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!

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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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frank says:

Apr 2 2016 at 10:22 am

@mulebeatsdrums

One of the beautiful things of being a fan is we get to hold our opinions however we choose. We try to be rational in every aspect of our lives; this is the one area where bias and irrationality have a perfect home. Woo-hoo!
MikeK says:

Apr 2 2016 at 10:34 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. sagan
3. van
MikeK says:

Apr 2 2016 at 10:36 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Van Avermaet
4. Kristoff
5. Stannard
ramenvelo says:

Apr 2 2016 at 11:32 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Cancellara
3. Van avermaet
4. Kwiatkowski
5. Vanmarcke
mulebeatsdrums says:

Apr 2 2016 at 11:34 am

@hudson

@mulebeatsdrums

Completely agree with the whole throwing/breaking of equipment. Whether its a Baseball bat or golf club or especially a bicycle, there’s no reason to treat gear like that. But i guess that comes from not having to pay for your own stuff, not to mention i’ve never had to produce results with a bicycle to keep my lively hood, if i did i might become more frustrated as well. I would seek out some videos and interviews of him, seems to be a pretty stand up guy, even if a bit of him is lost in translation. Chapeau!

For me, that argument doesn't hold water (I'm not saying you're making it!). I go back to the aforementioned case of my work computer. And I work in film, so I have to use all sorts of glorious tech from as early as the ‘60s; obviously it's not going to work smoothly, but kicking it and having a tantrum isn't going to help.

Thanks for the advice though! I'll have a rummage on the YewTewb.
Hansen says:

Apr 2 2016 at 1:13 pm
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Kwiatkowski
3. Cancellara
4. Van Awermaet
5. Vanmarcke
Fabshiddenmotor says:

Apr 2 2016 at 1:23 pm
VSP PICKS:
1. Greg Van Avermaet
2. Peter Sagan
3. Fabian Cancellara
4. Sep Vanmarcke
5. Tiesj Benoot
Skip says:

Apr 2 2016 at 2:27 pm
As much as I want to pick Boonen, I just can't do it. Everybody else is just too much on their game.

VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Kwiatkowski
3. Sagan
4. Van Avermat
5. Vanmarcke
Patrick says:

Apr 2 2016 at 2:40 pm
VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Peter Sagan
3. Luke Rowe
4. Niki Terpstra
5. Geraint Thomas
Bianchi Denti says:

Apr 2 2016 at 2:43 pm
Pozzato?! WTF was I thinking? Pipo out, Boss Hogg in.

VSP PICKS:
1. Vanmarcke
2. Cancellara
3. Sagan
4. Stybar
5. Boasson Hagen