Velominati Super Prestige
The Velominati Super Prestige is a season-long competition wherein readers will be submitting their predictions for the top five finishers of each qualifying race. In order to qualify, your picks via the VSP Picks form above the posts section of the VSP Event article pertaining to the race in question by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight on the day of the race start. These articles are clearly marked and are generally posted at least 72 hours in advance of each event. The current leader of the competition has the honor of posting on the site bearing the VSP Leader’s badge; winners of select races (the monuments and Grand Tours) similarly gain the honor of posting with a dedicated badge for the remainder of the year. Prizes may be given for key events; these prizes will be announced on the associated VSP Event. Points will be tallied as the season progresses and the winner will be announced after Paris-Tours. Prizes to be determined.
Scoring (One-Day Races)
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings of each race by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on the day of the race. Regular Points Points will be scored in reverse order of finishing order: 7 points for first place, 5 points for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, and 2 for fifth. Readers will also earn 1 bonus point for every other rider named in the top five, regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice. Tie Breaking In the event of a tie, the first reader to submit their predictions will be named the winner.
Scoring (Grand Tours)
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings on General Classification of each Grand Tour by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on the day of the first stage or prologue. Points Points will be scored as follows based on the final G.C of the race: 20 points for first place, 15 for second, 10 for third, 7 for fourth, and 5 for fifth; plus 3 points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice. Changing of the Picks* Contestants are allowed to make line up changes on one of the rest days of the Grand Tours but not both. These changes will come with a point penalty. You will be allotted one (1) rest day to make swaps in grand tours; you may pick either the first or second rest day. The penalties for swapping will be lower for the first rest day than the second. This will allow you to swap out a rider(s) who gets caught in some first week nervousness with a 5 point penalty for each swap. Or make some go for broke/doomed to fail break-away swap on the second rest day for a 10 point penalty for each swap. That’s it. You make one swap or five on either rest day for the corresponding 5 or 10 point penalty per swap. Additionally, if one of your riders crashes out, DNF’s, or DNS’s, you may swap them out on a rest day with corresponding penalties if you haven’t already used up your one rest day swap. Tie Breaking In the event of a tie, the first reader to submit their predictions will be named the winner. Minor Stages We will be posting VSP’s for minor stages as well. Scoring is similar to one-day racing, except no bonus points are in play for getting the rider in the wrong placing.
Scoring (Minor Stage Races)
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings on General Classification of each Minor Stage Race (less than three weeks) by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on the day of the first stage or prologue. Regular Points Points will be scored in reverse order of finishing order: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 7 for third, 5 for fourth, and 3 for fifth; plus two bonus points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice. Tie Breaking In the event of a tie, the first reader to submit their predictions will be named the winner.
Posting Badges
The following badges will be worn by current leaders of the competition and sub-competitions:
| Overall Super Prestige Leader: |  |
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| Milano Sanremo: |  |
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| VVomen’s Ronde van Vlaanderen: |  |
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| Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen: |  |
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| Paris-Roubaix: |  |
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| Leige-Bastogne-Liege: |  |
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| Giro d’Italia Leader: |  |
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| Giro Rosa Leader: |  |
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| Tour de France Leader: |  |
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| Vuelta a Espana Leader: |  |
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| Giro di Lombardia: |  |
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| Overal Super Prestige Lanterne Rouge: |  |
2016 Velominati Super Prestige Schedule
Les Hommes
Start |
End |
Event |
Race Website |
| 18.03.2017 | 18.03.2017 | Milano-Sanremo | www.milanosanremo.it |
| 26.03.2017 | 26.03.2017 | Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields | www.gent-wevelgem.be |
| 02.04.2017 | 02.04.2017 | Ronde van Vlaanderen – Tour des Flandres | www.flandersclassics.be |
| 09.04.2017 | 09.04.2017 | Paris-Roubaix | www.letour.fr |
| 16.04.2017 | 16.04.2017 | Amstel Gold Race | www.amstelgoldrace.nl |
| 19.04.2017 | 19.04.2017 | La Flèche Wallonne | www.letour.fr |
| 23.04.2017 | 23.04.2017 | Liège-Bastogne-Liège | www.letour.fr |
| 05.05.2017 | 28.05.2017 | Giro d’Italia | www.giroditalia.it |
