Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia

Ivan Basso leads the 2006 Giro before illness forced him out of the lead.

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!

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.

View Comments

  • How can Basso not win this? What a monster, maybe he has found some better dope. I was pretty sure we would never see him ride well as a clean rider. I guess I have to take back my remark about Basso smoking like a hippie's motorbike. What next, Karpets? And Twiggo finishes 104th, that doesn't bode well for the TdF.

    Jarvis, do tell, your hate for Jens? Big breeder, five kids? East German? I love it when someone hates a rider everyone else likes, like Brett's hate of Little Georgie Hincapie(who got his ass handed to him by Ryder H today in the ToC!

  • Wow, what a bunch of hypocrites!

    How can you sit there and say "Vino and Ricco and Piti are bad, but Basso is cool"? He did the same, denied it just like the others, then came up with the lame "attempted doping" line. And he was the only guy who could hang with Pharmstrong in the TdF in 04 and 05, doesn't that tell you something?

    I don't care that riders dope, they all do it, some get caught, and some play the holier than thou card and hide behind 'miracles' and 'charity'. Others get caught and think 'fuck it, why should I be repentant when the others get away with it?'

    You were all quick to point the finger at Vino when he won L-B-L, and wondered whether he was clean. Why not the same aspersions for Basso suddenly coming good again after a year of doing SFA?

    Sure, have your favourites, hate who you like, but don't crucify some and revere others who are all on the same doping page.

  • @brett
    Yes, understandable points made with customary punch and conviction. (Have we driven you to drink again, Brett?) Personally I am finding all of this very confusing. I don't lke Vino (perhaps I should add "yet", given my changing view of Basso). And I dont like Piti. And I am pretty sure it's something to do with them doping and not really facing up to it. And I think that's different to Basso. And Millar. (And even if I didn't think that, I might be tempted to assert it anyway, just to see Brett go into orbit again.) But maybe I just don't like the cut of their gib. I dunno.

    In any event, it is one hell of a race.

  • @Geof
    And that's all it comes down to; who we like as riders or personalities. I hate Pharmstrong, not because he's a doper, but because of his bullying of anyone who speaks out against doping, and his hiding behind his 'cause' while scamming his followers (who have some sort of deluded blind faith).

    I didn't like the way he turned the Tour into seven years of boring racing through his team's superior doping program and methodical tactics.

    And I hate how anyone can believe that a pre-cancer LA who was NEVER gonna be a Tour GC contender could come back from the supposed brink of death and suddenly be so much better than anyone else. It's total bullshit, and to believe otherwise is delusion of the highest order.

    That's probably why I hate The Ego-testicle the most; Because the other guys who doped were already Tour contenders, and while they all obviously got the benefits of doping, they were still all on a pretty level playing field. Guys like Ullrich and Pantani must've been wondering how the hell this former strong one-day specialist could suddenly be riding away from them in the Alps and TTs. It'd be like if Spartacus came out and rode Contador et al off his wheels in all the mountain stages and won the Tour by 5 minutes this year. I'm sure questions would be asked then...

  • Nathan Edwards :@frank
    3rd stage of the Giro... again!?!
    So revised
    1. Cadel
    2. Wiggo
    3. VDV Sastre
    4. Garzelli
    5. Cunego
    I will not put Veino down...

    I figure this is an 8 point penalty? (I recant of my previous statement about not putting Basso down)

    1. Basso
    2. Cadel
    3. Sastre
    4. Scarponi
    5. Cunego

  • Ok jumping in here on the rest day and I'm sorry Frank but I am bad at paying attention to rules so I have no idea if 1) I should just put Basso in for Petacchi or 2) reshuffle completely?

    my old picks:
    1.) Cunego
    2.) Vino
    3.) Evans
    4.) Sastre
    5.) Petacchi

    only changing Petacchi:
    1.) Cunego
    2.) Vino
    3.) Evans
    4.) Sastre
    5.) Basso

    my new picks changing all except Evans:
    1.) Basso
    2.) Sastre
    3.) Evans
    4.) Scarponi
    5.) Cunego

    I think that would be an 8 point penalty but that assumes that I have only brought in 2 new (Basso and Scarponi) Cunego and Sastre just changed places???
    If that is right I will go with it but if it is a 16 point penalty I will go with the following... for 4 penalty points?

    1.) Cunego
    2.) Basso (new -4)
    3.) Evans
    4.) Sastre
    5.) Scarponi (new, no penalty)

    Jeese Stage racing is complicated!

  • @Jarvis
    Sastre was rolling around and I sent him the telepathic message, "Sastre, Rule 5, my son. Remember Rule 5." And then he floated.

  • @brett

    Wow, what a bunch of hypocrites!

    It's easy: the problem with Veino and Piti are the manner in which they don't address it. Vein, in particular, has never addressed the past and now says, "of course I'm clean now." I don't care if he admits, denies, whatever - show us the respect to address it and let us move on.

    Basso, as lame as his excuse is, has at least addressed it and made moves to repair his relationship with his fans. Sure, he must still be doping, but at least you can draw the line in the sand and say, "This was the past, this is the present."

    And how can you say "no" to this little punnim?

    I didn't like the way he turned the Tour into seven years of boring racing through his team's superior doping program and methodical tactics.

    Amen. I care more about good racing than doping. Fuck that. I hate Brown-heel and Pharmstrong for the way they raced, as I called it last year, "Assembly-line Racing."

    You know why I liked pre-cancer LA? Because he was a bad-ass, fiery asshole who made racing exciting.

  • @Rob
    Yeah, your first choice is a 16 point penalty, and technically you are too late with your substitution on Petacci for that to be free. So, your second choice is actually at an 8 point penalty. Sorry, I'd love to let you off on that one, but the rules are the rules. I'd hate to have Geof come in here and get all on up in our faces about all that lawyerly crap.

    Let me know if you want to proceed with the 8 point penalty.

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