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″]
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Just wondering, by the way. If this was a sprint stage, heading towards a sprint finish, why was Phinney so far at the front? If there’s a crash at the finish, he’ll get the winner’s time anyway.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. scarponi
2. cunego
3. basso
4. f schleck
5. j-rod
Can’t believe that I missed the original deadline.
@tessar
Yep, thought the same. Inexperience.
@brett
I’d say he was just trying to stay up front to avoid crashes in the age-old fashion. May have misjudged that slightly, but it’s a tactic used by other inexperienced riders such as Indurain and Hinault since time immemorial.
@Oli
Yeah, but maybe not that far up?
@brett
Hinault won bunch sprints and stages in yellow because he found himself so close to the front he decided to give it a crack – that’s even further up the front.
Hinault = apples Phinney = oranges
@tessar wasn’t there a pretty sharp corner fairly close to the finish, the thinking may have been to be as far forward as possible to get around the bend easily and he just planned to stay there to the line…
Bretto = apples Oli = Correct.
@minion
Who is this?
@frank
They were never likely to throw a Italian rider out of the Giro……my view is for blatant dangerous riding they should receive a ban for three months. Crashes like this ruin the race as the injured riders are never likely to be as strong after they left a pound of flesh on the Tarmac.
Then again my calls for punishment might just be the Barolo talking…..
I hope Farnese vini didn’t pay a designer to produce that kit.
@Harminator
I like Farnese’s kit. It stands out, that’s for sure, and they ‘own’ it – no confusion with any other team.
That’s important for a small team which is in these big races to get noticed more than to win.
And quite fitting for a team riding Cipo bikes.
@ChrisO
I agree. I love the Farnese kit for just that reason. It stands out in a peloton full of blue/black/white and red/black/white.
I want to own that kit. And I do mean OWN it!
TTT today! The most beautiful race in all of cycling! Woo hoo!
What a surprise, Astana put in second best time. There was no way I was going to do any subs at such an early stage. It’s still wide open at this point.
@Mikel Pearce
@ChrisO
@Harminator
I liked their previous kit. In fact it was my favourite kit in the peloton this year. The new one is just a little too much hi-vis for me – if they would have had predominantly black shorts with some high-vis accents I would like it a lot more.
Didn’t the UCI implement some rule against compression socks or whatever Phinney was wearing? Is it an exception for injury? I don’t think that grass and such was very aero.
I think in Grand Tour Euskaltel should just be automatically given last place, say 30 seconds behind second-last. Think of the effort it would spare the riders for a predetermined result.
Kudos to Phinney for a brave effort. You could see at the end he was exhausted and upset at losing the jersey. From what I’ve read/seen, he’s done himself a world of good with how he’s ridden and handled things.
@wiscot
I meant to say in Grand Tour Team Time Trials. Sorry.
Gaps starting to emerge among the VSP pre-race favourites.
Rodriguez looking good at 30s down after 2 of the 3 TTs. Rujano and Gadret needing to make up ~5mins in the mountains above the other GC contenders to have a chance after the final TT? Scarponi and Cunego to spend the whole time worrying about who’s leading their team and not enough about the other GC riders?
HESJEDAL Ryder +0:11
RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin +0:30
PINOTTI Marco +0:37
KREUZIGER Roman +0:40
BASSO Ivan +0:47
SCHLECK Frank +1:09
POZZATO Filippo +1:13
CUNEGO Damiano +1:19
SCARPONI Michele +1:22
RUJANO GUILLEN Jose’ +2:33
GADRET John +2:43
@taon24
Yeah: monster ride from Katusha. I like Nieve as a dark horse, but Euskaltel’s TTT aren’t helping his case at all. He’ll need to be exceptionally consistent in the high mountains to make his way back among the GC contenders.
\\ Vince vis-Ã -vis the pros at Giro d’Italia (fan image) via fi’zi:k!
Gotta say that today’s finish only makes me wish more that we could have seen Goss & Cav go at it the other day.
With all the bandages, soreness, and stiffness, pretty impressive to ride like that. Rule V day for him.
Can’t believe Phinney went down again. What was the Saxo dude looking at behind him for so long? (was that Haedo v.2?) And Farrar did not have a good day either. Lost a lot of time there.
And wow, just saw a photo of Gadret. Jeez, there is a man who should not shave his head. Professional athlete or ill hospital patient? Hard to tell.
@Ron
And I have the stupid cock as one of my picks…
@Ron
Not only that, but Phinney was clipped on the elbow by a team car’s side mirror too! If he makes it to the end he’ll deserve a medal.
Outstanding win by Cav. Had the asshole Ferrari not intervened, he’d have given Goss a run for his money. Speaking of which, not a good week for he Ferrari name:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/may/10/ferrari-ming-monument-china-video
Just saw the highlights, holy V, Cavendish was great! I was going to place side bets as to which stage he would abandon but maybe he’ll shoot the moon and finish this year?
@the Engine
Ha! That comment killed me!
Great win by Cav & Sky. Cav is one tough cookie. I can’t imagine carrying on after that crash – let alone competing and winning! Sky are going to be hard to contain. Gossy will be sick of second places already. That said, looking at the overhead, Goss should be encouraged by that result. He made good ground in the last 200, coming from 4th wheel.
God of Thunder is out.
Sounds like a really tough day…Tyler Farrar crashed out too..
And there is a burro in the maglia rosa…
Lithuanian can’t climb for shit.
Rubiano can always look back on this as the day he violated Rule #37 in front of millions.
Fantastic racing! The stage profile didn’t look horrible, but it turned out to be a real leg buster by the looks of things.
Great win by the wee man and I can’t remember the last time I really saw riders rocking and rolling on the climbs like that. Sure looks like there’s a lot more clean riders out there. Sad to see the maglia rosa in trouble and abandoned to his fate. This is looking like an interesting and very open race.
@ChrisO
I recently saw a photo of Der Kaiser at one of the grand fondos sporting a Rule #37 violation. I didn’t have the heart to point it out, as his style is typically in accordance.
The start list for Cali looks quite impressive, much much stronger than the Giro.
@Ron
yeah, best to keep that under the lid, mate.
@nico
…and how many of them will actually be racing? Big names only make for a quality race if they’re trying to win.
@Steampunk
Yup. TOC is just a big group training ride for most of the pros.
@Deakus
I saw that in the live updates but nothing since. Does anyone know if he actually crashed or just abandoned and if he did crash, is he okay?
@Buck Rogers
VeloNewz confirms 4 out, including Farrar.
@xyxax
… and Thor too.
@xyxax
Thanks. Guess he did crash out, but sounds like the injuries are not too bad, relatively speaking. Bummer, though, that he’s out.
Nice kick from Tiralongo at the end. I like this guy (it was him who was gifted a win by Contador last year, n’est-ce-pas?). The littlest Steampunk sitting beside me at the finish, seeing him sprawled on the ground: “is he dead now?”
@Steampunk
Ha! “He’s only mostly dead” (Princess Bride)
Cool climb eh? Not so steep that it shut everyone down. Something like 10 lead changes and more attacks. Would love to know the speed on stages like this. Looked like 25 – 30kph?
Yeah Ryder! Looks like you finally got Canada the respect it deserves!
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s12e04-canada-on-strike
Strike’s off, fellas! Steamy, does this mean your sabbatical is over? Maybe now you can get some of that Internet Money.