Schrödinger's Dogs: A&D

[Robyklebt]

He did shit for Baptiste! Moral support only!!!!

[flockmastoR]

He did shit for Baptiste! Moral support only!!!!

He gave him advice and told him to push early. I guess he wanted to profit from it himself and win from being pulled by Dixon

[flockmastoR]

250k Eternal Points (28.12.2024)

Alive And Dead could reach the next milestone of 250k eternal points winning the one day race Sri Lanka Hill Race with Wolodymyr Drinfeld. The way to the first quarter of a million points:

Eternal Points: 250.095
Races: 1.478
Wins: 329
Wins in Classics: 17
Stage Race Wins: 33
Stage Race Podiums: 28
Points Classifications: 27
Mountain Classifications: 6
Youth Rider Classifications: 10
Team Classifications: 21
Division 1 Titles: 10

[flockmastoR]

December 2024

The team finished on place 7 of division 1 with 7,478 points. In 30 races the team could win 10 races (3x Fanta, 2x Firiam, 2x Drinfeld, Babai, Frucht, Krausz). For the first time since the comeback, we didn't start at the December tour in 2024. Mainly because of time issues, but we also didn't like the design. So one day races and a short stage race 5 Dias en Atacama were ridden. The stage race was successfull with 2 stage wins (Fanta, Firiam), the GC, mountain jersey (Firiam) and the team classement. With Villalba GP (Firiam), Catania-Etna (Krausz), and GP de Papeete (TTT), we could also win 3 Winter Classics.

Rider of the month
Baptiste Firiam is our rider of the month for December for winning a stage race and a offseason classic.

Transfers
Tunç Hamarat retires at the age of 39. In 294 races he could collect 2,897 points and win 6 races. His greatest success was the classic win of E3 Harelbeke. Additionally, he could win the NC in Austria and wear the Austrian jersey for some time. He mainly was an important helper for the GTs and many other races.

Tunç Hamarat, 39, 294, 6 wins, 2,897 points
Bought: 48-73-77-53-61 64.9 pave
Peak: 58-87-78-53-61 74,7 pave

[flockmastoR]

2024 - Statistics

Like last year, we want to honor the World Tour winners (Division 1). Therefore we present the bump chart (as introduced in 2022) of the 8 Division 1 winners. It shows the placement of those teams throughout the year 2024. Eight teams (Alive And Dead, Alkworld, Bugatti, Crazy Vikings, Hansa, r Taka, RideforMoney, Pokemonogatari) were able to win a Division 1 title, three teams (Alive And Dead, Alkworld, Hansa) that won a Division 1 title in 2023 could repeat that in 2024. Just three of those teams, Alive And Dead, Alkworld, and Hansa could stay in Division 1 for the whole year. Here comes my ranking of the 2024 champions:

#1 - Alive And Dead - The title hamster
Division 1 Titles: 5
Races: 334
Wins: 88
Win Percentage: 26.3%
Monuments: 0
Grand Tour Wins: 2
Stage Race Wins: 11
Avg. Rank: 5.1
Total Points Collected: 72,305
Avg. Points Per Race: 216.5
Highlights: Most World Tour wins and most World Tour GC wins

Apart from the 2 GT wins for Ferenc Krausz, no real highlight just constant scoring of points. Most World Tour wins (29) and most World Tour GC wins (8), second overal in the World Tour (unweighted) ranking. 5 division 1 titles, all won in the real cycling season underlines the impressive year for our team. Most points in 2024 and most wins amongst the division 1 champions (2nd overall). We were the only team that could win more than one Division 1 title. I guess it deserves a number 1 for 2024.

#2 - r TAKA - World Tour Dominator
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 323
Wins: 53
Win Percentage: 16.4%
Monuments: 2 (Paris-Roubaix, Milano Sanremo)
Grand Tour Wins: 2 (TOUR, VUELTA)
Stage Race Wins: 5
Avg. Rank: 15.4
Total Points Collected: 58,064
Avg. Points Per Race: 179,8
Highlights: Classic Season

Fantastic classic season for r Taka, winning 2 monuments (PR, MSR) and many other classics (Amstel Gold Race, Gent-Wevelgem, Tre Valli Varesine, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Classic Brugge-De Panne, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad). He could also win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana with Fujiwara. The stats brought him the World Tour Win but just 1 Division 1 title in the offseason isn't enough to put him on number 1 for 2024.

