The 2026 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[del1962]

TDU team

Bjerg
Lamperti
L'Hote
Pithie
Tuckwell

Oops missed Van Eetvelt

 

[ingsve]

KRON Andreas: Both?

Kron for sprints you mean? Unless he gets dropped it will be Blikra for the sprints.

 

[tobydawq]

Kron for sprints you mean? Unless he gets dropped it will be Blikra for the sprints.

I think Kron will go for GC (definitely not sprints, though).

 

[RedheadDane]

The only Dane in TDU I don't have is Bjerg.
Though, I do have his wife ove in the women's game

I'm just gonna hope Lund snatches up a few good results in the sprints...

Hey, @Shakes, just out of curiosity; how far ahead does the Upcoming Races list go?
It makes sense that it's not just "Any race that has at least one selected rider on the (preliminary) startlist." Would be crazy-long in that case.

 

[Kazistuta]

O’Connor, Van Eetvelt, Brenner, Kron, Dinham, Lamperti, Taminiaux and Bjerg for me. Not really expecting anything from Bjerg (a prologue on road bikes is hardly his kind of TT), but otherwise it’s a juicy-looking lineup with two riders doing the sprints (and Lamperti should like the final stage too) and the other five all with the potential for at least some GC points. If the startlists of the three Spanish races are at least somewhat favourable, a top-10 on the week could be a realistic target.

Uh, the start of the season, where hope springs eternal😉 I think your best shots are rather popular picks, which makes a top30 more likely, and I think the best teams after week 1 will be the few Brennan teams.

 

[Squire]

So Poole has been interviewed (by Cyclingnews) for the first time since his illness. He sounds extremely confident and feels he is completely recovered. I might have to look towards next year's game instead.

PITHIE Laurence: Contest the sprints please.

He will be on lead-out duty for Van Poppel. But he has been 1st and 3rd in the Cadel race in the past two editions, so that is definitely a juicy opportunity for him if Van Poppel is dropped (which is the likeliest outcome).

The only Dane in TDU I don't have is Bjerg.

You keep leaving out the Danes who will actually be good picks.

I think the best teams after week 1 will be the few Brennan teams.

I know he's good, and I'm a bit scared of him for this game after reading everyone's reasonings for picking him, but surely he doesn't survive two stage finales with 3.5 km climbs at 7% versus actual climbers? One of them with a 10% stretch. And in January, too. Is that what you are suggesting? Now the Cadel race seems like a good race for him, but that's not the TDU week.

In other news ( @skidmark ), CQ have an update out already! So we will get our usual Aussie nats week 1 update this time.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I think your best shots are rather popular picks, which makes a top30 more likely, and I think the best teams after week 1 will be the few Brennan teams.

There are barely any GC options picked more than once who I don't have, and I think I can beat at least some of the Brennan teams so long as he doesn't finish high on GC in addition to the inevitable haul of stage points. And considering that Sagan never did a GC here, it would be rather impressive if the quote unquote new Sagan did so on his first attempt. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm odds on for a top-10 but between 20th and 30th would be an underperformance in my view.

 

[Shakes]

The only Dane in TDU I don't have is Bjerg.
Though, I do have his wife ove in the women's game

I'm just gonna hope Lund snatches up a few good results in the sprints...

Hey, @Shakes, just out of curiosity; how far ahead does the Upcoming Races list go?
It makes sense that it's not just "Any race that has at least one selected rider on the (preliminary) startlist." Would be crazy-long in that case.

Currently it takes everything that is on PCS. So no limit currently. When it gets annoying I can limit it.

 

[Earns1985]

Currently it takes everything that is on PCS. So no limit currently. When it gets annoying I can limit it.

Right now, the last race listed in the overview is the Tour of Oman, which takes place in a bit less than a month.

There are defenitly already riders scheduled in the PCS startlists at later races, so I would assume that this limit already exists now.
I think, all races in the upcoming month (so as it seems to be now) is basically a good limit. But let´s see, how big this list will look, when all startlists are complete.
Could then make sense to have first a list of races and when you click on these to receive then the riders for this race. But for now it looks good!

 

[RedheadDane]

Currently it takes everything that is on PCS. So no limit currently. When it gets annoying I can limit it.

This? Without doing any specifications?

Upcoming races

List of upcoming races. Next races are Vuelta al Táchira en Bicicleta, National Championships Thailand WJ - ITT and National Championships Thailand WU - ITT.

www.procyclingstats.com

So for example obviously none of us have selected women for this game.
Well... I would hope.

 

[Squire]

I know he's good, and I'm a bit scared of him for this game after reading everyone's reasonings for picking him, but surely he doesn't survive two stage finales with 3.5 km climbs at 7% versus actual climbers? One of them with a 10% stretch. And in January, too. Is that what you are suggesting? Now the Cadel race seems like a good race for him, but that's not the TDU week.

