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
Yeah, LOVED the classics season.
Just seems like there has not been a lot of exciting action to date. Too many sprints for me. Over half way through the race and no real decisive stages at all. I know that the organizers want to try to keep it close to the end and stack the big mtn stages later in the race but there is a hell of a battle going on for 2-13th place and that could be fought out over the whole three weeks as opposed to just the final week.
Just has not drawn me in to it like usual. But, could also just be me as well.
@Buck Rogers which brings us back to the age old debate on race radios. How many more breakaways might succeed and provide some entertainment if they were banned…
@ChrisO
I’m not sure what coverage you’re watching but to me, it seems like all the NBCSN coverage is IS background coverage and pre-packaged inserts, stage maps, results and then commercials – they don’t show very much of the actual racing (because a lot of it is pretty damn boring if we’re being honest). We’ll have to agree to disagree on the reason people tune in – from my understanding there is a large portion of the French television audience that tunes in for the aerials of France even if they aren’t fans of cycling in general (much like they way people in the US tune in to the Superbowl even if they aren’t into to teams playing the game or football in general) and obviously that is who the ASO is going to try to capitalize on. Even as a cycling fan I would be disappointed if this wasn’t a big part of the coverage – its one of the reasons I love watching the sport. I’m not saying I wouldn’t, but I don’t know how many of those people would really care about telemetry showing Froome’s current wattage and/or how that relates to his weight.
@Deakus
Oh yeah, I am all for banning them, at least internal team communciations. They could have race radios and have only race commissaire access for updates about crashes/road hazards etc but no internal team communications or overall race updates.
EBH out due to broken stuff. At this rate Froome will be rolling into Paris alone.
@Buck Rogers I seem to remember feeling the same last year: too many boring flat stages before the mountains. One or two exciting stages so far this year, but 9-10 ho-hum ones. I just don’t get the “ride 200km and then have a bunch sprint” model.
But this year I’ve been particularly disappointed with the Pyrenees stages: no Tourmalet, Aubisque, Hautacam. They need to cover more hills, dammit! The Pyrenees also has spectacular scenery (and not too many chateaus!) so no need for contrived commentary (well, one can always hope).
IMHO I think the race could be shorter: drop some of the flat stages, make it a two-week race in more varied terrain. But of course there are SOO many reasons (beyond pure cycling) why this will never happen.
@Buck Rogers
Stage 7 with Cannondale splitting the peloton apfirst everyone thinking they’d only keep it up to the intermediate sprint but the driving it all the way to the finish. Lotto, OPQS and Argos burying themselves to bring their fast boys back to the group. Two mental days in the mountains , Froome and Ricie’s big day out followed by the Spannish inquisition.
Maybe it’s been a bit thin on the ground but those were great stages.
Edvald Broken Hagen
@margc
I recall the 1988 TdF had two stages in a day. A road race in the morning and then a TTT in the afternoon. I have a VHS recording of it. CBS with non-stop Tesh tunes throughout. I’ll look for it and upload. It’s great viewing.
The 1988 TdF on had one rest day, used for transfer.
@Buck Rogers
It would sure put some fight back in to the field. There should be a few stages that they remove all electronic devices and strap a watch on the stem and tell them they have only so much time to finish.
@Russ
But that would leave them with only one gear for the whole stage!
Can someone who races explain to me the point of a small escape group on a flat stage like yesterday. Is it really just for sponsor exposure with the cameras on the front group? I don’t see how it really impacts on the way the stage will play out as the outcome up until the last couple of kilometres is completely predictable (apart from crashes).
@geoffrey
These days, yes it is pretty much to get noticed, not just sponsorship but also riders. We are coming up to that time of year where the transfer window is about to open up. Negotiations are already underway and riders can get themselves noticed by going “eyeballs out” on a break. Back when Centurion was a rank not a tank and there were no race radios sometimes the peloton would make a mistake and the break would succeed but these days with 5 in or less they are doomed everytime.
Unless you are Dirty Bertie and you go balls out from the get go on your own on a lumpy stage…a la stage 17 La Vuelta 2012!
@geoffrey
For example Flecha would have been out there yesterday to get noticed, it sounds like Vaconsoleil DCM are sponsorless next year and may drop back to the pro continental circuit so he will be looking for a team to ride for…..
I have a question about UCI regs that someone might be able to answer or make some wild speculation on…
The wearing of helmets is compulsory, yet riders are allowed to drift make to team cars in flat stages sprint stages to swap for aero helmets as they get near to the finish line. This means that they are not wearing a helmet during the swap. This seems like a strange practise for the UCI to allow, you’d think they’d say you have to finish the stage wearing the same helmet that you started with.
The only reason that I can think that they allow this is that even the UCI think bongo hats are ugly and they ruin the aesthetics of the race so they don’t want teams wearing them all day long.
