Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Liege-Bastogne Liege 2017

There was a time when this is what Cycling looked like.

This guy. This fucking Valverde guy. How can you make it look so easy? Dan Martin was right to look like a little bitch on the podium, because that’s exactly what Valvecap made of him: his little bitch.

What kills me about him is he looks totally awesome, but I can’t find myself liking him. What’s the matter with me? Looking Fantastic is normally all I need. Maybe its because he’s bald. But that hasn’t stopped me before. Chalk it up to the great mysteries of life.

Liege is a race that’s dear to my heart; my dad and I did it together when I was seventeen and it was one of the greatest rides of my life. It’s a great classic, but today’s era of specialization means we rarely see riders contest the cobbled classics as well as the Ardennes classics. Yet, this year we’ve got Greg Van Avermaet lining up after winning Roubaix in the true Hardman style of Eddy Mereckx or Sean Kelly.

So lets make this happen people: I’m voting for GvA, nearly assuring everyone he won’t be anywhere near the podium. Appologies in advance. You know the drill: get the picks in by the time the clock goes to zero. Good luck!

[vsp_results id=”104302″/]

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 Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d'Italia 2017 »

Previous « Velominati Super Prestige: Womens Liege-Bastogne Liege 2017

View Comments

wiscot says:

Apr 25 2017 at 11:28 am

@Lebowski Achiever

@chuckp

I’ve had the same issue and used the same fix. The NBC Gold site/interface was designed by a one-eared, lobotomized chimp. Perhaps a commentary on the sport’s visibility in the U.S. Meanwhile in Texas you can get better coverage of high school football. There’s WTF for you.

Doesn't HS Football take precedence over everything in TX?
RobSandy says:

Apr 26 2017 at 3:02 am

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

I've just noticed the same thing has happened to me. I didn't even know Tony Martin was riding so didn't specify 'Dan'!
frank says:

Apr 26 2017 at 11:40 am

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

@RobSandy

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

I’ve just noticed the same thing has happened to me. I didn’t even know Tony Martin was riding so didn’t specify ‘Dan’!

You guys have to remember the auto-mapping is done by the software, not a person...basically it goes and looks to see what rider is usually associated with "Martin", it doesn't cross-check what you might have meant or the start list...so either get clever enough with your name so the auto-mapper has no idea what to do with it (for instance, Bretto's "Bad Shit" which was Malmerde which is French for bad shit meaning Valverde...) so we have to do it manually, or be specific enough that the software will map to the correct rider. Best practice is always to include the first letter of first name at least in order to avoid confusion.

But you can always dispute your picks, so just go ahead and use that mechanism in order to alert us to the wrong mapping.
chuckp says:

Apr 26 2017 at 6:19 pm

@frank

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

@RobSandy

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

I’ve just noticed the same thing has happened to me. I didn’t even know Tony Martin was riding so didn’t specify ‘Dan’!

You guys have to remember the auto-mapping is done by the software, not a person…basically it goes and looks to see what rider is usually associated with “Martin”, it doesn’t cross-check what you might have meant or the start list…so either get clever enough with your name so the auto-mapper has no idea what to do with it (for instance, Bretto’s “Bad Shit” which was Malmerde which is French for bad shit meaning Valverde…) so we have to do it manually, or be specific enough that the software will map to the correct rider. Best practice is always to include the first letter of first name at least in order to avoid confusion.

But you can always dispute your picks, so just go ahead and use that mechanism in order to alert us to the wrong mapping.

This happened to me last year and I learned my lesson. But yet another reason to say: F**k @frank!
frank says:

Apr 26 2017 at 6:48 pm

@chuckp

@frank

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

@RobSandy

@ErikdR

@frank

Frank/Keepers, I’m a bit curious here (but not particularly bothered, for the record, since I’ve previously Delgado’d myself out of any real chance to make ‘the Big League’ in the VSP).

But anyway: as far as I can tell, I scored 16 points on the Women’s LBL (picking the first three finishers correctly) but only 11 points doing the same here in the Men’s LBL (See my post #45 above). Can this have something to do with the fact that I should have specified that I was referring to DAN Martin as my pick for second, by any chance – rather than merely writing ‘Martin’? Cheers!

