNA Rémi
SVRCEK Martin
AUGUST Andrew
KRON Andreas Lorentz
BISIAUX Léo
FAURE PROST Alexy
VERMEERSCH Florian
GLOAG Thomas
SENECHAL Florian
VAN BAARLE Dylan
TULETT Ben
RACCAGNI NOVIERO Andrea
BRUNEL Alexys
PHILIPSEN Albert Withen
SEIXAS Paul

So I'm basically Visma this year. 58% of my budget was spent on Visma riders. Very different price composition to the previous years. A few expensive ones and a lot of cheap ones with almost nothing in between. Not a single rider from 200-400 price range. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my spreadsheets from the previous years so I can't quickly check how many 200-400 riders I had in the previous years but I bet there were a few.

The last change I was thinking about was Poole + Kamna in place of Hindley and Gelders. We'll see if I made a right choice.

Looking at the teams of the other people, two riders that I have overlooked are E. Hayter and Lafay. Not sure how they would fit into my team but I didn't even consider them while now I think they're both picks worth considering. Funny thing is that I had remembered about Hayter a few weeks ago but overlooked him when I started to work with the spreadsheet.

A very vanilla team with Gelders (5 picks), Noviero Raccagni (5 picks), Brunel (6 picks), Gruel (7 picks) and Faure Prost (8 picks) being my most unique picks. The rest is in double digits, I think.

I hope you all have an exciting season (although it's not realistic that everyone will be happy with their results).

 

[Earns1985]

A bit surprised I had the team with the most overlap, as I have had a break from following cycling from 2020 until this year's Tour de France. But I spent some hours of the holidays doing research, and it seems that I found most of the popular cheap picks. It seems that it is for the more expensive riders that my team is least popular, so those will probably be make or break.

I think in the Team Similarity of @Shakes there are still a few issues. In @skidmark spreadsheet, I have for example a higher popularity score than you...

@Shakes: Could you have a look at it?

 

[ingsve]

And the early leaders are in.

DJ Sprtsch, Gotland, Object, Salvarani, Squire and the asian all had both Luke Plapp and Jay Vine in their teams so they all share the lead at 80 points. In total 26 players scored points in the years first race leaving everyone else in tied 27th.

 

[Rufs]

Is Caleb Ewan retiring?
Haha, well I guess I am starting the game with 32 riders then

Might we still have 1 more shock transfer? Caleb Ewan left out of Team Jayco AlUla's website as well as Tour Down Under absence

This transfer season has already been packed with unexpected and huge signings such as those of Tom Pidcock and Maxim van Gils who have broken their contract to join rival teams. Well, one more may be...

cyclinguptodate.com

Ineos have them self a new sprinter

 

[Rufs]

And the early leaders are in.

DJ Sprtsch, Gotland, Object, Salvarani, Squire and the asian all had both Luke Plapp and Jay Vine in their teams so they all share the lead at 80 points. In total 26 players scored points in the years first race leaving everyone else in tied 27th.

Kelland O'Brien was 3rd and in one team so we could easily be tied 28th

Someone has picked Elia Viviani , but hasn't he retired?

 

[Leadbelly]

It's far from urgent @skidmark but I noticed a spelling mistake in my team. It should be BOGUSLAWSKI Marceli not BOGUSLAWSKI Marcel

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

I'm still fairly low in the popularity charts despite having 9-11 riders who seem to be on most of the teams posted above.

Ganna (644 points/25 picks) - INEOS in general seem on a downward curve, but he is one of their genuine top-tier talents left and with him focusing on the road this year and talking about "wanting to win as much as possible", that sounds good for a lot of points.

Gee (598/6) - Def heart not head as his MO seems to be a couple of good races a year and then not a lot outside that.

Christen (547/14) - My hope is that he's going to step up into Hirchi's role. UAE were talking up his ability as well.

Mouris (90/1) - Decent TT-er and hopefully with his new team's change of nationality he'll be present in a lot of those SSFRs.

In fact quite a few of my cheap unique picks (Rouland, Epis, Van Hautegem) fall into that SSFR category.

There's a few more "fan of the team" picks. Auge (CIC Nantes), Boggy (ATT) and Raccani (JCL Ukyo).

Would have liked to get somebody from Roojai and/or Terengganu with their auto-invites on the Asian calendar, but the Malaysian team have only announced a couple of signings and nobody from Roojai seemed a value for money pick (no faith in Quick).

Good luck all!

 

[Shakes]

I think in the Team Similarity of @Shakes there are still a few issues. In @skidmark spreadsheet, I have for example a higher popularity score than you...

@Shakes: Could you have a look at it?

Thanks. Fixed! Unfortunately took 2024 still into account which is why stat was off.

@abbulf - You dropped to number four in terms of similarity! @Earns1985 is the new number one. Apologies.

 

[tobydawq]

Kelland O'Brien was 3rd and in one team so we could easily be tied 28th

Someone has picked Elia Viviani , but hasn't he retired?

