Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2013, Stage 10

Altopiano del Montasio. Photo via Cycling Passion

Day 5 of the Six Days of the Giro continues with an impromptu VSP event.

Lets have a look at where we are in the 2013 Giro. Wiggins must have spent time training in Luxembourg because he’s been descending like a Schleck when things get dodgy before disappearing into the team van to have a cry about it. Hesjedal has put in some good moves and then proceeded to get creamed in the time trial before getting shelled on the last climb in yesterday’s stage. Evans seems to be riding like he did when he won the Tour though he’s sure to get sick before very much longer, as appears to be his usual approach to racing. Perhaps the biggest shock is that Gesink has managed to both stay in contention and on his bike. And Nibbles is killing it, proving once again that moving to a team with a long history of doping is usually all anyone needs to convert from contender to winner.

We’ve also had climbs, rain, rain, climbs, turns, descents, twists, rain, climbs, and more rain. The Giro is proving once again why it is the best Grand Tour of the year.

In honor of the first big climbing stage and with the time gaps already big enough to suggest some bigger, gutsier moves from some of those riders who have already lost time, this could be a zinger. Most likely some wild cards will escape and stay away, which makes naming your picks even harder than usual, but surely the favorites who are already behind will lay down massive helpings of the V to try to claw time back. The irony is not lost on me that the climb has the word piano in it, when you know the last thing that would ever happen is that they would ride up there at an easy tempo.

Get your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero. There isn’t much time, so get to it.

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

Deakus says:

May 14 2013 at 8:29 am

*cough..0 pts.

I know you wanted clarity over who the names were but I thought my picks were pretty easy to understand?

1. Cuddles 2. Nibbles 3. Dirty Diggles Sanchez 4. Wiggles 5. Biggles Bentancur

I'll put in the disputes and stick to the real names next time if it is going to cause a load of manual work for the keepers..
Mikael Liddy says:

May 14 2013 at 8:29 am

@G'rilla

Hesjedal didn't even appear in the TV coverage of the finish. Rough.

cracked on the first climb...kinda bridged & then got shelled real quick. He's done.
Mikael Liddy says:

May 14 2013 at 8:30 am

@G'rilla according to the twitters, he's just reached 3k from the summit
Buck Rogers says:

May 14 2013 at 8:38 am

@Deakus

*cough..0 pts.

I know you wanted clarity over who the names were but I thought my picks were pretty easy to understand?

1. Cuddles 2. Nibbles 3. Dirty Diggles Sanchez 4. Wiggles 5. Biggles Bentancur

I'll put in the disputes and stick to the real names next time if it is going to cause a load of manual work for the keepers..

I believe on these special stage VSP you only score if you have the rider in the correct place, not just in the top 5.
Deakus says:

May 14 2013 at 8:44 am

@Buck Rogers

@Deakus

*cough..0 pts.

I know you wanted clarity over who the names were but I thought my picks were pretty easy to understand?

1. Cuddles 2. Nibbles 3. Dirty Diggles Sanchez 4. Wiggles 5. Biggles Bentancur

I'll put in the disputes and stick to the real names next time if it is going to cause a load of manual work for the keepers..

I believe on these special stage VSP you only score if you have the rider in the correct place, not just in the top 5.

Aah fuckity fuckity fuck fuck! Ignore all my disputes then..

So you mean I am a bit like this....
Don Amedo says:

May 14 2013 at 8:48 am

Since I'm a rookie in this year's VSP, I'm guessing I've Delgadoed this stage. I was under the impression that if I didn't have any changes to my lineup (from the opening stage) I did not need to resubmit any more picks?

Need a bit of clarification, please.
the Engine says:

May 14 2013 at 8:49 am

@Buck Rogers

@Deakus

*cough..0 pts.

I know you wanted clarity over who the names were but I thought my picks were pretty easy to understand?

1. Cuddles 2. Nibbles 3. Dirty Diggles Sanchez 4. Wiggles 5. Biggles Bentancur

I'll put in the disputes and stick to the real names next time if it is going to cause a load of manual work for the keepers..

I believe on these special stage VSP you only score if you have the rider in the correct place, not just in the top 5.

You're much cleverer than me...
Chris says:

May 14 2013 at 9:03 am

@Don Amedo This was a Stage 10 specific VSP in addition to the main Giro VSP.
Deakus says:

May 14 2013 at 9:04 am

@Don Amedo

Since I'm a rookie in this year's VSP, I'm guessing I've Delgadoed this stage. I was under the impression that if I didn't have any changes to my lineup (from the opening stage) I did not need to resubmit any more picks?

Need a bit of clarification, please.

No need to apologise this caught be by surprise too...last night a short notice article and day stage VSP went up to celebrate the 1st stage in the mountains. The rules do not seem to cover it and it is the first time I had seen one but in essence you made a set of picks specifically for todays stage. Your other picks are unaffected and continue as normal till the end of the Giro.

It also looks like the rules are slightly different on this one in that you only get points for riders in the top five that you picked in the correct placing they came in at. The short notice caught a few by surprise because of the time differences around the world but it kind of evens out because late risers in the US tend to Delgado on the Spring Classics anyway!!
Don Amedo says:

May 14 2013 at 9:22 am

@Deakus........Thanks, guess I missed the added stage pick thing.