I've enjoyed reading the discussion so far, and hopefully some of you will find some enjoyment in reading this
INSANELY LONG post of me rambling about my team! Written partly before reading, and partly incorporating some things I've read here.
I always knew I wasn't gonna Evenepoel because I think there's more fun to be had in making a team without him, but I think it's a very viable strategy and the number of Evenepoel teams shows how almost perfectly balanced it could turn out to be. I think non-Evenepoel teams have a higher potential due to a comparative lack of no-brainer sub-100 picks to go with Remco, but I think hitting enough of the great picks that Evenepoel teams had to leave out won't happen for everyone who decided against him.
As for other 1000+ picks, I actually thought Ayuso would be way, way more popular. He's the only one apart from Evenepoel I could realistically see myself going with. But I guess if you're willing to spend 1400 on Ayuso, you might as well spend 500 more and get the significantly superior pick. The third most exciting option would be Skjelmose for me, so I think
@Salvarani will be happy he's a unique pick. Philipsen and Brennan didn't seem that appealing to me. It's not like they had that much go wrong in 2025 to expect a big profit now.
Now, for my actual team process.
Seixas was the first name on the sheet and never in doubt. But his colleagues in the expensive department have seen a lot of rotation throughout the process. I started out being really happy that my favourites Landa and Mas seemed like the best options this year, along with capitalizing on all the haters who criminally underrate Uijtdebroeks' potential (yes, I know I was critical of him in CQ terms when not picking him at 574 two years ago, but times have changed). Groves was in the early conversation too along with AWP. I then realized O'Connor could start February being halfway to profit already, along with Mas' recovery being put in doubt. I also didn't love Uijtdebroeks' calendar change, although I think he can still be great.
Then there was a point quite recently where I convinced myself to take Van Poppel, who I think will have a career best year. Part of me still wish I'd taken him now that I see nobody else has, also for the fun and surprise factor. But I also knew he was not gonna be popular at all, so I questioned my sanity a little bit. I started imagining yellow cards and crashes and the like. Landa also had to go due to age and uncertainty, but that was with a heavy heart. And I never quite trusted that Groves would get enough freedom, although I think he's very underrated in all departments.
So here is the team I ended up with, and which I'm reasonably confident about. But with so many options this year, there are a lot of scary guys on other teams that I don't have.
The usual dealio with
my picks in bold and riders I didn't pick but who I want to say something about
in italics. The formatting which
@Devil's Elbow now has annexed, which seems to be en vogue these days.
And it's almost disturbing to see how similar my thought process has been to theirs, too, which you will see shortly.
BUITRAGO SANCHEZ Santiago 688 (1 pick) - Well, well, well! A unique most-expensive pick! Has to be a first for me ever since I picked comeback kid Valverde in 2012 just for fun. Buitrago was a rather late addition to my team, but when I read about his schedule and why things went badly after a great start to last season, I was sold. He had a few mishaps that kept his points low in previous years too, but when he's on he's really on. And there's no good reason why he can't be on way more often this year. Outside of the weird Paris-Nice, he was one of two riders who beat Almeida in a stage race last year (Vingegaard the other one). Buitrago is always imperious at the start of the season, so he should be among the best in TDU, he could win the Colombian NC which is on his calendar, and I like his Giro focus with no Tiberi or Lenny in the way. It opens up possibilities for later in the season. The WC course suits him too, which is always a bonus with expensive CQ picks.
SEIXAS Paul 661 (73 picks) - From a unique pick to the most popular one. Not much to add here. I've said before that natural progression isn't usually enough to make someone a great CQ pick, and Seixas doesn't go against that notion. His calendar was very low ceiling last year. Will be riding much more profitable races in 2026, and his final races of last season showed that he's already good enough to make that count.
MORGADO Antonio Tomas 635 (5 picks) - The most recent expensive addition to my team before deadline. A lot of Tarlings, Blackmores and Vermaerkes had to go to make room for him, but I think he could be worth it. Here's your new Hirschi/Del Toro, I'm telling you. Morgado has a lot of things going for him as a CQ game pick in 2026. He looked like a complete beast at the start of 2025 before getting ill and losing form for the classics. Then he had crystal disease in the summer, before he got covid in the autumn. And he still managed to make himself somewhat expensive. Now he has switched to Pog's coach and he will ride a juicy calendar. Only proper domestique duty will be the Giro, which might actually give him a boost for the rest of the season where he will ride non-WT stage races against farmers and postmen. He has said that he can't wait to show how much of a better climber he has become, he now loves the cobbles, and he really got me excited when he started talking about racing 'some Italian races' in the autumn. I'm also sensing a surprise at the WC. Be scared. Be very scared.