#3 - Hansa - Grand Tour Master
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 339
Wins: 37
Win Percentage: 10.9%
Stage Race Wins: 14
Monuments: 0
Grand Tour Wins: 3
Avg. Rank: 6.0
Total Points Collected: 70,871
Avg. Points Per Race: 209.1
Highlights: GT Triple with Villiger

Big GT season for Hansa with Max Villiger. He was winning all three GTs. While having a strong Huber and a strong team, he wasn't always the clear winner and managed to beat Fujiwara in the same field at the Giro. With 7 World Tour GC wins he underlines his status as stage race team rather than scoring big at one day races, but he could also win the classics in Quebec and San Sebastian.

#4 - Alkworld - Allrounder and stage hunter
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 310
Wins: 87
Win Percentage: 28.1%
Stage Race Wins: 8
Monuments: 0
Grand Tour Wins: 1 (VUELTA)
Avg. Rank: 4.5
Total Points Collected: 70,993
Avg. Points Per Race: 229.0
Highlights: First team to reach 1 Mio. eternal points

Alkworld with a good season, but just 1 GT win and no monument is below average for Alkworld. He did win a lot GT stages and also some important classics (Paris - Tours, Montreal, Quebec, Tre Valli Varesine, Giro dell Emilia, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad), he had the best points/race ratio in 2024 and the best average ranking.

#5 - Pokemonogatari- Fring-less class
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 343
Wins: 39
Win Percentage:11.4%
Stage Race Wins: 3
Monuments: 1 (LBL)
Grand Tour Wins: 0
Avg. Rank: 36.1
Total Points Collected: 45,408
Avg. Points Per Race: 132.4
Highlight: Winner Liège-Bastogne-Liège

He did promise a lot, attacking the eternal points record with Gustavo Fring. But soon it was clear, that he cannot go for it, the talent was sold. The title was won in the last month of the year. Biggest win was LBL, apart from that, 7 GT stages could be won. A good year for Poke, getting his overal 19th division 1 title, exaclty 3 years after his last one.

#6 - Bugatti- Non-stop racer
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 354
Wins: 75
Win Percentage: 21.2%
Stage Race Wins: 4
Monuments: 0
Grand Tour Wins: 0
Avg. Rank: 22.0
Total Points Collected: 57.474
Avg. Points Per Race: 162.4

Bugatti with most races in 2024, scoring constantly in stage races and classics, but without any real big wins. Brussels Cycling Classic the only classic win, but 8 podiums at classics (including Lombardia). His division 1 title was deserved but also lucky, as Black-Stars threw away his title in the second last race of the month. A small question mark remains behind the successes; the illegal practices were too far-reaching after all.

#7 - RideforMoney - Xydas abuser
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 200
Wins: 71
Win Percentage: 35.5%
Stage Race Wins: 1
Monuments: 0
Grand Tour Wins: 1 (TOUR)
Avg. Rank: 424.6
Total Points Collected: 37,533
Avg. Points Per Race: 187.7
Highlights: Domination at 18h Tour de France

Former Crazy Viking Xydas also played a role in the R4M title race. He did join the time right before the Tour de France, also adding a high points amount to the team. He was mainly the reason to scare away serious opponents and wasn't even used as a leader. Apart from that, the win percentage of 35.5% was outstanding, but the rest of the year, RideforMoney was staying mostly inactive

#8 - Crazy Vikings- Title thief
Division 1 Titles: 1
Races: 226
Wins: 48
Win Percentage:21.2%
Stage Race Wins: 4
Monuments: 0
Grand Tour Wins: 0
Avg. Rank: 40.1
Total Points Collected: 41,084
Avg. Points Per Race: 181.8
Highlight: Winning the title on the transfer market

Xydas did cover quite a lot of the incompetence of the manager, so a lot of high category stage wins could be achieved. One classic win at Cyclassics, many thrown away classic chances. Another highlight was the farce around his (un)wanted Giro inscription. In the end two very good month brought him in the position to buy the division 1 title on the transfer market, purchasing the Kingsmaker Bruno Rochet, a useless old guy with a lot of points.

The suspended
Two Division 1 champions from 2023 couldn't win a title in 2024: stevens did ride a lot in 2024 but couldn't really keep up with the success he had in 2023 and ended up as half division 1/2 team. free team quit the game and didn't ride a race in 2024.

division_winners_2024.png (212.4 KiB) Viewed 368 times

*Stage wins may differ from the in-game statistics. Our analysis includes wins in TTT as well + there might be a small issue in the Split Stats that we need to find out, NC/NM are also included

PS: Sorry Poke for not including you in the first version of the Text!

