Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2014
For the simple reason that the Cobbled and Ardennes Classics are behind us, I have not alternative but to get back on my soap box about the Giro being the best of the three Grand Tours. Well, usually, at least. Last year’s race sucked the big one (even if it was supremely Rule #9), but for the most part it is the race that is the most closely contested of the three. There are mountains everywhere Italy meaning there are less bunch sprints, the weather is completely unreliable, and the slightly lower calibre of rider seems hungrier. Or maybe the reduced pressure means riders aren’t quite as stressed out and are able to funnel that extra energy into the race.
My favorite Giro is a hard one to pick out, but its either the 1988 Giro when Andy Hampsten took the win after freezing himself stiff with Erik Breukink on the Gavia or when Pantani took his in 1998. I’ve been watching the ’98 Giro during my morning turbo sessions and Merckx-oh-me, that was an All-Drugs Olympics nail-biter. ’98 is also an interesting contrast to ’88; in just a decade, the technology had changed so much but more than that, the doping atmosphere in the sport transformed completely. From Hampsten’s Giro, EPO went from just being dabbled with on the fringes to being abused by leaders and domestiques alike by the time Pantani won. Hampsten wrote a nice piece about racing against dopers in Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race. He described the various side-effects that the popular drugs of his era had, such as bloating and a tendency to make the user over-estimate their abilities. Amphetamine made the riders do stupid things, cortisone made them retain water, and steroids made them heavy; a clean rider could use those factors to their advantage. A far cry from the rocket fuel that allowed humble domestiques to big ring up major alpine passes.
Why am I talking about drugs? There’s a race starting in a few days, people! This is our first Grand Tour, and the picks are worth more points, not to mention that strategy starts to play into things with the chance to swap your picks out on either of the rest days – at a certain point penalty. Remember that points are not accumulated; the standings on the last day of the race are what kinds, so keep the long game in mind.
Any points you win count towards the overall prizes plus the winner of this event also gets to post for the rest of the year in the pink jersey badge. So check the start list, review the VSP Grand Tour Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on Friday, May 9th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero. There has also been a recent scourge of people putting a rider in more than one place. Two words: Piti Principle, people! Don’t make me do a bunch of extra programming to keep you from being allowed to submit such an obviously unsportsmanlike set of picks. We will mercilessly clear out all your entries should we find you have attempted this.
Also don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:
- First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron
- Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
- Third place overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.
Good luck, have fun with it, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.
[vsp_results id=”29781″/]
@Marcus
well we all know how that would end up…yes this is a gratuitous comment to see the maglia rosa next to the name!
@scott the plumber interesting claim. I take it these were all taken over a year ago, but just not posted til this year?
Posted 21st of March
Posted 15th of March
Posted 15th of Feb
Posted 3rd of Feb
Posted 22nd of Jan
@frank
Two fellow aussies in pink.
I say “blow the siren, blow the siren ! “
how good is Steve Morabito? Damn he gets distanced in the first attack of the final and rides right back on, goes straight to the front and starts smashing it again for Cadel. He must be stoked to have him riding his guts out. Hopefully he rides the Tour as super domestique as well. Great finish shows how the time gaps at the Giro are different to the Tour, I think you need a much bigger buffer in Italy as you can lose a lot of time in a very short distance.
@scott the plumber
Sometimes it takes a bit longer….
@norm
How about this:
That’s how to ride with the rainbow stripes.
@The Grande Fondue
Well said, went and listened to a talk he gave in Adelaide at his book launch and had a chat to him after as well as with his better half, Chiara. Both easy going and where happy to chat.
Different he may be, but he’s got the heart of a lion! See above photo’s
Pozzovivo is on the move.
One km with Pozzi coming up.
@Mikael Liddey holds pink but the bunch is closing in!
Just need some kindly soul, Possiblivo? to ride into second and Scarphony to drag his ass off the mat and up to 5th…. Well, while I’m dreaming, let’s imagine Ryder coming to life and crushing it next week and taking second.
@frank Not sure if it’s some kind of glitch, but I’m pretty sure I should be sitting at 21 points now that Pozzovivo has moved into the top 5. Site is showing 18 points, however.
@il muro di manayunk click on each of the arrows next to your riders to see how they’ve scored, if there’s something up you can click on the dispute button.
@Mikael Liddy Aha. Thanks.
The issue appears to be that my #5 pick, Pozzovivo, was incorrectly logged as Pozzato.
Hmmm, not sure how long this lead is gonna last unless the little Colombian pulls his finger out. J-Rod in 3rd isn’t gonna help me much either…
Great. Well this is just great. Quintana told Cycling News that “injuries from the big crash on the Monte Cassino stage on Thursday are affecting him, with a buttock injury in particular ‘hurting a lot whenever I have to react to attacks.’ ”
It might just be possible, just possible, the media controversy about Evans and continuing the race had everything to do with safety, rather than hyperbole about being a “leader” and “in charge”, Merckx, or putting down the “V”. Just sayin’
Or perhaps it’s that my number one pick is Nairo Quintana and number two is Joaquim Rodriguez. I’m riding squares and shooting out the back.