Looks like another snoozy stage today, i’m not really a cricket fan but the ashes will have my attention today. Aston Agar was great yesterday, just a young lad having fun.
@motor city
Good point, but the UCI in their fucked up wisdom make all sorts of strange decisions, they have just announced that they will not release a set of doping results until after the Tour is finished! Talk about a self serving bunch of corrupt cretins, there is so much about the modern world and cycling that they do not get. Over the last 10 yrs they would have struggled to do any more harm to cycling to be perfectly honest with you…
Does not answer your question but ever time they get mentioned my blood boils, they rate on a par with politicians in my eyes..take a broom to the whole organisation!
@sthilzy
Ahhhhh, The good old days! Enjoy!
@geoffrey
Apologies I should not have answered that….I don’t race (except town lines on club runs!)…I hope at least my responses sounded plausible if nothing else.
@geoffrey
I can suggest several reasons other than sponsorship for why you might want to get a breakaway going and put a rider in it , in no particular order.
1. If your team has a rider in a breakaway you don’t have to chase it down so you take it easy for the day.
2. If you are chasing a jersey like the sprint or KOM and there are a few points but nothing major then a breakaway sucks them up, meaning you don’t have to worry about it.
3. If a breakaway didn’t go away then people would just keep attacking and the peloton would be a nervous and weary place.
4. There are sometimes prizes or ‘primes’ at certain points so a breakaway rider can scoop up some of those where he might not normally have a chance.
5. There is a combativity prize and jersey – in the Giro there is a whole classification based on how many kilometres a rider has spent in breakaways. In the Tour the daily prize is awarded on the podium and there is cash.
6. It can also serve to expose a team who is then obliged to chase – wears them out or tests their tactics. That was the case in Cav’s pre-Sky days when everyone knew he would win the bunch sprint and nobody else had a decent lead-out train so they tried to get in the break and let HTC do all the chasing. If the team was exhausted then maybe the others had more chance in the sprint.
7. Very, very occasionally it succeeds.
All very good answers, ChrisO.
A more simpleton version – if I’m riding in the 100th edition of Le Tour and I’m just a domestique and have no idea if I’ll ever get back there, why not give it a go & see if you can make it stick? Yup, as you pointed out in #7, might not happen, but ya never know.
A buddy passed on Velonews to me and they interviewed Juan Antonio Flecha. He said some funny things. I’m not a winnner, I rarely win. I won a stage in the 100th anniversary, gonna try to win one in the 100th edition. It pisses me off when people in the break don’t work. Ha, I bet it would! He’s sure giving it a go when he gets the chance.
@ChrisO
Thanks for that.
Alright, I stand corrected. Today’s stage is shaping up to actually be inetersting. I doubt they will be able to but I hope that the front bunch keeps the gap on that fuck Malmerde all the way to the finish. Show of hands on who actually thinks that he, and his team, are clean. That Douche should have been thrown out for 4 years. (not that I feel strongly about him or anything)
@Buck Rogers
You just it as it is….don’t hold back! Personally I think valverde won’t get back on, that wind is killing them….Porte has cracked again too!
@Buck Rogers
Fuck. Can you sack your picks on non rest days? I don’t want a substitute, I just don’t wan’t a Spaniard in my team who clearly hasn’t got his dosage right.
The sprinter’s teams seem to be mixing it up a bit more this year rather than just waiting to the final kilometres and forming up sprint trains to release their man for the final sprint. I like the idea that these guys are riding the majority of the stage batshit fast and hurting everyone who isn’t having a great day. especially when the wind is adding to that hurt.
Yep, boredom averted by powerhouse tactics and wind. Absolutely DELIGHTED to see Malmerde cut well adrift! Mind you, I personally think sprint finishes are fantastic, but it’s also true that you could simply tune in with 10 km to go most times. NOT TODAY! 2:30 gap! Baaaaaaahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!
Holy howling Froome dogs! Another gap! Can Saxo pull THIS off???!
@starclimber
Go Bertie Go!
Holy BATFUCKS, this is awesome! I guess the Almighty Merckx was listening when I was bitching yesterday!!! What a stage!!!
For something that was supposed to be a steady reel-in of a break and a bunch gallop at the end this is turning out to be more riveting than a mountain stage.
My VSP needed Valverde to drop from 2nd to 5th, not 50th! they are dropping anchor back there in that group. What a stage so far! Will Cav have enough without Steegmans? I doubt it. The pace is incredible.
LOVING this shit! Man the tdf needed an unscripted stage like this for the last few years! Awesome stuff!!!
This is why Contador is my favourite GC rider of the moment – always looking to attack, always watching for opportunities.