[Hansa]

r TAKA, stevens, Alkworld, Pokemonogatari, r QUICK

outsider chances: Hansa, Alive And Dead, Black-Star (nice young climber duo),

So lets compare 2024 to your prediction

r TAKA indeed could win January (not that hard to predict) pretty surprising that even with a good year taka couldnt win it more often.
Alkworld indeed was able to win the Div 1 title too, just once but still got that prediction right.
same for Pokemon saving your prediction in the last Moment even so Fring wasnt that guy, but Pokes young dynamic climber trio did the deal.

stevens was nowhere close to his past perfmormance and not able to win the Div 1 crown in 2024

r Quick thought as succesor for Freeteam in the one day domination, i guess, had some succes with winning 3 monuments and some more classics it still wasnt enough to compete for the Division 1 title.

For your outsiders:

Hansa won once was close another couple times

Alive and Dead won 5 times so i guess calling him an outsider should be counted as a miss here.

Black-Star indeed wasnt able to win but came very close multiple times, the closest in November, when he wasnt able to close it out to lose the title to Bugatti. Another 3 second places in January, February and December made him a good pick for a potential Division 1 candidate.

Now we want to hear you 2025 prediction too so we can compare that next Year with the actual result.

My predicition for 2025 are:

Pokemonogatari great team, interesting climbers experienced manager should be able to get his 20th Div 1 win.

Alkworld, not much to say here, probably the safest Pick of them all.

Alive and Dead, with Firiam you only need a decent team around him so it should be possible to get some more Division 1 wins, probably overtaking Hansa for the 4th most Div 1 titles of All time.

My other picks would be:

Black-Star, good balanced and strong team, hopefully this year he can close out on that First Division 1 win.

Stevens, finally coming back in the Division 1 fight, might be able to take one of these titles.

Tukh, good team could also ba able to take a Div 1 title early in the year (January prediciton is difficult currently with the buggy stats.

and finally,

r Quick, expected to take some wins in the classics throughout the year so should be a contender in the spring, probably wont be in contention in the GT-Tour Month.

[flockmastoR]

Drinfeld joins the 10 Wins Club

Wolodymyr WoloDri Drinfeld won todays one day fantasy race in the Philippines and achieved his 10th win in his 137th race. Compared to Oetker (last sprint strong 80-70 rider), it took him 32 races more to reach this milestone.

10 wins club

Oleksij Iwachnenko, 26 years, 57 races
Franz Schwackhöfer, 27 years, 83 races
Boaz Trakhtenbrot, 28 years, 81 races
Nikola Tesla, 28 years, 123 races
NgôBao Châu, 29 years, 67 races
Ferenc Krausz, 30 years, 101 races
August Oetker, 30 years, 105 races
Wolodymyr Drinfeld, 31 years, 132 races
Robert Oppenheimer, 32 years, 177 races
Geoffrey Hinton, 33 years, 232 races
Alexandros Karatzoglou, 33 years, 247 races

[zizou]

My other picks would be:

Take a look at the team Alpacas is building.
Really nice and young. Could have a good GT season, maybe a sprinter is missing to really go for div1

[flockmastoR]

1500. races for Alive & Dead

Yesterday, the team celebrated the 1500th race. It was a very mountainious race in Quito and Wolodymyr Drinfeld could win the race in the end. The race was a bit confusing for the manager, as the - on paper - stronges climber was riding in the first laps uphill already. That exhausted some of the stronger climbers and Drinfeld was confident to beat them in the flattish end. And so he did to reach his 13th win.

Team stats at 1500 races
Race wins: 339
Classic wins: 17
Stage Race wins: 33
Stage Race podiums: 28
Sprint Jerseys: 27
Mountain Jerseys: 6
Youth Jerseys: 10
Team Classifications: 21
Eternal Points: 252,100
Points/Race: 168.1
Win Ratio: 22.6%

Monuments: 2x Milan Sanremo (Tesla 2023, Hinton 2022), 1x Paris-Roubaix (Nöbauer 20022)
Giro: 3x Rosa (Krausz 2024, Volta 2023, Trakhtenbrot 2022), 1x Ciclamino (Iwachnenko 2023), 6 Stage wins (2x Iwachnenko, Drinfeld, Volta, Tesla, Karatzoglou), 1x Team Classification (2024)
Tour: 1x Youth (Trakhtenbrot 2021), 3 Stage wins (2x Schwackhöfer, Wolfowitz)
Vuelta: 2x GC (Krausz 2024, Volta 2023), 1x Points Classification (Krausz), 2x Mountain (McCulloch, Srivastav), 23 Stage wins (10x Krausz, 3x Volta, 2x Oppenheimer, 2x Iwachnenko, Kalman, McCulloch, Heuser, Srivastav, Tesla, TTT)

Division 1 Victories: 10