The 2025 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[EvansIsTheBest]

Starting to think this Seixas guy might have a decent future

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I do like how clean the ending to the season is this year. Six pro races on Sunday the 19th and then that's that (aside from three .2s and the Israeli TT NCs, which are irrelevant). Makes for a nice change compared to the many years of the season dwindling into nothingness but not actually ending for a good bit after Lombardia, and if the end of the calendar stays like this in years to come it could make for a really exciting final weekend for this game when we finally snap out of this streak of runaway winners.

 

[Earns1985]

I do like how clean the ending to the season is this year. Six pro races on Sunday the 19th and then that's that (aside from three .2s and the Israeli TT NCs, which are irrelevant). Makes for a nice change compared to the many years of the season dwindling into nothingness but not actually ending for a good bit after Lombardia, and if the end of the calendar stays like this in years to come it could make for a really exciting final weekend for this game when we finally snap out of this streak of runaway winners.

Last year, there were also significant shifts in the final week still. I remember, that I dropped from 4th to 8th overall in that week last year.
It seems, that I also have to be satisfied with a similar placing this year again. All my expensive riders are basically already in vacation and had been removed from the startlists for the upcoming races. So it seems, that 8th in maximum and I have to be satisfied with a Top10 in the end..

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Last year, there were also significant shifts in the final week still. I remember, that I dropped from 4th to 8th overall in that week last year.
It seems, that I also have to be satisfied with a similar placing this year again. All my expensive riders are basically already in vacation and had been removed from the startlists for the upcoming races. So it seems, that 8th in maximum and I have to be satisfied with a Top10 in the end..

Last year, there were 'only' three races on the final day (Chrono des Nations was a week earlier and the Tour of Holland didn't exist), so we could see even bigger last-gasp shifts this year.

 

[skidmark]

Update #37: Crevaison fully pumped up after weekly win

Only a couple of weeks to go now folks! The Tour de Langkawi and CRO Race satisfied our stage racing needs this week (or at least some CQ points got scored), while the normal brace of late-season Italian races interspersed with the European championships following on the heels of the Worlds.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	Crevaison	557
2	triley36	546
3	Nyssinator	495
4	will10	479
5	Bicycle_Boy	466

It was within 10 points at the top this week, but Crevaison came out on top, besting the field thanks to the continuing points magnets Isaac Del Toro (130, 8) and Paul Magnier (108, 37), as well as the precocious Paul Seixas (72, 66), Lenny Martinez (66, 4) and Filippo Ganna (49, 25). triley36 ends up just a shade back with the Del Toro/Magnier/Seixas combo as well as solid weeks from Magnus Sheffield (50, 7) and Ben Tulett (46, 56). Nyssinator rounds out the podium with the same main characters as triley36 minus Sheffield.

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Crevaison	(+8)
2	karaev	(+4)
3	Eyeballs Out	(+3)
3	adamski101	(+3)
3	Nyssinator	(+3)
3	Amis_Velo	(+3)

Crevaison pulls off the double, moving up 8 spots in the overall, while karaev nabs 2nd over a 4-way tie for 3rd.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Salvarani	412
2	Squire	332.7
3	Pantani4ever	316
4	SafeBet	273
5	Devils_Elbow	242

SafeBet is the only team in the top 5 to score this week, getting 20 points but staying in 4th thanks to the stratification in the top spots. It's still technically possible for Squire to catch Salvarani with two weeks to go, but it'd require Squire to finish with either 2 first places or 1st and 2nd, and hope that Salvarani scores nothing.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Salvarani	16076
2	(-)	Squire	15127
3	(-)	SafeBet	15016
4	(-)	Devils_Elbow	14626
5	(-)	postmanhat	14302
6	(+2)	triley36	14285
7	(-)	EvansIsTheBest	14234
8	(-2)	Earns1985	14217
9	(-)	Berflamand	14099
10	(-)	Qazaqstan	13905

It's even less likely that top spot gets overtaken on the overall rankings; although Squire gains back 128 points on Salvarani, the lead is about 950 points with 2 weeks to go, and it's unlikely that any teams will get that many points total in the next two weeks, let alone gain that many. Things are tightening up between 2nd and 3rd, with SafeBet gaining 128 on Squire (a coincidence that this is the exact same amount Squire gained on Salvarani) to pull to 111 points back.

Further down the top 10, Devils Elbow is more than 300 down on 3rd and more than 300 up on 5th, and then 5th through 8th are clustered closely, while a few other teams could conceivably move up or down as well. No movement in the top 10 aside from triley36 and Earns1985 swapping spots.

spreadsheet link

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

There's a nice little battle for spots 5-8 with less than a 100 points separating them. Curious to see where I end up landing.

