Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2012
After a winter of long training rides that offered more in the way of numb extremities than it did in acute enjoyment, I have to say that the warming of the air and brightening of the skies have served to remind me that while I love riding in bad weather, I certainly don’t have anything against riding when its nice out.
But dont think for a minute that this quells my desire to watch the Pros battle the elements as well as each other and, quite frankly, after a Spring Classics campaign that gave us only fleeting tastes of Rule #9 Glory, I welcome the arrival of the 2012 Giro d’Italia which holds the distinction of being held in the worst weather and over the worst roads. Come July, I’ll get just as wound up as anyone about the biggest racing spectacle of the year, but in my heart, the Giro d’Italia is the best Grand Tour of the three.
All that said, I’m a little disappointed to see that the Giro starts in Denmark. Not that I have anything against Denmark – lovely place – it’s just that this choice takes us away from the classical Giro opening week involving a mountaintop finish or two and gives us a Tour de France-style opening week of flat stages and crosswinds. We’ll have to wait almost two weeks before we start seeing the riders cross the highest passes and hitting the uphill finishes, though the final week does appear to set us up for considerable fireworks as the second-last stage will see the riders cross the Mortirolo and finish atop the Stelvio.
What does this mean for the VSP? Quite a bit, actually. Bearing in mind the changes we’ve made to the Rest-Day picks from the years past, it means that as the race settles out, those who have made changes to their lineup on the first rest day will not have the opportunity to do so again on the second rest day. And, those who wait for the second day will see steep penalties tallying up against their totals. But on the line is a Symbol Pack, the chance to post for the rest of year with the Maglia Rosa VSP Badge and, of course, the grand prize of the personalized Shop Apron. Check the start list and with any divine beings that you might be able to influence, and then get your picks in by the time the countdown timer goes to zero at 5am Pacific on the 5th May.
For reference, please review the new Grand Tour scoring and penalty guidelines. Also note that since these new rules required new coding and this represents the first Grand Tour, there is always the chance that there are defects in the code. Watch your picks and your points as we move through the event and alert us of any anomalies. If your points seem wrong, use the dispute function to alert us of the matter; complaints in the posts feed to this effect will be ignored. Finally, don’t leave anything to the last minute so we have time to fix any problems before its too late. Good luck.
Scoring:
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings on General Classification of each Grand Tour by 5am on the day of the first stage or prologue.
Points
Points will be scored as follows: 20 points for first place, 15 for second, 10 for third, 7 for fourth, and 5 for fifth; plus 3 points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice.
Changing of the Picks*
Contestants are allowed to make line up changes on one of the rest days of the Grand Tours but not both. These changes will come with a point penalty. You will be allotted one (1) rest day to make swaps in grand tours. You pick either the first or second rest day. The penalties for swapping will be lower for the first rest day than the second. This will allow you to swap out a rider(s) who gets caught in some first week nervousness with a 5 point penalty for each swap. Or make some go for broke/doomed to fail break-away swap on the second rest day for a 10 point penalty per swap. You make one swap or five on either rest day for the corresponding 5 or 10 point penalty per swap.
Additionally, if one of your riders crashes out, DNF’s, or DNS’s, you may swap them out on a rest day with corresponding penalties if you haven’t already used up your one rest day swap. The only exception to this is riders who are booted from a race for a positive test; if your rider is on the juice and gets chucked off the race, you get a free swap of that rider within 24 hours of the disqualification.
[vsp_results id=”15814″]
[/vsp_results]
File this squarely in the “I hate this rider” box. And, a big wag of the finger to the Giro organizers for not throwing him off the race at least. That kind of behavior is, in my mind, more egregious than doping.
He walked/hopped on stage for the Maglia Rosa presentation albeit with his ankle wrapped.
Taylor Phinney “ @taylorphinney
I went down, but I am NOT OUT. Couldn’t feel my foot there for a couple minutes…but nothing is broken… I live to fight another day.
On another note, the kid is pretty funny too in a Ted King sorta way.
Had me laughing at my desk.
@frank
I’ve watched that video clip a dozen times, and I can’t see where “another rider moved abruptly.” Except for Ferrari.
@frank
Blatant douchebaggery. I can’t believe they didn’t toss him.
Foolari!
@frank
Not auto correct. I occasionally think I’m funny when I’m sober.
Crap. No Universal Sports here. Is anyone using the online pay for live streaming service? I can’t make it through with just video highlights…
@frank
So I checked what 200 Swiss Francs mean in other money: 217 USD, 212 AUD, 166 Euro, 134 GBP. Now I’m not as young as I once was so I don’t know if I can be sarcastic twice in quick succession but, no, wait a minute – fuck me, he must feel like he’s been punched in the nuts. The only reason he didn’t want to comment is because he’d burst out laughing. What a bell-end.
Well, at least Ferrari feels bad (dripping with sarcasm); http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/11802/Roberto-Ferrari-defiant-after-causing-Giro-sprint-crash.aspx
Fucking tool………
@packfiller
Try this.. May not be HD quality but will get you through.
WTF looks to me like his foot came out of the pedal because of the collision with Cavendish. I call LIAR!
Is there any chance after reviewing the video he’ll be sent home?
This was literally the worst thing that could ever happen.
@Netraam
That was a bad crash no doubt; this was worse (1994 “Policeman’s Crash): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pya6ZVW-oKg
\\ There must be retribution !! Right ??
@Campagnolo Vince!
Yowch.
