Velominati Super Prestige: Giro Stage 9, Mt. Etna
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.
@Cyclops
Congratulations! Bravo!
Today’s results. Bear in mind that this is a Stage VSP, so there are only points going to the top three, and for 3, 2, and 1 points. You still get a bonus point for picking a rider who made it into the top five.
[vsp_score id=”8313″]
[/vsp_score]
Drugs sure make a difference in helping you climb well for your weight; Bertie made everyone look like they were riding tricycles.
Hey, I made it to the podium!
@joe, @Ron
Sorry guys – not a lot of time yesterday, busy building a chicken coop. Yeah, I know. What the fuck.
Some more detail:
Interim stages have nothing to do with your VSP Giro picks. These are bonus stages that go towards your overall VSP total, but don’t effect the Giro VSP in any way. Three points for first, Two for second, and 1 for 3 through 5 and a bonus point for any rider in the top five.
Rest day picks will open up automatically on the rest day, and will close again at 5am Pacific the day of the next stage. Any DNF’s get free swaps on the day of the DNF (or the day we notice they’ve DNF’d and we update the DNF list.)
@Cyclops
Well played good sir! That’s a helluva pace no doubt.
@Cyclops
Nice work, mate! Pick a race this year and we’ll do a VSP on it.
@frank
Building a chicken coop eh? Those things are popular down here as well. My last neighbors had chicken, which were pretty neat actually.
@frank
Chicken coop? Is that a joke, cuz I’m right there with you? I have an old shed I am waiting to convert to a coop as soon the f’n HOA approves it. No roosters mind you, I want to sleep in on occasion.
TOC on hold till 1pm pending weather. I’m hoping to go to the finish and see Der Jens, Grimplette, and Thor in person. Unfortunately it is alternating between sunshine and blowing snow.. WTF. At least its a full day of cycling!
Post-race interview from Contador… we enjoyed some great Spanish steak last night, and will enjoy some more tonight. :)
If I may, I think I should get a credit for John Gadret. He finished 9th, ahead of several favorites. I knew he was a badass at last years TdF when he wouldn’t give up his bike to Roche the younger because he was climbing better than the captain and knew it. Watch out for him.
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.
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?
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!
Still, I can’t believe I missed the Etna VSP. Bertie was my go to.
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
@Cyclops
With that form come to Australia Cyclops. Instead of prizes our club races pay cold hard cash in all grades…
How did you work that one out when Roche was AHEAD of him on the road and asked for Gadret’s bike when Gadret rode up to him. All that Gadret proved that day was that he is a shit teammate
@Marcus
Agree and it wasn’t a pleasant bus ride back by all accounts. Still he did ride well last night so props to Eric for the pick.
I’m starting to wonder what J Rod is there to do at this Giro, along with Menchov and Sastre, all over 2 mins back.
Yo Frank… there’s a ghost in the machine… no way I should be in la maglia rosa
Maybe a new lexicon entry to describe Bertie’s Big Teeth Grimace that he pulls when putting the sword to the rest of the field. Smiling Like A Shark perhaps?
Oli – as an elder Velominati (meaning you’ve been one far, far longer than me, not an age-specific descriptor) thank you for that. Spot on!
I had it all wrong; I shall see Rule #5 for my penance.
Good man, Ron. Remember, ABC – Always Be Cool.
Well the Eggtimer used his pull and called off the TOC 1st stage today. He even made the announcement himself to the crowd. At the Giro they ride on an active volcano. Here they call it off for a few snowflakes and some damp roads. You know Der Jens would have finished with a smile on his face. This is why we don’t use the TOC for the VSP.
@pakrat
…And for anyone still wondering why we don’t do a TOC VSP.
@Ron
@Oli Brooke-White
Oli, spot on. Except Velominati is plural; Velominatus is singular. Remeber your fake Latin, fermerckxsakes!
@joe
It’s rides like that that convince me he a doping douchenozzle. Easy to go all-in on a climb like that when you know you’re gonna get your blood topped off the next day. “yeah, sure…warm ‘er up, ma’am.”
@Marcus
Tweet from Cosmo (Cyclocosmo) yesterday:
Jon Gadret attacking like Nicholas Roche is up the road. #giro
Also will note that of the top 5, Contador, Guillen, and Kreuziger were wearing nasal strips yesterday. Nibali and Garzelli were not.
What the fuck do I know?
um, “Cyclocosm”