The 2026 CQ Ranking Manager Thread

[postmanhat]

After Gee's disastrous Catalunya. Brennan's illness means the crucial classics look like being a wipeout. My two most expensive picks and main differentiators are currently dead weights.

Meanwhile, the Evenepoel, Ujitderberoeks, Tiberi, maybe even Landa teams look like having a good week. Hoping that Hagenes and Berckmoes can get a decent result tomorrow. Have almost given up on Mohoric.

RVV

Brennan
Laporte
Hagenes
Mohoric
Van Gestel
Berckmoes
Cosnefroy
Tratnik

 

[YellowSocks]

So the list of those on three or more teams that have yet to start scoring (as of last Sunday) looks like this:

POOLE Max 60
WILLIAMS Stephen 51
SANCHEZ MAYO Pelayo 46
NYS Thibau 46
BEHRENS Niklas 33
BLACKMORE Joseph 31
AGOSTINACCHIO Mattia 29
DE KLEIJN Arvid 22
PICKERING Finlay 12
HAYTER Leo 11
ANDERSEN Noah Lindholm Møller 11
RYAN Archie 9
RODRIGUEZ GARAICOECHEA Oscar 7
LAFAY Victor 6
BENNETT Sam 6
HUDSON Harry 6
STORM Theodor 6
RAMIREZ TORRES Mateo Pablo 5
VALJAVEC Erazem 5
AGOSTINACCHIO Filippo 3
SCHOONVELDE Gijs 3
GELDERS Gil 3
ORINS Robin 3
DE VYLDER Lindsay 3
KAMP Alexander 3
CHARRET Camille 3

12 of us have the top 5 on that list


The most expensive yet to break a duck are:

KOOIJ Olav	1182 pt cost	2 teams​
BENOOT Tiesj	605	2​
BARRE Louis	553	2​
NYS Thibau	423	46​
FREDHEIm Stian	336	2​
BLACKMORE Joseph	277	31​
MAIRE Adrien	246	1​
POOLE Max	215	60​
RYAN Archie	215	9​
LAFAY Victor	215	6​
HAJEK Alexander	198	1​
FOSS Tobias Svendsen	196	2​
BENNETT Sam	183	6​
GUERNALEC Thibault	161	1​
CONCA Filippo	150	1​
WOODS Michael	141	1​
DE KLEIJN Arvid	134	22​
JUNGELS Bob	121	1​
PICKERING Finlay	112	12​
DALBY Simon	107	1​
PRIDAL Tomas	105	1​
HELLEMOSE Asbjørn	103	1​
HANSEN Alexander Arnt	100	1​

And those with most riders that have given us nothing yet are:

	riders on 0	overall position
latinos	15​	82​
vickyriso	14​	76​
Leadbelly	13​	78​
Berflamand	11​	40​
Armchair_cyclist	11​	44​
Jon_Ezeitza	11​	56​
search	11​	93​
kingcycling	10​	75​
Samu_Cuenca	10​	91​
18_Valve	9​	55​
AlTarf_ua	9​	83​

There is a whole bunch of teams still waiting on 8 riders, but one of them is Rufs, in 4th place.

And those that have spent >1000 points of their budget on which they have seen no return (yet):

	number of non-scor	position in game	cost of non-scorers
Yellow_Knight	7​	60​	1732​
AlTarf_ua	9​	83​	1509​
Amis_Velo	7​	88​	1283​
DJ_Sprtsch	8​	81​	1279​
latinos	15​	82​	1249​
Josedin	6​	94​	1238​
Armchair_cyclist	11​	44​	1191​
Earns1985	6​	26​	1145​
DJW	7​	61​	1081​
SafeBet	8​	21​	1080​
Wvv	8​	57​	1080​
MADRAZO	7​	62​	1080​
Total_Package	6​	32​	1064​
Qazaqstan	4​	37​	1049​

@LouisBarré, hope you're reading this post right now.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

@LouisBarré, hope you're reading this post right now.

Sorry, but he's another one of the riders I've ruined by making a thread for them.

