Velominati Super Prestige: Milano-Sanremo 2015
Le Primavera has arrived. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2015 Velominati Super Prestige. It’s been a long quiet winter of very little cycling news, little racing and barely a scandal. This Sunday marks the real beginning of the season for us cycling fanatics.
The true beauty of MSR, that despite its length, only on the descent of the Poggio and the run in to Sanremo does the race really show itself. No one is going to solo away in the last forty kms. No one is going to drop everybody on the Poggio and ride away to arrive a minute ahead on the Via Roma. The descent off the Poggio is its own race. And it’s the reason inept descenders like Frank Schleck are not pulling on the shoe covers this Sunday. Getting down to the Via Roma at the front requires some bravado. It will be a sprint of some fashion; maybe one, maybe two, maybe twenty. One is going to have to watch 290 kms of racing to understand the last three.
There is talk of rain on the coast. Rain is not required for Milano-Sanremo. It is for Paris-Roubaix. Here is a provisional start list. Be specific about your picks, just entering Chavanel can get you in a spot of bother your whining will not get you out of. And the betting window closes when the countdown timer goes to zero so refresh your page to know for sure. Or better yet, get your picks in early, like your taxes.
This 2015 Milano-Sanremo will be a good one. It is a very open field with many viable winners. Getting on the Big Board early won’t be easy this Sunday. Whatever OCD ritual you need to do to get good picks in, do it correctly, many times, then one more time for good luck.
The VSP is a race. It bestows some bragging rights on those that do well. Feel free to mock others picks, just acknowledge it when they drop you like a sack of nails. If you are supreme, omniscient and your god is a cruel (they all are) yet fair god you may win a Velominati oven mitt. But if you are supreme (supremely lucky) over the whole VSP season, then dear reader, you are going to win something special. These are the prizes for the overall 2015 season. Due to the fact that we are unable to recognize the passage of time in a meaningful way, we have yet to complete the prize list, but here is a teaser:
First place– Something big and awesome, to be determined.
Second Place– A Café Roubaix/Velominati wheel-set, Chris King hubs, hand built by professional wheelsmith and Velominatus Dan Richter.
Third Place– A Velominati kit: jersey, bibs, and cap.
The VSP generator has been rebuilt with new o-rings, auxiliary pull-start and tube amplifiers. The specifics of the VSP can be found on its slightly out of date page. Let’s do this.
[vsp_results id=”32514″/]
Small group escapes and stays away, Sagan wins the bunch sprint…
VSP PICKS:
1. cancellara
2. van averamet
3. van marcke
4. Sagan
5. kristoff
Third Place– A Velominati kit: jersey, bibs, and cap.
Cap? Cap? Surely not a V-Cap?
Here we go again. That wheelset sure would be nice to complement the frame, but I’m gunning for the repeat.
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff, Alexander
2. Sagan, Peter
3. Cancellara, Fabian
4. Degenkolb, John
5. Cavendish, Mark
lets see if i can 0 score this again, like so many times last year…
VSP PICKS:
1. Sepp Vanmarcke
2. Stybar
3. Griepel
4. VanAverage, Greg
5. Cav
Want Cav to win
Stybar would be back up as he is pure class!
VSP PICKS:
1. Cav
2. Cancellara
3. Degenkolb
4. Stybar
5. Ben Swift
VSP PICKS:
1. cav
2. griepel
3. sagan
4. degenkolb
5. ktistoff
VSP PICKS:
1. Greipel
2. Sagan
3. Cancellara
4. Stybar
5. Cavendish
VSP PICKS:
1. john Degenkolb
2. Michael Matthews
3. Fabian Cancellara
4. Ben Swift
5. Davide Cimolai
Stybar – Czech for Sean Kelly.
VSP PICKS:
1. Stybar
2. Matthews
3. Sagan
4. Goss
5. Van Avermaet
VSP PICKS:
1. peter sagan
2. fabian cancellara
3. van avermaet
4. stybar
5. cimolai
VSP PICKS:
1. Giacomo Nizzolo
2. Alexander Kristoff
3. Peter Sagan
4. Fabian Cancellara
5. Philippe Gilbert
VSP PICKS:
1. Gallopin
2. Sagan
3. Matthews
4. Cancellara
5. Kristoff
VSP PICKS:
1. John Degenkolb
2. Michael Matthews
3. Mark Cavendish
4. Peter Sagan
5. Fabian Cancellara
VSP PICKS:
1. P. Gilbert
2. Z. Stybar
3. F. Cancellara
4. M. Cavendish
5. A. Gripes
Not too sure about that auto-correct!
VSP PICKS:
1. P. Gilbert
2. Z. Stybar
3. F. Cancellara
4. M. Cavendish
5. A. Greipel
VSP PICKS:
1. John Degenkolb
2. Philippe Gilbert
3. Michael Matthews
4. Fabian Cancellara
5. Mark Cavendish
VSP PICKS:
1. Cancellara
2. Degenkolb
3. Gilbert
4. Kristoff
5. Cavendish
VSP PICKS:
1. Michael Matthews
2. Dinkelknob
3. Sagan (not Carl, the other one)
4. Ben Swift, but not swift enough
5. Sonny Colbrelli
Well, who knows how this one will go, but…
Stybar goes, Cancellara goes with him, Stybar beats him in the sprint with Cav leading home the bunch 5 seconds later.
