Velominati Super Prestige: Le Tour de France 2013
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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[vsp_results id=”24179″/]
@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.
Some really good analysis going on right here. I agree with all of it. Bike racing is Awesome!
Hmm, will time tell us what actually happened there? A very, very busy finish.
@Sauterelle
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.
@brian
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).
@frank
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.
@mouse
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…
@Mikael Liddy
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.
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.
@piwakawaka
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.
@ChrisO
Plus I guess Renshaw has not really made the impact he wanted to going solo. It is now more important to have the fastest train, than the fastest outright sprinter. If your train can outpace the rest and deliver you to the line the wins should follow even if you are not the fastest off the blocks. When your train fails or you stick fucktards in the back to block the others then life is going to get bumpy, the more I review this the more I feel Cavs frustration and the more I feel Veelers got off pretty lightly….
Ramadan kareem everyone…
Now if only the Swedish twins down the hall accept my invitation…
I think the fact Cav hasn’t been fined is telling. Veelers couldn’t have fucked it up much more, he couldn’t make it out of the way of the sprinters safely and drops his head in the middle of the bunch while drifting right after blowing. It’s also telling that he was the only one to go down (AFAIK). Kinda indicates that everyone else was paying attention.
Cav’s been dealing with shit like this as deliberate tactics for ages. More than once he’s gone down as a result, a significant number of times he’s won sprints from s’house positioning. I’m not saying this is the law of averages at work, but Veelers didn’t help his own cause with this one. Bad luck and unfortunate timing for Veelers, but I’m not seeing anything malicious from Cav.
@ChrisO
That would be Lars and Sven right?
I’m going to throw this out there and wait for the sharks to pounce:
Regardless of your interpretations of yesterday’s sprint, “Cavendouche” is so 2009. Over the past couple of years, Cav has quietly gone about his business: being the fastest sprinter on the planet by a very long shot. Nobody would deny he’s always been ridiculously and impressively fast (though they might complain he takes some of the anticipation out of flat sprints). He’s not come across as the hothead he appeared to be and he hasn’t run his mouth in the kind of way that had many wishing he’d keep it shut. He’s buried himself in two successive Giros in very classy attempts to win the points competition. And there are very few riders who appreciate cycling heritage more than he does.
@Steampunk
Pounce 1! Bravo…bang on…nuff said.
@Steampunk
+2
@starclimber
Jesus, Mary and Joseph I am slow on the uptake. I just got this. Malmerde is soooo perfect. That is lexicon worthy in my opinion, even if he does already have another lexicon name. Chapeau!
@minion @Steampunk Nipple Lube. Or is that 2009 as well?
I still can’t see any malicious intent in yesterday’s coming together.
Cavendish has his moments but by and large he’s fairly spot on has a go about team fuck up’s and he’s quicker to praise his team when it goes well.
Regardless of what happened yesterday the reported abuse of Cav today are completely out of order. That really is disgusting.
@Steampunk
I have to agree with Steampunk on Cavendish. He has matured a lot in the last couple of years and you can’t argue with his ability. He is obviously obnoxious after a loss for a few minutes, but he gets over it, gives good analysis and acknowledges his rivals. I hope Sagan can also turn himself into a human being.
@Skip
Here’s a better photo of the Powerbar dildo and NuvaRing. Man, is that the worst trophy I’ve ever seen, especially for a Tour stage. I’ve seen better stuff at the local track.
@Tartan1749
Jeeezhus! If that is the size of your wife’s/significant others dildo I am glad that I am not married/dating her!
@Buck Rogers
OK, now that I’ve seen a better photo I have to agree that its an absolute shit trophy for winning a tour stage.
@Buck Rogers unless that’s also an extremely large NuvaRing. To scale its not so intimidating.
Looks like someone told Danny Boy and Quitana that they were my rest day swaps and they’ve immediately gone out and shot themselves in the foot.
@Buck Rogers Ha!
Froome-Dog is killing the ITT, it seems. Nothing against Froome, but I hope Martin wins the stage. I think this stage will set the top step of the podium as I don’t see Froome losing that much time, if any, in the Alps.
– I’m a bit disappointed in Quintana: not just for my VSP, but I was secretly hoping he could be a true GC contender over the next few years after his aggression Saturday.
– Alas, I may also need to re-think my assessment of TJ and side with Steamy in that he very well could be overated.
– Belkin seem to be the big winners today and very well could be setting up for 2nd & 3rd in Paris. What a gold mine that would be for the new sponsor!
Props to Martin (and the rest of OPQS) for rocking the #capsnothats.
Sagan just misses out on a point by placing 16th. Still a pretty impressive ride!
