Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2013

Photo via Slipstream Sports

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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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.

View Comments

  • I'd forgotten how frustrating grainy internet feeds were to watch. Can only get the wiziwig link to work via steep hill and that has pop up ads every 30 seconds. Anyone got a better link?

    ps. not much flandrian best on display today

  • Where are you guys watching?  I can't get into the video on Sporza for some reason and the Alfa TV video is atrocious!

  • @motor city

    I'd forgotten how frustrating grainy internet feeds were to watch. Can only get the wiziwig link to work via steep hill and that has pop up ads every 30 seconds. Anyone got a better link?

    ps. not much Flandrian Best on display today

    I just do other stuff on the PC and watch the cycling news update feed, it is pretty good and avoids me getting too frustrated, I hate watching cycling on TV in languages I don't understand anyway....

  • @Deakus You might surprise yourself and learn some new languages!  I need to be fluent by the time that I move so this actually helps me learn!

  • Trying to watch feeds from work, I have the french feed up from steephill but its not going so well, constant freezing...

    If anyone knows any better feeds please post them...

  • @King Clydesdale I think more feeds from steephill come online at 2.20 GMT (17'ish minutes). I can't get the French one, i think I'm on the Dutch one and its really poor.

  • cyclingtv has high quality coverage.  ~$80 for the year.  Langeveld is looking good.  Boonen, not so much.

  • Enjoying French coverage with Cyrille Guimard doing colour commentary. Haussler's gone down.

  • Haussler went down HARD... they carried him off.  Vanmarcke is off the back,  Sylvain Chauvanel is looking strong as well.

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