No, he hasn't retired. But he hasn't found a team yet.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Going through the popularity list, I thought I'd comment on the - to me - most eye-catching tendencies. First my top 3 of the riders I'm surprised have been picked so few times:

VINGEGAARD HANSEN Jonas: On 33 teams
Only roughly a third of the teams include Vingegaard is definitely the most surprising to me. I would have thought he would be among the most popular riders - and I think he should be. I think many who has omitted Vingegaard don't realize how valuable a 50% profit for a rider in this price range is - much more valuable than a 50% profit for a rider costing 600 or 1000 points. And Vingegaard clearly even has potential for much more profit than that.

ALMEIDA Joao Pedro Gonçalves: On 4 teams
Now, I don't have Almeida on my team, but I suspect that might have been a better approach than what I went for, actually. The competition in the high price bracket is of course fierce with Vingegaard and Van Aert, but I still thought that he would have been picked by more. Either in combination with Vingegaard and Van Aert (does anyone have that combination?), or - seeing as Vingegaard isn't picked very often - as a different strategy than the Vingegaard/Van Aert-route. I think he's the best high-priced option next to the two Visma riders. You could also make an argument for picking Van Eetvelt instead, I think. He's picked 8 times, which is more reasonable, his 2024 season in mind, in which he was sidelined for a big part of the year, and was one of the most efficient riders in terms of points scored pr. raceday.

MORGADO Antonio Tomas: On 16 teams
This isn't nearly as surprising, but I still would have thought that he would have been picked more often. In my opinion he's one of the most exciting prospects for this season and his talent is immense. Obviously he comes with a rather hefty pricetag for a 20-year old rider, but his potential is so big. I do realize that there are many other appealing options in his price category, though.

Now onto those I'm surprised by how many times they've been picked.

NYS Thibau: On 20 teams
Don't get me wrong, I think he's an incredible talent, but there are a few things that speaks against picking him. First, he only did 34 racedays last season, and his coach stated that that, combined with his extensive cross program, was already a lot - hence I don't expect him to race much more this season. He's also doing a Grand Tour which doesn't really do him much good as he'll use up a lot of his racedays here. Now, I do think that he'll do more than 34 racedays next season as 21 of those would be in a Grand Tour, but I don't think he'll do a full road season at all. Next, he's focusing on the Ardennes, and he has yet to show that he can be competitive against the best riders in the world - and he has no experience in these types of races. That's not to say that he can't compete with the best here - I think he definitely has the potential to do so - but it's still an unknown factor. In his price range, I think that Pithie, Lipowitz and Powless would have been picked more times than Nys - I would probably have picked all of these before Nys.

KÄMNA Lennard: On 63 teams
Now, of course at his price range, he's not that big of a gamble, but he still has to score around 350 points to be considered a good pick. Can he do that? If he gets back to his 2023 level, no problem. But he's been sidelined for half a year, spending a month an a half in the hospital in the proces. It's not unreasonable to think that he'll need some more time to get back in fitness. I get why many have picked him, but I would have thought more would be hesitant because of his injuries.

WIDAR Jarno: On 37 teams
Definitely a huge talent and hence understandable why many are drawn towards him. I myself had him on/off my team many times. In the end I decided against him, because the 400-450 points your looking for from him seem hard to come by, him still being on the development team. Yes, he'll do some races with Lotto, but will he do enough - and is he already good enough - to yield a high enough profit?

This is by no means to act like "Mr. Know-it-all" or to be condescending or arrogant (there are many much better CQ managers than myself), so hopefully noone takes it that way. It's only meant as an opening for a debate, so I'm very curious to hear everyone else's thoughts - on these or other riders who you think fits this topic.

 

[Earns1985]

Did I make a mistake not picking Vingegaard? Probably... I just didn't want to tie too much of my budget up in one rider.

*Lol* you have 1000 points still left and you could have easily switched him for Cort Nielsen, which doesn´t have any upward potential at all..

 

[Riverside]

Time to introduce my team.

First of all I’m an idiot – not sure how I picked 32 not 33 riders. There was room for one more rider that I’ve missed even with 0 points and will be eating me whole year.

Second – I will not write about commonly picked riders – there are better writers then me in this topic and they will tell you all you want to know about bright 2025 future of those that were picked by 50% of participants.

Tier 1 – picked by 50% of participants.

UIJTDEBROEKS Cian
VAN BAARLE Dylan
VERMEERSCH Florian
WITHEN PHILIPSEN Albert
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
TORRES ARIAS Pablo
KRON Andreas Lorentz
SEIXAS Paul
KÄMNA Lennard
GLOAG Thomas
VAN AERT Wout
BAGIOLI Andrea
NORDHAGEN Jørgen
CAVAGNA Rémi
BEHRENS Niklas

Tier 2 – 25%-50%.

BISIAUX Léo – I hope for a continued development of Leo. 19 years old but sky is a limit when we are talking about 63 points last year for him. Some French lower category races?

STAUNE-MITTET Johannes – finding it weird with his offseason Visma situation but I see it as a big potential for the points in a season ahead. Maybe I should have waited one more year before investing into him as he will need time to get settled in AG2R but took that risk.

