Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia
In the 1990 Giro, a relatively unknown cyclist named Gianni Bugno lit the cycling world on fire by winning the first stage, thereby taking the Maglia Rossa. That wasn’t so surprising in itself; what was surprising was that the little bugger managed to hold the jersey all the way to Milan, a feat previously only accomplished by Binda and Merckx postwar, and prewar legend Costante Girardengo.
This all happened in the age before smartphones and social media; while these days a stealth strike on the World’s Most Wanted Dude gets live-tweeted, in 1990 it took until well after I knew Greg LeMond had won the Tour de France before I found out that Bugno had won the Giro. Reading about the feat in Winning magazine, Bugno instantly became one of my heros and went on to cast himself into a bronze statue of Rad by being one of the few riders able to challenge Indurain in the following years. (He also possessed the mental frailty that seems to be common among my favorite riders. There’s something Shakespearean about heros with flaws that I simply can’t resist.)
The Giro d’Italia is just prestigious enough to be the maker of champions. It’s isn’t made up of a downgraded field like the Vuelta, but it also ins’t as popular as the Tour where only the best riders on the best teams seem to stand a chance. Every Giro produces a revelation that goes onto great things; that’s one of the key reasons this is my favorite Grand Tour: the field is strong enough to have serious contenders, but weak enough to let an outsider play. It’s perfect.
Aside from a well-balanced field, the geography of Italy lends itself to a better three week race than do France or Spain. Many European companies are defined by natural borders such as mountains or water, which generally means the mountains and great bodies of water lie at the borders with plains in between. (Or, as is the case with the Netherlands, beneath.) Italy is unique in that it is narrow and has mountainous terrain in nearly every region. Whereas the first week(s) of the Tour and Vuelta feature mostly flat stages suited for the sprinters and little else, the Giro’s first week generally contains several mountaintop finishes. The difficulty of a typical Giro’s first week means that riders who ride strongly there typically fade towards the end, while riders who were weak on the first climbs may come on strong as the race closes down. The result is a tight race from start to finish with regular changes in leadership. Except in 1990. And whatever years those other three guys who did what Gianni did.
This year’s Giro will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy by making strong men cry. Forty major climbs, and 7 mountain top finishes, one of which involves climbing Mount Etna twice. (Welcome to Sicily, assholes. You get to ride up the most active volcano on Earth twice.) I have it on the excellent authority of a man down the pub that Contador is stocking up on extra drugs even as I write this in an attempt to quiet the rattle of his skinny little bones in his spanish boots.
With that we kick off the best Grand Tour of the year, and the first test of our Grand Tour VSP Software. The other VSP editions have been a piece of cake. Grand Tours include free “swapping of the picks” logic whenever a rider in a contestent’s pick list drops out. We have rest day swaps for 2 or 4 points each, depending on which rest day it is. Our system is supposed to handle all of this smoothly and seamlessly. We’ll see.
Read the scoring guidelines, work out your strategy, dope up on clairvoyance drugs (alcohol) and chuck your picks up. As usual, the winner of this VSP edition will earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free personalized Velominati Shop Apron. If you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the designated area above the posts section, bearing in mind that entry/modification of picks closes at 5am Pacific time on the day of the race. You are eligible to swap picks at no penalty for your picked riders who drop out; rest day picks each come at a 2 point penalty for the first rest day, 4 points each for the second.
Good luck.
Bah! Machado lost 3 minutes on Stage 5’s strade bianche. Ah well.
Agreed. Maybe they are paying them selves to much and cant afford a paper shredder. I’m not saying they shouldn’t create a list to help organize the testing but that shit should not get out ever.
@frank
Isn’t it David Harmon? Nice guy, he came and spoke at a club dinner I was at once, he’s got some dance floor moves too…
The break is looking good. It would be nice to see a break make it to the end today.
I jinxed them. of well.
“Que finale!!!” Sorry, Contadork!
Conti sure has a set of balls eh? nice bit of riding by both riders.
It was great to see an old lady in this tappa (8th) waving a sign with only “108” on it…
Another great win for a watercarrier in this Giro, congrats to Gatto. Also definitely agree with @Redrangers take on Contador. Love to see a favorite racing in more than just the last week of a grand tour.