 

[postmanhat]

Not having Del Torro or Magnier has been pretty painful over the last few weeks, and that's likely to continue in my quest for a top ten finish. Currently have a 400 point buffer over 18-Valve in 11th so it will likely be decided by how well the following riders perform.

Me
Ciccone
Powless
Ganna
Ayuso
Brennan
Tullet
Plapp?
Riccitello?

18-Valve
Vingo
Del Torro
Magnier
Christen
Milan
Bagioli
Bisiaux
Hayter

Always have an eye on the Italian Fall races when picking my teams, as it's one of my favourite parts of the season, so hoping they repay my faith

Was relying on Brennan finishing his season in style on Monday, but the tactics didn't work out. Ciccone is being Ciccone, and IPT haven't ridden any of the Italian fall so far, so nothing from Riccitello. Really need some top tens over the next few days as Magnier is going to pac-man his way through Guangxi.

 

[Berflamand]

There's a nice little battle for spots 5-8 with less than a 100 points separating them. Curious to see where I end up landing.

Looks like I've joined that battle as 9th according to the daily updated site.

Though I'd be very glad if I could just hold on to my place in the top 10 in the final rankings!

 

[manafana]

DInham onto points scorer, got few guys in mind for next year to get back firing

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Good stuff from De Schuyteneer to get 100 easy points. I'm about 250 points short of 15000 on the year. It's going to be fun to see if I can get there next week.

 

[Salvarani]

Good stuff from De Schuyteneer to get 100 easy points. I'm about 250 points short of 15000 on the year. It's going to be fun to see if I can get there next week.

I was happy to get a boost with that result as well.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Good stuff from De Schuyteneer to get 100 easy points. I'm about 250 points short of 15000 on the year. It's going to be fun to see if I can get there next week.

Almost half way there after Mathys Rondel and Albert Withen Philipsen's rides today. I have a lot more guys in Guangxi than I realized (Magnier, Christen, Uijtdebroeks, Gloag, Nordhagen, Behrens, Craps, De Schuyteneer, Dinham, Hatherly) in a fairly shallow field which should yield some decent points.

 

[RedheadDane]

My top-5 scorers this week:

Withen: 144 points (2nd in TVV, 3rd in P-T)
Lund: 78 points (2nd in CP)
Salby: 30 points (win and 4th on stages in Taihu)
Nielsen: 14 points (12th in TdV, 18th in B-C-B)
Bevort: 12 points (15th in P-T)

Next week could see me score some points in China with people who actually have hair.

 

[Squire]

Haven't checked the website as I like to await skidmark's updates, but I think @SafeBet is pretty sure to knock me down from 2nd place. Which is all fine by me, as I don't really need ANOTHER 2nd place to add to my three previous 2nd places. And a 3rd place would complement all the 2nd places and a 4th place and a 6th place in my everything-but-winning-the-game collection.

Another question is whether SafeBet can make the most spectacular comeback of all time and overhaul Salvarani's 1st place with all those Del Toro points and some further Uijtdebroeks and Magnier points along with maybe Lafay.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Which is all fine by me, as I don't really need ANOTHER 2nd place to add to my three previous 2nd places. And a 3rd place would complement all the 2nd places and a 4th place and a 6th place in my everything-but-winning-the-game collection.

It would also make your top-10 haul almost identical to that of Enric Mas at the Vuelta. Only difference is that Mas has a fifth place rather than a fourth.

 

[Squire]

It would also make your top-10 haul almost identical to that of Enric Mas at the Vuelta. Only difference is that Mas has a fifth place rather than a fourth.

'The Enric Mas of the CQ game' might not be the title I'm coveting the most.

 

[skidmark]

Update #38: SafeBet for the final podium

With one week left to go in the CQ game and Salvarani with a still-comfortable season-long lead, the main question is who will finish in what place on the final podium and top 10. And with one week left, largely the rich got richer in this game as scoring riders kept on scoring.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	SafeBet	861
2	DJW	720
3	LosBrolin	711
4	Crevaison	707
5	Nyssinator	699
5	Popchu	699

SafeBet decisively wins the week with an impressive 861 points, with yet another haul from Isaac Del Toro (276 points, 8 teams) leading the way, but impressive contributions from Albert Philipsen (144, 70), Steffen De Schuyteneer (117, 20), and Paul Seixas (90, 66) among others. DJW has a satisfying week at the end of the season, landing in second with 720 points thanks to Del Toro/Philipsen/Seixas as well as Cian Uijtdebroeks (67, 80) and Ben Tulett (58, 56). LosBrolin nabs the final podium spot just ahead of a few challengers, scoring 711 sans Del Toro but with every other rider mentioned above plus Quinn Simmons (125, 14).

