The 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

Not sure how much shorter removing the "Numberth in the GC in Denmark" bit for each of the Danish lines would have been.

(And I know "Numberth" isn't a word...)

Making up some random numberths would have been easier.

My total score this week: sax hundred and thourtytfrits

 

[RedheadDane]

My total score this week: sax hundred and thourtytfrits

I refuse to believe you had a 100 riders playing the sax!

 

[Earns1985]

To make things a bit more exciting here:
Our great leader @Salvarani does not have the two popular big scorers Magnier and Uijtdebroeks in his team.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I refuse to believe you had a 100 riders playing the sax!

An Anglo-Sax-on team has now been added to my list of potential themes for next year's game.

 

[RedheadDane]

An Anglo-Sax-on team has now been added to my list of potential themes for next year's game.

Only riders who have - at some point in their lives - played the sax? That might be a bit complicated...

As for your team this year; I don't even think Niklas Larsen played the sax this weekend. Though, that could have been a way for Unibet to present him that was even weirder than the method they opted for with the "let's pretend we don't know who this guy is!" thing.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

To make things a bit more exciting here:
Our great leader @Salvarani does not have the two popular big scorers Magnier and Uijtdebroeks in his team.

The question now is whether Cian and Paul can sustain this type of scoring in the next couple weeks to really eat into that gap.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

The question now is whether Cian and Paul can sustain this type of scoring in the next couple weeks to really eat into that gap.

If Salvarani is going to be toppled, it's going to take a combination of those two running hot, Vingegaard milking the Vuelta for all it's worth and then hopefully getting something meaningful out of the Worlds, and Almeida in particular having an underwhelming end to the season. (Ciccone doing poorly would also make a difference, but he is on some of the teams that could still mount a challenge. Every single other expensive pick on Salvarani's team has either done two full GTs or is lining up for the second full GT of the season at the Vuelta, so there's reason to hope that the final month of the season will be low-scoring for them.)

If I'm going to be the one to do it (and there's an argument to be made that I have the least bad odds of doing so at this point), then it also hinges on Van Aert, Nys and Morgado bringing home big chunks of points, and the former two don't have terribly many races left either. I will be a shade over 1000 points behind come the next update and I do expect to outscore Salvarani in the two months that remain, but closing that gap in its entirety is a dauntingly tall order.

As for Magnier running hot, it's extremely disappointing that Soudal have pulled him from the Deutschland Tour and are instead double-bunking him with Merlier at the Renewi Tour. With Van Aert and Brennan also double-bunked at the Deutschland Tour and Cavagna set to race the Vuelta when I was hoping for cheap points at Poitou-Charentes, I can't say I'm terribly pleased about my team's scheduling next week, but with Morgado and Nys also in action in the Benelux Flanders, there are still opportunities to score big.

 

[Earns1985]

Hmm, as much as I like Lipowitz riding the Deutschland Tour, which passes on Saturday just 500 meters from my apartment, for this game it´s not good at all, as it´s a sprinter friendly route, where I don´t see him scoring big. Also that he doesn´t ride the Worlds, which has a route, that could suit him. Really need him to score, when I want to stay in the top ranks for the rest of the season..

 

[Earns1985]

So Brennan and van Aert will both line up at the Deutschalnd Tour. The question for us who have both in their team.
Which one do you prefer to be their leader/GC rider in the race?
First you would think Brennan, because only 33 players have him, instead of van Aert, who is in 60 teams.
But if you look at the top ranks, then Brennan (7 out of the current top 10) is there more popular than van Aert (4 out of the current top10).

So if you are in the top ranks, one has to hope for van Aert instead of Brennan.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

So Brennan and van Aert will both line up at the Deutschalnd Tour. The question for us who have both in their team.
Which one do you prefer to be their leader/GC rider in the race?
First you would think Brennan, because only 33 players have him, instead of van Aert, who is in 60 teams.
But if you look at the top ranks, then Brennan (7 out of the current top 10) is there more popular than van Aert (4 out of the current top10).

So if you are in the top ranks, one has to hope for van Aert instead of Brennan.

Unfortunately Brennan is doing the sprints. That being said, Visma are strongly hinting that they want to make stage 3 as hard as possible, so maybe Van Aert can still manage a nice GC finish himself. Heck, a duo attack all the way to the line is not impossible in this field.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Seventeen of the 23 teams for La Vuelta have now been announced. Maybe those last 6 are why you haven't yet confirmed your picks for the Vuelta CQ Game yet, but I hope that you are at least thinking about it by now...