Aside from the obvious tragedy, I am LOVING this Giro so far – FUORI DAI GUAI!
Le Mevel is looking good – happy to see him coming of age. He put in a pretty good dig at LBL, ate some wasps: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slipstreamsports/5650705621/
And the first favorite makes his way into the top five and we have some points showing up on the leaderboard.
[vsp_score id=”8232″]
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Yeh yeh. First tantalising glimmer of ‘game on’. Bring on Sunday :-)
@frank
So do these points count towards the final vsp?
We few, we happy few, we those who did not pick Contador
@frank
so Frank do the scores go cumulatively or is this a snapshot of the running scores which will be finalised after the last stage?
Well, today’s stage sure helped settle out the standings a bit on the G.C.
[vsp_score id=”8232″]
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Rest day tomorrow. Best get out the crystal ball and see who I can replace Fucknugget Di Wanka with
Ouch 4 points cause of piss ant performances by Rodriguez and Munch-Off
VSP PICKS:
1. Clentador
2. Le Mevel
3. Nibali
4. Kreuziger
5. Scarponi
@Xponti
Yeah, I don’t see Dirty Denis (as the UCI calls him) podiuming. But I think there’s still hope for J-Rawd. He’s been a bit hampered by Di Doosha’s enthusiasm for attacking, but I am banking on DD runbing out of juice soon, and some steeper pitches being to J-R’s liking.
That said, I am giving serious consideration to replacing him with the Yo-Yo after he came in an agonising (for me, given I’d picked him for top 5) 6th place atop Etna. Need to ponder more …
Is it too soon to change my picks, yo?
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Le Mevel
4. Scarponi
5. Kreuziger
Gonna have to terminate a selection due to his complete lack of performance (enhancing chemie’s). Wishful thinking on Sastre originally anyway. I thought he may have been able to pull out one last big win from somehwhere.
Still can’t put in Clenbutador due to my personal integrity meter. The knobhead is clearly peaking but I’m not convinced it’s due to the training or other substances.
I doubt anyone of my carefully thought through predictions will do anything but you never know……
VSP PICKS:
1. Rom Kreuz
2. J-Ro O
3. Scarface
4. Munchoff
5. Niblets
Yep Contador goes back on top.
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Kreuzinger
4. Rodriguez
5. Scarponi
Good to be back (at the back of the pack).
Sincerely,
Jeff Delgado
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Scarponi
4. Le Mevel
5. Sivtsov
Ach…I’m toasted with these subs. 5 mountain-top finishes to go, got to stick another climber in there. da Mensch is just too pricey to sub out and maybe he pulls time in the ITT? Depressing to swap Meat-Sweat and Nibbles but if he can’t win in his own back yard, Bertie’s going to kill him when they get up north…
VSP PICKS:
1. Meat-Sweat-Odor
2. Nibbles
3. Arroyo
4. Mensch-ov
5. Kreuzinger
Switching Menchov for Le Mevel and JRod for Kreuzinger.
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Le Mevel
4. Scarponi
5. Kreuzinger
I was hoping for Denis to actually do something, but it seems that he can’t keep up with the best anymore.
VSP PICKS:
1. Alberto Contador
2. Vincenzo Nibali
3. Igor Anton
4. Joa-Clean Rodriquez
5. Scarponi
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Anton
3. Nibali
4. Kreuziger
5. Scarponi
Kreuziger in for J Rod
Arroyo proving tough and in for Menchov
:)
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Scarponi
4. Kreuziger
5. Arroyo
With casual deliberance, I change my pics…
…thusly.
Out go the climbers, in come the TT threats with a dash of frog…
VSP PICKS:
1. Fingerbang
2. Nibali
3. Kreuziger
4. Scarponi
5. Le Mevel
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Kreuziger
4. Garzelli
5. Scarponi
I’ll keep Menchov. He hangs tough. Some of those top tenners will have a bad day soon.
Subbing Meyer for Anton who seems to be the form Euskaltel guy now…
VSP PICKS:
1. The Spanish Steak
2. Nibbles
3. Dennis the Menace
4. I gor Ant on
5. Scarponi
As I blew it, like Mr. Delgado, all my picks are new. Sigh.