O'CONNOR Ben 563 (28 picks) - I'm not expecting anything near his crazy points haul from 2024, but a return to his normal score of 800-900 will do nicely. I was considering him already before the announcement of his Aussie summer focus, but that really settled it for me. As I mentioned in the introduction, he could have a great deal of points already before most other riders pushes a pedal in anger, and it probably won't affect the rest of his season much except maybe taking the place of some February warm-up race in his calendar. And if I'm extra lucky, he finds a little bit of that 2024 magic ability to get results despite his limitations.
VAN POPPEL Danny 552 (0 picks) - Mentioned him in the beginning, but I want to elaborate on why I was so tempted to take him and why I believe a strong season is coming. The main thing is he's going back to being an actual sprinter now. He's sick of leading out inferior sprinters. And I think he is better than ever. Laporte-esque with better speed. Just look at his results. In 2025 he either fought it out with high-scoring sprinters (beating Kooij at NC) or he delivered a great lead-out for either Welsford or Meeus. Incredible consistency, and he has the durability to stay up there in quite hilly races too. Then there's the general Red Bull improvement that could be expected with that team (which it kinda feels like DVP has gotten already), then there's a very favourable calendar. TDU with the one-day sprint race which is bumped up to 1.Ps and the WT Cadel race which he could potentially survive. Some juicy sprinter friendly classics, Giro, NC, no Tour, possibly some more juicy late summer races, and another bonus is that the ZLM Tour is back on the calendar in the autumn. That's possibly two flat or flat-ish Dutch stage races where he could score GC points (along with the new Tour of Holland). Arguments against taking him, which eventually led to me going with other options, are: No guarantee of many Aussie points with the strong field there and him maybe being undercooked, his erratic sprinting, and the fact that he is past 30 and has never scored extremely heavily. But again, wanted to leave this here so I can say 'I told you so' when he cracks 1000 points.
WITHEN PHILIPSEN Albert 459 (44 picks) - Not the same level of no-brainer as Seixas, and I did take him out of my team for a brief moment in the process, but he's just got too much potential to leave out. The same calendar upgrade argument as Seixas, and his Emilia, Varese and Tours performances showed that he will handle it well. Out-beasting a beast such as Vacek is no mean feat, and his climbing is insane. And, as will be a bit of a recurring theme further down the list, Danes are especially great value this year. The NC is back to being Cat 1, giving 140 points for the win. And the Tour of Denmark starts just as the Tour de France ends, so no Pedersen, Skjelmose, Cort or other strong Tour riders like De Lie. Could be a lot of easy points for strong Danes not doing the Tour, which AWP is one of.
NYS Thibau 423 (46 picks) - I'm prepared to die on my 'Nys is overrated' hill! He keeps on doing half a season and he still hasn't shown me that he can score game-breaking amounts in that time. He's on a stacked team in the first place, and him trundling around Italy for a month in May doesn't fill me with excitement for CQ points. And although I admit he is really punchy, his main results have come from out-sprinting Kelderman in Poland and some pensioners in Hungary and losing a bunch sprint for 4th place to Velasco in LBL. And I know at least one CQ game participant who can appreciate this rant (
@Ilmaestro99 ).
VAN GILS Maxim 362 (58 picks) - I don't feel like I need to say much about the very obvious guys like him, LVE, Rodriguez etc. This post is waaay too long already! Not much brain power was spent on them, except checking that everything was as expected.
TARLING Joshua 328 (36 picks) - As with the Danes, the Brits are actually a bit more favoured this year, with Onley and Pidcock having brought the NC back to Cat 1. And Tarling is quite sure to win the TT for some good points. In fact, he might actually almost break even just from TTs, with the WC and stages. Quite safe not to bomb, but a really great haul requires a stage race result or two or some proper classics results, and that's a bit too uncertain for me to be relying on. But he was quite close to being picked, along with other popular riders like Blackmore, Bisiaux (exactly the same thought process on Bisiaux as Devil's Elbow had), Vermaerke and Vansevenant (and the non-popular Higuita! Watch out for him this year). They were all lost in the shuffle to accommodate some stronger priorities. Had Pithie for a long time too, but was quite comfortable with booting him out in the end.