It also makes you appreciate COTHO retrospectively, a little bit – lying, doping, bullying shit he may have been but he never got caught by this sort of thing. The mental toughness and alertness required to do that throughout a whole grand tour is pretty considerable.
@ChrisO
Amen! I have to give Cuntador credit for this one. Straight out of the Golden Days of racing. Just awesome!
And Jezhus there is a Merckx as they are saying that Malmerde is over SIX minutes back!!! YES!!!
If Sky has blown up this much on this stage, the lumpy stage tomorrow and then Ventoux on Sunday become much more interesting. Thankfully, it looks like it won’t be a coronation for the second half of the race. Froome is certainly the best, but who knows what’s going to happen now?
And Cav wins – icing on the cake.
Awesome, awesome stage
That was more than slightly satisfying. Been a while since I was spellbound by a Tour stage.
Wow!! That was mega!!
I love to see Cav win, but credit to Contador – what a wily, ballsy fucker he can be.
@starclimber
That was absolutely fantastic. Watching Sagan at the end looking around like, “oh shit, I’m in front, what do I do now?” was just beautiful. Perfect team tactics by OPQS today to get the win. So much more fun than the old HTC lead out train stuff.
Oh, and we’ve got a race for yellow again, brilliant. Tainted beef or not, Contador is a spectacle on a bicycle.
I agree – what a great stage! Love what Bertie and team are pulling off. And the Chavanel/Cavendish duo are just magic. Too bad my picks are now stuffed. Why did I sub in Malmerde? Waste of points. Should’ve left Porte there.
All the rest of today’s top 10 are looking not too shabby at the moment. The minor placings are where the race really is in this Tour. We shall see when the road starts going up…
What a cracker of a stage! I love how these stages tear the race apart. AWESOME. Now its a fucking bike race.
@edster99 holds the lead in a tie with @Tartan1749.
@Collin Froome may be strongest but does that make him the best ?
I’ve always thought Sky were tactically suspect. Their sheer power has covered their limitations but you can’t apply marginal gains to that shit
@frank
Curious if any of the 4-10 riders are in anyone’s VSP any more or if the VSP just turned into a combo of who put Froome, Mollema, and Contador in the right order first. Can’t imagine anyone put any of these guys on the podium.
4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:02:48
5 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:03:01
6 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:04:39
7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:04:44
8 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:05:18
9 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:39
10 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp 0:05:52
@ChrisO Sky is down to 6 riders for the remainder of the tour and lost a couple early today (including Porte). I think they know they are against the wall and can’t cover/lead every move now. With that in mind, I think Froome & Co. are actually playing it smart and conserving for the mountains. That said, the other GC contenders will be nibbling back time all the way to Paris. Tactically, this is a chess match with no clear winner yet, but absolutely fucking fantastic drama – the likes of which hasn’t been seen in years!
@razmaspaz Not for me. I only have Froome and Cuntador in my VSP out of the Top 10. But I am pretty sure that people switched in Kreuze and Ten Dam on the first rest day and possibly also Quintana.
Still just an awesome stage!!! If I smoked I’d definitely need a cigarette right about now!
And the ‘real’ beauty of today’s stage is the desperate long attacks in the mountains we can expect to see from the vanquished. Malmerde will have to try ‘something’, as will Martin and Evans, because, of course, they’re in my VSP! Can those teams get together and try a counter-shit-kicking?
Cav after today’s stage: “When echelons start…it’s kind of like, you know if you have a feeling if you fall through ice, you’ve got five seconds? You’ve got five seconds, or it’s over. And that’s exactly what it’s like in an echelon. You’ve got five seconds to make it right, otherwise that’s it”
Me after the Tour of Sharjah: “Being shelled is like ice breaking. It starts behind you, then the deadly crack reaches your wheel and you plunge into the void.”
I’m with you buddy…
@ChrisO That’s a good point. Going to the front and burying it up the mountains seems to be their only tactic. When you’re stronger as a whole than everyone it works, but like we’ve seen with Gilbert who only had the attack on the final lump approach, when you aren’t the strongest, the results slip away.
@Tartan1749 except maybe 2 years ago, and maybe 2009, 2008, 2007…
@Buck Rogers
This one was a Mick Rogers party piece, anyone who’s seen Chasing Legends would remember him being the driving force behind HTC screwing over the peleton on a massive cross wind day & guess who was egging the Saxo boys on today? Biggest casualty for Sky of out of their whole ex doper clean out last year was getting rid of the guy who basically ran their tour on the road last year.
On another note, look what I got ‘given’ by the local book store today!
They do daily prize giveaways through twitter & today’s was a tour based special. I’ve a feeling there was a touch of the sympathy vote involved cos they’ve had to keep telling me that The Rules has been delayed in getting shipped out here.