Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2014

Johan Vandevelde wears a snow helmet on the Gavia during the ’88 Giro.

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″/]

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.

Next The Rules Goes on the Road-NYC »

Previous « RIP: Jim Oberstar

View Comments

Geraint says:

May 30 2014 at 12:00 pm

Yet another epic stage in an epic race.

Bit gutted for Aru not getting the win, but then he's already got one, and let's be honest who could begrudge Quintana winning the Hillclimb Of Truth. He's in a class of his own.

I don't have a problem with all the pink, it's only the shorts I hate. I just wish they were black. But, atmo, they're still not as bad as that fucking ridiculous all-white world-champion getup worn all year by the likes of Gilbert and Costa. Cav showed the way in that respect. And won lots.
Steampunk says:

May 30 2014 at 12:06 pm

@frank

OK, so I like Nairo, but WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON WITH THOSE TALL FUCKING BOOTIES? That's enough to make me hate a rider right there. Disgraceful.

Rolland is shaping up quickly to fill my Dirty Schlecky Love void.

Looks like Steamy peaked too soon and @il muro di manayunk takes over the VSP Giro lead. Its still a three-way tie, and I'm guessing there will be some tired leggs tomorrow.

Provisional Race Results

1. QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander

2. URAN URAN Rigoberto

3. ARU Fabio

4. ROLLAND Pierre

5. POZZOVIVO Domenico

Provisional VSP Standings

1. il muro di manayunk (40 points)

2. anthony (40 points)

3. Ron (40 points)

4. Harminator (38 points)

5. Patrick (38 points)

6. blue (38 points)

7. G'phant (38 points)

8. sthilzy (35 points)

9. Steampunk (35 points)

10. bunji (35 points)

...

174. VeloJello (0 points)

Just like Hesjedal: bit of a chain slip and I'm down to 9th. I'm hoping Majka can pip Pozzovivo tomorrow. I know it counts for squat, but I almost put Aru in my picks as a dark horse. Kicking myself for that cowardice...
KW says:

May 30 2014 at 1:20 pm

@Ron

@wiscot

@unversio

BMC Racing Team's Taylor Phinney broke his left lower leg in two places and injured his knee after crashing on the descent of Lookout Mountain Monday at the USA Cycling professional road championships.

I read that too. Looks like his 2014 season is done unfortunately. That's a real shame too as he'd had some good results and his dander was up as they say. What's Horner's situation at the moment?

I spoke with a cycling journalist pal. He said Phinney is lucky to be alive. Went head first into a metal guard rail and I think his leg was "fulcrumed" on the vertical support post. Yikes. He said he's done for 2014, but feels it's very likely he might never regain/reach his peak form. That's how hard he went into the railing. I hope he's wrong, that would be a huge shame to not see what he can do with his genes and dedication.

Also, he said he's covered numerous U.S. races in person and the moto drivers in the U.S. mostly have no idea how fast the PROs on bicycles can descend. He said many of them have no business working cycling races.

I saw a report that Horner thinks he might ride the Tour. Hard to believe.

I saw an interview with Lucas Euser, who also went down in the same incident. He and Phinney are friends and train together in Boulder. As soon as he made sure he was OK himself, he went straight to Phinney and stayed with him until help arrived.

Chapeau to him for saying "Fuck the race." Some things are more important.
wiscot says:

May 30 2014 at 1:35 pm

@Buck Rogers

Damn! Picture did not post. I'll try again and, when it most likely does not post, just add evidence to Steampunk's assertion that I really do not belong on the interweb.

Awesome photo. Two hard men casually discussing how much pain they have inflicted that day. Would never see either of them in big pink overshoes or anything made by POC.
wiscot says:

May 30 2014 at 1:37 pm

@KW

@Ron

@wiscot

@unversio

BMC Racing Team's Taylor Phinney broke his left lower leg in two places and injured his knee after crashing on the descent of Lookout Mountain Monday at the USA Cycling professional road championships.