 

[skidmark]

Update #30: Rare picks help JumboVismaFan to a narrow win

The late summer days saw a flurry of one-day and stage races, with Tour of Denmark, Czech Tour and Hamburg Cyclassics taking the spotlight this week. What resulted was a very close and varied group of teams at the top, with some small jockeying in the overall.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	JumboVismaFan	559
2	Berflamand	556
3	Fivezzz	535
4	Devils_Elbow	495
5	Hugo Koblet	485

This week JumboVismaFan comes out on top by a mere 3 points, thanks to points from rare pick Junior Lecerf (147 points, 4 teams), unique pick Arnaud De Lie (137 points), and less rare pick Paul Magnier (112, 37). Berflamand comes oh so close but has to settle for 2nd, with the QuickStep duo of Lecerf and Magnier leading the way and a collective of Cian Uijtdebroeks (95, 80), Fred Wright (76, 2), Soren Kragh (65, 18) and Wout Van Aert (46, 60). Fivezzz gets the final spot on the podium with the Magnier/Lecerf combo and some help from Antonio Morgado (66, 16).

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Hugo Koblet	(+8)
2	Fivezzz	(+6)
3	Berflamand	(+5)
4	Nakazar	(+4)
4	ingsve	(+4)

Our founder Hugo Koblet makes the biggest leap this week, with success by committee as no fewer than 9 riders scored 20 points or more for his team this week. Fivezzz gets one step closer to the top step on a podium here, but no cigar, while Berflamand moves up 5 spots to take 3rd and repeat on the podium as well.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Pantani4ever	316
2	Salvarani	309
3	Rufs	239
4	Devils_Elbow	190
5	Squire	185.7

Rufs gets 20 points this week but is still a big 70 points back to the next step up, so Pantani4ever and Salvarani continue to dominate the standings. Similarly, Devil's Elbow gets 26 points and Squire gets 2 on the week, but both remain over a weekly win's worth of points back from Rufs, and 3 full-point weekly wins back of the top spots.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Salvarani	12057
2	(+1)	Qazaqstan	11239
3	(-1)	postmanhat	11125
4	(+3)	Devils_Elbow	11012
5	(-)	triley36	10961
6	(-)	SafeBet	10953
7	(-3)	Jakob747	10814
8	(-)	Popchu	10794
9	(-)	abbulf	10646
10	(+3)	Squire	10631

The only movement in the top 10 is teams swapping spots - Qazaqstan rebounds after finally falling out of 2nd last week to reclaiming it from postmanhat; Devil's Elbow has a great week to move up 3 while Jakob747 falls down 3. The only entrant into the top 10 this week is Squire, moving up 3 to swap spots with Slow Climber, who falls below the idle 11th and 12th place teams.

This upcoming week, we have stage races on almost every possible level, with the 2.1 Tour du Limousin, the 2.PS Deutschland Tour, the 2.WT2 Renewi Tour, and the weekend sees the start of the 2.GT Vuelta a Espana and the 2.NC Tour de l'Avenir. A full slate of races, and the start of the last GT of the year! The end is nigh, which might be good news if you're trying to protect a lead, or if your team is a constant disappointment (I know which camp I'm in).

spreadsheet link

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Fourth on the week, fourth in the points classification, fourth in the overall. José Joaquín Rojas would be proud.

 

[RedheadDane]

My boys in Denmark were useless, and now my boys in Renewi are shaping up to be useless as well; two guys out already...
At least the Vuelta starts this weekend, so I should get a decent amount of points...

 

[Earns1985]

The question now is whether Cian and Paul can sustain this type of scoring in the next couple weeks to really eat into that gap.

So as we are entering the last decisive part of the season, I think, it is worth taking a look at how the individual teams in the Top15 ovverall are structured.
In my eyes there are a few cheap good scoring popular riders, which definetly hurt you, when you don´t have them as a lot of your competitors in this game have them.
The following riders fall in my eyes into this category:
- Paul Seixas
- Andrea Bagioli
- Matthew Brennan
- Tibor del Grosso
- Ben Tulett
- Paul Magnier
- Florian Vermeersch
- Albert Withen Philipsen
- Cian Uijtdebroeks

I also included Magnier in this list, although he was not that cheap, but is also very popular in the top ranks, which means that it definetly hurts you, when he scores and you don´t have him.

