Velominati Super Prestige: La Fleche Wallone

The steep climb of the Muur de Huy

The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues with La Fleche Wallone on Wednesday, April 21. This will be the third race in the season-long series and presents another opportunity to jump up the rankings and unseat current series leader and rainbow cog wearer, Rob, who consolidated his lead Sunday at Amstel Gold. The competition remains very close and leadership can belong to anyone who makes a good race prediction Wednesday.

La Fleche is sure to be as unpredictable as Amstel, as the eruption of EyjafjallajÃ¶kull continues to wreak havoc on the start list, with riders who can not pronounce the volcano’s name being rendered unable to travel to the races. Add to that the ferocity of the finishing climb – the Muur de Huy with it’s 26% ramps – and we have an other unpredictable race on our hands. Is this a year for a solo breakaway to finally succeed, or will itagain feature a large group who contests the finale in a brutish uphill sprint?

This edition’s winner will again earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free Velominati Shop Apron. If you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the comment section. Good luck.

Rules and results are posted Velominati Super Prestige page.

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.

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View Comments

brett says:

Apr 20 2010 at 1:38 pm

@ video Wow, what a display of doping from Pharmstrong! He really 'schooved' that needle into his ball sack.

I was actually thinking Sammy Sanchez, but he's not riding, but LL Cool Sanchez could be a good pick too...
frank says:

Apr 20 2010 at 9:15 pm

@brett
Oh, is that bad? Hold on while I rearrange my needles...

On a (hopefully) unrelated note: I just read that in 2007 - Gesink's first year riding La Fleche - he clocked the fasted time up the Muur on the final ride up; he started way back in the bunch and ended up ninth. I feel bad for not supporting him more now. I say, anyone who backs him is goes up a notch in my book.
brett says:

Apr 21 2010 at 2:21 am

Put your money where your mouth is then...
frank says:

Apr 21 2010 at 5:51 am

@brett
Sadly I can't change my vote once cast...
frank says:

Apr 21 2010 at 7:20 am

Wow, we pretty much got fuck all in the scoring. The competition will stay close.
Marko says:

Apr 21 2010 at 7:26 am

@frank

Good race. No spoiler but from me but good race. At first glance I did pretty well considering the melee.
frank says:

Apr 21 2010 at 9:34 am

Awesome race, guys. Our inability to call the Ardienne classics so far has done nothing to open up the competition. While Marko took today's race and jumped up the rankings, Rob still managed to maintain his lead. Liege should prove to be interesting.

The results are:

La FlÃ©che Wallonne, April 21, 2010

1. Marko: 3 points
2. Rob: 2 points
2. Frank: 2 points
2. Brett: 2 points
5. John: 1 points
5. Joe: 1 points
5. Geoff: 1 points
8. James, Dan O, Jim: 0 points

The current Super Prestige standings are:

1. Rob: 12 points
2. Marko: 11 points
3. Frank: 10 points
4. John: 9 points
5. Brett: 8 points
6. Joe: 6 points
6. Geoff: 6 points
8. James, Dan O, Jim: 0 points

Full results are posted on the main Super Prestige page.
frank says:

Apr 21 2010 at 9:38 am

Congratulations to Marko on taking the win and to Geof, who takes the Obey the Rules sticker for this edition. The tie-breaker for this one was by merit of Geof being the first to post his results.

Please let me know if anyone sees any errors in my calculations.
Joe says:

Apr 21 2010 at 9:49 am

Wow. That was pretty great from Cadel, clearly Contador is off his meds...where was that fabled spring? Why did I drop Cunego from my line up for the doper at the last minute? Doh! A Schleck seemed to be doing a holding role for his Bro, the rascal. Rodriguez looked strong at the end though - nice to see. I'm still with Gilbert for LBL.....
Marko says:

Apr 21 2010 at 9:55 am

Good work all. Not easy to call but fun as hell to watch. I thought those of us who picked Bert were surely gonna wrack up fivers. But low and behold the good Cadel shows up. Nice to see El Pistelero shoots blanks sometimes, he visibly lost it on that last pitch. And good on Cadel for doing the rainbow stripes some justice. Now a quick sigh of relief and the stress continues with LBL.