Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de Suisse 2015
Why would the VSP use the Tour de Suisse instead of the Critérium de Dauphiné? The Dauphiné is looking like the pre-Tour de France. Sky and Garmindale are already giving their GC men nightmares by screwing up on the team time trial front. Practice, practice, practice, lads; it’s better to cock it up now than in the real Tour. Every TDF buck has bailed on the Swiss race in favor of anything else.
Where does that leave us and the betting window? Points are points so it’s time to channel your inner DS and copy @xyxax’s picks. Though the main GC riders may be elsewhere, there are many great riders here; enough to make this an interesting stage race. Maybe even a great race with no obvious overall contender. Bertie is racing but hopefully he is hanging in with the gruppetto everyday. The man needs some rest damn it, not 15,000 meters of climbing. Then there is his teammate Rafal Majka, I’m not sure I trust him. And I sure don’t trust Schumacher or Rebellin who are also racing on the orange CCC team, but that’s another issue and I shouldn’t be putting Majka in the same paragraph. But he shouldn’t wink at the camera while he is crushing everyone on a climb; it’s a little like the Italian Cobra Riccò taunting everyone for not keeping up.
I digress. Here is a start list. Consider this one’s warm up VSP for the Tour de France.
Don’t forget, points go toward great end-of-season prizes.
- First place– A custom Jaegher frame, handbuilt in Belgium.
- Second Place– A Café Roubaix/Velominati wheelset, Chris King hubs, hand built by professional wheelsmith and Velominati Dan Richter.
- Third Place– A Velominati kit: jersey, bibs, and cap.
[vsp_results id=”33213″/]
@Gianni
More like Super-Delgado’d. He wasn’t late to his own race.
@eenies
I think the route and list will make for an exciting race. There’s not enough big climbing for the hard core climbers to dominate the GC. The sprinters will have plenty of action but it’s hilly enough for them not to be able to keep good time. The time trial will probably be critical. A good but not great climber who has some serious TT chops would be a good chance at the GC.
Oh bollocks, Delgado-ed. I think that’s the nail in the coffin of my VSP campaign.
ah feck!
Apparently Kwiato didn’t get the memo that I picked him to win… Over 10 minutes down today? The fuck…
@justinevan88
You and me too!
@Julez
Don’t beat yourself up -I’ve been banging nails in mine since the start of the season!
@dancollins
I had exactly same issue when using Explorer 11, even mailed Frank about it. So now I use Firefox which works. Btw, it’s raining cats and dogs today in the land of cheese and chocolate…so hope not too many crashes!
@Teocalli
We had a meeting as well, minutes of the meeting where taken and seconded.
@Barracuda
Yeah, I was there too. I remember it well.
@Teocalli
just not the kind of performance I expect from my #1 pick!!
He’s consistently let me down this entire VSP.
@JonnyG
AND I dropped Sagan for Thomas.
Should have put him as the winner instead of Kwia when you look at # of uphill finishes without massive climbing AND two time trials.
Pretty happy with my picks thus far, which is rare for me. Hope they can stay up there.
The rainbow stripes appear cursed right now.
@rfreese888
Sheeessshhh… Did any of you guys look at the profile for Stage 5 before the race?! Sagan is my favorite rider, hands down, but seriously, he’s (as will Kwiatkowski and Kristoff) going to lose 10-20 minutes on that stage (last 13 km at 10%).
::: insert smiley face here :::
Philippe Gilbert was a non-starter today as it was revealed he had fractured his leg in that hard crash back in Flèche Wallonne. Man, how much of a hardman is he for riding all this time and taking two stages at the Giro? Respect.
@Chica
Convenient for the team to find a fracture a couple of days after he was pretty outspoken & critical of the fact that they hadn’t let him know whether he’d be doing the tour…
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/06/news-of-gilberts-tour-absence-followed-voiced-frustration-about-bmc-racing-teams-selection-delay/
@Gianni, any chance of a half way update ?
@Minnesota Expat
Yep, the GC standing after stage 5 will not bear much resemblance to before it, at least in terms of ranking.
@Minnesota Expat
When opened the post to put my tips in the top few people had tipped Kristoff (!) and Sagan. I though I’d opened the wrong race!
After California I can Sagan still being in it.. maybe? I didn’t tip him though.
Kwiatkowski is different though – he can climb. A bad climber doesn’t get 11th in the TdF and 4th at Tirreno–Adriatico (behind Nibbles, Contador and Froome). Clearly he isn’t going to win this, but he’s a different rider to Kristoff and Sagan.
(and yeah, I tipped Kwiatkowski to win this race)
@The Grande Fondue
Sagan might be an okay long shot for 5th. Kwiatkowski is different and a good pick, I think. He can climb enough not to get smashed in the big climbs and, more importantly in this race, he can time trial too. He has a good shot at a fairly high finish I would think.
@The Grande Fondue
True that. And I tipped him for 5th place (against my better judgement) because of his past performance and I like new young up-and-comers. But my brain wanted Barguil, Arrendondo, or Insausti (glad I didn’t pick him) for 5th place.
Not to self: I am really, really, really liking Roman Bardet these days, but MUST resist the temptation to pick him as a top three in the TdF. The brain says he’s not there yet.
All my top 5 save Kwiat-choke-ski looking good today!
@Minnesota Expat
Of course, my heart also said “Pinot” to win it all, but my brain said no. So what do I know?
@stooge
98th at +59’32” – oops
@stooge
Yeah, I know. I scored a fat zero points, and every one of my tips still makes perfect sense. Oh well.
Hang on – why are provisional results up? There are another 4 stages to go (including an ITT, and Tom Dumoulin is only 1:34 back. Maybe I can pickup one point there at least).
@The Grande Fondue
Think the provisional results were just a half way update.
Bummed out about Kwiatkowski. Had him down for 5th. Really didn’t think he’d get smashed in the stage 5 climbing. Not having watched it I don’t know if there was more to it. He dropped another place today and is over +1hr. I also took Pozzovivo out of my initial picks. On the upside I’ve got Pinot for 1st and he might just come in.
Come on Thibault. I need a good TT from you for my VSP, even though I’m feeling guilty over G
Obviously my hopes for Polish supremacy did not come to fruition, but at least I came away with some points. On to the Tour…
Did anyone else say ‘Who?’ when they saw the final result?
@stooge
You were right, possibly the most exciting final TT since LeMan pipped the Professor. Unfortunately my father in law managed to take out my satellite dish with his trailer so I didn’t get to see any of it. Geraint manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again and Katusha are going well which is slightly suspicious.
@eenies
Haha! “Geraint manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again…”
Exactly the words I used this morning as I watched with my son!