@Buck Rogers what cant he do
Schleckchute deployed. Jay-sus. How can a rider with GT aspirations stay that bad at TTing for so many years, after getting your head kicked in on so many occasions? He’s a tall enough guy that he should be able to crack the top half. He just barely made the top 3/4s.
@frank
frank, I think personally, its much worse than that. How can a rider, with GC aspirations, with the worlds best TT’r wearing the stripes, on your team for the past bagillion years…as a teammate, and resource….why on Merckx green earth wouldn’t you NOT ask him to help you better your TT game??? He blew 4 min in one setting…..
@frank
I was quick jump off the Schleck bandwagon, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him thus far (today excepted). I’m hoping he can continue to climb well, finish with the leaders, finish the race with some encouragement, and work like a dog on his TT position over the winter. That would be an acceptable progression for 2013. Either that, or he could pace Spartacus for his Hour attempt.
Looks like we missed updating the standings after Sunday’s shuffle – sorry I missed that as I was just barely getting back from my vacation…These standings reflect the rest day picks and penalties etc.
@edster99 dons his first Maillot Jaune.
@Tartan1749
Thanks for posting the pic! I mean really, the 100th Tour de France and this is what stage winners get? A $2.99 trophy made of plastic? Shameful.
@Steampunk
I hear ya Steamy, but Andy’s known he’s been shite at the TTs for the whole of his career. If he hasn’t done anything about it by now, I doubt there’s much hope for the future.
I think he could pace Fabian for his warm up laps, after that he’d just be in the way.
@wiscot
Oh, I’m not disagreeing. It’s just that after the year he’s had, I’m happy to see him on the bike and going relatively well in the bunch. For him, that has to be something of a moral victory.
What’s really cool is that positions 2-13 are separated by less than two and a half minutes. Still a wide open race!
No one has mentioned how hard Sagan was bashing his way through the last KM on stage 10. Very impressive he didn’t go down or take someone down. Zipped through a couple of non existent holes, swerved around Cav induced crash and still finished 4th. Insane handling. He’s hard to pick out in the replay but worth the watch.
@Buck Rogers 10 guys fighting out for 2 podium spots…bring it on
One last note regarding Crashgate, I find it delightful that at least among the long-standing community members, it is incredibly reliable and predictable on which side of these discussions each of us fall in the face of unwinnable arguments.
Glorious stuff.
@Steampunk
Totally agree, solidarity with @Souleur notwithstanding. He’s making a tough comeback and I suppose one thing I hadn’t considered is he broke his hip in a TT last year, one might be a bit cautious in your first major TT back from that injury.
And thereby guaranteeing that he miss the record?
Has the polish doper’s time been wiped yet? Is Sparty going after Boardman’s or his record? I’ve lost the thread on that.
@VirenqueForever
If it hasn’t been said before, good to see someone waving the flag for Dicky V. Douche he may be, I’ve always loved that little twat.
Note the excitement of the phat guy, and note that Trickie Dickie has the same look on his face in this photo as the one above.
I am 95% sure this is a picture of two dudes.
Heard that somebody threw piss on Cavendish as he waited for his start time. Pretty scummy. No matter where you stand on yesterday’s crash there’s no room for that. Pukes.
Late to the party on the Cav front but consider me a +n on Steampunk’s comments.
Froome an animal in the TT, reminds me of the year Steak-a-dor beat le Grand Faboo around Lac Annecy. He’s making everyone else look very normal. Once in a generation talent?
@wiscot
Spot on. How he can focus so much effort on the Tour without shoring up such a serious weakness is beyond me. Also, his descending. If he didn’t want to improve his weaknesses he should have gone for a Giro win, or focused on stage wins in the mountains.
@frank
Can you tell me where I stand, because I haven’t figured it out for myself yet. Thanks.
@frank
Schleckchute deployed…beautiful. If one should be working on their weaknesses, this fuck should be on his TT bike all the time. I’ll never understand him.
@frank
Thanksfr the update @Frank. Welcome back.
Out if interest, did anyone pick Kwiatkowski? That guy is the revelation of this TdF, if not the whole of 2013 IMO. He can sprint, climb and TT. He had a great Classics camapaign too. I hope OPQS focus on retaining him before they look to buy a high-priced GT contender.
@Gianni it’s not complicated: Schleck has fantastic genes, but a fragile psyche. He might well be the love child of Indurain and Lindsey Lohan.
@frank
This would all be moot if you’d pushed on the pedals a little harder last month. Little known secret: the faster you pedal, the faster you go. Going around in circles like that, it’s not like the scenery should have distracted you.