Velominati Super Prestige

Velominati Super Prestige: Le Tour de France 2013

millar-lemond
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.

[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Veloforma/”/]

[vsp_results id=”24179″/]

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1,667 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: Le Tour de France 2013”

  1. @frank Dammit man, my Sky + Spanish picks are entirely reliant on all of them popping a positive on the day of the Alpe, and getting free picks to romp home with the “correct” top 5!

  2. @ped

    @frank Dammit man, my Sky + Spanish picks are entirely reliant on all of them popping a positive on the day of the Alpe, and getting free picks to romp home with the “correct” top 5!

    Now that is style….I wish I had been that devious!

  3. @frank

    @minion

    What did the keepers decide in the event of ‘winners’ being busted and stripped of titles? No-one really cared when it was steak knives, but now there’s wheels, frames et al on the line the stakes have changed somewhat? Piti principal?

    This is a great question, and of course we’ll take this as it comes and make more realistic judgements should there be positive tests.

    In principle, however, the VSP is based on picking which riders will finish in what place, based on the information we have available prior to the race’s start. In that spirit, having someone test positive a few weeks or months after the Tour does not effect the spirit of our particular competition and we would therefor not change our results, despite the considerably higher stakes. In a way, winning a prize after the event is over would be akin to Schleck getting his yellow jersey a year later, stuffy sleeves and all. No one wants that.

    We may still issue a penalty-free swap should someone test positive during the race, though we again will reserve that decision until we see the circumstances of the specific incident.

    Hmmm…will he every be casually deliberate?..I think not!

  4. here we go….less than 24hrs.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Van Garderen
    3. Contador
    4. Rodriguez
    5. Evans

  5. I was unable to log in on my cell I hope these picks make it in

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Porte
    3. Van garderen
    4. Ryder H
    5. Gala sky

  6. Showtime

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Alberto Contador
    3. Joaquim Rodriguez
    4. Tejay van Garderen
    5. Alejandro Valverde

  8. VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Alberto Contador
    3. Joaquin Rodriguez
    4. Richie Porte
    5. Nairo Quintana

  9. I am cutting the cable cord this week, perfect timing.  I plan on buying the nbcsports mobile coverage for iPhone.  I have several iDevices and an apple TV, and I’m curious what anyone else thinks of the TDF Live app.  Worth it?

  10. @frank

    We may still issue a penalty-free swap should someone test positive during the race, though we again will reserve that decision until we see the circumstances of the specific incident.

    I wish you would reconsider that rule – it has always seemd unfair to me that having a rider pinged for drugs during the race is treated more favourably than having them run over by a team car or sliding out in snow.

    Not that I expect it to make any difference to my own results.

  11. VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Cadel Evans
    3. Tejay van Garderen
    4. Richie Porte
    5. Alberto Contador

  13. VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Alberto Contador
    3. Richie Porte
    4. Nairo Quintana
    5. Thibaut Pinot

  14. @Deakus

    @ped

    @frank Dammit man, my Sky + Spanish picks are entirely reliant on all of them popping a positive on the day of the Alpe, and getting free picks to romp home with the “correct” top 5!

    Now that is style….I wish I had been that devious!

    I’ll admit that I considered picking DiLuca to win the Giro because I figured there was a more than off chance he would get popped – now I wish I would have…

  15. Hmm… This Tour looks like it could be a real nail-biter. I’d love to see weight-of-a-nation on the top step but without knowing his form I can’t give him the nod.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Cadel Evans
    3. Alberto Contador
    4. Ryder Hesjedal
    5. Joaquim Rodriguez

  17. VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Contador
    3. Cadel Evans
    4. Hesjedal
    5. Van Garderen

  18. @razmaspaz

    I am cutting the cable cord this week, perfect timing. I plan on buying the nbcsports mobile coverage for iPhone. I have several iDevices and an apple TV, and I’m curious what anyone else thinks of the TDF Live app. Worth it?

    I tried it last year on my iPad and it was pretty crappy.  Kept dropping the stream and I would end up pulling up some other stream from cyclingfans on my workstation.  It was updated halfway through the tour, but it still had issues.

  19. @piwakawaka

    This from Ritchie Porte:

    While the Tour has been drawing closer, it doesn’t really change the way we train. We haven’t done a massive taper after the Dauphiné. Five of us from the Tour team went to Châtel, so we had a little bit of recon and generally tried to keep healthy. With a few last minute adjustments, everyone tries to lose a couple of kilos and now everyone’s turned up with new haircuts which makes you instantly look leaner.

    “a couple of kilos”?!?

    “haircuts”?!?

    Holy shit, whatever it takes huh? Love him though, the faithful lieutenant, will deliver his captain to the top step, and be right there beside him in Paris.

    Don’t they take hair samples for drug testing?  Hair cut means either too short for testing or nice and clean from your detox.  Is that too cynical?

  20. VSP PICKS:

    1. Contador
    2. Froome
    3. TJ VanG
    4. Nairo Quintana
    5. Thibot Pinot

  23. @ChrisO

    @frank

    We may still issue a penalty-free swap should someone test positive during the race, though we again will reserve that decision until we see the circumstances of the specific incident.

    I wish you would reconsider that rule – it has always seemd unfair to me that having a rider pinged for drugs during the race is treated more favourably than having them run over by a team car or sliding out in snow.

    Not that I expect it to make any difference to my own results.

