Velominati Super Prestige: Luik-Bastenaken-Luik 2012

Eric Van Lacker leads LBL riding the most beautiful saddle ever made, the Rolls.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to move en danseuse on Rule #89 and to refer to Liege-Bastogne-Liege by its less-common Flemish name. It also draws into sharp relief that fact that while Dutch may be every bit as expressive and subtle as French, it certainly sounds less sexy.

Some races seem to foster a romanticism that other races of equal difficulty simply can’t match. Sometimes it is due to the parcours of the event, but many times it has to do with its history and the tales of superhuman effort that capivate our imaginations and builds on itself. The last few editions of this event have left something to be desired in terms of its legend, with the event falling to riders with less-than-pristine records. But that probably only means we’re due for another epic, so buckle in. Perhaps snow is in the forecast, or perhaps the hearts of the early break foil the computers dictating the pace to the field and it stays away. Or perhaps we wind up with a nail-biting sprint finish between the big names. One thing is for sure; the final of this race is perhaps the most difficult of any race on the calendar, with a combination of kilometers and climbs taking its pound of flesh from any who venture towards the line.

La Doyenne is a monument, and as such the winner of this event will win the customary symbol pack and earn the right to comment for the remainder of the season with the LBL Winner’s comment badge. Check the start list, watch the countdown timer, and try not to Delgado this beautiful race. Bon chance.

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.

Next Keepers Tour 2012 Update, Part 3: Awesome, Kinda Weird, Awesome Again, and Solemn »

Previous « Keepers Tour 2012 Update, Part 2: The Lion Rides Today

View Comments

nico says:

Apr 20 2012 at 7:03 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. 1 GILBERT Philippe
2. 91 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro
3. 17 SCHLECK Andy
4. 41 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin
5. 181 HESJEDAL Ryder
Steampunk says:

Apr 20 2012 at 7:05 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Tommy Voeckler
2. Philippe Gilbert
3. Damiano Cunego
4. Roman Kreuziger
5. Ryder Hesjedal
frank says:

Apr 20 2012 at 7:06 pm

@Vin'cenza

\\ Although (Frank) the seasonal ranking info gave me the idea to visually show the intersection of riders moving up "” and races that were omitted from their schedule. Edward Tufte inspired design of quantitative information. I will give you a look if I start and complete this race map idea.

VSP PICKS:

1. Van Den Broeck
2. Valverde
3. Albasini
4. Kreuziger
5. Cunego

Sounds cool, I'd like to see that. Like I said, if you want to keep doing it, please do. I was simply pointing out that, if all things are equal (they aren't) then it doesn't help my tactical goal of having less work. But it really is not a big deal -typing this out was much more work than mapping the picks. I guess the computer scientist in me want the manual picks to approach zero, but it is neither interesting or important. I'm sorry I brought it up!
Vin'cenza says:

Apr 20 2012 at 7:16 pm

@frank

@Vin'cenza

\\ Although (Frank) the seasonal ranking info gave me the idea to visually show the intersection of riders moving up "” and races that were omitted from their schedule. Edward Tufte inspired design of quantitative information. I will give you a look if I start and complete this race map idea.

VSP PICKS:

1. Van Den Broeck
2. Valverde
3. Albasini
4. Kreuziger
5. Cunego

Sounds cool, I'd like to see that. Like I said, if you want to keep doing it, please do. I was simply pointing out that, if all things are equal (they aren't) then it doesn't help my tactical goal of having less work. But it really is not a big deal -typing this out was much more work than mapping the picks. I guess the computer scientist in me want the manual picks to approach zero, but it is neither interesting or important. I'm sorry I brought it up!

No -- thank you!! Spurred the idea and I have down time (broken clavicle), so why not design something -- a UCI WorldTour race map.
Vin'cenza says:

Apr 20 2012 at 7:21 pm

@frank
A UCI WorldTour race map that continues over a 5 year span. And riders (such as Pozatto) are not included in WorldTour -- maybe you can help me dig up resource listings beyond this classification ??
tomb says:

Apr 20 2012 at 7:43 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. J Rodriguez
2. Gilbert
3. Cunego
4. S Sanchez
5. Tommy V
noiyce says:

Apr 20 2012 at 8:17 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Gilbert
2. Rodriguez
3. Gerrans
4. Valverde
5. Albasini
mouse says:

Apr 20 2012 at 8:31 pm

This field is required.
Hmm...

VSP PICKS:

1. Giblets
2. Voeckler
3. Albasini
4. Frank Schleck
5. Purito
Lukas says:

Apr 20 2012 at 9:56 pm

Late, mind addled, picks in. Good luck all.

VSP PICKS:

1. Ryder Hesjedal
2. Chris Anker SÃ¸rensen
3. Lars Boom
4. Simon Gerrans
5. Samuel SÃ¡nchez Gonzalez
Bianchi Denti says:

Apr 20 2012 at 11:30 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Nibali
2. Joaquin Rodriguez
3. Gilbert
4. Albasini
5. Vanendert