The 2026 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[armchairclimber]

Lamperti breaks even in March with 235 pts, which does bode well for one of my rarer picks. Very happy with that.

I have just 5 riders yet to score and Bisiaux should break his duck this week. One would hope.

Not a great squad for he one dayers, but I am quite hopeful that my Catalunya guys will notch up a fair few. We'll see tomorrow I guess.

 

[RedheadDane]

I have 10 riders yet to score, though Svarre and Wandahl are both in Catalunya.
Three of those 10 riders are yet to start their seasons, Weis being set to start his in France this weekend.

 

[Squire]

But the MTF might make me regret not picking Sepulveda instead, who I also strongly considered

 

[Squire]

Lafay being removed from startlists again. Starting to think we won't see him again.

Almost all my 'I know he's frustrating but imagine the upside' picks are conforming to expectations. I started listing them here, but realised that would mean listing more than half my team, so I stopped.

 

[postmanhat]

Happy to be proved wrong by Berckmoes He could have a decent spring, despite his schedule.

Catalunya

Oof. With such a strong startlist, this might not go well for those of us with underperforming riders:

O'Connor
Gaudu
Rodriguez
Gee
Steinhauser
L'Hote

Hoping Gee's mediocre performance on Thursday was just shaking off the cobwebs. He's probably my main differentiator and there's some longer climbs here which should suit him. Given their year so far, a top ten from the first three would be a big bonus.

This couldn't be going more badly. Gee and Gaudu out of it on the first day. Steinhauser seems to have a bug. All my hopes now on O'Connor, which might not make for comfortable viewing?

E3

Hagenes
Laporte
Zingle
Mohoric
Berckmoes

Pretty decent line-up. Had hoped they might parachute Brennan in to compensate for missing MSR, otherwise he's going into classics week with very few race days.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

My team for e3

Laporte
Zingle
Van barle
Fiorelli
Trarnik
Gachignard

Hoping for good performances in all 3 races tomorrow

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Hagenes finally doesn't fumble his points in the last couple kilometers. Hooray.

 

[RedheadDane]

Hello, Valgren into profit!

Meanwhile, BHL not bringing Weis to the French races this weekend, but instead some random Swede!

 

[Ilmaestro99]

This game is just making following the sport more depressing. I will try to pay less attention to it. All my riders are bad.

 

[armchairclimber]

This game is just making following the sport more depressing. I will try to pay less attention to it. All my riders are bad.

If you remove expectation, and even hope, it makes it easier. Even the good riders have bad times. Take Pidcock yesterday ... and for my team, Paul Double, who I had expected to be up nearer the front.
The best part for me is having young riders who I wouldn't otherwise have paid much attention to. And with cheap riders, even the 5 point scores are a tiny ray of sunshine.

 

[ingsve]

For anyone who has been wondering about Hagenes illnesses. He revealed on a recent Norwegian podcast that he was suffering from chronically narrow sinuses which made him get sick over and over without recovering. He has now operated on his sinuses to make them wider so hopefully that means all his prolonged illnesses are a thing of the past.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

For anyone who has been wondering about Hagenes illnesses. He revealed on a recent Norwegian podcast that he was suffering from chronically narrow sinuses which made him get sick over and over without recovering. He has now operated on his sinuses to make them wider so hopefully that means all his prolonged illnesses are a thing of the past.

I assume he hasn't done it himself.

 

[ingsve]

I assume he hasn't done it himself.

Ya, that sentence is a bit swenglish...

 

[Earns1985]

Yesterday had actually been the first day of the season, where O'Connor and Mas didn't perform worse than I expected..

 

[Panda Claws]

Regretting not picking HAGENES Per Strand now.

 

[Squire]

Yesterday had actually been the first day of the season, where O'Connor and Mas didn't perform worse than I expected..

And now he's way down the mountain ...

Buitrago also dropped early, so my two guys in and around the top 10 are blown away.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

And now he's way down the mountain ...

Buitrago also dropped early, so my two guys in and around the top 10 are blown away.

Could be worse. You could have spent 2000 points on a guy relegated to being a helper for Lipowitz.

 

[tobydawq]

Of course my rare pick, Alex Kirsch (who only cost 50 points or thereabouts) has been sidelined for the cobbled classics - the races where I had hoped he could obtain some top 20 placings to make him worth the pick.

This is a bizarre season. Everything is going wrong.

 

[YellowSocks]

Could be worse. You could have spent 2000 points on a guy relegated to being a helper for Lipowitz.

Well, I must admit, that was my diabolical plan. That’s why I picked Lipowitz.
However I’m concerned. I am afraid he doesn't have the legs, let alone the mindset.

 

[Salvarani]

This is a bizarre season. Everything is going wrong.

I feel like no matter what strategy and picks one has opted for, it has been very hit or miss for most teams.

Snail pace scoring-wise.

 

[Squire]

I feel like no matter what strategy and picks one has opted for, it has been very hit or miss for most teams.

Snail pace scoring-wise.

Yeah, with the amount of stuff going wrong all the time for a lot of game-relevant riders, this truly feels like a very out-of-the-ordinary season. With that in mind, it's incredible that the scores actually aren't bad if you look at EITB's overview of post-MSR numbers.

A lot of the riders actually scoring are the ones that were either too expensive for the game, or too risky, like Gronewegen who would be an incredible pick so far. Sprinkled with a few bright spots among game-relevant riders, like DFM, Steinhauser, Kron, Zana and Tiberi.

 

[ingsve]

A lot of the riders actually scoring are the ones that were either too expensive for the game, or too risky, like Gronewegen who would be an incredible pick so far. Sprinkled with a few bright spots among game-relevant riders, like DFM, Steinhauser, Kron, Zana and Tiberi.

Ya, I was looking at the Catalunya GC and the main impactful result is Evenepoel for those that have him but currently the best ranked player with Evenepoel is 30th but this should bring that group higher in the rankings. Other than that the riders in the top 10 only have a handful owners that are further down the rankings or Uijtdebroeks that is mainly owned by Slowclimber who leads the rankings as well as a few more further down.

So even with a highly stacked GC roster it will have minimal impact on the game compared to how it could have been.

 

[jsem94]

I know I shouldn't be complaining being in the top 3, but I can't believe I was bearish on Laporte.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

Yeah, with the amount of stuff going wrong all the time for a lot of game-relevant riders, this truly feels like a very out-of-the-ordinary season. With that in mind, it's incredible that the scores actually aren't bad if you look at EITB's overview of post-MSR numbers.

A lot of the riders actually scoring are the ones that were either too expensive for the game, or too risky, like Gronewegen who would be an incredible pick so far. Sprinkled with a few bright spots among game-relevant riders, like DFM, Steinhauser, Kron, Zana and Tiberi.

The scores after MSR aren't forward looking at all. It doesn't know whether all the riders are healthy and will continue to score or if they are all going to get shut down in a couple weeks (covid style). A big reason why we know this season sucks is because of the amount of guys that are injured/out for a while and won't score. There's also reason to believe guys like Steinhauser and Tiberi won't sustain their scoring over an entire season. I'd be shocked if we are still on a high pace by the end of the classics season. But also can't discount Seixas and Laporte being awesome and providing basically everybody with a solid foundation.