GAUDU David 315 (37 picks) - In a way, I'm kinda surprised he's this popular actually. But it might just be me being more inclined to leave out riders who I think are washed-up. It took me some time to realize that Gaudu might not be that washed-up though. Rather late inclusion, but when looking more into it, I thought he would be good value. There are a lot of good options in the 200-300 range, but not many who is only slightly more than a year removed from a strong 6th in the Vuelta and who should be capable of replicating that kind of form throughout much of the season when he's not hampered by all sorts of issues. He even did that at the start of 2025. It does seem like issues are never far away when it comes to Gaudu however, but even with issues, he usually scores 700+ points.
VAN EETVELT Lennert 302 (68 picks)
NORDHAGEN Jørgen 293 (22 picks) - I might keep picking him until he's won the Tour or something. At least for now I see no reason to stop. His illness in the first part of the season seems to have pushed him slightly under the radar, which is good for me and the 21 others who still have faith.
LAPORTE Christophe 273 (59 picks)
COSNEFROY Benoit 268 (64 picks) - I'm actually not as convinced as many others seem to be. It's a bit of a red flag how UAE apparently was the only team interested. The injury-riddled season fills me with a bit of doubt. But anyone who is signed to UAE specifically for farming non-WT races has to be picked, just in case.
RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos 262 (71 picks)
WIDAR Jarno 245 (69 picks)
LAFAY Victor 215 (6 picks) - It's a bit strange how Lafay is so rare when every man and his dog has picked Cosnefroy. Lafay is looking like the pro conti version of Cosnefroy, kinda. Without the sprint, but better climber. Yeah, I get that the retirement thing indicates that his heart might not be fully in it, and he has had lots of injury woes too. But if you're as good as your last race, he is really good. And while he was far from the first guy on my team sheet, once I put him in his farming potential made it difficult to take him out again.
POOLE Max 215 (60 picks) - The very scary omission I mentioned a couple of days ago that might come back to haunt me. But I seemingly have more faith in the reliability of the 200+ riders I have picked instead of him, although the two guys listed below and the guy above are quite suspect as well. At least they aren't coming back from Epstein Barr virus. And having taken a deeper look at Poole's results, he maybe hasn't been quite as impressive as you'd think at first glance. Yes, he can go top 5 in some WT races or things like Burgos, but when he has really scored points in such races, it's mostly been against sub-par opposition and I think he'll mostly get the full WT leader calendar against the big boys. And yes, many riders have come back from EBV after half a year with no problems, and Poole's Strava indicates that he is doing the full giga volume build-up despite no news about him. And yes, if you extrapolate his seasons to date, he should be scoring around 800 points. But sometimes you just gotta send it.
VLASOV Aleksandr 209 (28 picks) - A bit like with Gaudu, I initially decided he was washed-up and kinda discarded him. But after thinking a bit more about how guys like Arensman and Hindley were good picks for Salvarani last year, and how my Riccitello-ish picks don't always work out, I decided to give him a chance. He's only 29 after all. And while he suffered some illness at times last year, I think his lack of results was mostly down to just having a bit of an off-year. Which isn't super reassuring, but I decided I couldn't afford to miss out on his points potential. Someone going from 1000 to 200 points can't be that bad of a pick in any case, and judging from PCS he might get Paris-Nice all to himself as every other Red Bull seems to be at Tirreno. Let's just hope for good weather. The only thing he seems to care about on his Instagram is how the weather is.
ASGREEN Kasper 206 (3 picks) - Yes, I know. Leaving out Poole and picking Asgreen. I don't blame you for calling me crazy. In my defense, I would have to downgrade one of my other picks too if I was to make the switch. But I'm kinda liking this pick. He's got the Danish thing going for him, and could very well win the buffed-up TT NC. And he always seem to score well in the NC road race too. But the main thing is how he completely missed out on the classics and then was knackered after two GTs in a row last year. He's only 30, and his 2024 Tour and 2025 Giro shows that he still has his incredible rouleur ability. He is targeting the cobbles, the Tour and the WC ITT which he has already recon-ed. And he said he's doing 'the full Tour de France build-up', which hopefully means one or two of the juicy 2.Ps French stage races in late May that EF are down to ride. Later he should either have Renewi or the new farmy US 2.Ps stage race as WC build-up, which could also be scoring opportunities.
