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.

Next On Rule #49: Keep the Rubber Side Down »

Previous « Velominati Super Prestige: Men's Liege-Bastogne Liege 2017

View Comments

wiscot says:

May 8 2017 at 12:28 pm

@LeoTea

@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)

Oh boy, you got that right. It was a magnificent sight to see - all those EQS boys giving it laldy off the front with Bob Jungels at the head of things. I couldn't help but think of the situation in the Tour a few years back where Hincapie missed out on yellow because other riders wouldn't help him. Jungels was asking for no help beyond his own power. Pink was a possibility and he went for it.

You could feel how stoked the team were! Top marks to EQS for reading the race and winds correctly to their advantage.

So far, I'm loving this Giro. Great to see Postlberger getting a moment in the pink, then super-class act Greipel getting a stage win and pink too. (Is it just me, or am I the only one who hates him being called "The Gorilla"? It has such negative connotations IMHO). Then EQS kick ass. And still Etna to come this week!
Brett says:

May 8 2017 at 12:34 pm
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Cuntana
2. Nibs
3. Pinot Gris
4. Landa The Free
5. Kruiser
Steampunk says:

May 8 2017 at 12:35 pm

@wiscot

@LeoTea

@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)

Oh boy, you got that right. It was a magnificent sight to see – all those EQS boys giving it laldy off the front with Bob Jungels at the head of things. I couldn’t help but think of the situation in the Tour a few years back where Hincapie missed out on yellow because other riders wouldn’t help him. Jungels was asking for no help beyond his own power. Pink was a possibility and he went for it.

You could feel how stoked the team were! Top marks to EQS for reading the race and winds correctly to their advantage.

So far, I’m loving this Giro. Great to see Postlberger getting a moment in the pink, then super-class act Greipel getting a stage win and pink too. (Is it just me, or am I the only one who hates him being called “The Gorilla”? It has such negative connotations IMHO). Then EQS kick ass. And still Etna to come this week!

This is all what makes the Giro the most beautiful GT of the year. The entire bunch fucks up the opening sprint. Terrific sprint in day two. And then a Belgian team puts on a clinic on echelons. Nobody, but nobody, can control the Giro. Not team can put their stamp on it.
ChrisO says:

May 8 2017 at 1:55 pm

@frank

@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!

No problem - my comment wasn't a WTF are we having rest day swaps, it was WTF is the Giro having a rest day at all when they've only been going three days.

I can understand the logistics but it's still wrong. In fact I thought there was a UCI regulation that you can't have a rest day within the first 5 days or something of a grand tour.

I guess like all UCI rules it's hard and fast until someone tells them to stuff it.
oneninefiveninesix says:

May 8 2017 at 2:04 pm
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. quintana
2. Kruijswijk
3. yates
4. mollema
5. pinot
Joe says:

May 8 2017 at 3:01 pm
OK ladling my choixes into the rest day swaps bit. Fingers crossed.

VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana #thatgeekcanroll
2. Thomas
3. Nibbles
4. Dumoulin
5. Yates
Chica says:

May 8 2017 at 5:10 pm
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Vincenzo Nibali
2. Nairo Quintana
3. Mikel Landa
4. Steven Krijswijk
5. Ilnur Zakarin
Chica says:

May 8 2017 at 5:13 pm
Oh ffs, forgot a u in Kruijswijk. Fixed now.

VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Vincenzo Nibali
2. Nairo Quintana
3. Mikel Landa
4. Steven Kruijswijk
5. Ilnur Zakarin
Tom Mc says:

May 8 2017 at 6:43 pm
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Pinot
3. Nibbles
4. van Garderen
5. Mollema
RobSandy says:

May 9 2017 at 1:07 am

@frank

We all love you, no need to apologise.

However, it now says my rest day swaps closes in 7 days! Error?