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!
[vsp_results id=”40388″/]
Who possibly could have seen these picks coming? If I were any farther out on a limb, I’d be a small toe.
De doo Ronde Ronde, De doo Ronde Ronde.
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Ride like hell for leather, lads.
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Fabs attacks hard on the Kwaremont and a select group forms, Sagan and Kwit get away on the Paterberg and Sags gets revenge in the two-up sprint.
This won’t happen.
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Hard race for the hard men
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CrankySheds pulls from the Regina tin can
Cancellara
van Marcke
van Avermatt
Kiawatowski
Stuyven
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Sparty goes all in but overdraws on his massive testosterone account like the compulsive gambler he is, thereby proving his awesomeness and also losing gloriously. The beneficiaries are Sagmeister and Vanmarcke, the latter of whom better positions himself than he did in Ghent-V and also, for about the first time ever, does not have a bunch of flats. The others sprint in a dispirited bunch. Kristoff earns the second F in his name,and Geraint Thomas shows that the Welsh should subjugate England, righting an historical wrong. In this alternate reality I also get to ride 80 miles tomorrow and don’t have to change any diapers.
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Mr Kelly wasn’t happy that the lads are running 30mm tyres. Reckons they are soft. Mr Kelly would know !
Mark Renshaw pulled off circuit and taken his bat and ball and gone home. ?
Tiesj Benoot is out. Why not?
Van Avermaet is down, hurt and out. Just about the whole BMC team went down that time.
I should have picked Chantal Blaack for the men’s race. I’d have scored just as many points.
The men’s feed is live. Van Avermaet crashed out literally the moment I started it.
The women’s feed is intermittent and the English commentary has been ditched due to technical issues, according to Twatter.
@Minnesota Expat
Ahg. A bad day for the Welsh…. and my picks.
Cool beans. Eurosport1 has switched over to the women’s race for a minute. 17km to go.
13km to go and Armistead and Johansson have broken clear. Have about 100m on the main group.
@Minnesota Expat
Still clear…go Lizzie!
Armistead wins, Johansson second, and Blaak third?
Women’s results are in:
Surprisingly no Anna VdB in there. I’m wondering if something happened…
16.5 km to go… Sagan and Vanmarck. Cancellara chasing, but maybe cracked?
Holy crap, guys and gals, this is kicking off!
Sagan! Dayyymmmnnn!
Best cyclist in the world now.
Damn that was good!
And there it is. What a day! Two world champions on top!
Just like Richmond. Attacks on the last hill and powers away. He deserves the win.