FOLDAGER Anders 203 (5 picks) - With
@MADRAZO and Devil's Elbow, I'm in quite the good company when it comes to picking this guy! And my reasoning is quite similar to what DE said. Foldager is aiming to start the season like thunder and lightning, as they say in Denmark, in order to get points on the board early. And he will spend the season doing quite a lot of farming apparently, not riding a GT and trying more suitable races than the bunch sprints he ended up doing a lot of last year. He's also got the Dane thing with the easy NC points and easy Tour of Denmark points. While he might not be the most obvious or best pick on paper, I just decided early on that I was gonna take a punt on him and left him in there.
BRENNER Marco 191 (9 picks) - I really wanted to pick him. On occasion during the last two seasons, he has shown some glimpses of the great rider he was as a junior, and I still think he has a lot of development left in him. And as with Foldager, Brenner has asked not to ride a GT this year and to be allowed to focus on getting results. And he's even doing the Tour Down Under! But there are some lingering doubts which made me not pick him in place of the riders I have, although he might well have still been in my team if the puzzle pieces had fallen slightly differently. He seems to have had some difficulties with processing his Giro crash mentally, and mentioned how he DNFed in Luxembourg when the stage got wet and tricky, despite his great form there. And consistency has never really been his thing anyway. He seems like a very nice guy though and I'm hoping he does well, but maybe not too well this year, please?
DUNBAR Edward 167 (14 picks) - Sigh. Returning to my team after the disaster that was last year. I even contemplated picking him in 2024 when he was even more expensive. Thank God I at least waited one year. On paper, he should absolutely tear up a lot of the races he does with Q36.5, and he even has top 10 potential in the Giro. But as someone mentioned in this thread, with Dunbar you just know you're signing up for crashes and mishaps. If he misses out on some easy 2.Ps GC podium points because of desert crosswind again, I'll be fuming.
PAGE Hugo 155 (4 picks) - This is a pleasant surprise! Thought he would be more popular. Okay, not all great lead-out riders do well when transitioning back to sprinting, but Page hasn't been stuck in that role for too long, and will be the main guy for all sorts of French cup races at Cofidis. A very typical me pick, I guess. And judging by the races to which Cofidis have been added on PCS lately, they seem to be going full-on farm mode. Maybe I should have taken a look at Meehan as well, like Salvarani did.
ZINGLE Axel 155 (65 picks)
DECOMBLE Maxime 152 (35 picks) - He might never be a great climber, but his time trial and climbing combo is excellent for a lot of the non-WT races that FDJ do. And his strength and nous in hilly terrain will serve him very well. That U23 Paris-Tours win was great. Lenny and Romain both scored a lot of points in their neo-seasons with FDJ as second-year U23s, and Decomble could well follow suit.
DE KLEIJN Arvid 134 (22 picks) - When
@Kazistuta was talking about over-the-hill sprinters, I was for sure thinking that De Kleijn was in their team. But apparently Kazistuta went with the
really over-the-hill sprinters instead (okay, Ackermann could still be decent). So I'm left with the not-so-over-the-hill ones like De Kleijn. He seemed back to his best in Langkawi, and has said he still sees himself on an upwards trajectory in terms of ability. So he should at least be back to his pre-2025 level, which was pretty good points-wise.
TORRES ARIAS Pablo 130 (34 picks) - With 34 picks, he seems to have lost a lot of backers since last year. I don't dare to give up quite yet, although I'm still weary of the potential of him just becoming a new Arrieta like someone mentioned in last year's thread. I know, it's a bit crazy to say when he just turned 20 two months ago! Torres has said in an interview that he wants to get more results this year and has worked on his explosivity. Instead of one race where he scores well, maybe this time he can at least do three?
HAGENES Per Strand 106 (36 picks) - Late inclusion, as I struggled to find news about him. But his local newspaper recently had a story on him. It was behind a paywall, and as the miser I am, I refused to pay the 1 NOK required to read it (special first-month offer). But the headline said he's back after his illness and is feeling great, which was enough for me.
