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.
[vsp_results id=”22169″/]
Degenkolb outsprintis God of Thunder after The Prodigy (with GoT’s permission) rides both of them off his wheel. Sep and Jurgen battel it out for Belgian Bragging Rights.
Or not …
VSP PICKS:
1. T Phinney
2. J Degenkolb
3. T Hushovd
4. S Vanmarcke
5. J Roelandts
Stoking the fires for tomorrow. This remains one of the iconic photos in recent cycling:
VSP PICKS:
1. Boasson Hagen
2. Van Avermaet
3. Boonen
4. Flecha
5. Pozzato
Heinrich says, ‘let it be cold, let it be wet.’
VSP PICKS:
1. Heinrich
2. Sylvain Chav
3. Thor
4. EBH
5. Flecha
VSP PICKS:
1. Boonen
2. Van Avermaet
3. Boasson Hagen
4. Flecha
5. Boom
VSP PICKS:
1. Hushovd
2. Boassan Hagen
3. Terpstra
4. Vanmarcke
5. Phinney
Ahhh yes Spring is in the air…..
VSP PICKS:
1. Flecha
2. Boasson Hagen
3. Hushovd
4. Chavanel
5. Vanmarcke
VSP PICKS:
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen
2. Lars Boom
3. John Degenkolb
4. Nick Nuyens
5. Filippo Pozzato
VSP PICKS:
1. EBH
2. MiniPhinney
3. VanMarko
4. Chavenel
5. Thor
I’ve been a big fan of this site for a few years now, but never really spoke up. Now seems like a good time to jump in.
VSP PICKS:
1. Greg Van Avermaet
2. Lars Boom
3. Jurgen Roelandts
4. Sylvain Chavanel
5. Juan Antonio Flecha
I keep thinking Nick will win. Yet I trust him not. I keep thinking Tom is still a ways from form, and has never won this race, yet I trust in him. If he treats this less like a training race and more like something he’d really like to win, I think he will. So there.
VSP PICKS:
1. Boonen
2. Langeveld
3. Chavanel
4. Nuyens
5. Tuft
VSP PICKS:
1. Boom
2. Pozzato
3. Hushovd
4. Flecha
5. Offredo
VSP PICKS:
1. Vanmarcke
2. Van Avermaet
3. Offredo
4. Rosseler
5. Nuyens
VSP PICKS:
1. EBH
2. Phinney
3. Thor
4. Chava
5. Roelandts
Wow. No clue. Couldn’t even get the date right for the VSP, how am I supposed to pick?
VSP PICKS:
1. Hushovd
2. Phinney
3. Boom
4. Terpstra
5. Flecha
Too early for Boonen and Thor. Too hard to repeat for Vanmarcke. Should be won by a Belgian.
VSP PICKS:
1. terpstra
2. boassen hagen
3. phinney taylor
4. vanmarcke
5. vansummeren
VSP PICKS:
1. hushovd
2. boassen hagen
3. phinney
4. terpstra
5. boom
VSP PICKS:
1. Boom
2. Terpstra
3. Hushovd
4. Roelandts
5. Boasson Hagen
Rootin’ for a Boom Breakout.
VSP PICKS:
1. Boom Boom
2. Van Avermaet
3. Phinney
4. Boassen Hagen
5. Terpstra
Roelandts in…
VSP PICKS:
1. Boom Boom
2. Van Avermaet
3. Roelandts
4. Boassen Hagen
5. Terpstra
VSP PICKS:
1. Terpstra
2. Van Avermaet
3. Roelandts
4. Nuyens
5. Boassen-Hagen
VSP PICKS:
1. boassen hagen
2. Thor
3. Pozzato
4. Keukeleire
5. Boom
The Beast from the East rolling in from Siberia may decide this race. Its freezing in northern europe at the moment so it may come down to who can handle the cold the best.
VSP PICKS:
1. Eddy Boss
2. Geraint Thomas
3. THOR
4. Van Avermaet
5. Phinney
@Chica
Welcome to finding your voice and may the picks bring you win after win after win…..as long as they do not exceed mine ! Bravo!
VSP PICKS:
1. boom
2. pozzato
3. roelandts
4. greg van avermaet
5. terpstra
I have less than no idea. I could share my picking strategy with you but I won’t Because its a bit sad.
VSP PICKS:
1. Boonen
2. Phinney
3. Hushovd
4. Chavanel
5. Boom
VSP PICKS:
1. Potato
2. Eisel
3. G Thomas
4. Eddy Boss
5. Thor
VSP PICKS:
1. Van Marke
2. Boonen
3. Hushovd
4. Boom
5. Phinney
VSP PICKS:
1. Thor
2. Boonen
3. EBH
4. Fletcha
5. Phinney
VSP PICKS:
1. Thor Hushovd
2. Niki Terpstra
3. Lars Boom
4. Jurgen Roelandts
5. Taylor Phinney
Updated to include Flecha. He sounds happy to be there. Looks like proper Rule #9 conditions for the peloton today!
VSP PICKS:
1. Boss Hog
2. Van Avermaet
3. Boonen
4. Flecha
5. Boom Boom Mancini
Omloop cover bands
VSP PICKS:
1. nirVan Avermaet
2. Boomtown Lars
3. Nikki Sixx Terpstra
4. Henry Roelandts
5. Filippo Pozzicato 5
VSP PICKS:
1. Chavanel
2. Boom
3. Vanmarke
4. Phinney
5. EBH
Oooh, Rule #9! Been raining for 12 straight hours here. Do I Rule #9 it myself on this Saturday morning or do I wimp out and play futbol instead?
VSP PICKS:
1. Greg vA
2. Niki T
3. Thor
4. Sep VM
5. Lars Boom
Hmm, changed in my post but not in the standing boxes. I’ll try again.
VSP PICKS:
1. Vansummeren
2. Potato
3. Hushovd
4. Boom
5. Boonen
@xyxax
give this man the VSP title right now: that’s quite the rollapalooza…
VSP PICKS:
1. Flecha
2. Vanmarcke
3. Langeveld
4. Steegmans
5. Pozzato
VSP PICKS:
1. EBH
2. MiniPhinney
3. VanMarko
4. Chavanel
5. Thor
@xyxax
Henry Roelandts! Nice one!
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 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!
@motor city
ps. not much Flandrian Best on display today
@motor city by this i mean, they are all in full length leg warmers, hats – anything they can to keep warm
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.