I read that too. Looks like his 2014 season is done unfortunately. That's a real shame too as he'd had some good results and his dander was up as they say. What's Horner's situation at the moment?

I spoke with a cycling journalist pal. He said Phinney is lucky to be alive. Went head first into a metal guard rail and I think his leg was "fulcrumed" on the vertical support post. Yikes. He said he's done for 2014, but feels it's very likely he might never regain/reach his peak form. That's how hard he went into the railing. I hope he's wrong, that would be a huge shame to not see what he can do with his genes and dedication.

Also, he said he's covered numerous U.S. races in person and the moto drivers in the U.S. mostly have no idea how fast the PROs on bicycles can descend. He said many of them have no business working cycling races.

I saw a report that Horner thinks he might ride the Tour. Hard to believe.

I saw an interview with Lucas Euser, who also went down in the same incident. He and Phinney are friends and train together in Boulder. As soon as he made sure he was OK himself, he went straight to Phinney and stayed with him until help arrived.

Chapeau to him for saying "Fuck the race." Some things are more important.

Yup, kudos to Euser for doing the right thing. I can believe that the moto riders have no clue what they're doing or how fast these pros can descend. I'll be gutted if this prevents Phinney from reaching his full potential. There's so much there in the next 10 years.
wiscot says:

May 30 2014 at 1:40 pm

@frank

OK, so I like Nairo, but WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON WITH THOSE TALL FUCKING BOOTIES? That's enough to make me hate a rider right there. Disgraceful.

Rolland is shaping up quickly to fill my Dirty Schlecky Love void.

Looks like Steamy peaked too soon and @il muro di manayunk takes over the VSP Giro lead. Its still a three-way tie, and I'm guessing there will be some tired leggs tomorrow.

Provisional Race Results

1. QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander

2. URAN URAN Rigoberto

3. ARU Fabio

4. ROLLAND Pierre

5. POZZOVIVO Domenico

Provisional VSP Standings

1. il muro di manayunk (40 points)

2. anthony (40 points)

3. Ron (40 points)

4. Harminator (38 points)

5. Patrick (38 points)

6. blue (38 points)

7. G'phant (38 points)

8. sthilzy (35 points)

9. Steampunk (35 points)

10. bunji (35 points)

...

174. VeloJello (0 points)

From now on, I suggest Nairo Quinta be referred to as Senor Sexy Boots. Holy shit! I thought the UCI had rules on that kind of thing? Just awful and wait until Sunday when he rides a pink bike too.
strathlubnaig says:

May 30 2014 at 1:54 pm

Yes, it is the MAGLIA rosa, not the whole kit AND caboodle, it just smacks of complete overthetopness, makes a great wee rider look a right twat, especially those mad Boy Wonder pink boots ffs.....
anthony says:

May 30 2014 at 4:01 pm

Why Nairo Why!!!!!!!!!!, you were turning into my favorite rider. Somebody ay Movistar needs to put a stop to this.
Mikael Liddy says:

May 30 2014 at 4:38 pm

@wiscot

@Buck Rogers

Damn! Picture did not post. I'll try again and, when it most likely does not post, just add evidence to Steampunk's assertion that I really do not belong on the interweb.

Awesome photo. Two hard men casually discussing how much pain they have inflicted that day. Would never see either of them in big pink overshoes or anything made by POC.

That's a bit rich when the photo is quite clearly taken from a filmshoot (see link above), in other words they're doing what their sponsors asked them to do, much like the riders today.
Gianni says:

May 30 2014 at 4:49 pm

Come on Ryder, I needed you up in second place, not 9th place. J-Rod, you put a knife in my heart.

@strathlubnaig

Yes, it is the MAGLIA rosa, not the whole kit AND caboodle, it just smacks of complete overthetopness, makes a great wee rider look a right twat, especially those mad Boy Wonder pink boots ffs.....

But, but, but it's the Giro. One has to do the whole bifda, bike and all. I really am liking Quintana, he is squared away and confident. I'm looking forward to him kicking some more ass in the future.