Bloody Hell, I’m top 10 even with J-Rod gone.
Great win by the most Aussie Dutchman in the peloton, Pete Weening!
@Daccordi Rider
No doubt dubbed ” Weeena ” in the bus. As in , “great ride Weeena, hows about a frothy to celebrate !”
@Barracuda
It’s a pretty boring book, though.
But since we are talking Aussie cyclists with books: Robbie McEwan’s book is actually worth reading.
@The Grande Fondue
Correct, We did the same for Robbie’s book in Adelaide also , he was even more relaxed doing the whole talk with a Erdinger in hand.
I particularly like the story of the nature break (no 2) in the bibs and also the arse on the brake lever of opposing sprinters when things got a bit hectic mid sprint.
@il muro di manayunk Ah, interesting – so was mine. How odd.
It’s spelled correctly too so maybe everyone with Pozzovivo selected has this problem?
@Barracuda
“Ween Dog” is the nickname on any Greenedge Back Stage Pass….
So J-Rod is out, Quintana has a sore butt and Nibali didn’t front up.
C’mon guys.
@piwakawaka
Great finish shows how the time gaps at the Giro are different to the Tour, I think you need a much bigger buffer in Italy as you can lose a lot of time in a very short distance.
Pozzivivo tenth to fourth in one stage, this has a long way to go.
@ChrisO
Me too.
Light entertainment on a rest day… der Jensie at the Tour of Cali. – “So you had a quiet week?” -“Quiet week?! What the fuck? I must be the most feared rider in the world.”. Classic.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Evans
2. Q Tip
3. Pozzo-tiv
4. Henry Rolland
5. Salmon Sandwich
@il muro di manayunk
@piwakawaka
@ChrisO
All fixed guys. After typing in ‘POZ’ a hundred times, sometimes we just hit the enter key out of frustration. Kinda like picking Pozzato to win anything…
@brett still not showing the three points for having him at five instead of four.
Purito out, Cadel in. Fuck it.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Evans
3. Pozzovivo
4. Uran
5. Niemiec
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Evans
2. Uran
3. Quintana
4. Pozzovio
5. Scarponi
@brett For some reason it is now showing me at 8 points because it applied the 10 point penalty for a substitution.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. evans
2. quintana
3. Rodriguez
4. Uran
5. Martin
Most obvious choice in the history of obvious choices J-Rod out (hope you recover quickly) and Uran in
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Rigoberto Uran
3. Cuddles
4. Rafal Majka
5. Dr Pozzovivo
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Cadel Evans
2. Rigoberto Uran Uran
3. Nairo Quintana
4. Michel Scarponi
5. Diego Ulissi
Run what you brung. I ain’t changing a thing, which means that my picks now have either retired, need to re-enter the race in the final week and somehow manage to win. And Heysjedahl?
as long as all 5 men finish, it’s worth it. Majka in, Purito out
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Majka
2. RIgo Duran Uran
3. Cuddles
4. Pozzovivo
5. Quintana
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Rigoberto Uran
2. Diego Ulissi
3. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas
4. Cadel Evans
5. Domenico Pozzovivo
Have to swap out one.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Uran
3. Cadel Evans
4. Majka
5. pozzovivo
Wonder when it last occurred that by the second rest day in a Grand Tour, the leader’s jersey had only been held by English-speaking riders: a Canadian and two Aussies.
Rest day swaps? Someone in for Purito. Other than that, no changes. Lumberjack Ryder is going to shock the world and go on a crazy rampage and win the maglia rosa for keeps.
@minion In A-merica are you allowed to go to the bookie midway through a horse race and say “I don’t like this one I want to change to that one, no sorry changed my mind again, I want that one”?
Too good. Still not picking Hesedal to replace Rodriguez, but great clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg&list=PL2BBA2CD2F83760A9
@frank Hoping this hasn’t been asked (I did look): There are 3 rest days in this Giro. Does a swap on the 3d rest day cost the same amount of points as it does on the 2d?
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Rafal Majka
3. Cadel Evans
4. Rigoberto Uran
5. Domenico Pozzovivo
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Majka
3. Uran
4. Cuddles
5. Basso
Fuck Me – this is pointless, but in case Cadel actually pulls this out…Purito out, Cadel in.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Cadel
2. Quintana
3. Pozzovivo
4. Uran
5. Majka
10 points to swap! 10 points! Forget it. That would be 20 points down no matter what. I’m playing my cards as dealt. Won’t win. But I ride with pride.
Swapping out Rodriguez
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Cadel Evans
3. Rafal Majka
4. Domenico Pozzovivo
5. Rigoberto Uran