Velominati Super Prestige: Le Tour de France 2013

Robert Millar leads Greg LeMan on the road to l’Alpe d’Huez in 1984

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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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:

Jul 19 2013 at 8:25 pm

@frank

Bill Strickland. Bicycling Magazine journalist. Former Lance apologist.
Spun Up says:

Jul 19 2013 at 8:42 pm

@frank

@Spun Up

And a V on the front.

If you rub it, does that spell out "Vive la Vie Velominatus?"
Bianchi Denti says:

Jul 19 2013 at 9:30 pm

@unversio

Committed to focus on more bikinis at the Tour de France for the remainder. And next year!

Would silicone implants be considered bikini doping?
RedRanger says:

Jul 19 2013 at 9:31 pm

@frank stop being a tease.
G'rilla says:

Jul 19 2013 at 11:00 pm

Froome would never do that. He has two assistants whose entire job is to hold his arms up when he's off the bike so he doesn't have to use a single muscle.
ChrisO says:

Jul 20 2013 at 2:14 am

@minion

@brett Your input's been pretty fucking negative. Pointless even.

Do you do bikes? I was hoping that the conversation round here would be about the racing, but we've been sucked down the wormhole of rabbitting what the large press organisations are discussing, you know, the papers who cover one cycling event per year and the only institutional memory they have of cycling is doping. Fucking knobends who don't know what they're talking about in other words.

Hate to point this out Brett, but someone's got to win, it's the point of calling it a "race" and not the "Grand Handholding Boucle De here's your fucking participation award of France". To win someone has to be better than the others, and Froome's been on that level for a number of years now. If you hadn't noticed it's not his or our fault. We've all slung insults at Contador, Cavendish, Wiggins, fuck the list in endless in the past because they've managed to win something, now it's just getting fucking old.

+1 this is totally what I mean.

@Brett, Bianchi Denti etc You misunderstand - it's not a question of whether I think Froome is clean or dirty. I'm not clinging to hope or however you've objectified everyone who doesn't sing your song - if he is doping I hope he gets caught. I have an open mind about whether he is or not, because I don't know, and nor do you.

It's the endless arguments about it I object to. I'm not saying the points shouldn't be made, but in the case of Froome and over the last weeks they have just become dull and repetitive.

That particular point about Grappe having cleared Armstrong has been circulating since about 2 minutes after the story came out, which was what, three days ago ? I can and do read that shit elsewhere and I come here to get away from it.
ped says:

Jul 20 2013 at 3:09 am

It is all soo boring, personally, I'm not a Sky fan by any stretch, but Froome has done his JOB, and done it with considerably more elan than last years Wiggo's wheelsucking-procession. Apart from being a total trashboat regarding the feeding penalty, he's conducted himself with dignity in the face of repeatedly hostile questioning - he's certainly had to put up with more allegations than Twiggo did last year. His accelerations on Ventoux were fantastic, and brought out Quintana's amazing efforts. If the Skybots had just put a lid on it and paced him up to the final km's we'd all be complaining about how fucking boring the entire race is.

The scrap for top 10 places will only end at the summit of today's perfect threshold test , so just enjoy the fucking racing
Beers says:

Jul 20 2013 at 3:25 am

According to this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tour_de_France_general_classification_winners

5 minutes isn't that extreme in the last 20 years. Big Mig a serial big winner, much revered by many here. Speculation kills the fun, get the fuck over it and enjoy is my approach. You may just be watching a one in 7 billion miracle. He did get second last year, and he was the one in the wind!
the-farmer says:

Jul 20 2013 at 4:22 am

@PeakInTwoYears

and how mangy times has someone been "free to fly" then gets caught!
Deakus says:

Jul 20 2013 at 5:31 am

@Beers

According to this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tour_de_France_general_classification_winners

5 minutes isn't that extreme in the last 20 years. Big Mig a serial big winner, much revered by many here. Speculation kills the fun, get the fuck over it and enjoy is my approach. You may just be watching a one in 7 billion miracle. He did get second last year, and he was the one in the wind!

They did actually remov time trials for a year or more to neutralse indurain...