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Bicycle_Boy	(+7)
2	LosBrolin	(+6)
3	RestInPunk	(+5)
4	Riverside	(+4)
5	DJW	(+3)
5	nbfc1962	(+3)
5	DJ Sprtsch	(+3)

Bicycle Boy finished 15th in the first ranking but is in just the right spot in the standings to parlay that into the biggest move of the week, moving up 7 spots in the overall with a unique combo of riders, namely the popular youngsters (Philipsen/Seixas/Uijtdebroeks) but also 170 from unique pick Remco Evenepoel. LosBrolin is the only repeat podium finisher, while RestInPunk has third place this week thanks largely to Del Toro.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	Salvarani	420
2	Squire	348.7
3	SafeBet	318
4	Pantani4ever	316
5	Devils_Elbow	242

Things compress a bit at the top but it's over, now mathematically as well as practically. SafeBet scores 45 points to move onto the overall podium in these standings, although their team is still 30 back from Squire in second. Squire, in turn, scores 16 points, but only gains 8 as Salvarani scores 8 this week. At any rate, Salvarani is over 70 points up with only 45 left for any one team, so it's safe to crown Salvarani as the winner of the Green Jersey Competition in 2025.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Salvarani	16702
2	(+1)	SafeBet	15877
3	(-1)	Squire	15810
4	(-)	Devils_Elbow	15151
5	(+2)	EvansIsTheBest	14878
6	(-1)	postmanhat	14846
7	(-1)	triley36	14839
8	(+1)	Berflamand	14708
9	(-1)	Earns1985	14630
10	(+1)	18-Valve. (pithy)	14470

As for these standings, it's not mathematically impossible for Salvarani to be overtaken (at least I don't think), and SafeBet does have a few riders with potential to score that Salvarani doesn't have this week. But 825 points is a huge hill to climb in a single end-of-season week - basically SafeBet would have to repeat this week's score and have Salvarani get shut out. SafeBet did, however, gain 158 on Squire to sneak past into second overall with a week to go. Squire's place on the podium is about as solid as Salvarani's in top spot, with over 650 points down to 4th place. 5th through 7th is verrrry close, and further down 18-Valve gains a few hundred on Qazaqstan, who is now 179 points out of the top 10 in 11th place.

This week it all comes to an end. The WorldTour comes to an end in China, while the revived Tour of Holland closes out stage racing in Europe, and the Japan Cup, Chrono Des Nations, and Veneto Classic close out the season on Sunday along with the final stages of those races. I believe that this is the first time since I've been organizing the CQ game that we've had such a coordinated and high-profile finish, which I must say is kind of nice. Have a fun week!

spreadsheet link

 

[Squire]

Thanks for the update!

So SafeBet didn't outscore Salvarani and myself as much as I thought although it's still a resounding weekly win. So 1st place is pretty much settled.

There's technically a chance for me to re-overtake SafeBet if Vine wins Chrono des Nations, but Tarling is also doing it, so the gain will likely be minimal if not negative. And that's in the incredibly unlikely event that Del Toro doesn't score in Veneto. Other than that I pretty much have to hope that Kajamini delivers the mother of all upsets in Guangxi after being horrible all season. I guess we can conclude that the entire podium is quite settled already.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

3/3 this week so far with Magnier and Hayter. Need all the help I can get to hold off triley and Del Toro's shameless point farming.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

3/3 this week so far with Magnier and Hayter. Need all the help I can get to hold off triley and Del Toro's shameless point farming.

With Christen, Piganzoli, Hayter, Söderqvist and Teutenberg you could even still snatch 4th place from me, and triley is a danger for me too. I've been running on fumes since Ciccone fell ill, would be a bit disappointed if I fell out of the top five at the last moment.

 

[SafeBet]

3/3 this week so far with Magnier and Hayter. Need all the help I can get to hold off triley and Del Toro's shameless point farming.

Is Magnier point farming any less shameless though? He's got 11 (!) wins in the last month.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Is Magnier point farming any less shameless though? He's got 11 (!) wins in the last month.

Stage wins don't accumulate points anywhere near as quickly as one-day results, though.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Is Magnier point farming any less shameless though? He's got 11 (!) wins in the last month.

Of course. What Magnier is doing is 100% ethical. Let me explain why: Magnier is on my team, Del Toro is not.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

With Christen, Piganzoli, Hayter, Söderqvist and Teutenberg you could even still snatch 4th place from me, and triley is a danger for me too. I've been running on fumes since Ciccone fell ill, would be a bit disappointed if I fell out of the top five at the last moment.

Piganzoli's fall campaign has been fairly underwhelming though. I don't think he'll score much. Rondel in Japan is probably a safer bet at this point. You probably have enough of a buffer short of Christen winning the whole thing in Guangxi.