Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Elite Road Race 2013
The world championship road race stands out among all other one-day races as the one where the winner is awarded both a curse and a jersey to carry for the next 12 months. It also inspires way too many riders to wear white bibs, which is an alarming trend in itself and one which I hope Brian Cookston, the new UCI President, prioritizes over the doping problem – let’s face facts: white shorts on rainy days does more damage to Cycling’s image than any doping scandal ever could.
Be that as it may, I often find myself wondering if its easier to win a Grand Tour or a one-day race. Certainly, winning a Grand Tour requires focus, discipline, and performance across a wide range of terrain and over a long period of time, but it also offers the opportunity to recover from a bad moment and to take advantage of the days where the terrain or discipline suits the qualities of the rider. A one-day race, on the other hand, is shorter but also less controllable. All in, no net; a moment’s inattention could be disastrous and in an instant your chances could disappear up the road.
The World Championships are also the only race which has brought Mary V to tears after narrowly losing the title. The Dutch don’t cry easily, especially not the ones who bleed pure V.
The Worlds are always a live wire of a race; the national teams mean the riders are riding for and against their usual teammates. Team unity is always a question, and loyalties are hard to predict. All for one and one for all, until a mate goes up the road and suddenly things start looking blurry. Throw in a circuit race, a big climb you ride 17 times, a steep ramp about V km from finish, and you’ve got yourself a race Nostradamus would have a chore predicting.
The Men set out in what is predicted to be horrendous weather on Sunday, September 29. Check the start list, rattle the bones, and put your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero. Good luck.
[vsp_results id=”27411″/]
going in early
VSP PICKS:
1. faboo
2. Sagan
3. Nibbles
4. Valverde
5. Glibert
VSP PICKS:
1. WIGGINS Bradley
2. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
3. CANCELLARA Fabian
4. HORNER Christopher
5. TEN DAM Laurens
VSP PICKS:
1. WIGGINS Bradley
2. NIBALI Vincenzo
3. CANCELLARA Fabian
4. HORNER Christopher
5. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
VSP PICKS:
1. WIGGINS Bradley
2. NIBALI Vincenzo
3. CANCELLARA Fabian
4. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro
5. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
VSP PICKS:
1. WIGGINS Bradley
2. CANCELLARA Fabian
3. HUSHOVD Thor
4. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro
5. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
Final. No more.
VSP PICKS:
1. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin
2. CANCELLARA Fabian
3. HUSHOVD Thor
4. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro
5. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
@unversio
Vth time’s the charm, eh?
@unversio
We get it. You are liking Wiggins. He has no chance, you realize that?
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Gilbert
3. Gesink
4. Stannard
5. Roche
Try as they might I do not see them dropping Sparty or Sagan. Should be AWESOME, esp if it rains like it is forecasted to do!
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Gilbert
4. Valverde
5. Nibali
@Gianni
I did realize.
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Wiggo
3. Nibali
4. Henao
5. Valverde
@frank
Shouldn’t we all distill our picks with a V step process?
1. “let’s face facts: white shorts on rainy days does more damage to Cycling’s image than any doping scandal ever could.” Best. V-Quote. EVAR!
2. My picks are total dumbfuckshitte. But….why not go with expereicne in a race with no formula?
3. Winning a GT does require a disciple. e.g. Wiggo/Froome.
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Horner
3. Gilbert
4. Sagan
5. Faboo
@zeitzmar Gianni wants to dissuade any picks for Wiggins. He needs Wiggo on his list alone.
@eightzero
dumbfuckshit??? You have four of the total five odds on favorites. Only Horner is an outlier and who knows what he can do? Seems like pretty smart picks to me.
@eightzero I had a sense to choose Horner as well, but then thought his bones may have already begun to degenerate in the past week.
@unversio
After all that you ended up going with Thor in your top V? Damn, that’s BALLS!
@Buck Rogers Only that we mentioned Thor in the shop yesterday — “how much he has not done lately”. Picked due to superstition.
@unversio
Exactly! Who knows? The Dude could totally show up, esp if the weather is shit. It’s going to be one of the best World’s since ’89!
I did mention that my job is to stay on here with Velominati today?
And ride this afternoon.
Is this race really over 2500KM long like stated in The Rules book (p169)?
