Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen 2016

That's a legitimate Pain Face right there.

Everybody knows there are two kinds of cobbles. Big cobbles, little cobbles, grippy cobbles, and slippy cobbles. And when it comes to mastering the stones, no one is better than the undisputed King of the Cobbles, Kenny Van Vlaminck. And speaking of cobble legends, there is a great piece on our friend Johan Museeuw over on Rouleur today.

According to the weather reports, there is going to be wind and rain on Sunday. And if you watched the live coverage of Gent Wevelgem last week, the storm that blew in after the race was wicked intense. And, since I’ve decided not to visit Belgium this year, you can be pretty sure that the weather will finally be rubbish. You’re welcome.

We rode the RVV route (the classic route, not the crap new one) in the wind, rain, and hail a few years back, and it was striking how slippy the cobbles on the Paterberg and Koppenberg are in the wet. These climbs are borderline doable in the dry, and if you need to get out of the saddle for some extra juice, it is going to take some good bike handling to keep from spinning out.

And don’t forget we’ve got wicked prizes on offer; Don Walker is giving a free custom steel frame to the winner of the VSP overall, and Café Roubaix is awarding a set of their CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelsets to the runner-up. Third place gets a free V-Kit. Boom. So get prognosticating and get your picks in before the clock goes to zero. Good luck!

[vsp_results id=”40388″/]

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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LeoTea says:

Apr 1 2016 at 5:58 am
Boonen's not got the punch this year (which is a shame - would loved to have seen him v Faboo one last time). Probably why EQS have missed out - they've not been able to instigate any moves, they've just been responding to other's attacks.

VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Sagan
3. van Avermaet
4. Kwiatkowski
5. van Marcke
mulebeatsdrums says:

Apr 1 2016 at 7:16 am
Okay, honesty time: I really don't like Petr Sagan. That's not to say I think "he sucks" or whatever; he's clearly a phenomenal racer/bike-handler (I mean, no-handed wheelies, you guys), but almost equal to his talent is his outright dickishness. Obviously he's nothing on Gunderson, and he's certainly not alone in this—Cav and Wiggo are both equally dickish at time—but Pinchy seems to be a dick even when he's winning. I don't know, maybe it's because English is his second language and something is lost in translation. But then, the pinching. Either way, I respect him as a rider, but I don't like him.

That said, he's clearly going to be up there on Sunday! I'd love to see Spartacus take the win, but I now Pinchy has woken up, I can't see him losing.

VSP PICKS:
1. Pinchy
2. Faboo
3. Van Avermaet
4. Vanmarcke
5. Kwiatkowski
chuckp says:

Apr 1 2016 at 7:55 am
Will be surprised if neither Sagan nor Cancellara don't at least finish on podium.

VSP PICKS:
1. Sagz
2. Kwiatkowski
3. Spartacus
4. Van Avermaet
5. Vanmarcke
Ron says:

Apr 1 2016 at 8:05 am

Of course Boonen is lacking the punch this year. Guy fractured his skull not that long ago! For anyone competing at high levels, you know how long even a minor injury can set you back. No wonder he's a bit lacking this year.
Ron says:

Apr 1 2016 at 8:23 am
After his impressive chase and frustration, I'm thinking Cancellara does it on Sunday. Though I think Sagan might have finally broken through on his 2nd place curse, so who knows which racer pulls it off.

VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Greg van Avermaet
4. Sep van Marcke
5. Kwiatkowski
fignons barber says:

Apr 1 2016 at 8:38 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Kwiatkowski
4. VanAvermaet
5. Kristoff
bwjosh says:

Apr 1 2016 at 8:43 am
VSP PICKS:
1. F. Cancellara
2. P. Sagan
3. G. Van Avermaet
4. A. Kristoff
5. M. Kwiatkowski
hudson says:

Apr 1 2016 at 9:07 am
Gonna take a hint from you fine folks and trade Boonen for Kwaitkowski. Still rooting for Boonen deep down.

@mulebeatsdrums

Okay, honesty time: I really don’t like Petr Sagan. That’s not to say I think “he sucks” or whatever; he’s clearly a phenomenal racer/bike-handler (I mean, no-handed wheelies, you guys), but almost equal to his talent is his outright dickishness. Obviously he’s nothing on Gunderson, and he’s certainly not alone in this—Cav and Wiggo are both equally dickish at time—but Pinchy seems to be a dick even when he’s winning. I don’t know, maybe it’s because English is his second language and something is lost in translation. But then, the pinching. Either way, I respect him as a rider, but I don’t like him.

That said, he’s clearly going to be up there on Sunday! I’d love to see Spartacus take the win, but I now Pinchy has woken up, I can’t see him losing.

I'm curious to ask why you say that? For sure his english is lacking, but so is my Slovak, and pretty much any other language other than english. From everything i have read and how the other riders talk of him he's a pretty outstanding fellow, always stops to sign the autographs for the kids, acknowledges his fans, respects the jersey (other than the whole rule 33 thing, but that's behind us now). The pinching thing was inappropriate for sure, he acted on a silly impulse, can't say i haven't done the same at some point when i was a younger man. And he publicly apologized which took a fair amount of resolve. I'd really like to know why he's a dick, maybe you know something i don't.

VSP PICKS:
1. sagan
2. GVA
3. cancellara
4. kristoff
5. Kwiatkowski
simonsaunders says:

Apr 1 2016 at 9:19 am
After my last dismal performance, need to sta

ck up some points here

VSP PICKS:
1. Fabian Cancellara
2. Michal Kwiatowski
3. Greg Van Avermaert
4. Peter Sagan
5. Luke Rowe
Pot Belj says:

Apr 1 2016 at 10:05 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Cancellara
3. Pozzato
4. Benoot
5. GVA