BURATTI Nicolo 102 (2 picks) - I referred to him in a pre-reveal post. Really, really wanted to take him, but in the end I played it safer. It could be wishful thinking on my part, but there is a scenario in which Buratti does a Canola. And I'm a bit jealous of
@SafeBet who has him in their team.
ALVAREZ MARTINEZ Hector 96 (7 picks) - He was never far from my team either, but I could never find a spot for him. I'm a huge believer though, and I think he can score well from guest appearances already this year, a bit like Söderqvist did. Somewhat surprised that Alvarez wasn't promoted, but maybe his injury led to him not quite showing enough last year.
HOBBS Noah 90 (34 picks) - I've seen some skepticism about his opportunities, but I don't really see any of Mihkels, VDB or Lamperti as proper bunch sprinters. Hobbs should have plenty of freedom and support and might even get lead-outs from some of those guys. Now, will he score a lot of points? Not so sure. He might end up just sprinting in some stage races and not having the durability for most one-dayers yet. But he has seemed like the best U23 sprinter ever since he graduated from juniors, so I'm picking him just in case he really pops off.
REMIJN Senna 52 (37 picks) - Maybe I didn't quite expect him to be this popular. He has been a little bit under the radar I'd say, at least in terms of media exposure. But I guess many players do their homework for the CQ game nowadays! His results speak for themselves, and he should have plenty of opportunity to look for more of them in all sorts of .1 and .Ps races. Would have ideally liked him to focus less on cyclo-cross though. I think it was DE who pointed out it's not going so well there at the moment.
KOCKELMANN Mathieu 51 (12 picks) - The new 2nd or 3rd sprinter at Lotto for 51 points? Yes please! Even better when he's only picked 12 times. I thought Kockelmann would be significantly more popular. Especially considering he's the same age as the 34-times-picked Hobbs, cheaper, rides for a much more advantageous team, looks more durable and has almost equally impressive results in 2025 (despite losing to the Brit a couple of times).
KRON Andreas Lorentz 50 (38 picks)
KRIJNSEN Jelte 45 (19 picks) - I am not impressed by Jayco's signings of the ageing Capiot and De Bondt, so I think Krijnsen will be important in the aforementioned points farming at Jayco. And I think with all his bad luck in 2025, his 45 points are nowhere near representative for his level, even if I also doubt he will quite reach the almost 500 he scored the year before.
DOCKX Aaron 17 (2 picks) - Now here is an Alpecin youngster who actually has gone under the radar! Anyone who can ride for the podium at U23 Roubaix (2025) before crashing and who can also beat Pellizzari and Nordhagen at a mountain top finish (Friuli 2024) with a straight-from-Finestre-record Pablo Torres half a minute back has something special. Let's hope we can see it more often in 2026. In the big U23 stage races in 2025 he was mostly a domestique for Widar, which I guess has contributed to his rarity. I'm excited to follow Dockx this season. Now if he can just get off that field before he breaks something ...
CARR Simon 15 (14 picks) - Have to admit I didn't quite open my eyes to him as a potentially good CQ pick until PCS listed him for all sorts of farmy races a few days ago. But even with the question marks about his extreme lack of consistency during his career so far, he is a more enticing pick than most alternatives in this price range. At least he seemed to be back from his big injury last year before he got ill at the Vuelta.
FAURE PROST Alexy 15 (7 picks) - My least confident pick, but I couldn't find anyone more tempting at this cost and a reshuffle higher up in the price range didn't give me a more satisfying outcome either. And Jakobsen was totally out of the question and Williams is unlikely to race in a long time. So Faure Prost it is. At least he says he is feeling back to normal again after two years of health and fitness struggles, and his ceiling is enormous based on how he was hanging with Del Toro as an U23. I just have serious doubts he will reach that ceiling anytime soon, or ever.
SANCHEZ MAYO Pelayo 5 (46 picks) - He seems to believe that he is over the various issues which disrupted his season. Although I'm not sure he will be back to his best immediately, he's much more worthy of a punt than the likes of Jakobsen when it comes to near-zero-point riders. Agostinacchio is interesting though, but probably too early. And while I had Dinham in my team at some point, I wasn't too fussed about him when I realised I could afford to upgrade him to Krijnsen.
Phew.
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