| 04.06.2017 | 11.06.2017 | Critérium du Dauphiné | www.letour.fr |
| 10.06.2017 | 18.06.2017 | Tour de Suisse | www.tds.ch |
| 01.07.2017 | 23.07.2017 | Tour de France | www.letour.fr |
| 29.07.2017 | 29.07.2017 | Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian | www.klasikoa.net |
| 19.08.2017 | 10.09.2017 | La Vuelta ciclista a España | lavuelta.com |
| 08.09.2017 | 08.09.2017 | Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | www.gpcqm.ca |
| 10.09.2017 | 10.09.2017 | Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | www.gpcqm.ca |
| 20.09.2017 | 20.09.2017 | Mens World Championship Time Trial | |
| 24.09.2017 | 24.09.2017 | Mens World Championship Road Race | |
| 07.10.2017 | 07.10.2017 | Il Lombardia | www.illombardia.it |
La Femmes
Start |
End |
Event |
Race Website |
| 26.03.2017 | 26.03.2017 | Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields | www.gent-wevelgem.be |
| 02.04.2017 | 02.04.2017 | Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres | www.flandersclassics.be |
| 16.04.2017 | 16.04.2017 | Amstel Gold Race | info@amstelgoldrace.nl |
| 19.04.2017 | 19.04.2017 | La Flèche Wallonne Féminine | www.letour.fr |
| 23.04.2017 | 23.04.2017 | Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes | www.letour.fr et www.pesantliege.be |
| 30.06.2017 | 09.07.2017 | Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile | |
| 20.07.2017 | 20.07.2017 | La Course by Le Tour de France | www.letour.fr |
| 29.07.2017 | 29.07.2017 | Prudential RideLondon Classique | www.ridelondon.co.uk/events/classique |
| 17.08.2017 | 20.08.2017 | Ladies Tour of Norway | www.ladiestour.no |
| 26.08.2017 | 26.08.2017 | GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération | www.grandprix-plouay.com |
| 29.08.2017 | 03.09.2017 | Boels Rental Ladies Tour | www.hollandladiestour.nl |
| 10.09.2017 | 10.09.2017 | Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta | lavuelta.com/Madridchallenge |
| 19.09.2017 | 19.09.2017 | Womens World Championship Time Trial | |
| 23.09.2017 | 23.09.2017 | Womens World Championship Road Race |
Standings
[vsp_gc year=”2017″/]
Past Results
[vsp_gc year=”2016″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2015″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2014″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2013″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2012″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2011″/]
2010 VSP G.C.
*The Changing of the Picks rules are designed to promote fair play and keep the competition fun and open throughout the three-week race. Abuse of these rules will be managed through the “Piti Principle”: if we we feel you are attempting to exploit loopholes or otherwise take advantage of the Changing of the Picks rules, we will penalize you by deducting points from your total score. Much like the UCI doping suspensions, the amount of points deducted will be based on how egregious the abuse was.
7 points this week is barely respectable…doomed to slide down the rankings I think…I mean how many races can have the word Lombardia in!
@Deakus and they have races outside of Europe!??! who knew
9 points
@Deakus
S’alright I got 7 too and consoled myself with a Cafe Roubaix T-Shirt in Fat-Bastard size.
Oh my god, I managed to time out on this week’s quickfire round. I’m screwed for the season.
I’ll retract that statement…just got an email from Barry saying I scored 10. I’ll take that.
@Mike_P
DAMN!!! I was more worried about that this week than I have ever been the last two years! What happened? Did you get credit for the ones that you had answered correctly or did they give you a Goose Egg?
11 points for me. Fun, fun, tough quiz!
Ahhh, just saw your follow up post. Not bad, then, not bad at all!
I was hoping for just a rehash of last years questions…very clever Barry saw through such a simple ruse and is hitting my early successes with some fiendish questions this season!
10 last week. My kid distracted me during the quickfire and I timed out with 5 pts. D’oh.
@Nate
God DAMNED kids, eh? Makes you wonder if they are really worth it.
@Buck Rogers
Says the guy with more of them than the rest of us combined.
A miserable 2 pts today. I am putting my V kit away and refusing to wear it, I am not worthy!
@Deakus
1 for me. Damn! I wish we could get the corrections straight away. Confused!
This weekly quiz is a bit like my VSP. Ok start and now heading down the tubes fast. 1 pitiful point and that was for Q1. Not doing week 8 till I pull myself together. Big respect to the regular big scorers, I too am not worthy.
Did both quizzes today. Maxed the first and got a 6 on the second. What is it about me that seems to always miss Questions 4 and 5!!! Oh yeah, it’s the fact that I know absolutely jack SHIT about the tough cycling history questions!!!
Thanks for no spoilers guys on the topics! Great quizzes! Time to study some more!
@Buck Rogers good work!
an 8, and a 10 for me – pitifully ignorant
If they carry on like this, I’ll be scoring minus numbers by mid January. Getting tougher by the week. A pitiful 5.
Better than me, 0 today.
Oh HELL YES!!! Sagan is riding Roubaix, BABY!!!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sagan-to-ride-paris-roubaix-in-2014
I still cannot believe that he did not win a Monument last year. Dude is going to be HUNGRY!!! Is it April yet???
@Buck Rogers
Should be a cracker of race. Fabs is looking to join the Club of Four with Tommeke and the Gypsy. Tommeke is looking for a Club of One with 5 wins. Both know that the young guns are breathing down their necks. Saggy is looking for his first monument. All prime ingredients for a fine contest so long as Lady Luck shows up to smooch the favorites.
