Velominati Super Prestige: 2011 Eneco Tour

Eneco Tour of the Netherlands and Belgium. Photo: Team Sky

“The what Tour?” The question sounds less like a question and a bit more like an accusation. We’re sitting in Gianni’s home on Maui and I’ve just answered a query as to what I’m doing with a computer on my lap when the weather is too nice to justify such a thing.

Even a man as familiar with cycling as Gianni can be forgiven for not knowing the race by it’s new name, the Eneco Tour. The race used to be the Tour of the Netherlands and like the Amstel Gold Race, has enjoyed considerably more success than did the Eindhoven Team Time Trial which boasted a field of least one team each year it was held.

Originally the Tour of the Netherlands, the race now features a parcours through the Netherlands as well as Belgium. As far as preparation races go, it serves as a sort of bizarro preparation for the Vuelta, in the sense that racing in the lowlands would be good way to get ready for a mountainous Grand Tour. Never mind all that, we’re back racing in the VSP and we’re in Dutch-speaking country and I love it. I hope you enjoy lots of helpful translations of Dutch phrases you don’t care about (and probably didn’t hear) from yours truly, because that’s what you’ll be getting for a full week. And I hope you like the color orange.

With that we kick off into the last minor-stage VSP of 2011 for the Eneco Tour. Being a week-long stage race, the points on offer are 7 for first, 5 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth, with the usual allotment of bonus points for getting the rider right but the place wrong. Also, there are no rest days, so no rest day swaps, but we will have our usual approach for riders who drop out. And, all you Rule #5 apologists out there will be happy to know that we now officially have abolished the 10-minute rule. Piti Principle applies as always. Also review the guide, being careful to note that the rules have changes a bit this year, and we may not have completely updated the guide yet, so if there’s a question, ask.

Best of luck to all.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Marcus says:

Aug 11 2011 at 8:07 am

@LA Dave
Predictable? Yes
Boring? No

And it looks like PhilGil has ditched the Eurotrash blonde dye job. A little disappointed actually.
RedRanger says:

Aug 11 2011 at 10:10 am

What's are the standings after today.
Nate says:

Aug 11 2011 at 10:56 am

@RedRanger
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 13:30:34
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 0:00:05
3 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:13
4 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:00:23
5 Ben Hermans (Bel) Team RadioShack 0:00:25
pakrat says:

Aug 11 2011 at 11:58 am

Damn, if I had Millar in 3rd instead of 4th I'd have the current podium.

@RedRanger
I'm sure Frank will update the standings when he is done w/his Mai Tai.
Mikael Liddy says:

Aug 11 2011 at 4:41 pm

Damn it, ditched Gilbert as I thought he'd take this easy ahead of the worlds. Obviously the man knows not how to take things easy!
Steampunk says:

Aug 11 2011 at 5:24 pm

Incredible riding from Michael Barry to keep Eddy the Boss within a stone's throw. This from David Millar on Twitter:

I knew he was gonna go, he even told me when and where, I still couldn't do anything when he did. The joys of racing against Phil Gilbert.
Ron says:

Aug 11 2011 at 7:17 pm

Woah, just checked the standings...do we have biological passport controls for the VSP? I think I want the current leader tested after the Tour of Netherlands is finished. Nate is runnin' away with it! He's the Phil Gil of the VSP.

Steampunk - Yikes, that's incredible from Millar. Nothing like a PRO making other PROs feel jayvee! Fast Phil is having an outstanding year!
Nate says:

Aug 11 2011 at 8:29 pm

@Ron
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I have accrued 75% of my non Grand Tour points from Phil Gil.

I damn near missed Eneco and put in my picks at 11 pm after flying across the country with the family. Was totally wrecked and would have failed a sobriety test, but other than that I am clean.
Nate says:

Aug 12 2011 at 10:23 am

Current GC:
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 13:49:06
2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:12
3 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:18
4 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:27
5 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:47
Dr C says:

Aug 12 2011 at 10:52 am

@Nate
didn't see it today, drinking to be done - can I assume it was a time trial today?