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

Mikael Liddy says:

Jul 9 2013 at 7:07 pm

@frank @paolo neither was their the need for a guy to go from holding 3rd wheel in the sprint to freewheeling it back through the middle of the pack. Yes Veelers had his head down just before Cav & he bump, but in the frame before that he looked back over his right shoulder to check where Cav was...

Combine that with his subsequent drift right just as the road starts turning left & some might say that Mr Veelers might have meant to get in Cav's way.
freddy says:

Jul 9 2013 at 7:23 pm

Some really good analysis going on right here. I agree with all of it. Bike racing is Awesome!
Ron says:

Jul 9 2013 at 8:13 pm

Hmm, will time tell us what actually happened there? A very, very busy finish.
starclimber says:

Jul 9 2013 at 8:23 pm

@Sauterelle

@starclimber

Hold nose. Insert Malmerde. Blech.

VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Evans
4. Valverde
5. Martin

Malmerde!!! Nearly spewed my iced tea when I read that!

You're welcome.

As to Cav's Veelers takedown, it's very much like Ryder's Kennaugh whacking. Aggressive guys in a bad place seeing an opportunity get closed off and making sure as fuck the other guy takes the low road. Watch any sprint carefully and you'll see numerous attempts to shove guys off their lines and grab better, 'deserved' wheels. Relax at any time in this race and you're road kill.
Bianchi Denti says:

Jul 9 2013 at 8:27 pm

@brian

@frank

@Buck Rogers

@PeakInTwoYears

I am thoroughly unqualified to judge.

Hell, join the majority and don't let that stop you!

Yeah, no shit. I'm starting to like the little shit, but that move really looked like a brat who was loosing his temper. He continues to show a dangerous disregard for other's safety when he's not getting the wins he thinks he should. Not cool; he's messing with people's livelihood, if not their lives. Look at Haussler; after he took him out, he's never been back to the same form.

certainly looked like cav was pissed to lose again(and get blocked in).lowered his shoulder and took veelers out,if it had been reversed,cav would be crying up a storm. he may be the fastest sprinter,but he's a little wanker.imho.

If he keeps this up, I wouldn't be surpised to see an isolated Cav taken out before too long.I hope he realises that Roberto Ferrari IS still in the race.

I see that OPQS may have already signed Renshaw for next year. So Cav's obviously doing some serious whinging to Holm and Lefevre over dinner (which by now I'm guessing involves him sitting away from his teammates).
mouse says:

Jul 9 2013 at 8:50 pm

@frank

@PeakInTwoYears, @wiscot

Those pictures really skew what's going on. I don't think there's a question that Veelers went off his line by a bit, but the offending action to me is Cav's sharp movement back over with the shoulder and bike to cut back in. Mark had already deviated to avoid the rider and was well clear, but then chose to go back in, and it looks very much like a flick. There was no reason/need for him to cut back in that nature.

It does surprise me a bit, however, that Veelers went down so hard; it doesn't seem like a hard enough push to cause the bike to disappear.

Re Veelers going down so hard;

I suspect it may have something to do with the size disparity of the riders. Cav would be very low in his sprinting tuck position. I suspect that his shoulder would have been about at the level of Veelers elbow, if not his bars.

FWIW, I put it down to a racing incident. I can't see anything that would make me think that Cav would take someone out who was "in the way". Nobody thinks like that.
Deakus says:

Jul 9 2013 at 10:18 pm

@mouse

@frank

@PeakInTwoYears, @wiscot

Those pictures really skew what's going on. I don't think there's a question that Veelers went off his line by a bit, but the offending action to me is Cav's sharp movement back over with the shoulder and bike to cut back in. Mark had already deviated to avoid the rider and was well clear, but then chose to go back in, and it looks very much like a flick. There was no reason/need for him to cut back in that nature.

It does surprise me a bit, however, that Veelers went down so hard; it doesn't seem like a hard enough push to cause the bike to disappear.

Re Veelers going down so hard;

I suspect it may have something to do with the size disparity of the riders. Cav would be very low in his sprinting tuck position. I suspect that his shoulder would have been about at the level of Veelers elbow, if not his bars.

FWIW, I put it down to a racing incident. I can't see anything that would make me think that Cav would take someone out who was "in the way". Nobody thinks like that.

Indeed the press appear to be judging based on head on footage. This tells you absolutely nothing. We need to look at a rear shot to determine where the riders "should" have been going I.e. what the road was doing in the metres ahead. This will explain a lot more about who intended to do what...
ChrisO says:

Jul 9 2013 at 11:50 pm

@Mikael Liddy

@frank @paolo neither was their the need for a guy to go from holding 3rd wheel in the sprint to freewheeling it back through the middle of the pack. Yes Veelers had his head down just before Cav & he bump, but in the frame before that he looked back over his right shoulder to check where Cav was...

Combine that with his subsequent drift right just as the road starts turning left & some might say that Mr Veelers might have meant to get in Cav's way.

Exactly Mikael. Veelers has no place being third wheel behind Kittel and Greipel.

He certainly wasn't there because he was going to feature in the sprint.

He has gone there to stop Cav getting on the wheel of the real sprinters. So basically TV is trying to be a road block to guys going at 60-70km/h on both sides and has paid the price.
piwakawaka says:

Jul 10 2013 at 1:18 am

The Mighty Douche, is technically correct, he makes it look like he smacks into Veelers, mostly it's the extra speed he is carrying as Veelers " unintentionally " drifts across TMD's sprinting line. Greg Henderson did exactly the same to him when Greipel won stage 6, Veelers knew where he was and was happy to make the route around him that little bit further. That is racing. Could TMD have ridden round Veelers ? Hell yeah! Did he have to ? Not technically. The Mighty Douche.
ChrisO says:

Jul 10 2013 at 1:57 am

@piwakawaka

The Mighty Douche, is technically correct, he makes it look like he smacks into Veelers, mostly it's the extra speed he is carrying as Veelers " unintentionally " drifts across TMD's sprinting line. Greg Henderson did exactly the same to him when Greipel won stage 6, Veelers knew where he was and was happy to make the route around him that little bit further. That is racing. Could TMD have ridden round Veelers ? Hell yeah! Did he have to ? Not technically. The Mighty Douche.

All of which may explain why OPQS are apparently lining up Renshaw to come back and do a proper leadout so Cav doesn't have to deal with that shit.

If Veelers had tried that on Renshaw he'd have backed up over him just to make sure.