Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s La Fleche Wallonne 2016

The bunch climbs the Mur de Huy

Don’t these race organizers understand how confusing it is when races are held mid-week? It means we have to have to manage against unrealistic expectations like realizing what day of the week it is and then do the sums on how much lead time we want to give on the VSP.

Which is obviously too much to expect. Of me, anyway. I have a lot of big deals cooking, you see. Its very complicated and important. I could tell you about it but you probably wouldn’t be able to handle it all.

So. That leaves us with about 20 hours for VSP picks entry. Sorry about that. Hopefully you’ve already been prognosticating on the start list and have your game together already. If not, I hope you do well under pressure. Don’t forget there are awesome prizes on offer: Don Walker is giving away a free custom steel frame, Café Roubaix is giving away a carbon wheelset, and we are giving away a free V-Kit.

Good luck!

[vsp_results id=”41707″/]

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.

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View Comments

Buck Rogers says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:27 am

@wiscot

Shit. 2 out of 5 and they’re in the wrong places. That f*cker Valverde sure knows how to climb the Huy. Danny Boy shot his bolt a bit early and Jules just didn’t have it.

Those hills in the last 15k are just horrendously steep.

Yup, if fuck'in Danny-Boy could have held on to 2nd I would be sitting pretty nice. Oh well, LBL should be super!
Buck Rogers says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:30 am

@Teocalli

@chuckp

I’m just learning now (as race is underway) that Henao was pulled by Sky over biological passport irregularities. FFS! If possible, I want to substitute Alaphilippe for Henao.

With the posts immediately above any generosity for being asleep is out!

Yeah, while I am not on "The Committee" that makes the calls on VSP disputes, I have never seen anyone allowed to swap a rider out once the race has started, for any reason.

Might just be a case of a broken wheel on the Hem section while in the break, i.e. shit-out-of-luck.
Rusty Gramm says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:33 am

@Buck Rogers

had martin not blown himself to bits on the last stretch of the huy, i'd be sitting pretty too...vavlerde! i had him pegged for the two slot
Steampunk says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:39 am

I don't get Etixx. I really don't. Is there any other team that consistently gets to implement their strategy perfectly only to shit the bed at the finish line? It looked to me as though the set-up guy was the stronger of the two. We'll never know, but it seems as though Alaphilippe setting up Martin might have yielded the better result. I'm not complaining: I had Valverde first and Martin third. But they always seem to get to do what they want and still not win (I know this is one of the biggest and winningest teams, but still...).
chuckp says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:51 am

@Buck Rogers

@Teocalli

@chuckp

I’m just learning now (as race is underway) that Henao was pulled by Sky over biological passport irregularities. FFS! If possible, I want to substitute Alaphilippe for Henao.

With the posts immediately above any generosity for being asleep is out!

Yeah, while I am not on “The Committee” that makes the calls on VSP disputes, I have never seen anyone allowed to swap a rider out once the race has started, for any reason.

Might just be a case of a broken wheel on the Hem section while in the break, i.e. shit-out-of-luck.

I don't expect an exception will be made. Just making my case. I literally found out about Henao when I got to work this morning (0800 EDT in USA). I don't know when the announcement was made, but obviously sometime between when I went to sleep last night and when I got to work this morning. Yes, shit out of luck. Just sucks that eleventh hour circumstances having nothing to do with the race itself eliminates a pick. But I am happy with 3 out of 5 with 2 in the correct place.
chuckp says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:52 am

@Steampunk

I don’t get Etixx. I really don’t. Is there any other team that consistently gets to implement their strategy perfectly only to shit the bed at the finish line? It looked to me as though the set-up guy was the stronger of the two. We’ll never know, but it seems as though Alaphilippe setting up Martin might have yielded the better result. I’m not complaining: I had Valverde first and Martin third. But they always seem to get to do what they want and still not win (I know this is one of the biggest and winningest teams, but still…).

Not only that, but they chased with Jungels in the break. If break was going to be caught (and it would've been), they should've let another team do the work.
wiscot says:

Apr 20 2016 at 8:59 am

@chuckp

@Teocalli

Crikey 3 out of 5 and 2 in the correct places. I may have peaked.

Blimey! You and me both! Although I’m sure I won’t be allowed my plea to sub Alaphilippe for Henao upon learning about Henao’s w/d (although my plea was with like 40-50km to go so well before the race was decided), I could potentially have 4 out of 5 with 2 in the correct places.

No chance! You can't even swap out for free during a GT if a rider crashes out, let alone if a rider gets pulled for dodgy biological data in a midweek classic. Mind you, having the option to make switches with 10k to go would be fun but will not happen as a) frank won't allow it and b) it would crash the site.

Damn, those European roads looks so smooth! Unlike the friggin farm tracks and shitty roads here in WI . . .
Teocalli says:

Apr 20 2016 at 9:04 am

@wiscot

Shit - define European or maybe Brexit is so that UK roads can be excluded from that category.
chuckp says:

Apr 20 2016 at 9:16 am

@wiscot

@chuckp

@Teocalli

Crikey 3 out of 5 and 2 in the correct places. I may have peaked.

Blimey! You and me both! Although I’m sure I won’t be allowed my plea to sub Alaphilippe for Henao upon learning about Henao’s w/d (although my plea was with like 40-50km to go so well before the race was decided), I could potentially have 4 out of 5 with 2 in the correct places.

No chance! You can’t even swap out for free during a GT if a rider crashes out, let alone if a rider gets pulled for dodgy biological data in a midweek classic. Mind you, having the option to make switches with 10k to go would be fun but will not happen as a) frank won’t allow it and b) it would crash the site.

When a team pulls a rider after the VSP picks have closed but before the race has started is a completely different circumstance than crashing out or changing picks mid-race because something happened to your rider during the race. Unique circumstance. Don't know that it's ever happened before. And we're not all in the local (or even close to local) time zone to be able to know/do something about it (if that's a possibility).

I know @frank won't allow it.
John Irvine says:

Apr 20 2016 at 9:25 am

Strangely, it appears that VSP was open this morning even after the race had started. I almost got a Henau swap in under the wire, but it closed on me. But that was well into the race, (if not the broadcast.)

In any case, I'm happy to have 3 in the top five, and third exact.