Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2017

Vincenzo Nibali won the Giro going downhill.

I spy with my little eye a certain Michele Scarponi, who sadly lost his life while out training near his home two weeks ago, in there amongst his teammates after his captain, Nibbles, won the race. I’m torn about a death like Michele’s – we subject ourselves to similar risks every time we climb aboard our bikes and we accept it as part and parcel of our craft. Yet, while every day members of our tribe lose their lives to their trade, it takes a high profile rider to remind us how real that risk is.

But onto lighter topics, Nibali won the Giro last year going downhill, and it happened on the one stage I managed to sleep through which is another way of saying I missed it. But I love waking up to a that WTF feeling only a reshuffled GS can give you.

The race starts Friday morning, which is sooner than I expected, so I’ll stop typing so you can start picking. Get them in by the time the clock goes to zero, and remember that our Grand Tour scoring rules are a little different than the smaller events. So jump on that start list and get prognosticating!

Good luck!

[vsp_results id=”104353″/]

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

Ron says:

May 8 2017 at 8:39 am
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Nibali
3. Yates
4. Dumoulin
5. Kruiswijk
frank says:

May 8 2017 at 9:23 am

Hey guys - since today is the rest day anyway, I extended to tomorrow morning. Jeez. What a cluster. I'll also make sure no one gets penalties for the little bug we have with the rest day swaps...
frank says:

May 8 2017 at 9:26 am

@LeoTea

@ChrisO

How the fuck is there a rest day after three days… as if starting on a Friday wasn’t bad enough.

Early rest day is needed because there’s a 12-hour ferry ride from Sardinia to Sicily for all the team vehicles. (Riders got a quick plane flight last night).

The swaps are a bug because its a rest day but the picks were still open...don't worry about it, I've cleared them all out. Sorry about the clusterfuck. Did it all in too much of a rush!
Steampunk says:

May 8 2017 at 9:41 am

@xyxax

It's good of you to let your alter-ego out now and then.
JCM says:

May 8 2017 at 9:52 am
This should be interesting.

VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana, Nairo
2. Nibali, Vincenzo
3. Yates, Adam
4. Landa, Mikel
5. Mollema, Bauka
Steampunk says:

May 8 2017 at 10:07 am

A propos of almost nothing, I hope everyone's gotten over their Schleck-ons: yesterday's performance at the Giro makes Bob Jungels the greatest Luxembourger cyclist since Charly Gaul. That was some pretty badass riding.
mulebeatsdrums says:

May 8 2017 at 10:46 am
Just reaffirming my original picks (per post #36). The website is all kinds of struggling on my laptop at the moment so apologies in advance if I post this multiple times.

VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Gee
2. Kruiswijk
3. Yates, A.
4. Nibbles
5. Pinot
mulebeatsdrums says:

May 8 2017 at 10:48 am
Hurrah! It worked! Well done for sorting this all out, @frank!

VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Gee
2. Kruiswijk
3. Yates, A.
4. Nibbles
5. Pinot
Byron says:

May 8 2017 at 11:41 am
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibali
2. Quintana
3. Kruijswijk
4. Thomas
5. Pinot
LeoTea says:

May 8 2017 at 12:12 pm

@Steampunk

A propos of almost nothing, I hope everyone’s gotten over their Schleck-ons: yesterday’s performance at the Giro makes Bob Jungels the greatest Luxembourger cyclist since Charly Gaul. That was some pretty badass riding.

It was pretty damn spectacular alright. Nothing gets me more excited about an upcoming cycle race on the telly than the magic word "crosswinds". Echelons! F*** yeah! (apologies to Team America: World Police)