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

Duende says:

Mar 31 2016 at 4:56 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Sagan
3. Benoot
4. Kwiatkowski
5. Terpstra
dinosaurJR says:

Mar 31 2016 at 4:58 am

@John Irvine

I agree - if Pinchy rode for one of the better organised outfits he would be killer (well, even more killer than he is today). He is more or less riding unaided and although it worked for him at the Worlds, I think for a rider at this level, racing at the total upper limit of the sport - he really deserves a well oiled apparatus around him.

He should be cosseted, protected and then unleashed to lay down the V at just the right moment on the poor bastards around him - not left to his own wits (which are - let's face it - pretty fucking sharp) to fend for himself.

Merckx was Merckx, though - I think he was strong enough to do well regardless of which team he rode for. I see a fair bit of that in Sagan too, to be honest.
Slowtrane says:

Mar 31 2016 at 5:10 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Spartacus
2. Sagan
3. Kristoff
4. Terpstra
5. Kwiatkowski
VbyV says:

Mar 31 2016 at 5:45 am
Sticking with my man Peto.

VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Cancellara
3. Boonen
4. Lars Boom
5. Kwiatkowski
Matthew M says:

Mar 31 2016 at 6:08 am
VSP PICKS:
1. VAN AVERMAET Greg
2. STANNARD Ian
3. SAGAN Peter
4. KRISTOFF Alexander
5. CANCELLARA Fabian
il muro di manayunk says:

Mar 31 2016 at 6:22 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Cancellara
3. Vanmarcke
4. Van Avermaet
5. Kristoff
BigHOSH says:

Mar 31 2016 at 6:30 am
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Cancellera
3. Stybar
4. Van Averaemt
5. Boonan
Buck Rogers says:

Mar 31 2016 at 6:53 am
@dinosaurJR

@John Irvine

I agree – if Pinchy rode for one of the better organised outfits he would be killer (well, even more killer than he is today). He is more or less riding unaided and although it worked for him at the Worlds, I think for a rider at this level, racing at the total upper limit of the sport – he really deserves a well oiled apparatus around him.

He should be cosseted, protected and then unleashed to lay down the V at just the right moment on the poor bastards around him – not left to his own wits (which are – let’s face it – pretty fucking sharp) to fend for himself.

Merckx was Merckx, though – I think he was strong enough to do well regardless of which team he rode for. I see a fair bit of that in Sagan too, to be honest.

Completely agree! He needs to move across to Etixx next year. He would KILL everything even more than he already does!

VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Sparty
3. Stybar
4. Van Avermaet
5. Tommeke
wiscot says:

Mar 31 2016 at 6:56 am
Ahhh, here goes nuttin. Heart says Tommeke, head says no. Head and heart says this is where the new TB makes his mark.I just don't think Tommeke has it on the bergs any more, but for P-R, it's his race.

VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Cancellara
3. Benoot
4. Boonen
5. Van Avermaet
frank says:

Mar 31 2016 at 7:42 am

@wiscot

Kenny = king of the cobbles? My arse he is. King of the Belgian shrug? No doubt!

You know that's a pisstake right?

@Gianni

I could hang out with Kenny all day long. Frank tells me he is fun at the bar. Tour of Morocco indeed.

Yes, Kenny saved me from a dingbat Triathlete vendor at the London Bike Show. It was glorious.