I read on facebook that Cav has pulled (or been pulled) out of the rest of the Giro. Not sure if its true, but it’ll be a shame if it is, he looked back to form and would have fought for more stages.
Who said the Giro was going to be boring, eh?
@scaler911
Bad but the policeman was not sprinting, Ferrari is a tool, that is sprinting 101 and there is no excuse.
@Rob
Absolutely no doubt about that. While the Jalabert crash was worse, it wasn’t caused by a competing sprinter. And Ferrari’s response to it afterword just sealed the deal. Total and complete fuckwadness. And since I’m piling on; the Giro organizers and the UCI are fuckwads too. I guarantee if he wasn’t an Italian, he’d a been booted out of the Giro.
Fuck that. Even at my level of local weekend racing, you’d get suspended for a move like that.
Enough on the crash – what about Goss? The lead out was perfect and he had Cav done cold – before the bingle.
I sense Savio will be handing out a significant thrashing to Ferrari tonight – at the very least he should be trailed around the Plaza in his lycra behind Flecha’s bike, until his ass looks like Cav’s – eye for an eye, backside of skin for a backside of skin etc
Gossy probably had it okay, but at the speed that Cav was advancing before he was felled, it would have been close…
Cav’s bike is a foxy lady
@Marcus
That was a nice run in. Textbook. Not sure Cav would have caught him at any rate. I think Sky tried to wind it up too early.
@scaler911
Yeh, Greenedge had that one nailed. Cav wasn’t going to catch Gossy even if the Kamikaze Ferrari didn’t nail him to the tar. Fuckin awesome bunnyhop!
@scaler911
Since there was shit for apology it raises the question of whether it was an Italian bookie’s contract hit, if Ferrari gets a new villa in a year or 2 after no Palmarés….
And ya Cav might have missed it (Im not sure, the guy is fast) but I would have liked to have seen it?
^ Yeah, count me in the “would have liked to have seen it” camp. We don’t know what would have happened & I’m not one for betting against a very fast man in the hoops; he’s pulled off other wins I didn’t see him making.
And jeez, all of this is overshadowing the poignant tribute to Wouter Weylandts. I guess his son has been born?
@motor city
I can’t find any other reference to him quiting the Giro so I assume this isn’t true.
@motor city
Rumour has it he’s been out training for the TTT
@franmillar
@MJ Moquin
Hysterical.
Fat Taylor: Dude! FRIIITESSSS! Get French fries! French fries! French fries!
Skinny Professional Taylor: Buddy, buddy. Throttle down, throttle down! We can’t bro, I’m sorry.
NO SWAPS FOR ME.
No rest day swaps yet, not that I was expecting any. With just three days of racing under the belt and just a little over a minute separating most of the GC contenders, I’m not surprised that people are holding tight.
@The Oracle
Yeah, weird rest day schedule, huh? Will make for a real battle of attrition as this race progresses. It is going to be a douzy, that’s for sure!
@frank
What if I wanted to change the order of the riders in my Top 5 does that count as a swap? Don’t need it today but maybe for the 2nd rest day.
@Chris
Is it just me, or do Cav’s shorts in that pic look like there’s about five extra layers of padding in there? I wonder if he’s going to slow down the team with all that extra drag in the TTT tomorrow.
@The Oracle
His ‘rse does indeed look large in those shorts but I think it may just be the effect of not being able to differentiate between legs because of the blackness of the shorts.
@The Oracle
Except I discovered in the pre-race warm up show on Sunday that Judas Gadret has had bronchitis but “he’s fine now” – mmm…
@the Engine
In the words of the immortal super sleuth…
@The Oracle
Probably bandages no?
@The Oracle
Could have something to do with this:
@snoov
@Nate
Yeah, I figured the same thing. His shorts look the same as my two year old’s–lumpy from the diaper!
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Scarponi
2. Gadret
3. Hesjedal
4. Schleck the Francker
5. Phinney
Isn’t it strange to have a rest day after just 3 days of racing?
@RedRanger
I suspect it has more to do with the transfer from Denmark to Italy than anything else.
@RedRanger
It is, but I’m sure Cav and Mini-Phinney couldn’t be happier. That’s a lot of R&R time they need. Also, while TTT’s are super hard, it’s not a full-length stage either.
Gadret out, Basso in. How do you lose 1.5 minutes in an 11 minute stage?
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Michele Scarponi
2. Roman Kreuziger
3. Frank Schleck
4. Ryder Hesjedal
5. Ivan Basso
@Skinnyphat
Bronchitis…
I’m standing firm but I have to admit I think it was dumb to pick both My Lil’ Pony & The Lil’ Prince. I thought Scarponi was still on Dickweed-Androni. Apparently not. So much for strong pre-race research. Dangit. This is not the form that is going to get me an apron!
I just re-read the scoring system and I’m calling Stupid on myself. I just took a 5 point penalty to give myself a better chance at winning…..5 points. In the immortal words of Phil Mickelson “I’m an idiot”. (sorry cyclists probably won’t get the golf reference)
@San Tonio
Every rider you change places is a change. So if you did all five today, that would be 25 points. Not a slick idea, but I also haven’t checked how bad your picks are. Could be a potato potahto situation.
@wiscot
I still think the ferrari needs to be keyed (as someone here stated) and thrown off the race. The punishment is as absurd as the Spanish Fed clearing Bertie last year.
Wasn’t it Rob’s suggestion that the bookies had the fix in with Ferrari? Getting pirched off the race for him would probably be a relief. Having to spend another 2 and a half weeks in the peloton would be uncomfortable to say the least.