Velominati Super Prestige: Gent Wevelgem 2015

Mapei parties like it's 1998.

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!

This is it! We are really into the thick of it now! E3 Harelbeke is today, and on Sunday we have the Kemmelberg in Gent Wevelgem – the first real serious cobbled race of the year. For Keeper’s Tour in 2012 we stayed just outside Kemmel, and for KT2013 Bretto and I went off for a jetlag-neutralizing spin together into the same area and rode the climb from both sides. When I arrive in Belgium on Thursday, the first thing we’ll do is head over there again; the area feels a bit like home at this point.

All of Europe bears the marks of World War I, but this bit of Belgium is even more heavily scarred; when this many people die in one place, it lingers in the air like a thick mist. This hill in particular was the site of several battles; the Germans took it in April 1918 and it was reclaimed by the allied forces in September. Monuments, graveyards, barracks litter the landscape.

Although its short, the Kemmelberg is a brute of a climb with a steep ramp at the top; the cobbles are rough and very badly laid at the base; the best route has you swinging wide to the outside if you’re to maintain your speed. If you are unlucky enough to be forced into the inside, you will come to a standstill and find yourself chasing from the onset.

And speaking of chasing, its time to get some points on the board with the VSP so you have a chance of claiming one of our prizes. Get your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero. And for the love of Merckx, don’t wait until the last minute before flooding my inbox with complaints about the site going down. Your procrastination is not my emergency, boys and girls. But if you do happen to have some trouble (and it’s not the last minute, or the middle of the night) then feel free to let us know; we’re happy to help you out so long as the event hasn’t closed yet. So, prognosticate on the start list and enter your sure-to-be dud picks.

We are still finalizing the prize list for the overall VSP, but second place has been confirmed as being a set of CR Wheelworks/Velominati wheels. CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s wheel product line, and you’ll have the choice of rim size and hub. The Velominati edition comes with orange Chris King hubs, but if that’s too bling for you, I’m sure the configuration can be changed for the winner.

First prize will be something even more amazeballs and third place will be a full Velominati kit complete with V-Cap. My wheels just arrived, and I can’t wait to ride them.

And, we’ll wrap it up with some 2013 Gent action:

[vsp_results id=”32565″/]

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

frank says:

Mar 28 2015 at 8:33 am

@scaler911

And, I’m a “2” again? So what’s been happening around these parts?

You gotta keep your shit up, man! We don't fuck around when it comes to statuseseseses.
dpalazzo says:

Mar 28 2015 at 9:38 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff
2. Degenkolb
3. Bouhanni
4. Trentin
5. Vanmarcke
ojhart says:

Mar 28 2015 at 9:52 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff
2. Sagan
3. Degenkolb
4. Greg Van Avermaet
5. Stybar
Geraint says:

Mar 28 2015 at 9:53 am

@gilly

@Gianni

@wiscot

@frank

@wiscot

Ok, haven’t made my picks yet, but WTF’s going on? No Tommeke, and now no Spartacus for the big races? Crazy! That being said, fine, fine win by Geraint today in the E3. Now Sky have a problem: Geraint is obviously on the form of his life – we saw that last week. Wiggo’s form? Not sure, but Sky and he have made a big hoopla over how P-R is Wiggo’s main goal for the year. So do Geraint and Wiggo start as equals or will the Welshman be subservient to his English master? Will Geraint havce to sacrifice himself or will he be allowed to have a go? My thoughts are, if it’s dry, go with Sir Tattoo; if it’s muddy, go with Wales.

I am not too broken up about Fabs/Boonen. I would want them both in form or neither because honestly I think the 4x crown should be a pretty rare thing and I’m afraid of Fabs getting a “free” ride to it, which would have two riders of the same generation sharing that record with the Gypsie.

I’m pretty sure its going to be muddy, so that also opens it wide up. Gerraint rode very well in the wet last year at the Tour; he might be my #1. I can’t say I disagree on your strategy for the brits, though if I was DS I’d have them both start as leaders; too much can happen at Roubaix.

Agreed. Co-leaders and let the chips, crashes and punctures fall where they may. I just hope we don’t see Geraint being stymied if he’s feeling good and having to wait on Wiggins.

Fuck Wiggins. There, it’s out there. I’d make Twiggo ride for G, by golly. I can’t even remember if Twig was in Paris-Nice or Terreno-Adriatico because I never saw him do anything. Did he finish whatever he was racing in? Has he earned his spot at P-R besides his monster engine? We will see if he races Gent on Sunday and how his form is but I don’t think he deserves the leadership role at P-R, because I’m a cranky old guy.

Have to agree. G was clearly strong at PR last year and the photo of him and Wiggins with their backs to each other after the race spoke volumes in body language terms. G buried himself that day but Wiggins either didn’t have the legs to go with Terpstra or made a bad call in not doing so. Brailsford has to make the right decision and I can’t believe that G will go into PR as anything other than team leader. If that’s not the case, I think Brailsford is in danger of losing the real quality guys that he has in G and Peter Kennaugh who have more than earned their spurs. But i think we need to remember what an astute guy DB is; how we all laughed when he said that Sky would win the TDF. They have had a really strong start to the Classics season and based on G’s attack yesterday, Sagan doesn’t appear to have cast off his last 10 K demons. It’s going to be a cracking couple of weeks!

I think Sky/DB have learned their lessons from a hopeless classics campaign in '13 and an only marginally better one in '14. They set out trying to control the races for a nominated leader like they had done successfully in the TdF in '12 and '13, and found that it just didn't work. Geraint could have won P-R last year but he's a team player and Wiggo was the nominated leader. The irony is that P-R is the last race you can try to control given all the elements of risk, but they'd got to within 10k of the line together and still managed to throw it away. This year I think (hope) the team tactics are much more about staying out of trouble and let the rider(s) who feel good on the day do their own thing and go for it. We saw that at MSR, when it didn't quite come off, and again at E3, when it absolutely did.

All that said, going into P-R saying they're riding for Wiggo might just draw attention away from other options. The other teams might mark Wiggo out of the race like they did with Faboo last year.
Minnesota Expat says:

Mar 28 2015 at 10:01 am

@Minnesota Expat

Would have picked Degenkolb until I watched him go over the handlebars at E3 Harelbeke. He is going to be hurting on Sunday. Bad.

Bah! It was Van Avermaet that went over the handlebars and earlier Degenkolb hit the ground hard. Still not picking either to win, place or show.
Geraint says:

Mar 28 2015 at 10:11 am
VSP PICKS:
1. CAVENDISH Mark
2. DEGENKOLB John
3. KRISTOFF Alexander
4. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
5. LOBATO Juan Jose
CyclingPT says:

Mar 28 2015 at 10:22 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Zdeněk Štybar
2. Peter Sagan
3. Alexander Kristoff
4. Mark Cavendish
5. Andre Geipel
ramenvelo says:

Mar 28 2015 at 10:43 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Cavendish
2. Kristoff
3. Sagan
4. Van Avermaet
5. Stybar
el gato says:

Mar 28 2015 at 11:00 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Zdenek Stybar
2. Daniel Oss
3. Peter Sagan
4. Alexander Kristoff
5. Arnaud Demare
Steampunk says:

Mar 28 2015 at 11:31 am
Sprinters' teams keep Vanmarcke, Thomas, et al. in check. Cavendish has a mechanical on the Kemmelberg. Head to head between the two young French guns. Heart would love to see one of them take the win.

VSP PICKS:
1. A. Kristoff
2. A. Demare
3. N. Bouhanni
4. J. Degenkolb
5. P. Sagan