A-Yo-Yo survived the big climbs last year, and he’ll do so again this year. I want GarmVelo to have a good showing. The Spanish Steak was far too dominant to let him not go to the top. Nibbles will be fine, but he’s not going to pull off the win.
VSP PICKS:
1. The Spanish Steak
2. Nibbles
3. Kreuziger
4. A-Yo-Yo
5. Le Mevel
RUJANO!
http://cycleboredom.tumblr.com/post/5531567884/pop-pop-goes-the-clenty-cuz-the-clenty-goes
I think I’ll keep the same picks I had before…
BOLD PREDICTION: John Gadret is going to crack the top 10. He’s a slouch in the TT UNLESS it’s a steep one like we’ve got this year in stage 16 (he was 5th at the Plan de Corones uphill TT last year). He’s been putting in some tasty digs here and there. Currently sits in 15th.
I have learnt my lessons from last year. There is many a mountain to cross yet and there will be casualties. I’ll save my guns for the last week.
Does swapping positions cause a penalty? i.e. I put in Le Mevel for Menchov and move him to #3 and drop J-Rod to #4. Is that 2 of 4 penalty points?
@seemunkee
Each change is a two-point penalty. Here’s a summary of what you’d get:
1. Contador
2. Nibbles
3. J-Rod <--> Le Mevel @ 2 points
4. Menchov <--> J-Rod @ 2 points
5. Kreuzinger
Hope that helps.
Sub Kreutziger for Menchov
Sub Duran for Feillu (do I still have a 2 pt penalty given the circumstances?)
VSP PICKS:
1. Clentador
2. Scarponi
3. Kreutziger
4. Nibali
5. Duran Duran
Subbing Scarponi for Menchov and Arroyo for J-Rod. Just don’t see Le Mevel hanging tough for the whole race, but who knows?
VSP PICKS:
1. Cuntador
2. Nibali
3. Kreuziger
4. Scarponi
5. Arroyo
@sgt
What circumstances? Feillu DNF’d on the 11th, so that was te day to swap him out for free. Unless I’m missing something else. Which is very, very possible.
VSP PICKS:
1. Rodriguez
2. Contador
3. Scarponi
4. Nibali
5. Le Mevel
@frank
Thought I had to wait for the rest day to make any changes… no worries, as OBW so eloquently said…
@sgt
The rest day is just for free-form changes at a penalty. We (try to) maintain a list of all DNF’d riders and you get to swap out all five of your picks on the day the rider drops out.
As a refresher for some of the questions I’m seeing as I review the posts, your picks form will automatically open up if you are eligible for a change. If it comes at a point penalty, it will tell you in the form. DNFs count as DNFs for ANY reason; drugs, crash, missed the time cut. Whatever it is, you get to swap out all five picks because having a favorite drop out may impact the whole race’s landscape. Piti Principle applies, though.
I may see if there’s something more obvious I can do to the site that would be personalized to each visitor in case they are eligible for changing their picks. Like the digital equivalent of a gigantic hammer or something.
I might also add that we won’t be recalculating your scores until after the next stage, so don’t freak if you are seeing the wrong score after changing of the picks.
Sorry Denis. You’re out. You too, Garzelli.
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Christophe Le Mevel
4. Scarponi
5. Kreuziger
GGgggrrrrrr. I’ve been in a bad mood since Contador won on Etna, and have had a headache, trembling and irritable feet. What I was looking forward to more than any other race this year is looking very formulaic and predictable to me, though Contador is improving in my estimation a lot (assuming he’s clean.) Contador to ride defensively, add to time gaps in selected stages and frustrate the other GC contenders, have a healthy buffer going into the remaining TTs and that’s that. Dennis is out, Contador FTW, and Minion to podium in the final stages after winning lotto, flying to Italy and entering the race off the back of no form and a MASSIVE bribe to the organisers.
VSP PICKS:
1. Anyone but Contador
2. Nibbles
3. Scarponi
4. R Porte
5. Me.
VSP PICKS:
1. Oh Boy, Alberto
2. Vincenzo, are we in Compton?
3. Kreuzenegger
4. DenChov
5. Scared Pony
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. LeMevel
3. Nibali
4. Kreuziger
5. Menchov
@minion
What? That’s like saying, “I’m looking forward to eating lead, assuming it’s potatoes.”
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Kreuziger
4. LeMevel
5. Scarponi