Velominati Super Prestige: La Fleche Wallone Feminine 2014
Wednesday sees the return of the women to the VSP. More notably, we see the return of Marianne Vos to the road. She’s won this race five of the last seven years. It makes me wonder if the rest of the field have already resigned themselves to racing for second. On the other hand, Vos hasn’t been racing of late and may not be as sharp as her competitors. Nah, that’s crazy talk. She’s Vos.
It’s been a few weeks since the women’s Ronde when Ellen Van Dyk soloed to victory from 27 km’s out. It’s unlikely we will see similar antics stick in la Fleche but we can expect some action on the way up the Huy to the finish. Click on the start list and have a look. It seems like the strong women are all toeing up.
This week we learned that Emma Pooley will make less money in her entire career than Tom Boonen probably paid for a shitty paint job on a Ferrari he subsequently crashed. We’re not entirely sure what to do with that information other than to say Tommeke probably has too much of it and Pooley probably deserves more. Sure, first world problems. They both race $15,000.00 bikes for a living and get to travel the world. There are bigger fish to fry than gender pay-equity in pro cycling to make the world a better place. But we can at least give the ladies a fair shake. As a cyclist and the father of two daughters I’d like to see more women and more coverage of women’s cycling so my daughters have heroes who are women too. A good place to start is by paying them a living wage.
Pick wisely, roll the bones and best of luck. The standings are tightening up so whatever you do, don’t Delgado. Points are points whether they be gained from the men or the women and you’ll need all you can get. There’s a sweet Veloforma frame, some killer wheels, fantastic shoes, and some other shit on the line.
[vsp_results id=”29634″/]
@anhtony
You have duplicate picks here.
@Two Ball Billy
You too! Correct before it’s too late. Please.
VSP PICKS:
1. Emma Pooley
2. Marianne Vos
3. Lizzie Armitstead
4. Emma Johanssen
5. Anna van der Breggen
A near-Delgado there.
1. Ferand Prevot
2. Armitstead
3. Longo Borghini
4. Stevens
5. Moolman
@Mikael Liddy
Interesting how the last entry, and on the 23rd (after the deadline), picked all top 5 correctly… unless he was simply posting the results.
Based on a quick visual, it doesn’t look there were many points scored… max of around 6 or so.
@Father of Four
Ha! He’s posting the results, Poindexter.
@Father of Four
you may want to go with your second guess there…
i hope there was video.
Spencer rules! Vos does not?
[vsp_results id=”29634″/]
I didn’t see either race. I am Mr 2 points. I did pick Armistead to win so I was close. She is really becoming an all around badass.
Sporza has a very brief clip. Ms Ferand Prevot is a very, very attractive young lady in addition to being a great rider. Quite the contrast to scruffy Valmerde on the podium too.
I may not have won many point on this race, but this…
And we’ll try that again….
It was a great finish. Vos did a lot of work for Ferand Prevot, and she actually looked human on the final climb.
@The Grande Fondue she also looked pretty pysched that her team mate won!
Wow. Won by someone who wasn’t even on the start list! And PF-P is my go-to rider too.
If there is one thing that women’s cycling could do to increase spectator awareness, it would be to publish accurate bloody start lists!!!
@Bianchi Denti You mean like the Rabo Liv team start list…
RABO LIV WOMEN CYCLING TEAM
@The Grande Fondue
Thanks for posting that. Vos did look human, but La Fleche is not exactly the easiest race to start your season with! As always. she showed a ton of class in supporting and congratulating her teammate. Pooley is back after finishing her PhD. How cool is that? How many PhDs are in the men’s peloton?
@jeyrod
OK, that list has PF-P in it. But it doesn’t have Vos or Brand, and it has 2 guys racing for their women’s team (Scully and Henao). I’m just saying there seems to be a lot of start lists to choose from, they aren’t consistent, and they aren’t stable. Don’t these organisers know what is at stake here??
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