Okay, let me amend my skepticism a bit. Welsford got 207 points in TDU last year, which is more than what you get for 2nd in GC. So Brennan teams might indeed be high up there without him suddenly becoming a climber. There are three teams with both Brennan and O'Connor as far as I can tell. Then there's one Vine team, two Plapp teams (one with O'Connor and Welsford as well and the other with FFB as well), there's one O'Connor + FFB team, and there's me with Buitrago and O'Connor. The three 1.1 races in Spain might have some impact too.

Currently it takes everything that is on PCS. So no limit currently. When it gets annoying I can limit it.

Could a solution be one of those 'spoiler'-like expansion thingies for each race on that list? Don't know what you call that feature.

Also, unless I'm in the minority here, it would be nice if the default sorting when viewing teams would be the cost of riders, and not points scored this season. I guess it's fine for now to see who actually has some riders who have scored, but eventually when every rider has some points it would be much easier to get a quick grasp of someone's team if the riders are sorted in the 'standard' way from the spreadsheet, without having to click that header for each team.

 

[Shakes]

This? Without doing any specifications?

Upcoming races

List of upcoming races. Next races are Vuelta al Táchira en Bicicleta, National Championships Thailand WJ - ITT and National Championships Thailand WU - ITT.

www.procyclingstats.com

So for example obviously none of us have selected women for this game.
Well... I would hope.

Yes that page. Last I see on CQManager is Tour of Oman. Which is also one of last on that page. Just to state again: Only races appear when someone has a rider of their team competing. With the disclaimer that rider must be mapped properly, in case you see a rider somewhere else that's not on CQManager drop a post here. Then mapping is wrong as unfortunately it depends on naming at PCS. Any inconsistency or change there and it drops off.

 

[Shakes]

Okay, let me amend my skepticism a bit. Welsford got 207 points in TDU last year, which is more than what you get for 2nd in GC. So Brennan teams might indeed be high up there without him suddenly becoming a climber. There are three teams with both Brennan and O'Connor as far as I can tell. Then there's one Vine team, two Plapp teams (one with O'Connor and Welsford as well and the other with FFB as well), there's one O'Connor + FFB team, and there's me with Buitrago and O'Connor. The three 1.1 races in Spain might have some impact too.


Could a solution be one of those 'spoiler'-like expansion thingies for each race on that list? Don't know what you call that feature.

Also, unless I'm in the minority here, it would be nice if the default sorting when viewing teams would be the cost of riders, and not points scored this season. I guess it's fine for now to see who actually has some riders who have scored, but eventually when every rider has some points it would be much easier to get a quick grasp of someone's team if the riders are sorted in the 'standard' way from the spreadsheet, without having to click that header for each team.

I'll have a look in the future at the 'expand' button on the line for each race. That will cost more time so parking it for now but I agree collapsing the rows would be a nice feature. Although, I was happy to see Pune Grand Tour and the riders in one glance. That one cheers me up.

 

[Shakes]

I'll have a look in the future at the 'expand' button on the line for each race. That will cost more time so parking it for now but I agree collapsing the rows would be a nice feature. Although, I was happy to see Pune Grand Tour and the riders in one glance. That one cheers me up.

Actually was quite easy. Not pretty but done:

Team Ranking — CQ Game

www.cqmanager.com

Now I am stopping with this page as its distracting.

 

[Earns1985]

Vingegaard scheduled for UAE and Catalunya, so the two WT stage races, where Evenepoel is also scheduled for in the spring.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

And Brennan doing the Vuelta alongside Van Aert, when the latter has been announced as co-leader. Not a great day for the 1000+ picks.

 

[Squire]

Vingegaard scheduled for UAE and Catalunya, so the two WT stage races, where Evenepoel is also scheduled for in the spring.

Those two races are getting more and more stacked by the day. Giro field also looking pretty amazing. Except Lidl-Trek and Almeida, the teams seem to be neglecting Paris-Nice a little bit. Some second-tier climbers bringing a good TTT team there could be in for a good result.

By the way, nobody seems to have been tempted by Jardi Van der Lee. Wonder if anybody else had a look at him? Was said to have amazing power numbers, and finally started to show something at the end of last season.

And Brennan doing the Vuelta alongside Van Aert, when the latter has been announced as co-leader. Not a great day for the 1000+ picks.

Getting the Kooij treatment.

 

[Panda Claws]

, a top-10 on the week could be a realistic target.

Strong words

 

[Earns1985]

And Brennan doing the Vuelta alongside Van Aert, when the latter has been announced as co-leader. Not a great day for the 1000+ picks.

Brennan will also ride 4 out of his 7 spring one day races together with van Aert. We'll see, what this will mean point wise..

 

[tobydawq]

Brennan will also ride 4 out of his 7 spring one day races together with van Aert. We'll see, what this will mean point wise..

And it doesn't look like Visma will do the Cadel race

They realise that they will have to do it the next two years then? How annoying, man...