 

[armchairclimber]

I know you are all moaning. But, you know, some perspective. We haven't had a Lambrecht moment, thankfully.
That almost killed this game for me.

 

[YellowSocks]

Sorry, but he's another one of the riders I've ruined by making a thread for them.

Is the list of riders you've made a thread about available somewhere ?

 

[YellowSocks]

Good news: 78 points for Quinn Simmons today. On his way to being in profit one day.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Is the list of riders you've made a thread about available somewhere ?

For riders picked in this game, I think it's Barré, Haig, Skjelmose (he's done very well at times), Pelayo Sánchez, Foss and Pellizzari (he has escaped the curse so far).

 

[repre]

I know you are all moaning. But, you know, some perspective. We haven't had a Lambrecht moment, thankfully.
That almost killed this game for me.

I had Jose Fernandez in MLB fantasy. And it was worse than your case, cause it was dynasty fantasy and Fernandez was a superstar...

I was crushed that day.

 

[Squire]

Williams was of the few riders I did some research on, and he said it wasn't likely he'd even be training again before spring. Thought it was worth the gamble that he'd be fit in time for the autumn races where he could go well.

Poole is the opposite, as didn't realise his problems were ongoing?

My Williams research led me to not pick him. But it sounded like Pelayo Sanchez was kinda back, so I'm a bit surprised by him being a no-show so far.

Was humming and hawing over Poole, and when an interview with him came out shortly after the deadline where he stated he had been illness-free for months, I thought I had made the mistake of the year by not picking him. And he even looked good for a bit in the Figueira Classic. So I'm surprised he's out again. Good for my team though, so far. I'm not sure if it's been confirmed that it's still the EB virus that's bothering him. The report just said he was out with a virus again, I think. He's really not the most visible rider in social media, and his team are also really quiet.

Speaking of quiet, same goes for De Kleijn and Lafay. Of course I should have known that Lafay was likely to have some issue, because he always has, but it's a bit strange that cycling media never make any inquiries about riders being gone except that one time when Wielerflits wrote that Lafay was ill a few weeks ago.

 

[tobydawq]

17 of us (me included) with the Poole/Blackmore/Williams combo. Maybe British riders are best avoided...

You didn't pick Simon Yates?

 

[tobydawq]

After Gee's disastrous Catalunya. Brennan's illness means the crucial classics look like being a wipeout. My two most expensive picks and main differentiators are currently dead weights.

Try having Vacek who has not had any major issues and gotten his way paved by Pedersen's injury and also get a sudden chance in PN with Ayuso's injury and being present in the five-man group with Van Dijkes, Martínez and Vingegaard.

And then just not have any semblance of the level he did last year...

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

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

Better from Lipowitz's helper today. Might be worth giving him a few more leadership opportunities. Just a thought for Bora's management.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Try having Vacek who has not had any major issues and gotten his way paved by Pedersen's injury and also get a sudden chance in PN with Ayuso's injury and being present in the five-man group with Van Dijkes, Martínez and Vingegaard.

And then just not have any semblance of the level he did last year...

Vacek, I think, is the archetypal pick that a) was (at least in hindsight, but considering how divided opinion on him was going into the season maybe not just that) straight up wrong but b) is also riding way worse than could ever have been expected.

 

[tobydawq]

Vacek, I think, is the archetypal pick that a) was (at least in hindsight, but considering how divided opinion on him was going into the season maybe not just that) straight up wrong but b) is also riding way worse than could ever have been expected.

Yeah, I think I might've been a bit too hyped after rewatching the Siena stage where he single-handedly bridged to Del Toro and Wout and remembering that he didn't score much in the cobbled races last year. I thought that could combine to something magnificent, and when Pedersen crashed, it seemed that I caught a break and was in for a good ride with him.

But he has been really poor. I wouldn't be surprised if it's due to overtraining.

 

[RedheadDane]

How very nice of all my guys to finish yesterday.

How very not nice of Bora to not select Wandahl for Itzulia. Hopefully, he didn't get hurt - again - during GP Indurain. That doesn't bode well for his Giro participation...

Anyway...

