Velominati Super Prestige: Milano-San Remo

RDV wins La Primavera in 1973

The second annual Velominati Super Prestige kicks off with La Primavera, Milano-San Remo on March 19. The first Monument of the year, MSR is the first true showdown of the year where all the big names will be en forme and willing to sell their mothers to notch this prestigious win. Although known for its famous climbs including the Cipressa and the Poggio, it isn’t the terrain that poses the greatest challenge in this race, but it’s distance. At almost 300km, this race is a monster. Without having ever ridden it, I can tell you with zero confidence that the Poggio is not a steep or difficult climb, but with a big pile of kilometers already ridden, even its moderate gradient will weigh heavy in the legs.

MSR often finishes in a bunch sprint, but not always. With a well-timed attack on the Poggio and more than a handful of seconds buffer before starting the descent, riders with technical descending skills (sorry, Les Freres Grimpeur, never gonna happen) can stay away and spoil the day for the fast men.

We find ourselves with a pile of data gleaned from watching Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, but La Primavera happens to be enough of a wild-card that all that data will only serve to cloud judgement. Our advice? Take out the radio earpiece to and vote on feel.

The winner of this VSP edition will earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free personalized Velominati Shop Apron. This year we’ve enhanced the entry mechanism; if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the designated area above the posts section, bearing in mind that entry/modification of picks closes at 5am Pacific time on the day of the race. Check the Super-Prestige main page for rules and scoring information.

Good luck.

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.

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View Comments

Marcus says:

Mar 19 2011 at 4:25 pm

@Steampunk
Not sure if it will - but it should Those rankings are so geared towards stage races that cuddles was on top before msr.

As for Australian gloating - not required - just looking forward to our inevitable transition from being "our antipodean (a flawed expression) friends" to "I hate those fucking arrogant Australians. They win everything."
Marcus says:

Mar 19 2011 at 4:28 pm

frank:
@all
Here are some time conversions for those of you on the side of the planet that matters:
Start Time:
10am CET (Europe)
5am EDT (USA)
4am CDT (USA)
3am MDT (USA)
2am PDT (USA)
Earliest Coverage (SteepHill.tv):
2:15pm CET (Europe)
9:15am PDT (USA)
8:15am PDT (USA)
7:15am PDT (USA)
6:15am PDT (USA)

"the side of the planet that didn't supply the winner too"
minion says:

Mar 19 2011 at 4:50 pm

May I be the one of the first Aussie's to gloat as well. Looks like it's shaping up to be one hell of a year for Antipodean cyclists.

To be the first at something you have to have stopped gloating in the past, your lot are having a pretty good year. I guess running or cycling away from those dingoes as babies means you get into escapes easily.
anotherdownunder says:

Mar 19 2011 at 5:32 pm

@minion
Yes a good win for Goss. Yet another classic won by an Aussie. A Grand Tour one day....
Pity I did not pick him, thought he had too good a form too early in the year.
il ciclista medio says:

Mar 19 2011 at 5:34 pm

@minion
Possibly? But I would have thought chasing those sheep/potential partners would have given you lot pretty good legs as well? Still, I suppose you would have most of them trained by now, "sit still while I put some lippy on you darling"
minion says:

Mar 19 2011 at 5:40 pm

il ciclista medio :
@minionPossibly? But I would have thought chasing those sheep/potential partners would have given you lot pretty good legs as well? Still, I suppose you would have most of them trained by now, "sit still while I put some lippy on you darling"

Yeah it's a different thing, having a dingo behind you to having a sheep in front of you...and sheep in these parts are pretty slow/dumb/only after the attention.
RedRanger says:

Mar 19 2011 at 5:53 pm

finally got to see the last 2km of the race. damn am I impressed with Faboo's sprint. only got 2 points towards the VSP but Im glad to see him in such good form.
xyxax says:

Mar 19 2011 at 5:54 pm

I thought Chain-L and especially Mascarponi showed some heart today.
RedRanger says:

Mar 19 2011 at 6:13 pm

Frank, this isnt a glitch or anything, but the box in the uper right hand corner still says 2010 VSP instead of 2011
anotherdownunder says:

Mar 19 2011 at 6:20 pm

@minion
You are confusing Kiwi's with Aussies now. We loathe the Kiwi's unless they win and then of course we claim them as one of our own like Henderson.