Here is a list of which our current Top15 overall with the information, which of these riders they are missing:
@Salvarani : Uijtdebroeks, Magnier and del Grosso
@Qazaqstan: Seixas, Bagioli
@postmanhat: Magnier, Bagioli
@Devil's Elbow: - (you can be very lucky!)
@triley36: Vermeersch, Philipsen
@SafeBet: Tulett
@Popchu: Brennan
@Jakob747: Uijtdebroeks, Brennan, del Grosso
@abbulf: del Grosso
@slow_climber: del Grosso
@Senderos: Magnier, Bagioli
@Earns1985: del Grosso
@Squire: Brennan
@EvansIsTheBest: del Grosso
@MADRAZO: Seixas, del Grosso, Magnier

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Another good week. Only 230 points back from the top 10 now and only four Vingegaard team in front of me. It might actually happen which is shocking considering my four most expensive picks (Vingegaard, Van Aert, Piganzoli and Christen) have combined for 500 points less than they did last season.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

With Nys, Magnier, Morgado and Del Grosso in Belgium and Van Aert and Brennan in Germany, I both needed and expected this to be another really good week for me, but that kind of went out of the window today. Turning things around completely was difficult, but possible: I don't know that it still is.

 

[postmanhat]

Not having Magnier, Christen, Morgado and Del Torro has proved expensive over the last couple of weeks, but am still third going into The Vuelta. Hoping to finish the season in the top ten so will be relying on these riders to keep me ahead of the Vingo teams for now.

Ayuso - Am the only team with him in the top 25, so will be my main differentiator for this race. Usually starts strongly after a block of training.

Ganna - After his crash at The Tour, no idea what his form will be. Maybe 100-200 points from the TTs and sprint/hilly stages?

Ciccone - Glad that he's, theoretically, here as a stagehunter. Less potential points, but more chance of him not crashing, and finishing the season strongly.

Gall - Usually doesn't perform after the Tour, so anything from this race will be a bonus.

Riccitello - Pretty much given up on him, so can only prove me wrong.

Buchmann - An unexpected opportunity for him to finish in the top 15, given how weak the GC field is.

Also Tullet, JSM, and Turner, who has just been withdrawn from The Deutschland Tour to ride here. Possibly as Ineos's sprint option?

 

[Earns1985]

Riccitello - Pretty much given up on him, so can only prove me wrong.

You gave up on him?
He showed pretty good shape the last races, where he participated and with Gee out he will be the sole GC leader for his team. The vuelta is the main target of his season, so Top 10 is realistic in my eyes, if he doesn't crash..

 

[Qazaqstan]

Oh nooo. All my hopes on Gee to give me some autumn points fade away. I need a 1-2-3 at the World Championships for Healy, Gregoire, Lutsenko now

 

[postmanhat]

You gave up on him?
He showed pretty good shape the last races, where he participated and with Gee out he will be the sole GC leader for his team. The vuelta is the main target of his season, so Top 10 is realistic in my eyes, if he doesn't crash..

Sorry, meant to say have given up on him for this season. Was probably a bit unrealistic in how much he'd progress, which hasn't been as much as I hoped in terms of avoiding crashes and race tactics. Probably just a year too early for him to be a worthwhile pick? Would love to be wrong, and as you say, in this field should be possible if he can stay on his bike.

Anyway, good luck to everyone. Will be fascinating to see how this Vuelta plays out in terms of the game.

 

[Earns1985]

Sorry, meant to say have given up on him for this season. Was probably a bit unrealistic in how much he'd progress, which hasn't been as much as I hoped in terms of avoiding crashes and race tactics. Probably just a year too early for him to be a worthwhile pick? Would love to be wrong, and as you say, in this field should be possible if he can stay on his bike.

Anyway, good luck to everyone. Will be fascinating to see how this Vuelta plays out in terms of the game.

Yeah well Riccitello turns out to be a pure climber without much punch. For this game, this basically means, that his scoring is limited to races with long and hard climbs. There are not many one-day races for that, so it basically comes to the GC points of stage races for him. For that it´s pretty important, that he finishes the races and he doesn´t crash, which will be the most important thing for him at the vuelta.
He is before his season highlight now already nearly into profit. With perhaps 200 points out of the vuelta and the rest of the season he can still turn out to be an ok pick...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I was beginning to think Taaramäe wouldn't return a profit, but then he pulls a random Turkish win out of the bag.

 

[search]

another two wins for Boguslawski this weekend. Will still be tough to catch Seixas, though.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

My Visma cohort of Brennan, Van Aert and Vingegaard had a good day. Hopefully Vingegaard can keep stacking those leader points all the way to the finish.