The 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[postmanhat]

Better start for Ayuso owners than for van Aert owners. Definitely..

Ayuso or WVA was easily the most difficult choice this year, and for once, seem to making the right decisions with my most expensive riders. Assumed I'd have WVA, but looking again, the GTs seemed unlikely to be the pointfests they usually are for him, and the competition in the classics is getting stronger. Ayuso just had so much more potential upside and unless he crashes, difficult to see him not being in profit by the end of The Giro. Team politics might come in to play again then though?

Powless ticking along nicely, and surprised he wasn't more popular given that nearly all his points last year were from San Sebastian onwards, after he'd got over his injury problems. Buitrago is obviously looking like a much better pick though, and someone I stupidly didn't consider properly.

 

[manafana]

Ayuso or WVA was easily the most difficult choice this year, and for once, seem to making the right decisions with my most expensive riders. Assumed I'd have WVA, but looking again, the GTs seemed unlikely to be the pointfests they usually are for him, and the competition in the classics is getting stronger. Ayuso just had so much more potential upside and unless he crashes, difficult to see him not being in profit by the end of The Giro. Team politics might come in to play again then though?

Powless ticking along nicely, and surprised he wasn't more popular given that nearly all his points last year were from San Sebastian onwards, after he'd got over his injury problems. Buitrago is obviously looking like a much better pick though, and someone I stupidly didn't consider properly.

Powless racked up those late seasons points where he was prob 50-100pts more than he would be as a no brainer to pick

 

[Earns1985]

Ayuso or WVA was easily the most difficult choice this year, and for once, seem to making the right decisions with my most expensive riders. Assumed I'd have WVA, but looking again, the GTs seemed unlikely to be the pointfests they usually are for him, and the competition in the classics is getting stronger. Ayuso just had so much more potential upside and unless he crashes, difficult to see him not being in profit by the end of The Giro. Team politics might come in to play again then though?

I think after Paris-Roubaix one can make a first conclusion about the performing of the really expensive picks this year. Vingegaard will ride Paris-Nice and Catalunya in the mean time. Ayuso will ride Tirreno and Catalunya. Van Aert will ride the cobble classics. Almeida will ride Paris- Nice and Itzulia.

Right now, it looks not good for van Aert owners. For Vingegaard I am still pretty optimistic. Also Ayuso and Almeida looking good right now.

 

[postmanhat]

Powless racked up those late seasons points where he was prob 50-100pts more than he would be as a no brainer to pick

Yes, that Japan cup win, probably knocked him off a lot of shortlists, including mine initially. But looking again at his last two seasons, he seems to progressing very well, and is the sort of rider who can score in pretty much every race he contests. This is an irresistible combination for me in terms of enjoying the game, rather than thinking purely in terms of numbers.

 

[postmanhat]

I think after Paris-Roubaix one can make a first conclusion about the performing of the really expensive picks this year. Vingegaard will ride Paris-Nice and Catalunya in the mean time. Ayuso will ride Tirreno and Catalunya. Van Aert will ride the cobble classics. Almeida will ride Paris- Nice and Itzulia.

Right now, it looks not good for van Aert owners. For Vingegaard I am still pretty optimistic. Also Ayuso and Almeida looking good right now.

Agree about the others, but WVA v Ayuso, I wouldn't be confident in the former if he isn't well ahead before the Giro.

 

[armchairclimber]

The curse of Armchairclimber strikes again. After christen's collarbone, now Nerurkar's broken jaw. It's glib, but I have to see the bright side that they are still alive, unlike Lambrecht, who I cursed with team membership.

 

[RedheadDane]

I have some guys for the weekend's one day races:

Strade
Blume
Cort
Foldager
Gregaard
Hellemose
Honoré
Price
Valgren
Withen

Criquielion
Breiner
Changizi
Stokbro
Wallin

Monseré
Breiner
Changizi
Nielsen
Stokbro
Wallin

 

[Earns1985]

Ide Schelling is the ultimate CQ point collector from finishes in last places of World Tour races.

He participated in all World Tour races this year until now and always finished them in one of the last ranks or at least faraway from where you get more than the 5 points.
(Down Under, Cadel Evans, UAE, Omloop).

And for tomorrow he is also scheduled for Strade, so if he also finished this race, he will have 25 points, which is already more than half of his points from last year.

Well I really have hoped for a better season and form from him, when I decided to pick him, but at least he knows, when it matters to finish a race and when not. (Kuurne, where you don´t get points for a last place for example he DNF)

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Ide Schelling is the ultimate CQ point collector from finishes in last places of World Tour races.

He participated in all World Tour races this year until now and always finished them in one of the last ranks or at least faraway from where you get more than the 5 points.
(Down Under, Cadel Evans, UAE, Omloop).

And for tomorrow he is also scheduled for Strade, so if he also finished this race, he will have 25 points, which is already more than half of his points from last year.

Well I really have hoped for a better season and form from him, when I decided to pick him, but at least he knows, when it matters to finish a race and when not. (Kuurne, where you don´t get points for a last place for example he DNF)

It can be a useful factor for an inexpensive rider to fill out the squad in the Spring Classics game, certainly.

 

[postmanhat]

Bagioli is in profit - gg for 56 teams.
not much to celebrate this week for me, cautiously optimistic about first racing days of rare (14 teams) Quinn Simmons...

Very impressive second race day for Simmons. Lots of pulling/chasing, then still had enough to contest the finish, almost as an afterthought it seemed. If (big if) he's found a way through his motivational issues, then am hoping for the sort of fun season he's always been capable of. Has fallen quite far down the Lidl pecking order, so needs a result soon to get a decent calendar?