    I’m inclined to agree with you, and the Keepers are of V minds on the matter as well. Never say never; it depends on the circumstances of any such situation, but lets put it this way, any of you picking Conti knowing he’s already got a history are not getting a free swap if he was still glowing when he gave his last transfusion.

  24. By the way, I just picked up my frame today. Its a sunny day, stand by for photos when I get home. Let me just say that whomever wins will be lucking out!

  25. VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Rodriguez
    3. Brajkovic
    4. Evans
    5. Valverde

  27. @seemunkee

    @piwakawaka

    This from Ritchie Porte:

    While the Tour has been drawing closer, it doesn’t really change the way we train. We haven’t done a massive taper after the Dauphiné. Five of us from the Tour team went to Châtel, so we had a little bit of recon and generally tried to keep healthy. With a few last minute adjustments, everyone tries to lose a couple of kilos and now everyone’s turned up with new haircuts which makes you instantly look leaner.

    “a couple of kilos”?!?

    “haircuts”?!?

    Holy shit, whatever it takes huh? Love him though, the faithful lieutenant, will deliver his captain to the top step, and be right there beside him in Paris.

    Don’t they take hair samples for drug testing? Hair cut means either too short for testing or nice and clean from your detox. Is that too cynical?

    I had a conversation re hair + drug testing with my doctor, as my legs are shorn + my head is just plain fucking bald, so it’s armpit hair that is then used – as I would doubt that there is any MARGINAL gain from getting Brazilian on your axillae, alopecic armpits should immediately arouse suspicion

  28. ?

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Richie Port
    3. Alberto Contador
    4. Tejay Van Garderen
    5. Joaquim Rodriguez

  29. @Lukas

    I was unable to log in on my cell I hope these picks make it in

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Porte
    3. Van garderen
    4. Ryder H
    5. Gala sky

    Who the fuck is Gala Sky?

  30. VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Contador
    3. Rodriguez
    4. Porte
    5. Van Garderen

  32. @seemunkee

    @piwakawaka

    This from Ritchie Porte:

    While the Tour has been drawing closer, it doesn’t really change the way we train. We haven’t done a massive taper after the Dauphiné. Five of us from the Tour team went to Châtel, so we had a little bit of recon and generally tried to keep healthy. With a few last minute adjustments, everyone tries to lose a couple of kilos and now everyone’s turned up with new haircuts which makes you instantly look leaner.

    “a couple of kilos”?!?

    “haircuts”?!?

    Holy shit, whatever it takes huh? Love him though, the faithful lieutenant, will deliver his captain to the top step, and be right there beside him in Paris.

    Don’t they take hair samples for drug testing? Hair cut means either too short for testing or nice and clean from your detox. Is that too cynical?

    Wow, now that’s cynical! They are also not getting their head’s waxed, they are just getting buzz cuts.

  35. Here goes nothing. It almost makes sense that I almost Delgado’d. Its only like the biggest fucking race of the year.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Contador
    2. Froome
    3. Tejay
    4. Evans
    5. Hesjedal

  36. VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Contador
    3. Hesjedel
    4. Purito
    5. Thibault Pinot

  40. Dear Velominati, distinguished Keepers,

    The tasty prizes pulled me over the line to stop lurking and finally post. Nearly Delgado’d too. Without further ado, my picks:

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Contador
    3. Porte
    4. Valverde
    5. Molema

  43. VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Albuterol Clentador
    3. Joachim Rodreguez
    4. Richie Porte
    5. Cadel Evans

  44. It’s Froome’s race to lose, if you listen to anyone…had to pick him but we’ll see what the first week brings. My picks are asked more on wishful thinking than proper prognostication…

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Joachim “Purito” Rodriguez
    3. Alejandro Valverde
    4. Nairo Quintana
    5. Bauke Mollema

  45. VSP PICKS:

    1. Froome
    2. Contador
    3. J Rod
    4. C Evans
    5. R Porte

  46. @frank

    @seemunkee

    @piwakawaka

    This from Ritchie Porte:

    While the Tour has been drawing closer, it doesn’t really change the way we train. We haven’t done a massive taper after the Dauphiné. Five of us from the Tour team went to Châtel, so we had a little bit of recon and generally tried to keep healthy. With a few last minute adjustments, everyone tries to lose a couple of kilos and now everyone’s turned up with new haircuts which makes you instantly look leaner.

    “a couple of kilos”?!?

    “haircuts”?!?

    Holy shit, whatever it takes huh? Love him though, the faithful lieutenant, will deliver his captain to the top step, and be right there beside him in Paris.

    Don’t they take hair samples for drug testing? Hair cut means either too short for testing or nice and clean from your detox. Is that too cynical?

    Wow, now that’s cynical! They are also not getting their head’s waxed, they are just getting buzz cuts.

    Watched a tour doco on SBS last night that drew attention to tricky dicky’s peroxided head immediately amidst the Festina affair, which was supposed to hinder drug tests. Not without precedent no? The narrator surmised a fuckload during that show, so it may have been for fashion. But I doubt it.

  47. VSP PICKS:

    1. C Froome
    2. R Porte
    3. A Contador
    4. C Evans
    5. J Rodriguez

  48. VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Nairo Quintana
    3. Alberto Contador
    4. Joaquim Rodriguez
    5. Alejandro Valverde

  50. VSP PICKS:

    1. Chris Froome
    2. Alberto Contador
    3. Richie Porte
    4. Cadel Evans
    5. Thibaut Pinot

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