The 2026 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[Devil's Elbow]

barre was racing again in frankfurt , but neither are in fds

A 2.1 race with zero WT or PCT teams (Visma are officially there with the development team). No idea why Visma are sending Brennan to a race where he can win every stage on a unicycle, that will be an annoyingly big haul for those who have him.

 

[Berflamand]

There's a story about Arvid de Kleijn on HLN and the reasons why he hasn't raced yet this season. He's returning this sunday at Rund um Köln.

“Ik ging knock-out”: renner Arvid de Kleijn werd in elkaar geslagen door groep jongeren na turbulent jaar

Arvid de Kleijn (32) heeft een turbulent jaar achter de rug. De Nederlandse sprinter van Tudor viel in de UAE Tour van 2025 zwaar met een sleutelbeenbreuk als gevolg, werd vader van een dochtertje Fye, verloor zijn vader en werd in elkaar geslagen door een groep jongeren. Komende zondag maakt De...

www.hln.be

Recap:

• He became a father in january but the childbirth was complicated and his partner was bedridden for a long time which made it necessary for him to be at home. The team granted him this freedom but it meant he missed training camps and crucial training.
• Shortly afterwards, his father died of cancer.
• While training close to the festival Paaspop with the goal to return at the Scheldeprijs, he got called out by a group of about 10 teenagers who were throwing 'cancer' insults around and at him. He tried to talk to them and to make them stop the insults, explaining that his father just died of cancer. However, the group started to get aggressive and he got knocked out. As it turned out, his nose was broken. Fortunately, there were bystanders who saw what happened, and most of the teenagers were detained. However the one who actually knocked him unconscious, has not yet been found.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

There's a story about Arvid de Kleijn on HLN and the reasons why he hasn't raced yet this season. He's returning this sunday at Rund um Köln.

“Ik ging knock-out”: renner Arvid de Kleijn werd in elkaar geslagen door groep jongeren na turbulent jaar

Arvid de Kleijn (32) heeft een turbulent jaar achter de rug. De Nederlandse sprinter van Tudor viel in de UAE Tour van 2025 zwaar met een sleutelbeenbreuk als gevolg, werd vader van een dochtertje Fye, verloor zijn vader en werd in elkaar geslagen door een groep jongeren. Komende zondag maakt De...

www.hln.be

Recap:

• He became a father in january but the childbirth was complicated and his partner was bedridden for a long time which made it necessary for him to be at home. The team granted him this freedom but it meant he missed training camps and crucial training.
• Shortly afterwards, his father died of cancer.
• While training close to the festival Paaspop with the goal to return at the Scheldeprijs, he got called out by a group of about 10 teenagers who were throwing 'cancer' insults around and at him. He tried to talk to them and to make them stop the insults, explaining that his father just died of cancer. However, the group started to get aggressive and he got knocked out. As it turned out, his nose was broken. Fortunately, there were bystanders who saw what happened, and most of the teenagers were detained. However the one who actually knocked him unconscious, has not yet been found.

Quite a sad story to be honest. What is wrong with Dutch teenagers ?

 

[Earns1985]

Apparently, he had a nasty crash in training last Friday which will keep out of the races for a while (it doesn't sound like it's too bad, though, as he hasn't broken anything - but the pictures sure don't look good).

AWP out again is really annoying. He was in top shape and looked to become a good pick. Hopefully he doesn´t have to to pause that long. As he is one of the potenital top scorers, which not everyone in the top ranks have (14 out of the current top20 have him), this has a bigger impact to the game.

It seems, that Visma changed now the schedule of Brennan to farming races. Also scheduled now for Boucles de la Mayenne later this month..

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

AWP out again is really annoying. He was in top shape and looked to become a good pick. Hopefully he doesn´t have to to pause that long. As he is one of the potenital top scorers, which not everyone in the top ranks have (14 out of the current top20 have him), this has a bigger impact to the game.

It seems, that Visma changed now the schedule of Brennan to farming races. Also scheduled now for Boucles de la Mayenne later this month..

Visma finally realising Kooij is no longer on their roster ?

 

[Earns1985]

Let's go Antonio schiffer!!!

Really didn´t think, that Schiffer get that many chances during the year to ride for his own result. My expectation had been, that he would be used mainly as a helper for the big guys. But it turns out, that he could become a really good pick. Beside from the Fleche du Sud, he will also ride Andorra and Occitanie..

 

[Devil's Elbow]

O'Connor might not be a disaster after all...

 

[shalgo]

O'Connor might not be a disaster after all...

Mas, on the other hand...

 

[tobydawq]

Brennan riding gruppetto in Luxembourg in an amateur field... Of course...

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I have to say it's a bit disappointing that 17 Söderqvist teams were basically gifted 183 free points today (assuming no further shenanigans tomorrow). With how congested the table is this season courtesy of the ubiquitous Seixas, Cosnefroy and Laporte managing a third of the leading score between them, that could end up mattering a lot.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

I have to say it's a bit disappointing that 17 Söderqvist teams were basically gifted 183 free points today (assuming no further shenanigans tomorrow). With how congested the table is this season courtesy of the ubiquitous Seixas, Cosnefroy and Laporte managing a third of the leading score between them, that could end up mattering a lot.

Another guy that starts scoring when I stop picking him. I'm almost starting to detect a theme there.