Strade

Simmons
Tullet
Withen
Ferron
Turner
Engelhardt

 

[Samu Cuenca]

While I haven't selected any Basque riders, I have included Sergio Higuita once again. You know what they say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times: Dear mr. Cuenca, we're sorry to inform you that your account has been provisionally suspended due to adverse findings in your online bio passport.

Now he's broken his right arm in a crash in Colombia and is ruled out for the next month. I should have picked the Honey Monster instead.

 

[Kazistuta]

Why is he such a Bananito rider?

 

[RedheadDane]

Storm into profit.


And that's my zero pointers all into profit.

Changizi into profit as well.

 

[armchairclimber]

After a pretty disastrous couple of weeks for my team, finally Brunel manages to put a smile on my face. Currently my best 0 point rider ... though I think Seixas and Withen Philipsen might have things to say about that later.

My team though is somewhat gutted by the injuries to Christen, Poole and Nerurkar.

 

[RedheadDane]

So, in a rather unusual situation for me, I've actually been climbing - ever-so-slightly - in the rankings.
However, since I'm sandwiched between NorthAmericanScum and LetsTalkCycling, who both have Vingegaard, that's not going to continue.

P-N
Asgreen
Charmig
Lund
Skjelmose

T-A
Blume
Cort
Pedersen
Price
Valgren

 

[Kazistuta]

The new Taco/De Gendt/De Marchi... almost been in a breakaway in every race since his return, good to see it pay off this early. Not his last points from a long break this year IMO.

 

[Earns1985]

So new week ahead with two big races.

My team for this week:

Paris-Nice:
Vingegaard
Lipowitz
Gall
Cavagna
Demare
Senechal

Tirreno:
Staune-Mittet
Magnier
Uijtdebroeks
van Baarle

So hopefully Lipowitz and Gall will get their first hugh amount of points this season. Of course I also bet for a GC win for Vingegaard. Demare also started good yesterday.

In Tirreno it´s a bit more like damage limitation for me, as I have nobody, who can be expected to be really high in the GC in the end. A lot of popular picks, which I don´t have will start there (Ayuso, Tiberi, Ganna, Ciccone, Hindley, S. Yates)..

 

[armchairclimber]

T-A

Penhoet
Uijtdbroeks

PN
Lenny Martinez
Izquierdo
Romeo

Pitiful really. Injuries, illness withdrawals.

 

[Earns1985]

Looks like Senechal (40 times picked) will again miss the classic season and the races, where he could potentially score the most..

 

[Riverside]

Max Poole with fractured collarbone and my team's hope to come back a bit are broken as well...

 

[armchairclimber]

Max Poole with fractured collarbone and my team's hope to come back a bit are broken as well...

I couldn't believe he'd be injured as much as last year. Looks like I may have been wrong

 

[skidmark]

Update #7: adamski101 takes the week

There were a few one-day races this week, with the marquee event being Strade Bianche, but also there were points on offer for two days in France. The lack of stage races saw scores remain relatively modest, but there was a clear winner.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	adamski101	398
2	Pantani4ever	355
3	postmanhat	346
4	search	344
5	Jon_Ezeitza	330

The week doesn't see a 400-point team, but adamski101 comes very close with 398. This is largely thanks to a few high scoring riders, chief amongst them Juan Ayuso, who got158 points this week. With his ability to score in both one-day and stage races, he's off to a promising start for the 11 teams that chose him this year. adamski also sees good scores from Ben Healy (96, 15), Filippo Ganna (56, 25) and Paul Magnier (48, 37).

Pantani4ever ends up in 2nd place on the week, also with Ayuso/Ganna/Magnier and Lewis Askey (49, 2). postmanhat gets third place by 2 points this week, thanks again to Ayuso/Ganna as well as Neilson Powless (58, 5).

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	adamski101	(+18)
2	Nakazar	(+17)
3	ray10	(+16)
4	Pantani4ever	(+15)
4	postmanhat	(+15)

adamski101 tops both charts this week, moving up 18 spots in the overall. Nakazar nabs 2nd in this ranking, moving up 17 thanks to Powless/Magnier and contributions from Giacomo Nizzolo (60, 6) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (58, 5). ray10 slides into third with Ayuso/Van Eetvelt and 34 from unique pick Simone Gualdi.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Salvarani	110
2	marksi	106
3	Jakob747	88
4	Pantani4ever	76
5	Qazaqstan	61

The top 3 stay the same this week as none of them score points in the Green Jersey, but Pantani4ever parlays 35 points for 2nd into a 4th place overall, while last week's winner Qazaqstan gets another 16 points to move into 5th overall.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Jakob747	2579
2	(-)	marksi	2318
3	(-)	Salvarani	2103
4	(-)	triley36	1993
5	(+2)	Fivezzz	1934
6	(+10)	slow_climber	1929
7	(-1)	Squire	1905
8	(+9)	DJW	1899
9	(+2)	Amethyst	1863
10	(+5)	Lortnoc	1861

The top 4 remain the same this week, but Jakob747 gains 61 points on marksi and 127 on Salvarani to extend the gap at the top. Further down there is more volatility, as slow climber belies their team name by leaping 10 spots into the top 10, with DJW also jumping 9 and Lortnoc and Amethyst also entering the top 10. This is at the expense of DJ Sprtsch, Nyssinator, Gotland and skidmark, who all fall out.

This week it's all about the big two traditional stage races signifying the definitive opening of the cycling season, in Paris-Nice and Tirenno-Adriatico.

spreadsheet link