 

[Devil's Elbow]

And it doesn't look like Visma will do the Cadel race

They realise that they will have to do it the next two years then? How annoying, man...

I'd completely missed that omission in the Visma press releases, that's a big chunk of points off the board. With such a bad news day for the expensive picks, I'm almost expecting Alpecin to announce that Philipsen has been hit by a car or something...

 

[bminchow]

My team for Tour Down Under. 11 riders, so i expect great return.

But as i recall for this game it's not a great sign when you have so many riders starting in Australia as then tend to struggle a bit after return to Europe.

BUSATTO Francesco

DINHAM Matthew

GAUTHERAT Pierre

HAGENES Per Strand

O'CONNOR Ben

PITHIE Laurence

RACCAGNI NOVIERO Andrea

TUCKWELL Luke

VAN EETVELT Lennert

VAN UDEN Casper

ZANA Filippo

Oy, but it is great for getting a start on the green jersey. I did this for a couple of years because i liked seeing my name on one of the leader boards. Gave it up this year.

 

[bminchow]

Kron, Van Eetvelt, Brennan, Pithie and Dinham for me.

Not too many riders, but a very good handful.

Yes, only 5, but a great 5 to have I would say. Even Kron could do quite well here.

 

[search]

I'd completely missed that omission in the Visma press releases, that's a big chunk of points off the board.

no Surf Crap Classic either, by the look of it, which somehow got a 1.pro promotion.

 

[skidmark]

Update #1: Mason07 builds a winning team in Australia

The 2026 CQ game is underway, and this year CQ has decided not to wait until the TDU to release it's first download, so we are getting our first update after the Aussie nationals! Between that and the other minor races that have taken place, only 33 riders have scored any CQ points so far in 2026, but sadly no one in this game picked all of them, so a number of us still have at least one rider who hasn't scored yet this season. Disappointing, I know, but the season is long, so have patience. But 57 of our 91 participants scored some points this week, so we have an update that many will be interested in.

This Week's Top Scorers

Team	Points
Mason07	147
armchairclimber	118
karaev	104
Pantani4ever	85
Rufs	79

Game newcomer Mason07 takes the first week with an Aussie-deep team - although no one had new Aussie champ Patrick Eddy, Mason07 was one of the two teams with runner up Luke Plapp (69 points between road and TT races). As well, Mason07 had unique pick Kell O'Brien (34 points), Ben O'Connor (30 points, 28 teams), and Hamish Mckenzie (14, 8). One may be forgiven for wondering if this was the Irish & Scottish combined national championships looking at these names.

Runner up on the week armchairclimber is 29 points back, having a different mix of riders in Oscar Chamberlain (61, 4), Matthew Dinham (35, 33), Rudy Porter (8, 1) as well as Mckenzie. Karaev rounds out the podium with Plapp and Dinham providing all the points.

We usually have the 'high movers' rankings in the updates as well, but as this is the first week and all teams started the week tied, this will begin next week.

Green Jersey Competition

For new participants, or those who need a refresher, we have a points competition in the CQ game as well - basically, points are given out weekly based on placings on the week, just like stages in a stage race. Often this leads to a different leader in this classification than the overall, as teams with rare riders that score in big chunks can finish high in this. Overall winner in 2025 Salvarani unsportingly took this competition too, but we will see what this year holds!

Points are allocated based on a 2010s TDF flat stage finishing point allocation, that is 45 points for the weekly win, 35 for 2nd, 30 for third, and then 26-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 down to 15th. Points for teams tied in placing are given based on the average points for the spots tied, so if two teams tied for first, they'd get 40 points each, or if 3 teams were tied for 13th they'd each get 4 points each. The lowest I'll give out is 1 point, so if 10 teams tied for 15th they'd each get 1 point. Clear as mud? Great. Here are the rankings:

Rank	Team	Total
1	Mason07	45
2	armchairclimber	35
3	karaev	30
4	Pantani4ever	26
5	Rufs	22

Below this, 10 teams tied for 6th-15th so they all got 11 points.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	Mason07	147
2	(-1)	armchairclimber	118
3	(-2)	karaev	104
4	(-3)	Pantani4ever	85
5	(-4)	Rufs	79
6	(-5)	Devils_Elbow	65
6	(-5)	Earns1985	65
6	(-5)	HoudiniCycling	65
6	(-5)	LosBrolin	65
6	(-5)	NorthAmericanScum	65
6	(-5)	Object	65
6	(-5)	postmanhat	65
6	(-5)	R_O_Shipman	65
6	(-5)	repre	65
6	(-5)	the asian	65

Actually the top 15 overall due to ties (a number of teams had O'Connor and Dinham). Same as the weekly ranking, so little else to add here.

This upcoming week there are only minor races (CQ lists the Vuelta Tachira and Thai nationals), with the Tour Down Under starting next week as well as the illustrious Pune Grand Tour. So I doubt there will be an update until two weeks from now, but we're off to a start at least!

spreadsheet link