Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2013
Outside my window, its pouring rain. My bike is leaning agains the wall in my office, covered in grim and grit from the ride in, which was characterized by equal parts cold, wind, and rain. The spot in the locker room where I changed before my shower was marked by sand and mud, and when I walked to the shower, I left a trail of dirty footprints.
It doesn’t bother me one bit, however. My mind is already cast ahead to Vlaanderen and the Cobbled Classics which kick off this weekend with Omloop Het Neiuwsblad. I still want to call it Omloop Het Volk, and people more brazen than me would call it Gent-Gent and people even more stubborn than that would call it “Feburacing”. (I made that last part up.)
Most importantly, this is when we kick off the third installment of the Velominati Super Prestige. We Keepers are all about the Spring Classics in general and the Cobbled Classics in particular – going so far as to host the second annual Keepers Tour: Cobbled Classics in April. (Sign up now, by the way, as we are looking at other projects for Keepers Tour next year and there is no guarantee we’ll hold it on the cobblestones again in 2014.)
With that, we kick off the season-long 2013 Velominati Super Prestige with the first major race on the berggen and Kasseien of VVest Vlaanderen. Name your picks in the boxes below; 7 points for naming the winner correctly, 5 for second place, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, and 2 for fifth. One point for naming a rider to the top five, but getting the place wrong. Points will be amassed over the course of the season, and the winner will win a personalized Velominati Shop Apron. Full Rules and Scoring Guidelines on the VSP Main Page. Starting roster is over on CyclingNews.com. The ladies event will go up later today or first thing tomorrow.
Good luck, and Merckxspeed.
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The french feeds are much higher quality, and in a language I know at least 10 words of, however its fine for 10 minutes then down for 10…
@Steampunk
Freebird!
Mmm watching the 6 nations rugby is the perfect gap filler for the cycling updates!
Looks like Haussler is in the race- he didn’t really go down, but was mis-identified by race radio. Chavanel is going for it with 40k left… he’s got 20 seconds on the lead group.
Most of the favorites have decided not to attempt the chase, 30 k to go and most of the big favorites are 2 minutes back…
Cycling newscommentators writing off the 30 sec chase group. Why? Seems with 10 k they should be able to organize and bring them back, no?
@Buck Rogers No, they aren’t organised and aren’t gaining time. And Chavanel can’t chase his own man.
It’s between Paolini and Vandenbergh now.
And VDB seems to be dragging him to the finish.
Wow, my picks are looking FANTASTIC right about now…
@ChrisO yeah, guess they were right. Shows you what I know, eh?
I can’t see anyone who picked Paolini to win so a low scoring start to the season….gives me hope!
Well, that kind of sucked. Paolini, my fellow italian, was a wheelsucker!
A big fat zero on this one. I was going to go with a top 5 featuring everyone whose name began with Van for a lark. Would have been a better strategy. Mind you, even a semi-classic shouldn’t be won by a rider who dresses like one of Santa’s little helpers.
@Anjin-san
Well I underestimated Geraint Thomas…he seemed strong but without help could not get back in to it. I am just glad Avermaet snuck in to the top five just as Chavanel faded..
Great big goose egg for the weekend, but it is great to be back!
Darned Sporza – live feed videostream only for Belgians…..
At least Ghent-Ghent will be live on Eurotrash tomorrow – G in a rich vein of form – maybe tomorrow – or will it be Cav’s day? (still support him even though he ain’t a skyboy anymore)
….I mean Kuurne Brussels tomorrow on Eurotrash
@xyxax
Lord knows I can’t change…
One point. Oh we’ll, it’s good to at least be on the board.
OK People. Results are in. Read ’em and weep.
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Just gonna lull y’all into submission with my 0 points. I’m peaking in two months.
I’d better get the old crystal ball in for service before the next one, That didn’t go well
A solid start….with no clear breakaway on VSP number one….I think we are all pedalling along looking to see who is going to make the first solid move!
As I said with the ladies’ race, “Let’s see who is slow in July!”
@Deakus Yeah, not a lot of motivation in the chase or peloton. I would have liked to have Vandenbergh pull it out after doing most of the work, but he just ran out of gas in the last kilometer.
Delgado’d due to being in the mountains skiing. I don’t think I would have got any points in any event.
piss a brick! I pulled a Delgado…..