Velominati Super Prestige: Liége-Bastogne-Liége 2014
The 100th running of Liége-Bastogne-Liége takes place this Sunday. Danny-boy Martin will be marked heavily as the defending champion. Malmerde, and Phil Gil have shown they are peaking too. Froomy has thrown his hat into the ring, as he did last year but after last years 26th place, maybe it’s training. 263 kms, past winners include a long list of known dopers, again, the pot belge mix paid off to keep riders cranking through those last climbs. Cancellara talked of slimming down more in to add this Monument to his palmarés but this might be the farthest from his grasp. This is a very tough race course. You need to be a fondisti, someone with staying power, a Phil Gil or a fully doped Moreno Argentin to finish this race off successfully. Last year Red Ryder went ballistic, blew up the field and opened a way for his teammate, Danny-boy. Let’s hope for some equally exciting fireworks this Sunday.
Here is an imperfect startlist.
The points from the LBL VSP count towards the overall prizes. So check the start list, review the VSP Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at 00:00 hours PDT on Sunday the 27th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero, so be sure to give yourself enough time.
Don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:
First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron
Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
Third place is you’re fired or overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.
All Hail Cosmo!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkLa_W7g5js[/youtube]
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Whoever painted those “PHIL”s…
@Tom Mc
Already coined. it’s the Schleckchute being deployed.
Fucking Sanchez and his gold shoes. Nibali has Fuglsang up the front, Phil Gil has Sanchez, and it’s getting very selective… Moreno there, Valverde.
“Valverde floats across (to the chase group) like a moto commissaire”.
Garmin need to work to make sure Martin and Slagter are position well; everything’s getting very strung out, even if the chasers haven’t got away.
Quote from Inrng, by the way
4.5km and it’s anyone’s… except Frank Schleck’s. It isn’t his.
Brutal.
Holy fuck what a finish… Gerrans takes it on the last stretch to the line, Martin looked just about to take it out when he slipped and crashed on the final corner
Well, that was fantastic. Yeah GERRO!
YOU BLOODY BEAUTY!!! Nice work Gerro.
Oh Dan!
Most of my VSP picks crash in gutting circumstances :-/
Happiest I’ve been while getting just one point in the VSP – Go Simon!
@Minnesota Expat
Argggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!
Gerrans
Valverde
Kwiatkowski
Caruso
Pozzovivo
I’m guessing the last two will make really high scores pretty tough…
Anyone got any guesses as to what happened to Martin there? Eurosport cut away to snooker pretty much straight away, so no analysis. Looked almost like his rear wheel locked up, or maybe the tubular rolled off the rim?!
I thought for sure I was going 1-2 on my picks then Martin hits the deck! Great ride by Gerrans though.
@andrew
Seemed to lose the back wheel so guessing he hit the gas a split second too early?
@Teocalli
He pedalled in a bit down the field so don’t think he had anything mechanical.
Looked like he clipped his inside pedal to me?
@Rhodri
Yep. He’ll be crushed tonight. Massive effort at that stage of proceedings to reel in Caruso. We’ll never know if he could have finished it off. Messed up Kwiatowski’s line through the corner too.
Gerro pissed me off with his tactics in the Aussie summer. Sitting in all day behind lesser riders. He could afford to animate the race against the softer fields. Today is a different circumstance. Top class field on the toughest parcours? Yep. He knows his craft. Gritty, watchful & patient. I wonder how many posts before the usual derogatory comment surfaces.
He will love that he beat Malmerde to that one. No love lost there.
And he wore a cap on the podium.
I wonder how long it will take for the usual derision der tags to come out after this.
@Harminator
I’ll go first with the derision… he needs lessons from Brian Holm on how to wear that cap.
Apart from that, good on him. To win one Monument may be regarded as good fortune; to win two looks like decentness.
Not to mention wins in all the grand tours. He makes the most of what he’s got and he does it pretty well.
@ChrisO
Not fair. Brian Holm is cool for starters.
