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

Pedale.Forchetta says:

Mar 20 2011 at 4:49 am

One of the best keepsake of yesterday was seeing Goss with his family/friend celebrating the victory while taking pictures of him with a small point and shot with his Milano Sanremo Trophy.
A very beautiful and intimate scene that I did not consider to invade with my camera.
blaireau says:

Mar 20 2011 at 4:51 am

Jeff in PetroMetro:
Since I was a perfect 0 for 5, I'd like to inquire about the Lanterne Rouge. Who gets the dubious destinction?

Last official finisher was:

156 Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard

According to cyclingnews.com

Finished with a decent-sized group at 18:25
Jeff in PetroMetro says:

Mar 20 2011 at 12:33 pm

@blaireau
As a practicing, full-time narcissist, I want to be awarded a red jersey as the Lanterne Rouge of the VSP, considering how I COMPLETELY.SUCKED.ASS.
G'phant says:

Mar 20 2011 at 12:43 pm

Pedale.Forchetta:
One of the best keepsake of yesterday was seeing Goss with his family/friend celebrating the victory while taking pictures of him with a small point and shot with his Milano Sanremo Trophy.
A very beautiful and intimate scene that I did not consider to invade with my camera.

I wish more photographers had such decency. A+1.
G'phant says:

Mar 20 2011 at 12:45 pm

@Jeff in PetroMetro
Did any NZ Velominati have any luck finding live coverage? If so, where?
frank says:

Mar 20 2011 at 1:28 pm

@Jeff in PetroMetro

As a practicing, full-time narcissist, I want to be awarded a red jersey as the Lanterne Rouge of the VSP, considering how I COMPLETELY.SUCKED.ASS.

We'll come up with something befitting your position. Don't worry. Right now, I'm thinking maybe I'll just change your screen name to LOSER. Simple, clean, elegant.
frank says:

Mar 20 2011 at 1:32 pm

@all
Updated VSP Schedule; all the events and their date are listed the VSP page. We are open to suggestions on events to add/remove, but in principle, they have to be tough races with some class to them. ToC doesn't qualify, neither does Romandie. Questionable for the Canadian races, but those were some pretty hotly contested races last year, so we're putting them in for now.

Also note that we'll have two VSP's going simultaneously for the Dauphine and Suisse. That should test the software.
frank says:

Mar 20 2011 at 1:36 pm

@all
All this Aussie-NZ talk brings up a question for me. Where is Zealand? Because according to my assumed understanding of Colonial etiquette, NEW Zealand must have originally been a colony of the OLD Zealand, right?

As for Aussie/NZ, it seems very reminiscent of how Dutchmen feel about Flemish cycling; you wanna see a mad Dutchman? (You don't.) Then call him a Belgian. But when it comes to the classics, our colors start to really run...At least mine do.
frank says:

Mar 20 2011 at 1:39 pm

@Marcus

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"

Very, very, very well played.

@Oli Brooke-White

It's great that an Aussie won (and I say that as a proud Kiwi), but really it wouldn't matter which country he came from - that was a super classy win from a young feller over some of the finest riders of the current peloton. Very cool.

Absolutely agree. I couldn't even hold beating Faboo against him. Masterful win.

@Pedale.Forchetta

One of the best keepsake of yesterday was seeing Goss with his family/friend celebrating the victory while taking pictures of him with a small point and shot with his Milano Sanremo Trophy.
A very beautiful and intimate scene that I did not consider to invade with my camera.

Class. Pure class. Really looking forward to your full account!
Steampunk says:

Mar 20 2011 at 1:42 pm

frank:
@Jeff in PetroMetro

As a practicing, full-time narcissist, I want to be awarded a red jersey as the Lanterne Rouge of the VSP, considering how I COMPLETELY.SUCKED.ASS.

We'll come up with something befitting your position. Don't worry. Right now, I'm thinking maybe I'll just change your screen name to LOSER. Simple, clean, elegant.

...or maybe a recumbent icon?