The early eighties saw the tide change in the European Peloton. Components were taking on a new, curvy shape as they left their boxy forms behind. The glint of toe clips in the sun would become a rarer sight as the move towards clipless pedals would take hold in 1985. English speakers were winning the big races classically won by continental Pros.
The 1984 Tour could be my favorite edition of the race. In 1983, the rookie Laurent Fignon had won in the absence of Le Patron, Bernard Hinault. The 1984 race saw the two go head-to-head, with Fignon becoming the one and only person in history to have laughed at Hinault and lived. He did more than live, he won. The new guard was here, and they were making their presence known.
This photo is from the stage to l’Alpe d’Huez. LeMond was riding in support of Fignon, and Robert Millar, in his second Tour, was leading the King of the Mountains competition, which he would eventually win. Millar wrote an account of this stage in Issue 13 of Rouleur, which everyone should make an effort to find a copy of. He describes the attacks that come fast and furious on the penultimate climb in such vivid detail, it makes my guns ache. But worse than that is his and LeMonds effort to hold on to Fignon and Hinault’s wheels in the ride through the valley to Le Bourg d’Oisans and the base of the final climb. It is the perfect description of the suffering of the Cyclist. LeMond, in service to his leader, is on the front one moment as he reels Hinault in after an attack, before being cast into the gutter and the back wheel a moment later when the next attack comes.
Just as 1984 was a watershed moment in the Pro peloton, 2013 is a watershed year for the VSP. This year we are offering five amazing prizes from five amazing partners.
Prizes
First prize is a Veloforma Strada iR road frame, painted in an exclusive Velominati color scheme with the newly-designed Velominati Super Prestige logo. Please note that this is a brand-spankin’ new frame for Veloforma. The geometry can be reviewed here.
Second prize is a pair of Café Roubaix carbon tubular wheels. The winner of this prize will be given the choice between the sub-1000g Haleakala wheels or a road version of my beloved Arenberg wheelset. As an additional incentive, anyone who enters their picks in the Tour VSP will get a $200 discount on any wheelset at Café Roubaix.
Third prize is a pair of Bont cycling shoes. The winner of this prize will be assisted in selecting the size, color, and model of shoe.
Fourth prize is a Flandrian Best kit from DeFeet consisting of a wool U-D-Shirt, Arm Skins, Kneekers, Slipstreams, and a pair of V-Socks.
Fifth prize is a wool jersey from our Keepers Tour tour partners, Pavé Cycling Classics.
Many thanks to each of our sponsors for providing such exciting prizes.
Rules
Enter your picks for the top five riders on G.C. by the time the countdown clock goes to zero; Grand Tour scoring rules apply. Check the mapping of your picks by the end of Stage 1 and use the dispute system should it be mapped incorrectly.
We will be enforcing Piti Principle rules much more closely. We will be accepting pick disputes through the start of Stage 2. After that, it will be at The Keepers’ discretion as to whether or not we allow the dispute. If your pick is ambiguous and we map them to the wrong rider, make sure you check your disputes before the deadline; we may reject the dispute after that time. For example, should both Tony and Dan Martin take the start and you enter “Martin” as your pick, we will pick one for you and you will have to live with it if you forget to dispute it before the deadline.
Good luck, and Merckxspeed.
Update: This is the same paint scheme that the winner will have, except the VSP Winner’s Badge will be replacing the V-Lion.
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View Comments
@seemunkee
Excellent, +1 nomination.
Either that or his soigneur has just old him he needs to got to doping control .
"Have you not been paying attention? 240km, a fucking huge volcano in these temperatures and you want me to pee in a cup? There's nothing coming out of there. I'm done, mate, there's nothing left, nada. I've left it all on the road."
@wiscot The only time I thought about the wind when when they were out of the woods, it was strong enough to fly a flag but it wasn't that strong that it was really tugging at them or bending those thin pole people use.
@Marcus
Good point on the conditions. Not sure of wind conditions yesterday vs other road stages up Ventoux.
My first point was that if you are going to try to compare at all, then trying to compare a 242.5 km road stage (this was the longest road stage ever to finish at the summit of Ventoux in the tou's history and they were holding NOTHING back on the approach) to a less than 36.5 k ITT stage is completely flawed.
But that being said, I still stand on the point that if you nearly beat the WC ITT one day and also destroy the entire field on the only two summit finishes, odds are that you are doing something that everyone else is not, and in our beloved sport, at this lvel, that probably is not due to "marginal gains."
I'm sure that the COTHO feels sorry for me with my skepticism.
@Buck Rogers
Froome is a very good time trialist demonstrated many times over, and Tony Martin is riding with pretty severe injuries. With respect, I don't see a great disconnect there.
@Deakus
I don't think Good Cadel will show up. I had him there all along. I just subbed in Quintana for Valverde. If he happens to come in second I get 15 points minus the 10 point penalty for a +5 total. If not, I was out of it anyway.
@Buck Rogers William of Ockham would probably agree with you
@chrismurphy92
Ballsy move...a guaranteed 10 pt loss for a "potential" 15 point gain....You might have been better off praying to the Lord Merckx for everyone else in front of Malmerde to crash....
@mouse
Martin not only beat Froome by only 12 seconds, he also destroyed 180 other of the sports elite in that time trial. No one else was even within a minute of them. Hurt or not, raises my eyebrows (some of the few head hairs I have left).
Bottom line, I think that Froome is doped and I am a jaded son of a bitch. But I also respect your opinion and truly hope that I am wrong.
I still love the sport and really hope that it is clean. And, believe it or not, I still love watching it all, though performances like Froome worry me.
I'll try to stop dragging my black cloud of doubt onto the web. Doesn't really help anything, does it?
@Marcus
Yeah, I think it must be both. Riding both the Giro and the tdf full out at age 36 is a big ask.
I would not be surprised if he hung up his cycling shoes after this season, and it would not be with shame, either. The guy has been awesome, had an awesome career and has been fun as hell to follow ("and his little dog, too").
Hopefully he'll stick around another season or two and go for one day classics or shorter stage races, though.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Rodriguez
4. Mollema
5. Quintana