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.

Next Awesome Dutch Nerds »

Previous « Velominati Super Prestige: Women's Ronde van Vlaanderen 2016

View Comments

Mark Wald says:

Mar 30 2016 at 8:50 pm
VSP PICKS:
1. Stannard
2. Debusschere
3. Z. Stybar
4. Tommeke
5. Lars BOOM
R00tdown says:

Mar 30 2016 at 9:24 pm
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sep Van Marke
3. Greg van Avermaet
4. Sagan
5. Kwaitkowski
Quadzilla says:

Mar 30 2016 at 9:27 pm
I feel like Cancellara will make his own luck, and blast this way through to another Classics victory. Sagan to muck up another sprint situation, just when you thought he was past those tactical mistakes.

VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Sagan
3. GVA
4. Boonen
5. EBH
freddy says:

Mar 30 2016 at 9:55 pm
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. GvA
3. Kristoff
4. Cancellara
5. Vanmarcke
piwakawaka says:

Mar 30 2016 at 10:54 pm
Another Vber Break, Sags, Fabs and GVA duke it out, the Gorilla brings home the rest.

VSP PICKS:
1. SAGAN Peter
2. VAN AVERMAET Greg
3. CANCELLARA Fabian
4. GREIPEL André
5. DEMARE Arnaud
Mikael Liddy says:

Mar 30 2016 at 11:10 pm
In a battle of the new eternal seconds, the rainbows will win out.

VSP PICKS:
1. The Rainbow Samurai
2. All the way with GVA
3. Motorcus
4. Sep Formica
5. Tommeke
Bart says:

Mar 31 2016 at 12:11 am
Second place will not do

, next sunday Sep will be victorious!

VSP PICKS:
1. Sep Vanmarcke
2. Lars Boom
3. Peter Sagan
4. Michal Kwiatkowski
5. Filippo Pozzato
dinosaurJR says:

Mar 31 2016 at 12:14 am
You know, the more I do this the more I realise that I really have no idea what I'm doing... I would be just as well letting my two year old pick...

Best of luck, chaps and let's hope for an injury free race.

VSP PICKS:
1. Well'ard Stannard
2. Pinchy Sagan
3. Spartacus
4. "Work Shy" Vanmarcke
5. Pistoff the Viking
KogaLover says:

Mar 31 2016 at 12:31 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. van Avermaet
4. Kristoff
5. Vanmarcke
the Engine says:

Mar 31 2016 at 1:00 am
All being well I'll be at the roadside on Sunday drinking my own volume in Belgian ale and eating my own mass in frites so there is that prospect to dull the pain of disappointment.

VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Sagan
3. van Avermaet
4. Kristoff
5. Sep Vanmarcke