The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues with its the final Grand Tour of the season, la Vuelta a España, on Saturday, August 28. This will be the final opportunity for contestants to rake in a load of points; and with the list of injuries, and non-starts together with riders using the race as preparation for the World Championships in October, it will make it all the more challenging to pull together some good picks.
This particular Grand Tour is simultaneously the most boring and most exciting; various sections of Spain features desert with dead-straight roads where little is to be seen aside from a colorful peloton gliding along a road for 6 hours. On the other hand, the mountains are steep and brutal, and the weather this time of year can be atrocious, so the mountain stages tend to showcase fireworks like we don’t see elsewhere during the season.
Having run the VSP Giro and Tour editions where we tested the ruleset for picks, and I think by this time we’ve managed to set up a scoring system that seems fair and helps to close down the competition to afford newcomers the ability to catch up with some good picks. There is a full overview of the rules and standing at the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page, 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 la Vuelta 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, there are 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 Golden Jersey when posting on the site; the overall winner will wear the Golden 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 Artisan’s Shroud. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings.
Continuing with our jersey picks from the Tour de France edition is the competition of naming the winner of the points and climber’s jersey winners. There will be no points awarded towards these two jerseys, but the leader of the competition will have the honor of commenting with associated jersey badge throughout the competition and the winner will earn the right to comment with that badge until next year’s race. The contestant who picks both the final points and climbers jersey winners correctly will win a Velominati Logo bumper sticker. Tie-breakers will go to the first contestant who posts their entire lineup (all 5 GC picks plus points and climbers jersey winners). Given that this sub-competition has no points, pick substitutions will only be granted under the DNF regulations of the VSP; no rest-day substitutions are allowed.
Sub-competitions will be conducted while the Vuelta 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. Sub-competitions will be held in separate editions.
Good luck!
Rules and results are posted Velominati Super Prestige page.
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View Comments
@all
Wowzers. Really falling behind schedule here. Wasn't to worried because I figured no one had any points yet, but BOY was I wrong. Also, it needs to be said that there were some really fantastic names in the list. Some real winners. Updates to the Lexicon coming soon...
For the overall, we have Good Geofelephant in the lead:
1 Geof 3 points points
2 Jarvis 2 points points
3 Marcus 2 points points
4 Marko 2 points points
5 Ben 2 points points
6 Steampunk 2 points points
7 Cyclops 2 points points
8 Andy 2 points points
9 Hawkeye 2 points points
10 Roberto Marques 1 point point
11 Nathan Edwards 1 point point
12 Frank 1 point point
13 KitCarson 1 point point
14 Minion 0 points points
15 Brett 0 points points
16 Sgt 0 points points
17 John 0 points points
For Points, it's Marcus, and he also is leading the Dots. He can't wear both jerseys, though, so the Dots fall to Sgt. AT EASE!!
Farrar has ben going all year though. Is he really aiming for the worlds? If he's on his way back up here - and remember that Cavendish has two aims for 2010, the TdF and the Worlds - then he's going possibly too well.
Still think Philleeeepe will take the Worlds, if not Cuddles will double-up.
Oh look, I'm near the top in the Vuealta. That'll change
Hey! What's happened to my categorisation? Does this mean that I'm now a Hors Category contributor?
Farrar for sure can win Worlds. He and Gossy were very impressive at Plouay, which from all accounts is of a similar terrain. Farrar and Cav are both hamstrung by having crap teams around them though.
Farrar because American riders just don't seem to give a shit about Worlds these days (can anyone even imagine Lance, Levi, ChickenGeorge, DaveZ or Banged& putting their hands up?) It's almost like if you want to ride Worlds, you'll get a start for the US, despite the awesome talent they have. Tyler will have a few blokes from G-T in the race though, and I can imagine them looking around in the final (downhill and flat) 8km, seeing him still there and offering their services for a fee...
Cav's problem is similar in that he won't have a team, but mostly because the Brits don't have the cattle for the road yet. And Cav hasn't won as much, while Twiggo sucked balls this season. They're ranked 16th at the moment (US are 5th). Does that mean only three riders? I can't remember the rules. Couple of years time and they will be a lot better, but he will then have the problem of his complete cuntitude to deal with, where it'll cost him a real lot to get blokes to work for him.
It's going to be a great race though!
Does anyone know the (of far lesser importance) UCI rules about number of riders representing nations?
@Hawkeye
Brit's problem is the system is crap. Another of the UCI's attempt for globalisation that is unfair on pretty much anyone. Some blog somewhere has a more accurate account
Wow. God of Thunder indeed. That was no small climb and yet he comes through in the sprint. Wow again. Classy and hard.
@Joshua
Yeah: and I thought he went too early.
And I've always been an admirer of Gilbert's, but color me a fan today. Nice to see a leader defend the jersey and then compete the finish. Some classy and hard riding there, too.
@Steampunk
You gotta admire the way that guy fights. When he's on, he's on. Starting to totally dig that guy. Not to mention his adherance to Rule 15. Any time they pull that one off, they go up a notch on the Frank Scale of Subjective Awesomeness.
@all
THOR THOR THOR!
No change in the VSP standings today, fucktards.
@Jarvis
You've reached the next level, mate. There's two more levels above you (until we need to make more!), but no-one has made it to them yet. A few others have Gray Order status, but they're all wearing leadership badges so you can't tell. At least I think so.
FUCKTARDS!!! BWAAAAhahahahahaha