I’ve just noticed the same thing has happened to me. I didn’t even know Tony Martin was riding so didn’t specify ‘Dan’!

You guys have to remember the auto-mapping is done by the software, not a person…basically it goes and looks to see what rider is usually associated with “Martin”, it doesn’t cross-check what you might have meant or the start list…so either get clever enough with your name so the auto-mapper has no idea what to do with it (for instance, Bretto’s “Bad Shit” which was Malmerde which is French for bad shit meaning Valverde…) so we have to do it manually, or be specific enough that the software will map to the correct rider. Best practice is always to include the first letter of first name at least in order to avoid confusion.

But you can always dispute your picks, so just go ahead and use that mechanism in order to alert us to the wrong mapping.

I should add to this: best practice to add first name or letter of first name is also for Keepers who are mapping something like 250 unmapped picks and really can't be fucked to imagine which "Martin" you mean and which is or isn't on the start list.

This happened to me last year and I learned my lesson. But yet another reason to say: F**k @frank!

Wait. There are reasons to say "Fuck Frank?" More than one?

I'm in disbelief. Please expound on this in detail.
RobSandy says:

Apr 27 2017 at 12:32 am

@frank

@chuckp

You guys have to remember the auto-mapping is done by the software, not a person…basically it goes and looks to see what rider is usually associated with “Martin”, it doesn’t cross-check what you might have meant or the start list…so either get clever enough with your name so the auto-mapper has no idea what to do with it (for instance, Bretto’s “Bad Shit” which was Malmerde which is French for bad shit meaning Valverde…) so we have to do it manually, or be specific enough that the software will map to the correct rider. Best practice is always to include the first letter of first name at least in order to avoid confusion.

But you can always dispute your picks, so just go ahead and use that mechanism in order to alert us to the wrong mapping.

I should add to this: best practice to add first name or letter of first name is also for Keepers who are mapping something like 250 unmapped picks and really can’t be fucked to imagine which “Martin” you mean and which is or isn’t on the start list.

Word. I usually do exactly this but on this occasion confusion with the Panzerwagen didn't even cross my mind.

FWIW I thought 'Bad Shit' was genius.
ErikdR says:

Apr 27 2017 at 12:52 pm

@frank

You guys have to remember the auto-mapping is done by the software, not a person…basically it goes and looks to see what rider is usually associated with “Martin”, it doesn’t cross-check what you might have meant or the start list…so either get clever enough with your name so the auto-mapper has no idea what to do with it (for instance, Bretto’s “Bad Shit” which was Malmerde which is French for bad shit meaning Valverde…) so we have to do it manually, or be specific enough that the software will map to the correct rider. Best practice is always to include the first letter of first name at least in order to avoid confusion.

But you can always dispute your picks, so just go ahead and use that mechanism in order to alert us to the wrong mapping.

Thanks! Duly noted; will be adding first name or correct initial from now on.
chuckp says:

Apr 28 2017 at 8:17 am

There is also this ... uh ... feature called a "drop down" where you can check to see how your entries are mapped. If they're not mapped right, then you can make them right. Not hard to do.
KogaLover says:

May 2 2017 at 7:23 am

On Rule #85: apparently the Giro will have a 5000 EUR prize for the fastest downhill cyclist. Comment from Wout Poels (Sky Team): Life threatening idea to give a prize to the best descender in Giro? I hope this is a joke? What about safety?… https://t.co/OiXlUKvHCI

When will the VSP for the Giro be up? Only 3 more days... Here's my list to get things going and to avoid yet another Delgado (my VSP season's gone already).

1. Quintano 2 Nibbles 3 DuMoulin 4 Kruijswijk 5 Thomas
wiscot says:

May 2 2017 at 7:58 am

@KogaLover

I saw that too. Stupid idea. Sure, it can be said that it's up to the riders to go as fast on the descents as they deem prudent or capable. But we all know that once you put money on the table, riders will do crazy things and when you think that some of the better descenders are not the best climbers, it means that they are going for it through cars, other riders, etc. And, as we've seen (TJvG in Romandie and Hoogerland in the Tour ) not all the drivers are as skilled at driving amongst riders as they should be. Recipe for disaster IMHO.