Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen 2016

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.

View Comments

  • 12 points in the women's, 13 in the men's. I'm happy with that.

    Superb rides from both rainbow jerseys and their peers.

     

     

     

  • How do you hold off Faboo on a flat run-in to the finish? You push on the pedals, that's how. @il muro di manayunk takes an impressive win over a tight field!

    [vsp_results id="40388"/]

  • I'm coining a new acronym, NIRTO

    3 or more picks in the top five, None In The Right Order.

    Throwing in a "FFS" is almost de rigeur, FFS.

    Glad for Sagan and class to VanMarkuh for not challenging Fabs for seond.

    Fabs said on the Sporza interview that he just missed that second when the attack occurred and was annoyed that it was Kwiat going.  Couldn't answer why he didn't go with Sep's counter.

  • @CrankySheds

    CrankySheds pulls from the Regina tin can

    Cancellara

    van Marcke

    van Avermatt

    Kiawatowski

    Stuyven

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cancellara
    2. VanMarcke

    That one-two ain't bad, especially as all the others didn't show at all.  How my tin can left out Sagan is going to be a matter I have to look into.  That, and how to properly submit ALL my picks by iPhone.

  • @frank

    Your top 10 in the overall, climbing at altitude this year!

    Hold up, let me just check out the window....

    Nope, no pigs flying, hmmmmmm.....could the youngster finally be showing his promise?

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