The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues the with Giro d’Italia, on Saturday May 8 in Amsterdam. This will be the first Grand Tour of the series, and while we have a set of rules established for the competition, we’ll be modifying them as we go if we notice any problems with them.
Personally, I feel the Giro is the Cyclist’s Grand Tour; it’s not as main-stream or commercial as the Tour de France, but the race generally makes for a more exciting three weeks. There is something about the topography and geography of Italy that seems to lend itself to unpredictable and aggressive racing where several riders typically stay in contention until the final stages of the race.
With this being the first Grand Tour of the series, we’ve set up a scoring system that we think will be fair but will also help to close down the competition and afford newcomers the ability to catch up with some good picks. Jump over to the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page for a full explanation of the rules and the standings, but here is the ten-second overview:
Every contestant is to choose their top five General Classification picks of the race. The final podium of the Giro is worth 15 points to the winner, 10 points for second, 5 points for third, 3 points for fourth, and 2 point for fifth. Given the effect crashes can have on a tour, we’ve set up some guidelines around making changes to your lineup during the race: you’re allowed to change your lineup if any rider in your pick list drops out for any reason without any penalty; rest days will allow contestants to make changes to their lineup, however those changes will come at a point penalty. (Visit the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page for a complete breakdown of these points.)
Every day, the leader in the points standings will have the honor of wearing the Pink Jersey when commenting on the site; the overall winner will wear the Pink Jersey for the remainder of the season, and will also earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker. All reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free Velominati Shop Apron. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the comment section.
Sub-competitions will be conducted while the Giro is underway for specific stages. These stages will be chosen a few days prior to the stage being held and will be selected based on the current race conditions with the aim of choosing the most decisive and exciting stages of the race, so check back often to make sure you don’t miss out.
Good luck!
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View Comments
@Jarvis
Fo'sho. Every day will have a Maglia Rosa, so I'm working out what a tie-breaking scenario might be for this. I think we're going to have to give it out based on the best placed riders on GC that are in the pics.
Just when you start to think there has to be a new miracle drug because the lads are racing so fast, they go and shit themselves like this. This, at least, was real-life kind of racing. Amazing.
There is coverage here in the states; but only on Universal Sports, which costs money. The fucktards at Versus only care about the Tour of Californication which is a softman race. As Brett said, "Any race the Eggtimer can win three times is not a race." Or something to that effect, anyway.
@all
Everyone has fuck all for points, so here is the tie breaker. I went with whose picks were highest in the GC. Jarvis, Jeff, Joe, and I picked Sastre for first, who is the highest placed rider on GC (of the favorites). Of the four of us, three picked Evans for second, and only Geof picked Wiggo for third, so he keeps the jersey.
A bit arbitrary, but the most fair way I could think of to pick a leader out of this mess, much like deciding the leader's jersey based on summation of fractions of seconds. If someone can come up with a better way to pick a leader, I'm all for hearing it.
And by the way, if anyone is wondering, this is why the Giro is better than the Tour. Halfway through and it's anyone's race.
The Tour has the potential to be fantastic this year. Now how are those rain-gods fixed for Stage 3?
@frank
I meant is anyone paying attention to the Tour of Cali. So obviously not...
@Jarvis
We considered doing a ToC VSP (Velominati Super Prestige) but decided it's just not Hardman enough to merit the winner taking home an Obey the Rules sticker.
No change in the leader board after today's Stage 11. Sorry for the late update.1 Marko: 28 points2 Frank: 13 points3 Geof: 12 points4 Jarvis: 11 points5 Robert Marques: 7 points6 John: 3 points7 Brett: 2 points8 Rob: 2 points9 Joe: 2 points10 Nathan Edwards: 1 point@frank I thought we all had nilpoints?
@Nathan Edwards
You are right, I completely copied the wrong results. We all have no points each and I'm an idiot. The tie-breaking rules that I made up have us with Geof still leading...
Sorry about that. Good catch.
@all
I had a busy day yesterday and didn't get to do much following of the racing; anyone figure out what happened with Cadel and the nancy fist flinging?
It was so embarrassing! If this sport got any coverage it would be the lead in all the news shows for gay fighting. To be honest I saw it but just laughed and paid little attention so I can't give details.
@frank
Looked like a couple fourth graders throwing haymakers in the cloakroom. I haven't seen any reports other than it happened. It probably would have gotten more attention if it weren't for Roid Landis which is actually a good thing about Roid's attention seeking rants. Here's the vid