Velominati Super Prestige: Giro Stage 9, Mt. Etna

There will be fireworks

There will be fireworks. It’s a phrase we often use, and one we rarely take literally. But this photo shows Mount Etna. Actually erupting. Recently. There is a non-zero chance that it will erupt tomorrow, when the Giro d’Italia riders over this brute twice.

Tomorrow’s stage will be the first real battleground for this year’s Giro, and we expect there to be fireworks. Possibly literally. And figuratively. Get your picks in by 5am Pacific time tomorrow for a chance to grab a few extra points in the VSP.

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

  • Damn man. It's rides like that from Bertie that make me wish I could be convinced he's totally clean, proper attacking pair of tars on him. Then I remember him beating Motorcus in the lake annecy time trial, the day after handing it to the grimpeurs on the grand st bernard and it all goes to smeg again...
    @Cyclops - get in there matey, don't forget to reward yourself with some well hopped recovery beverages, balance is critical... ;)

  • VSP pack fodder continues. My only consolation is holding a one point lead over Bretto.

  • mcsqueak :
    @Cyclops
    Nice cyclops! Not too much longer until we get a podium out of you, methinks.

    Well, they called me forward to receive a reward for fourth (a swell Cateye LED taillight that I'll never use) so that kind of is podiuming isn't it?

  • @Cyclops
    Yee haa. Top effort.

    @pakrat
    Our neighbors have a rooster. I hate it. We have a chook coop. It has no chooks. I hate chooks. They remind me of roosters. Frank, couldn't you find a more Velominatesque progetto?

  • Alex:
    @Oli Brooke-White
    haha he'd be riding better!

    Hmmm, I think I'll have to defer to you on this point. 20th not quite as good as I thought...at least we know he's clean!

  • The life of a Velominati: I spent this morning watching the race and wondering where I'd gone wrong, how I'd gone from the lead grupetto to La Lanterne Rouge in such a short span. How was I so suddenly off the back? Should I have eaten more imported beef?

    Just got back from two hours of riding with two cool friends.

    I checked back and all is once again right in my VSP world.

    And a chicken coop is to blame...

    (Frank, sorry for freaking out. But's it's your fault... You do such a fine job with the site it's impossible to believe you have a life beyond the bike!)

  • Freaking out about the VSP is not the life of a Velominati - it is the very antithesis of Rule 5!

  • Oh, that's right, the Giro is a bike race. Imagine picking a winner based on the fact he 'lives in the area' vs the best stage racer around. "First with the head, then with the heart"
    Gonna smash myself as penance

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