JAKOBSEN Fabio – my biggest error in last year team. I took him expecting to bring great results and he disappeared. I guess Radiohead’s song “How to disappear completely” was about him. Seeing he wants to bounce back and training hard – and I want to be part of this reborn.

VADER Milan – Another Visma rider that is changing his team and I can’t believe in Q36.5 he will have less chances to shine.

GALL Felix – Tour was disaster. But he was very good in Vuelta and if not supporting role to Ben he could get much better results. I believe in Felix, with Ben gone he will have full team’s support this year.

Tier 3 – 10%-25%.

MORGADO Antonio Tomas – last year was sensational for him and I expect him to continue. Yes, Pogo will hover all spring points looking into his calendar, yes, it is UAE – he will not be leader but still, there is some trust he can get some 700 range this year.

SIMMONS Quinn – I avoided him every freaking year in this game. But time has come. Lat year’s spring campaign was ended on Strade and I jumped in. It is easy to root for such riders and adding him to the team is a pure pleasure. Hope by the end of spring campaign he will cover 2024 points already.

LUTSENKO Alexey – Another new chapter rider. Whole career in home team and is going for a new challenge. Astana let him go – does that mean he reached his peak? Israel transfer policy is not ideal to say at least but I trust he wants to prove that 2024 (worst season for him in last 9 years) was not real him.

VERNON Ethan – quite abysmal 2024. I had him two years ago – time to re-connect and win some races.

JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland – only reason to be glad that X will not be in this year TdF is Tobi to focus on other races w/o necessity to gain peak for TdF. I see it as a scoring potential.

BUCHMANN Emanuel – another weird last year’s GT story, another change on team, but in Cofidis he should have clear role and possibility to get more then Tour of Hungary podium.

TIBERI Antonio – Antonio, I skipped Vingegaard to get you in team. Please crush them all this year! Giro and Vuelta top3 please and Rogla mode in weekly races (not other way around). We can do it.

ISIDORE Noa – I get it. Cosnefroy is there, 127 points is not so cheap but sky is a limit for him. I want to be part of his development this year.

Tier 4 – 0%-10%.

No unique picks this year, but still some rare riders where everything will be decided this year.

POOLE Max – Tirreno brutally crossed half of his season, basically he and Tiberi were my alternative for Vingegaard this year. Risks diversification if you want. So Giro+Vuelta once again and please work with Tiberi for better team’s results

HATHERLY Alan – bronze Olimpic medalist in Paris for 18 points? I’ll take it. Well, yea, medallist in cross-country cycling but he was good behind Tom and Koretzky. I hope he will get some top10 places once in while and Jayco–AlUla has some plan for him.

LAZKANO LOPEZ Oier – fan pick. It costs a lot but fan pick are worth to cost a lot. Sad he left Movi but maybe no more GT and breakaway rides? In RB he has all chances to become spring leader. Hope no GT for him and he will do what he can do best – wannish opponents and destroy them.

NORSGAARD JØRGENSEN Mathias – Movi rider for classics I believe this year, he was always under radar but hope he can step-up on WT cobble races where Movi are not so strong to say at least and that leave plenty of opportunities.

 

[ingsve]

Kelland O'Brien was 3rd and in one team so we could easily be tied 28th

Someone has picked Elia Viviani , but hasn't he retired?

No, Mountain_Newts is 26th his their points for Kelland O'Brien. I entered all the results manually into the spreadsheet so my stats are correct.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

*Lol* you have 1000 points still left and you could have easily switched him for Cort Nielsen, which doesn´t have any upward potential at all..

Well, it's possible that RhD's totally-sensible method of calculating her team value combined with her famed aptitude for mathematics caused her to miscalculate by 1000 points.

 

[Earns1985]

Thanks. Fixed! Unfortunately took 2024 still into account which is why stat was off.

@abbulf - You dropped to number four in terms of similarity! @Earns1985 is the new number one. Apologies.

So first title of the year achieved! I have the most boring team!

Though with the inclusion of Lipowitz, I would drop in that ranking, so I am bit surprised that I take this title from @MADRAZO, who had been always pretty high in that ranking the last couple of years!

 

[ingsve]

MORGADO Antonio Tomas: On 16 teams
This isn't nearly as surprising, but I still would have thought that he would have been picked more often. In my opinion he's one of the most exciting prospects for this season and his talent is immense. Obviously he comes with a rather hefty pricetag for a 20-year old rider, but his potential is so big. I do realize that there are many other appealing options in his price category, though.

I was personally weary of picking these types of riders that had a good first season as pros and are now fairly expensive. Last year I took a hit by having Per Strand Hagenes who was a similar pick to what Morgado is now. I preferred to stick with cheaper options that can have a good first year rather than hoping that someone like Morgado can reach 800-1000.

That said I did pick Riccitello who is just slightly cheaper than Morgado but I feel that having gotten most of his points from stage races it shows more consistency than someone who got a lot of points from just 3-4 one day results.