Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s La Fleche Wallonne 2016
Don’t these race organizers understand how confusing it is when races are held mid-week? It means we have to have to manage against unrealistic expectations like realizing what day of the week it is and then do the sums on how much lead time we want to give on the VSP.
Which is obviously too much to expect. Of me, anyway. I have a lot of big deals cooking, you see. Its very complicated and important. I could tell you about it but you probably wouldn’t be able to handle it all.
So. That leaves us with about 20 hours for VSP picks entry. Sorry about that. Hopefully you’ve already been prognosticating on the start list and have your game together already. If not, I hope you do well under pressure. Don’t forget there are awesome prizes on offer: Don Walker is giving away a free custom steel frame, Café Roubaix is giving away a carbon wheelset, and we are giving away a free V-Kit.
Good luck!
[vsp_results id=”41707″/]
@Teocalli
This is the truth!
Got a box of stoopwafels on my desk right now.
The Fleche has moved me up to 10th overall. I have learned that the best way to keep a steady tick of points in the VSP is to make sure you NEVER DELGADO.
And also to pick Valverde sometimes even when you hate his guts. I’m not proud of myself but I want some new wheels…
@dyalander
I also just put Martin thinking Dan was the only Martin in the race, but checking my picks just now, it seems to have mapped Tony Martin! Ok, hands up, I should have just typed three more letters and this problem would have been avoided, but can I have my point please. It will increase my massive haul for this race by 100%!
Influence for the weekend…….
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/liege-bastogne-liege-raced-snow-bad-weather-set-hit-ardennes-221750?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social
@RobSandy
Exactly! (well, at least about picking Malmerde–I have no delusions of grandeur that I’ll be on the podium at the end of the year but he was such a shoo-in for the win I could not NOT pick him–but, at least in a sporting sense, I HATE that guy’s fuck’in guts as well)
The Schlecks don’t seem to get the best of luck…..
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/suspected-broken-collarbone-for-frank-schleck-after-fleche-wallonne-crash/?utm_content=bufferd3d7d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
@DVMR
But really … Anyone who picked just Martin meant Dan Martin. He’s the only Martin with a chance in a race like Fleche. I want my f**ing point, dammit!
@dyalander
Yeah, I got caught out by that in a previous VSP. When the last name is Martin you have to be specific on whether it’s Dan or Tony. Same goes for the Yates boys or the Sagans if they’re both racing.
@Harminator
The subsequent races have most certainly been lacking in panache, based on previous editions, this isn’t an issue I see changing this weekend either.
@Teocalli
Thanks for posting and love the interview with the Badger. As much of an SOB as he could be at times, I like the part where he gives a shout out to the other riders who finished that day, saying no-one ever talks about them. From what I’ve read on Hinault, when it was a race HE wanted to win, it was all about him, but if not, he was a very keen and generous teammate. The b&w pic they use at the beginning of the piece shows Sean Kelly who abandoned. That’s how tough it was!
@Teocalli
Brilliant video. Should be required viewing for all Velominati and hell, all pro riders, esp the point he makes at 1:02. “No one is obliged to finish a race.”
Le Blaireau, fuckin hard as nails.
Also love his big damn smile at the start, while the reporter is asking him some questions. Tells you how proud he is to have won that day and how insane the conditions were!
@Buck Rogers
Indeed. When he won Roubaix in 81, he crashed and punctured several times in a race he detested. Most riders would have chucked it. He didn’t. He got back with the leaders (Moser, DeVlaeminck, DeMayer, Van Calster and Kuiper) and beat them in the sprint on the velodrome.
@chuckp
Aye, we’re good. The nature of the anonymous forum that is the internet makes is all jackasses in the end. It’s our job to Rule #43 it!
@wiscot
Fotheringham interview RD about that win for his recent Badger biography. RDV was still astounded by Hinault that day. Said when they got to the velodrome he thought Hinault went too early and was going to lead him out, but he just kept kicking faster and faster…no-one got close.
RDV also compare Hinault to Merckx, saying something like ‘I raced Eddy a lot and beat him sometimes, no-one could get near Hinault that day.’ The footage is probably some of my favourite ever cycling racing on film.
@wiscot
Fuck it, any chance to watch this.
They get to the velodrome at 5:00, and from then on the Badger mercilessly crushes their souls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdjP4TFwDEc
@RobSandy
Yeah, That’s what makes champions champions. Not just physical ability but mental ability. When BH wanted to win and set his mind to it, he was virtually unstoppable. I’m reading the Kelly bio Hunger and even though Kelly (in our eyes I think) became a peer of The Badger and quite unafraid of other riders, he was still intimidated by the Frenchman. Guimard reckoned he had more talent than Merckx.
BTW Hunger, by Kelly, is a great read. Wonderfully casual in tone, never forgets a name, he was clearly in the sport to make money. The fame he got used to, but from the start making a better living than bricklaying was the goal. Very frank on his strengths and weaknesses and a thorough examination of cycling that doesn’t exist now. Total pro as he tells of tactics and getting worked over in the 84 Ronde. Training camps? Forget that shit. His DS De Gribaldy basically starved him nutritionally and raced him instead of training. Thoroughly recommended.
@wiscot
I love the story he tells of the croissant shaped stains on the tablecloth every morning at breakfast, because de Gribaldy used to go around the tables and remove them before the riders got out of bed. The poor fuckers were half starved!
I was just thinking, you’ve got to fucking hate Malmerde, but you know what, he finished 3rd in last years tour as well as all this one day shit. The guy is a 100% fucking hitter. Sometimes wish he would OTB in the neutral zone as well… something about getting his face smacked in appeases me..