Itzulia:
Cort
Kron
Øxenberg

Meanwhile, we also got some Pro-Series races coming up, (preliminary startlists):

Loire:
Breiner
Kamp
Svarre

Scheldeprijs:
Changizi
Larsen

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Thanks to Pogačar for skyrocketing me into the top 75. Unfortunately I don't have a strong line up for Itzulia so that high won't last long.

 

[EvansIsTheBest]

We've had riders single handedly carrying teams in this game before. I don't think I've seen a guy single handedly carry every team like Seixas is doing.

 

[Panda Claws]

Roglic still looking decent and I believe in him eventually dragging himself to ~1400 points and become a pretty great pick.

 

[Squire]

As per usual, from my handful of riders in Itzulia, Decomble crashed hard in stage 1 and Kockelmann probably did the same as he was the only one to finish behind Decomble.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

You shouldn't complain when you have Seixas!
But yeah. A real pity with Decomble, could maybe have finished around 20th. Let's just hope there's no bad injury.

 

[skidmark]

Update #12: Wout's Up

It was a week of classics, with the Ronde, Dwars Door, and several minor one-day races in France, Spain and Belgium offering points. No GC points for stage races, but there were some high scores coming out of it.

This Week's Top Scorers

Rank	Team	Points this week
1	Wvv	788
2	Berflamand	688
3	Basque Street Boys	609
4	karaev	533
5	Total Package	527
5	Crevaison	527

The classics-filled team of Wvv comes out on top in week 12, winning by an even 100 points over second place. Despite what may feel like a disappointing week in terms of results with a heartbreaking 2nd (again!) at DDV and finishing just off the podium in Flanders, Wout Van Aert picked up a solid 239 points for his two owners, one of which was of course Wvv. Other stars in Wvv's team included Remco Evenepoel (145 for his 12 owners at his Flanders debut), Christophe Laporte (127, 59), Laurence Pithie (112. 46) and Pierre Gautherat (85, 9).

Berflamand lands in 2nd this week, with a solid 688 as Van Aert's other owner, and having the same riders less Gautherat (and a few minor points) as Wvv. Third goes to Samu Cuenca with 609, as one of two teams bold enough to spend on Tadej Pogacar, who of course got 280 points for the win. Laporte and Pithie were also on Samu's team.

This Week's High Movers

Rank	Team	Up/down
1	Wvv	(+22)
2	Berflamand	(+20)
3	Basque Street Boys	(+14)
4	MADRAZO	(+11)
4	lil_michy	(+11)

Exactly the same order on the podium here, with all 3 teams moving up double digit spots in the overall standings.

Green Jersey Competition

Rank	Team	Total
1	slow_climber	165
2	karaev	120
3	Eyeballs Out	107
4	Rufs	101
5	peixotini	100

karaev scores 26 points for 4th on the week, leaping into the top 5 right to 2nd place, although slow climber still has a weekly win (45 points) worth of lead.

Top 10 Overall

Rank	Up/down	Team	Points
1	(-)	slow_climber	4628
2	(+4)	repre	4114
3	(+6)	karaev	4077
4	(-2)	postmanhat	4054
5	(-2)	Eyeballs Out	4050
6	(+2)	Sneekes	4042
7	(-2)	Shakes	3969
8	(+3)	Nyssinator	3953
9	(+4)	manafana	3904
10	(+2)	Hugo Koblet	3874

slow climber gains a few points on last week's runner up postmanhat, but new challengers leapfrog into the podium race with repre and karev rocketing up. They had farther to come back from though, so slow climber's lead still stands at over 500 points. Further down we have a few new entries into the top 10, with Nyssinator, manafana, and Hugo Koblet entering and Rufs, jsem94 and ingsve falling out for now.

This week... well, it's Holy Week! Itzulia is underway and takes us to Paris-Roubaix this weekend, with a few other point opportunities (Pays Loire, Scheldeprijs) along the way.

spreadsheet link

 

[the asian]

Not a bad week, staying at 19th,. But the future looks bleak with Decomble crashing hard in Itzulia and no signs of life yet from Ryan, Lafay, Williams or Blackmore.