 

[tobydawq]

I have to say it's a bit disappointing that 17 Söderqvist teams were basically gifted 183 free points today (assuming no further shenanigans tomorrow). With how congested the table is this season courtesy of the ubiquitous Seixas, Cosnefroy and Laporte managing a third of the leading score between them, that could end up mattering a lot.

To be fair, I had foreseen this scenario in Hungary before the season.

Too bad, I didn't foresee much else.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

All points scored in such a manner should be astiwersuked from the game. Points should be decided mano a mano on the road. Big scandal for our game!

 

[tobydawq]

All points scored in such a manner should be astiwersuked from the game. Points should be decided mano a mano on the road. Big scandal for our game!

What does astiwersuked mean? Is it a name of a bike rider?

 

[Ilmaestro99]

What does astiwersuked mean? Is it a name of a bike rider?

Asterisked, sorry brother

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Nightmare weekend with the aforementioned Söderqvist, Pithie winning in Germany and O'Connor returning to the level I expected of him pre-race today. Gaudu getting a couple of points for once doesn't nearly offset that.

 

[ingsve]

He's no Seixas, or Albert Withen but Barry Ashlin is steadily gaining points with his 0-cost. 10th in Rund om Köln today.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Eulalio into profit thanks to his days in pink. Edgar Chuky into profit too. Shiffer getting close, Visma at fleche du sud is a piss take for this game to be honest.

 

[RedheadDane]

Several Danish wins in the last few days...
All with the wrong Danes.

 

[repre]

Several Danish wins in the last few days...
All with the wrong Danes.

No Danish are wrongs. Best people

 

[RedheadDane]

No Danish are wrongs. Best people

Wrong in the sense of not on my team.

 

[hayneplane]

Good points this week from Pithie and Cosnefroy.

Giro starting to shape up decently with the exception of Enric Mas. Picked up a few stage points here and there from Van Eetvelt and Piganzoli with good signs that the latter won’t be needed to sacrifice his own GC much for Jonas.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I've only just seen the news from a few days ago about Laporte being injured in a training crash
(https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/laporte-discussion-thread-the-greatest.33138/post-3353431)

A torn quad sounds like quite a bad injury for a pro cyclist. Hope he's able to return for the last couple of months of the season.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Update #18: DJW plays magic trick on Houdini

It has been a wild week of racing with Eulalio stacking up pink jersey points in Italy. Hungary was even more generous than usual with numerous popular picks dominating the race. Despite much complaining about the logic of Brennan feasting on a weak field in the Flèche du Sud, that did not lead to a major shake up.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank​	Team​	Points this week​
1​	DJW​	706​
2​	HoudiniCycling​	703​
3​	will10​	635​
4​	trackstand​	578​
5​	Popchu​	540​

DJW just edges out Houdini for the top spot as the two teams both crack 700 points. DJW had a balanced effort (Söderqvist, Cosnefroy, Pithie, Pericas, Omrzel) and that's without mentioning their Giro contigent (Eulalio, Rondel and Pellizzari). Houdini's scoring was more concentrated with Lecerf and Valter the highlights beyond the Söderqvist/Cosnefroy/Eulalio trio.

Will10 closes out the podium with the same power trio and a couple decent assists from Pithie and Gaudu (who now sits on 69 points for the year in case people were wondering). Trackstand is fourth with Söderqvist, Cosnefroy, Pithie, Thijssen (now into profit in case people were wondering) and Pericas. Popchu is 5th with a mix of previously cited riders.

This Week's High Movers

Rank​	Team​	Up/Down​
1​	HoudiniCycling​	(+15)​
2​	DJW​	(+11)​
2​	will10​	(+11)​
2​	trackstand​	(+11)​
5​	Popchu​	(+9)​

The exact same top five as the highest scorers and nearly the same order too. Good job everybody on making my life easier. Houdini's jump is particularly noteworthy at this time in the season, not least because their team was already sitting pretty in the top 25.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank​	Team​	Total​
1​	slow_climber​	165​
2​	karaev​	141​
3​	DJW​	135​
4​	SafeBet​	131​
5​	armchairclimber​	127​

Our leader's seat slowly starts getting more warmer. Karaev adds 5 points (due to a tie with Nyssinator on the week), and SafeBet add 12 while slow climber remains scoreless since week 10. DJW is now third thanks to three weekly wins and exactly zero point besides. Talk about boom or bust.

Top 10 Overall

Rank​	Team​	Points​
1​	slow_climber​	7154​
2​	manafana​	6951​
3​	Eyeballs Out​	6927​
4​	Crevaison​	6883​
5​	karaev​	6868​
6​	Hugo Koblet​	6844​
7​	postmanhat​	6827​
8​	Nyssinator​	6748​
9​	HoudiniCycling​	6715​
10​	repre​	6700​

Slow climber is the first person to cross the 7000 points barrier. It won't be long now before the leader breaks even (maybe even this week). Another slow week means their lead is still relatively safe but continuing a long term trend, the teams just below are inching their way closer. Houdini makes a dramatic entrance into the top 10 and Nyssinator makes a more chill one which unfortunately means ingsve and vladimir have to make room. I leave you in the very capable hands of skidmark for next week.

Spreadsheet link

 

[ingsve]

I was hoping I was going to jump up a place or two following the win from Pithie but soo many people have been simply gifted free points for Söderqvist and Eulalio that I went backwards instead. And the way things are going in the Giro the gifted points for Eulalio are not likely to end yet.