The 2012 Velominati Super Prestige kicks off in proper form this season with the debut of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as part of the series. I’m tempted to stubbornly refer to this race as Het Volk, but I’ll toe the line and refer to the race by its bewildering new(ish) name.
This is a tricky race to predict because the big races in April are a funny distance away; they are close enough that riders wanting to do well there should be in good enough form to be competitive now, but far enough off that a win here could indicate a rider hitting their peak too soon.
In fact, the latter seems to be the case: riders who show brilliance here rarely shine in April when the Monuments of Vlaanderen and Roubaix are contested. De Vlaeminck, Museeuw, Van Petegem, Vandenbroucke – all champions of the Cobbled Classics and all men who never succeeded to win Het Volk/Het Nieuwsblad in the same year as either of the big cobbled classics; in fact, a cursory study of past results lists reveals only Merckx and Ballerini as being able to pull this particular double.
This timing makes Het Nieuwsblad a particularly difficult race to predict; in addition to the wily nature of any cobbled classic, the big names may not quite have the eye of the tiger while riders with an outside chance at victory in April may be focusing their early season on glory in this minor classic which covers many of the sacred roads as de Ronde.
With that we kick off the first event of the 2012 VSP; up for grabs is the personalized Velominati Shop Apron to the contestent who wins the season-long competition. Check the Main VSP page for scoring guidelines and rules. As a sidebar, we’ve also made lots of changes to the VSP engine; despite my usual nonchalant approach to production-testing, I’ve actually done my best to test the system this time around. There are, however, too many scenarios to be sure I covered them all, so I strongly encourage you to enter your picks early, knowing that you can make changes all the way up until the VSP closes. If you notice something behaving strangely, please let us know and we’ll have time to resolve the issue or let you know precisely why you’re crazy.
Picks close at 5am Pacific time on Saturday, and since last year’s VSP taught us that our readership sucks at time zone calculations (I’m looking at you, Bretto), we’ve introduced a countdown clock which should make even the most bone-headed of contestants aware of how much time they’ve got left to enter their losing picks (now I’m looking at you, Ron).
Good luck, and stand by for the VVomen’s Het Nieuwsblad VSP, scheduled to go live tomorrow.
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View Comments
@Buck Rogers
Wow...Cav dropped Greipel like a bad habit. Who was the Vacansoleil guy who at least made it interesting?
Cavendish was pointing at the rainbow as he crossed the line.
@Nosyt
you mean the Vacansoleil guy who was third? Kenny Vanhummel
You gotta love cycling reporters...
Reporter - " Cav great win today. Are you going to loe some weight for Milan San Remo"
Nice...
The peloton, but mostly Sky, just let that "break" have enough rope to hang themselves. I love race radio bans!
@JC Belgium
Sorry meant hitarovich...poor quality feed online made it hard to distinguish the jersey.
@Tobin
Too funny. And they wonder why cyclists are not always gracious about interviews. Especially just after they've killed themselves for the last 6 hours and have not even caught their breath!
@Ron
Yup, one of the reasons I like Tommeke is his class. Beaten by a newcomer in a race he admitted he wants on his palmares, he did more than just give SvM a pat on the back as they crossed the line. As Sporza showed in a clip, he was effusive in his comments and actions in the winner's tent afterwards.
By the way, I don't speak Dutch or Flemish, but Sporza shows a lot of good short clips on their site and their commentators are awesome.
@Buck Rogers
I heard that! I thought I was hearing things, then I realized I wasn't. I HOPE they had discussed this off camera at an earlier point. But yeah...you just rode 6 hours, tell me why you are so fat? Jeez! And they say super models have impossible body standards to live up to. What about cyclists? The fastest guy in the world, maybe, maybe 1-2 kilos over his absolute lowest weight, has eaten nothing but gel & cardboard bars for six hours and he gets called fat!
I'm actually a big fan of any cyclist, PRO or non, who can ride well & isn't skin & bones. Most of us have bellies, which most pros don't, but I love seeing a guy who maybe isn't weight crazy still be strong as.
Nothing worse than talking about weight & dieting with dudes, especially dudes in Lycra.
wiscot - I love watching Sporza and I'm an English speaker. Boonen was pure class.
That's the type of thing that really fuels my passion for cycling these days. And stuff like the Cincinnati-Xavier basketball brawl, fueled by trash talking on sports radio and twatter jabs, makes me turn away from mainstream U.S. sports more and more.