Velominati Super Prestige: Gent Wevelgem 2014
The Kemmelberg is a brute. In my opinion, its the hardest of the cobbled climbs in the Spring Classics; it has a high speed tarmac approach that saps the guns of their snap. The transition from tarmac to cobbles is awful, the stones are very badly laid throughout and if you don’t hit it just right, you’ll come to a standstill. The cobbled part of the climb is long enough to make you consider a plea-bargain with any deity willing to listen before it ends with a brutal 23% ramp with good cobbles. The length, the camber, the gradient, and the way the stones are laid combine in a way that makes you feel every centimeter of the climb.
Gent Wevelgem is considered a sprinters classic, but it’s a shock considering how many climbs are along the route. I can’t imagine the Italian curses that must have escaped Cipollini’s mouth along his bumpy way to winning the race. No wonder he chucked the odd bidon at a motorbike.
I miss the old setup of the Cobbled Classics, with the Ronde on Sunday, Gent on Wednesday, and Roubaix on Sunday, but on the plus side, now we get to drool over the racing for three weeks instead of just one. So, check the start list, review the VSP Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on Sunday the 30th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero, so be sure to give yourself enough time.
Don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:
- First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron
- Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
- Third place overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.
Good luck, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.
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Whatever happened to Sparty??? I missed it.
@Steampunk
Yup, he only lost out to Degenkolb by a moustache!
If it was anyone else, I’d ask for extra points for predicting Farrar was going to stuff it into the tarmac. As it is…
@Duende
By a whisker? Of course, some whiskers are greater than others…
@Mikael Liddy
Yep. Neither of those guys has enough mongrel. Too willing to give up wheels for young upstarts and dickheads. Greipel was the same but has got better. Beyond that their top line speed is wanting. Demare looks the shiz. He rode great today – made Sags look pedestrian.
@Gianni
But isn’t 9th for the God of Thunder perhaps his best this year? Would he have been in mix without the crashes though? I haven’t watched the race, just read the write-ups. Gossy appears to be in a very strange place – has been since that DQ in the Tour in 2012 I think. But Farrar was having a good spring and this is his Euro backyard. If he’s not injured, he might rebound for a strong result in the next couple of weeks. I had him in & will keep him I think. Might recall Thor – would love to see him get one last decent result.
One thing for sure: the now waifish physique of Tom Boonen has zero power compared to the old version.
@fignons barber
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-denied-fourth-gent-wevelgem-win-in-chaotic-finale
Not sure. I think he will be there the next few weeks. Sure is going to be abgreat RVV and PR.
@Gianni
Well, let’s get serious for a moment. Thor may be a has-been. But Goss and Farrar never were. For a time, Thor was a dominant force. It’s a shame that the decline has been so swift. But 9th in this field is nothing to sniff at. Could be he’s on the road to recovery…
@Steampunk
OK, you put him in on your P-R picks. I keep thinking he is on the road to recovery. I picked him for races last year. I don’t know what bug he had but it was a bad boy. Or he is off the dope. But yes, I don’t think he is a has been, but he needs to win something besides Tour of Norway to convince everyone.
Gossy did win a monument. Which is more than any American has done to date.
@Buck Rogers
I sure hope so. I don’t just mean the G-W sprint. No real pop this spring.
@Gianni
This is the thing with Goss, on HTC he was much more a lead out/classics man than outright sprinter. OGE seem to have tried to turn him in to something that he’s already said he’d prefer not to do. There was talk this year of him concentrating less on points jerseys & more on one day classics…
Can I just say the Boondoggle is my fucking hero? Busted thumb and sprints to 5th after swearing off the race in the first place and dealing with the devastation of a miscarriage. Fucking stud.
Coming into form nicely, too. I think he won’t win in Vlaanderen, but he will win in the Velodrome.
@Mikael Liddy
He wanted to be a bunch sprinter.
2011 World Championship he finished 2nd to Cav by half a wheel, and it looked like he could almost match him for speed but was a way better climber.
At the tour last year he was getting dropped by Greipel on the hills.
I see he came 2nd in the Cancer Council Classic this year. I assume that’s the “classic” he’s planning on concentrating on?
@The Grande Fondue as in the warm up for the TDU? Greipel was 2nd, Goss rolled in 109th.
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/01/2014-santos-tour-down-under-peoples-choice-classic-results/
@Mikael Liddy
Yes, you are right: it was the 2013 Cancer Council Classic he was 2nd in.
He did win a stage in the equally classic Bay Series Classic this year. So many classics, and he’s done so well in them all.
Did anyone else read that Boonen was heard wailing out when hitting the cobbles in E3 after he hurt his thumb? I wonder if this was more of a dog with a quill in its lip howl or more of a loud, cuss-filled tirade.
When, o-when, will we get a Mic’ed Up Peloton?
@frank Alas, Greipel has a broken collarbone and several sinew issues. He was operated in Belgium on Sunday evening and now has a metal plate in his shoulder. He’ll be out for several months.
@Gianni
Wait a second! What about Tyler and his LBL win? Or was that his unborn twin???
@frank
AMEN! Me of little faith took him out of my picks as I figured that he was fucked with his thumb. Hopefully a podium at the RVV and a win at PR!!!
@frank
The thumb is a long way from the heart. No excuses. This is Belgium.
@Ron
I wish GoPro would sponsor a race and have a camera on the bars of every rider. Imagine the footage from the guys at the front end of the peloton in the last 10km of Gent Wevelgem. The rubbing of wheels, elbows and heads at 40kph in full HD, the shouts, cursing, screeching of brakes and sound of flesh, carbon and metal hitting Tarmac.
I remember the Giro back in the 90’s experimented with a couple of cameras on riders bikes. The picture quality was quite poor and I don’t think the guys were happy with the extra weight on their bikes. I’m sure the riders would prefer that a lot of things that go on in the peloton were not seen and heard by the general public as well. The technology has improved so much, a pro standard bike plus GoPro would still be under the UCI weight limit. If we can get live pictures from the team manager’s car then why not from the riders too?
b’stard ! Stannard is oot, and picks are closed…. he’s shite anyway…