From Martin….
The team rode a beautiful race today. We did everything right and they gave everything for me all day. I hit a patch of something on the road, I don’t know exactly what happened – it was like falling out of a tree – and down I went. Before I knew it, it was over. I think there were tears in my eyes before I hit the floor. I’m just so sorry. I know in my heart we did everything we could have to get me where I needed to be. I’m heartbroken I couldn’t deliver the win for the team but I’m proud of how they rode for me and of Tom finishing 6th. We’ll just have to come back next year and try again.
VSP: Dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, dang. It’s on now.
I think at least one of my top 5 has crashed in every race so far. Wonder if anyone will pay me to “pick the other guy”…….
Zero point fuck. Martin’s front wheel just washed out from what I saw on youtube. That is tough.
Good on Gerro. He is a smart and good sprinter. Pulling off a bad ass sprint after 256km and shietloads of hills. And as ChrisO mentions, two Monuments, pretty brilliant.
All right. What a finish. @dyalander rules the day. He must be an Aussie.
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awwwwww, jeeze. There I am. No cool.
@Harminator
+3
@Teocalli
Thanks for putting this up.
Wow, talk about classy comments and realizing both what he lost, what the team did for him, and yet, already talking about next year.
Also, only makes me that much happier to ignore and ignore more many of the other American sports I used to follow. Let’s see – answering questions employing nothing more than cliches or…thinking about what you want to say, how you feel, and giving an honest, passionate reply. Gotta love the class of some of the wheelmen.
I guess I should end any further speculation. Yep – Aussie. What gave it away? I tried my best to hide my smugness.
Tragic for Martin and Garmin.
Massively impressed by Kwiatowski. It’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here. He could be a classics machine – “Beethoven’s piano”, if you will.
Someone else noted it first but I tend to agree – do Martin’s cranks look quite long? Its possible that he clipped a pedal and that was enough to unweight a tyre at the worst possible time. Feel for him and the team, they did a good job till then: but thats bike racing. Credit to Gerro, that is a great win and he may have come past Martin (assuming no fall) by the line anyway.
What are those grey things between the pedal and the crank arm?
@sthilzy
Garmin Vector power meter pedals.
@The Grande Fondue
those would cornering even more dangerous. oh wait…
not a great idea for a crit bike either.
@RedRanger that picture is a little misleading, the pedal sensor is at a right angle to the crank arm when installed as below.
@unversio
I believe it’s the battery pod, and yes it doesn’t reduce ground clearance if installed correctly. I can’t exactly think of a situation where it might be, but it just looks to be very vulnerable.
From http://inrng.tumblr.com/post/84027878450
Looks like his read wheel just slid out.
@RedRanger
Nah, they stick out at right angles to the crank when you install them. You hit the pedal before the pod
@Ron One the many reason’s why I love this sport and this rider even in his defeat he is awesome. hopefully he can grab some stages this summer and and do some damage at Lombardia in the fall
Useless trivia: Gerrans is now the only rider in history to have won both the oldest and second-oldest bike races in the world.
And he would have caught Martin anyway.
@Marcus Yeah great win for Gerrans. He his having a good year. props for him and Kwaitkowski for looking Fantastic on the Podium as well, cap’s worn properly, nicely done boys! Valverde? loose the baseball hat and the to long shorts.
@Marcus OK I’ll bite… I’m guessing it’s something like Melbourne to Warrnambool.
But which is which?
@ChrisO
Warny: why has no one outside the antipodes heard of it?
Warney!!
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Chapeau Gerro.
@ChrisO correct. LBL oldest, M2W second. I am still sad that the Warney gave up its title as the longest one dayer to MSR by changing its route.
@Daccordi Rider you just know that isnt a tie-your-own bow tie.
5 points. My best performance all season (so far). But solely as a result of picking Valv.Piti for second. Not sure I should keep ’em…
Great finish. 6 points. Stoked considering how I make my choices.