Velominati Super Prestige: Milano San-Remo 2012

Fignon drills it on the Pogio in 1989. Photo: L'Equipe

The Poggio. It’s probably one of the most famous easy climbs in the world; going through old cycling photographs, I rarely come across one where the leaders haven’t moved Sur La Plaque. It has a reputation, however, for being a real leg breaker, mostly because any climb is a big climb once you cross its summit after a paltry 291 kilometers. And the descent provides one of the twistiest, most exhilarating finales in the sport.

This race stands apart as the longest on the calendar, and represents the only of the five Monuments where the sprinters have a chance at final glory. But this can have it all: the long, solo break routinely makes it to the finish uncaught. The final attacks on the Poggio regularly stick. The attack that goes away on the climb often gets caught on the descent. And, sometimes the whole thing stays together for a bunch gallop. Essentially, any ride who is on form has a chance at glory. This is a unique race.

The question on everyone’s mind is wether Cavendish can get over the Poggio in position to make it to the finish in the first group. If he does, then you can jot down the winner right now. He’s lost some significant weight in the last few weeks, so his climbing should be good; we also have it on good authority from our eyes and ears on the roads in Italy that the Manx Mouth has been spotted training in the hills of Italy with the express intention of making it over the last bump. If, on the other hand, he gets spat out the back like a rainbow turd when the road points uphill, it will be a free-for-all. The fast semi-climbers with descending skills like Nibbles are talking big about their chances. And who in their right minds would ever discount Faboo with his brommer or Gilbert once he fires the howitzers.

So rub your lucky rabbit’s foot and throw some salt over your shoulder; you’re going to need some divine intervention on this one. This year’s VSP is also the first year where we’ll be offering a special badge to the winner of the monuments. We can’t unveil the MSR Badge yet, but the winner of this VSP event will have the honor of posting with the badge until next year’s event. The winner will also receive a free Symbol Pack. Check the start list and get your picks in by 5am Pacific on Saturday morning; if timezone arithmetic isn’t your strong suit, just watch the countdown timer in the banner at the top of the site. As usual, your points go towards the overall VSP as well.

Good luck.

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537 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: Milano San-Remo 2012”

  1. VSP PICKS:

    1. Cavendish
    2. Boonen
    3. Hausler
    4. Cancellera
    5. Hincapie

  2. VSP PICKS:

    1. Cavendish
    2. Cancellara
    3. Sagan
    4. Gilbert
    5. Boss hogg

  3. ‘Little Brummer Boy’ swapped for ‘Fabucus’. They both mean the same thing (at least to me – I had thought I’d read that ‘brummer’ means motorbike in some language I don’t speak, but a Google search finds no evidence of that, so perhaps I was hallucinating).

    Actually think it unlikely Fabucus will be second if Manxy is first. But gotta hedge bets.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. The Rainbow Missile
    2. Fabucus
    3. Nibbles
    4. H2
    5. Tommeke

  4. Picking this race feels like a roll of the dice. Every one has the same dice more or less, just different outcomes. Good luck, everyone.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cancellara
    2. Gilbert
    3. Cavendish
    4. Hushovd
    5. Boonen

  5. Not a lottery to pick this from the perspective that its wide open but rather its a race that only stars typically win and there are plenty in terrific form.
    This = Barnstorming Finale!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cavendish
    2. Freire
    3. Sagan
    4. Boonen
    5. Cancellara

  6. Pick the strongest and put them in finishing speed order

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cav
    2. Oscarito
    3. Tommeke
    4. Sagan
    5. Fabs

  7. Tough call to leave out EBH but I feel Sky will be putting their eggs in a Cav-shaped pannier.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cavendish
    2. Cancellara
    3. Boonen
    4. Sagan
    5. Haussler

  8. Greg LeMan weighing in on the cycling news live feed and not sounding like too much of Lemelvis.

  9. @Erik

    I’m glad my Italian is terrible, b/c I’d be yelling at the computer otherwise.

    I yell at the computer anyway. And I have only very rudimentary Italian
    Due vini Rossi! DUE VINI ROSSI!

  10. @napolinige

    How do you say ‘shat out the back of the group’ in Italian?

    Me? Due vini rossi. Gets good results.

    A bad day in a 300km race is a bad day indeed.

  11. Fuck! Can’t believe I didn’t go with my first line up. I blame most of you here, and the peer pressure. Sky is trying to get him back tho……..

  12. Just loaded the player — what the sitch other than laying of Rainbow Turds?

  13. I think I got downgraded from V2 to V4 for that question. I am appropriately shamed. Nibali and Sagan changed everything by putting the heat on Cavendish.

  14. @Erik

    I think I got downgraded from V2 to V4 for that question. I am appropriately shamed. Nibali and Sagan changed everything by putting the heat on Cavendish.

    Did you change your email address? That’ll do it.

  15. And Sky pulls the plug with 50K to go at 58 seconds back. WTF? I mean I know it’s a tough call, but with 50K? His stock is slipping with me now…………

  16. @scaler911

    And Sky pulls the plug with 50K to go at 58 seconds back. WTF? I mean I know it’s a tough call, but with 50K? His stock is slipping with me now…………

    The one time I put that little ass monkey down as my pick and this is how he repays?

    On the other hand, when he got dropped, he did look like he was digging deep – swerving all over the road like it was a bunch gallop. And, to @Marko’s point, the rest of those guys hardly looked on the rivet.

    Goes back to the advice Merckx gave him (and I’m paraphrasing): “Learn to climb, you little fucktard.”

  17. If Costa makes the front two I give them a 15% chance to make it to the end. Costa and Hoogerland in the same break can be problems, they are both on form and know how to work a break.

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