@wiscot
I am really excited about a showdown between Sagan and Cancellara
@Buck Rogers
Speaking of hungry…looks like Dirty Bertie has had his butcher supplying the team again. Mick Rogers had been popped for Clenbuterol.
@wiscot
It’s going to be FUCKING awesome!!! All I want for Christmas is rain and sleet on the 13th of April, BABY!!!
@Mike_P
Ah SHIT!!! But come on, is anyone really surprised. I bet Froomie and Wiggo are just LOVIN this news.
@Buck Rogers
Well, they certainly ain’t loving each other!
@Mike_P
Oh come on now. I heard they were good buds gain. Buried the hatchet, kissed and made up etc, etc.
@wiscot
Mwahahaha. Given you’re the other side of the pond, I’m going to assume you didn’t see last weekend’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. Wiggo was last year’s winner and Froomie was nominated this year. Well, when CF was went on stage to be interviewed, the camera panned to Wiggo and his wife. Holy shit, their faces could have soured fresh milk.
@Mike_P
Damn! Missed that. Well, at least they kept their wummin apart, could have been nasty!
Growing up in Scotland, SPOTY was a must-see. All those great clips and crazy acceptance speeches. I hear it’s all quite “corporate” these days and held in a stadium or something. They really should rename it too: I mean, Ryan Giggs and Andy Murray don’t exactly have great personalities, although Giggs’ sister in law found him quite sporting . . .
VSP 2014 – Any chance the Tour Down Under would be included…It seems to be getting better every year and would provide a counterpoint to the spring classics?…
Barry’s got another quiz up
11 points, can NOT believe I got Question 4 wrong
Another miserable 2 pts this morning…someone just shoot me and put me out of my misery!
Just got caught up on my trivia. 2×15 points.
Quiz 10 is up. More guesswork than my VSP efforts. 5 points.
Struggling with the morning cobwebs, but 15 points this week.
The misery continues…4pts this week!
Looking at the standings that Barry has emailed, @Steampunk is just too clever by half, morning cobwebs or not. I, on the other hand, clearly need to spend more time studying.
@Deakus chin up; you’ve doubled your score!
@Mike_P
Cobwebs: I knew I’d read about Desgranges’s favourite climb not so long ago, but couldn’t recall it. And knew Coppi had been the first up Alpe d’Huez, but second-guessed myself. And then thought Ocana might have fallen twice.
My proficiency with climbing trivia, however, is no indication of my abilities on the bike when the road turns uphill. I think well for my weight…
@Deakus
Agreed – I got 6. I’m always so confident until I see my final score.
Yeeck, 6
Totally FUCKED on this one. Measly 2 points!
Four points – I thank you
Fluked a 12 with some blind guesswork!
and there was me thinking Tinkoff were pulling out. Just shows what a little marketing spin can do…
From todays Cycling News website:
The Tour Down Under will be the debut for Tinkoff-Saxo who were previously known as Saxo-Tinkoff.
WTF!
Maybe it’s their uber-cool 2014 kit, or my adoration of all things Boonen, but these boys look ready for business.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gallery-on-the-road-with-omega-pharma-quickstep
@Mike_P
I agree. Tommeke (without wanting to sound too man-crushy), looks damn fit and slim. Interestingly, Cav is training sans leg warmers/tights, unlike the rest of the squad. It’s a rarity to see pros training at this time of year in shorts.
@wiscot
It is 16degC in Calpe today so I can understand Cav wearing shorts, especially since he grew up training on the Isle of Man… I am not so sure if training in Spain is ideal prep for the Spring Classics though…surely Boonen should be in Belgium, UK or somewhere a little less cosy?
@Deakus
If he was in the UK he’d probably need flippers. There’s so much water around my way at the moment I’m struggling to figure out a Sunday route that won’t have me wading at various points.
As for Tommeke, I’m praying that he takes Sagan’s smug face and covers it in Flanders cowshit en-route to a return to his best. I think that defines my allegiances.
@Mike_P
A huge amount of water here in Wiltshire too, what makes it worse if the shit/glass/gravel etc in the roads that the floods have deposited and the asshole drivers who do not seem to recognise that standing water in roads equals danger!
As for Saggy…well…I developed a new found respect for him last year not only during the Spring Classics but also that fateful ice bound day on the Giro when he popped up with some rather chirpy tweets when everyone else was moaning…
@Deakus Hmm I can’t quite bring myself to like him. I can get over the arse pinching, but struggle with him dying his beard green for the Tour podium. Just not cricket. Maybe I’m overlooking the fact that he can make his bike go very very fast and has more talent than most could ever hope for?
Thank fuck for an easy quiz this week.
14, without any lucky guesswork for a change