VSP PICKS:
1. Rui Costa
2. Faboo
3. Mollema
4. Froome
5. Quintana
@Buck Rogers
Based totally on reputation, not any insight. Was going to pick Horner to win, but honestly – that final sprint is gonna be beastly. I think Faboo will go on the last climb and try to motorcus away, but he’s past the days he can do that. Valverde for the win, only because of the home field advantage, and he was targeting the race all season. Gibbles and Patr only because they are sprinters and beasts.
Good eighstimation eightzero.
VSP PICKS:
1. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro
2. CANCELLARA Fabian
3. HUSHOVD Thor
4. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin
5. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Nibali
4. Rodriguez
5. Valverde
@Buck Rogers
also if he can ride someones wheel the entire time…
VSP PICKS:
1. Wiggins
2. Sagan
3. Cancellara
4. Thor
5. Henao
VSP PICKS:
1. Gilbert
2. Hushovd
3. Cancellara
4. Sagan
5. Dan Martin
VSP PICKS:
1. Daniel Martin
2. Cancellara
3. Sagan
4. Valverde
5. Rodriguez
VSP PICKS:
1. Boassen Hagen
2. Cancellara
3. Valverde
4. Nibali
5. Gilbert
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Gilbert
3. Sagen
4. Cancellera
5. Rodriguez
This could be a real crackerjack of a race this year. The Spanish are coming mob handed, but one thing’s for sure; whoever wants to be winning classics and GT’s next year will probably happily settle for silver.
So who is handing out the medals, Cookson or the fat Irish fucker?
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Nibbles
3. Purito Rodriguez
4. Faboo
5. Froome
VSP PICKS:
1. CANCELLARA
2. QUINTANA ROJAS
3. VALVERDE
4. NIBALI
5. SAGAN
Buy the ticket, take the ride. I have no idea. Probably some unknown Italian will get it.
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Valverde
3. Horner
4. Cancellara
5. Froome
With the horrible weather forecasted, there’s only one man for the job: Nibbles. Urán is wishful thinking, as I would love to see one of my fellow Colombians on the podium. Would have gone with Betancur, as he’s probably the most talented one-day rider for Colombia, but he didn’t show anything at the Vuelta and will be working for Urán and Quintana
And, as much as I hate to admit it, I can see Sagan winning this thing. The U23 race today showed that you could see a 20-man group make it to the finish. Spain, Italy, Colombia and Switzerland are going to have make this race very hard in order to get rid of someone like Sagan
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibbles
2. Urán Urán
3. Valverde
4. Sagan
5. Faboo
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Cancellara
3. Sagan
4. Gilbert
5. Gesink
Wait. I’m changing my mind. Froome no. Evans in. Go good Cadel. Make a showing in the rain.
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Valverde
3. Horner
4. Cancellara
5. Evans
@Mike_P
Gold. That FIF needs to go away. Remember he got booed at the Cx race here in the US? Hope he does the medals this weekend so people can throw shitte at him.
VSP PICKS:
1. DaCosta
2. Sagan
3. Cancellara
4. iglinsky
5. Nibali
@Mike_P
So who is handing out the medals, Cookson or the fat Irish fucker?
Cookson, thank Merckx!
And speaking of Merckx….I MET HIM TODAY!!!!! Holy shit, I was at the finish line for the men’s U23, turned around, and there was Eddy! I nearly wet myself. I got to meet him and Axel!
@unversio
Jesus, Man, are you changing your picks again??? You’re worse than my VMH!!!
VSP PICKS:
1. Philippe Gilbert
2. Faboo
3. Peter Sagan
4. Nibbles
5. Bakelants
I’ll admit there is a bit of rooting for my fellow Oregonian happening here.
VSP PICKS:
1. Chris Horner
2. Fabian Cancellara
3. Peter Sagan
4. Tejay Van Garderen
5. Chris Froome
VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Sagan
3. Gilbert
4. Valverde
5. Nibbles
VSP PICKS:
1. Grandpa Chris
2. Boss Hogg
3. Spartacus
4. The Tourminator
5. Froome Dog
@Lukas Dang, Horner was going to be my super-secret dark horse but it looks like Lukas is on the same page as me.
VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Sagan
3. EBH
4. Purito
5. Gilbert
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Gilbert
4. Nibali
5. Valverde
@norm
Hardy har har har.