VSP PICKS:
1. Stybar
2. Cancellara
3. Cavendish
4. Sagan
5. Kristoff
Dubious optemism…
VSP PICKS:
1. Cavendish
2. Sagan
3. Cancellara
4. Kristoff
5. Greipel
Sprinters final.
VSP PICKS:
1. CAVENDISH Mark
2. KRISTOFF Alexander
3. DEMARE Arnaud
4. BENNETT Sam
5. BOUHANNI Nacer
VSP PICKS:
1. Cav
2. Kristoff
3. Sag
4. Gilbert
5. Matthews
VSP PICKS:
1. Sagan
2. Stybar
3. Degenkolb
4. Cancellara
5. Swift
VSP PICKS:
1. Fabian Cancellra
2. Alexander Kistoff
3. Peter Sagan
4. Michael Mathews
5. John Degenkolb
VSP PICKS:
1. Matthews
2. Cavendish
3. Sagan
4. Degenkolb
5. Cancellara
Can’t wait!
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff
2. Lobato
3. Sagan
4. Cancellara
5. Ciolec
VSP PICKS:
1. P. Sagan
2. A. Kristoff
3. J. Degenkolb
4. A. Greipel
5. F. Cancellara
@il muro di manayunk
Surely, this is the wheel to follow. And yet…
VSP PICKS:
1. J. Degenkolb
2. A. Kristoff
3. P. Sagan
4. F. Cancellara
5. Z. Stybar
VSP PICKS:
1. Michael Matthews
2. John Degenkolb
3. Ben Swift
4. Mark Cavendish
5. Peter Sagan
Just in time for the classics. The V Pint. Awesome piece of kit @frank.
Going with the bunch. Always hard to call a bunch. It’ll help if Pieters is in the no. 1 EQS car telling Cav he’s shit.
VSP PICKS:
1. Cav
2. Kristoff
3. Sagan
4. Degenkolb
5. Swift
VSP PICKS:
1. Michael Mathews
2. Alex Kristoff
3. Peter Sagan
4. Van avermaet
5. Degenkolb
@Steampunk
Nah. Way too early in the season to wheelsuck! Selections really don’t start getting made until the Giro. The spring classics are when we see what kind of form our VSP opponents are on heading into the big money grand tours.
@il muro di manayunk
Probably, but I’d love to take down a Monument.
VSP PICKS:
1. Faboo
2. Zdeněk Štybar
3. Boss Hog
4. Nacer Bouhanni
5. Faboo
lets try that again
VSP PICKS:
1. Faboo
2. Zdeněk Štybar
3. Boss Hog
4. Nacer Bouhanni
5. Alexander Kristoff
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff, A.
2. Sagan, P.
3. Kwiatkowski, M.
4. Degenkolb, J.
5. Cavendish, M.
Not my final picks mind you, just a first draft in case I get one of those “Your heart attack happens today” notices handed to me.
Something big and awesome for first place? I’M big and awesome, so I guess I’m shooting for second.
VSP PICKS:
1. kwiatkowski
2. degen-pornstache-kolb
3. kristoff
4. matthews
5. Labato-Me
VSP PICKS:
1. P Sagan
2. P Gilbert
3. Z Stybar
4. F Cancellara
5. R Navardauskas
VSP PICKS:
1. Alexander Kristoff
2. Peter Sagan
3. Fabian Cancellara
4. John Degenkolb
5. Greg Van Avermaet
VSP PICKS:
1. Cavendish
2. Kristoff
3. Degenkalb
4. Cancellara
5. Sagan
@xyxax
You ARE both BIG and AWESOME, and this made me laugh.
Thanks, mate.
Sagan looked look like a savage beast when he won his first stage of the year so I expect him to go pretty hard on Sunday. Dunno about Cav right now, but it’s safe to have him in there somewhere. Gonna be close between one and two, Sagan and Kristoff I think. But then again what do I know….
VSP PICKS:
1. Peter Sagan
2. Alexander Kristoff
3. Fabian Cancellara
4. Mark Cavendish
5. John Degenkolb
I just can’t pick Bouhanni…
VSP PICKS:
1. Cav
2. Kristoff
3. Greipel
4. Sagan
5. Degenkolb
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff, Alexander
2. Sagan, Peter
3. Cancellara, Fabian
4. Stybar, Zdenek
5. Matthews, Michael
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff, Alexander
2. Cavendish, Mark
3. Sagan, Peter
4. Matthews, Michael
5. Cancellara, Fabian
VSP PICKS:
1. cav
2. kristoff
3. Sagan
4. cancellara
5. degenkolb
VSP PICKS:
1. Kristoff
2. Sagan
3. Haussler
4. GVA
5. Kwiatkowski
Here goes nothing…
VSP PICKS:
1. kristoff
2. Kwiatkowski
3. Gilbert
4. sagan
5. michael Mathews
I would love to be wrong and for Kwiatowski, Sagan, Cancellara, and Van Avermaet to go off the front with Sagan finally figuring out a way to win despite being too fast for the break and too slow for the bunch sprint.
VSP PICKS:
1. Degenkolb
2. Kristoff
3. Matthews
4. Cavendish
5. Sagan