Velominati Super Prestige

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″/]

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212 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: Milano-Sanremo 2015”

  1. Trying to cover all my bases for this one.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Alexander Kristoff
    2. Mark Cavendish
    3. Fabian Cancellara
    4. Peter Sagan
    5. Philippe Gilbert

  4. It would be exciting to see a small group ride away to the finish, but this year I feel a larger bunch sprint will come to the line.  Fabs will always find a way into the top 5 or podium.  We’ll see!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Matthews, Michael
    2. Sagan, Peter
    3. Kristoff, Alexander
    4. Cavendish, Mark
    5. Cancellara, Fabian

  5. VSP PICKS:

    1. Kristoff
    2. Cancellara
    3. Sagan
    4. Kwiatkowski
    5. Cavendish

  7. VSP PICKS:

    1. Kwiatowski
    2. sylvain chavanel
    3. van avermaet
    4. cav
    5. boom

  8. VSP PICKS:

    1. Degenkolb
    2. Sagan
    3. Van Avermaet
    4. Cancellara
    5. Kristoff

  10. Need to get a placeholder posted, not sure about my connectivity later today. Really, really want to pick Cavendish to win, but don’t like hearing about his stomach.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Alexander Kristoff
    2. Michal Kwiatowski
    3. Fabian Cancellara
    4. Peter Sagan
    5. Greg Van Avermaet

  11. His stomach flu (insert smiley face here)! Trying to do this from the middle of nowhere Louisiana (is that redundant?), up to my ankles in water, in the rain, and on a sat phone connection!

  12. 1st attempt at the VSP. Lets see how we go …

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Mark Cavendish
    2. Ben Swift
    3. Peter Sagan
    4. Andre Greipel
    5. Ian Stannard

  13. Such a lottery. The last 40km of MSR is my favourite hour of racing of the whole year!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Matthews
    2. Van Avermaet
    3. Kristoff
    4. Sagan
    5. Cancellara

  15. Yogi to win with a lone break (if Sky can get their tyre pressures right) because everybody expects a bunch sprint. Rain + cold = a hardman winning. But I could be wrong as I usually am.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Ian Stannard
    2. Peter Sagan
    3. Alexander Kristoff
    4. Ben Swift
    5. Gerald Ciolek

  16. Random post: Just noticed that Emma Pooley is racing Ironman Melbourne. Can’t wait to see her bike split.

  17. @girl

    Random post: Just noticed that Emma Pooley is racing Ironman Melbourne. Can’t wait to see her bike split.

    Yup, she can actually make a living competing in TRIs versus just road racing. Sadly.

  18. After the drought Sagan has had I expect him to double up with a big win tomorrow on the beautiful new Venge that Specialized has put together for him.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Matthews
    3. Kristoff
    4. Cancellara
    5. Kwiatkowski

  19. @kixsand

    After the drought Sagan has had I expect him to double up with a big win tomorrow on the beautiful new Venge that Specialized has put together for him.

    A part of me thinks that the Beast has been released and Sagan will have a Classics Campaign that will go down in the annals of cycling history… or he comes in 2nd.

  20. VSP PICKS:

    1. Fabian Cancellara
    2. Peter Sagan
    3. Greg van Avermeat
    4. Alexander Kristoff
    5. John Degenkolb

  21. Bring on VSP 2015!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. A. Kristoff
    2. P. Sagan
    3. F. Cancellara
    4. J. Degenkolb
    5. M. Matthews

  22. @RedRanger

    @girl

    Random post: Just noticed that Emma Pooley is racing Ironman Melbourne. Can’t wait to see her bike split.

    Yup, she can actually make a living competing in TRIs versus just road racing. Sadly.


    @RedRanger

    Which saying something as there isn’t much money in tri racing.

  24. VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Kristoff
    3. Cancellara
    4. Michael Matthews
    5. Greg Van Avermaet

  25. Brilliant, spring has finally arrived in the form of a sunny weekend here and La Primavera there; I’m off for a long ride with a double slog up the Tumble tomorrow and I’ve got absolutely no idea whatsoever who to pick. Dammit! Heart says Cav, head says Kristoff, weather forecast says Sagan with an outside chance of Faboo, and I suspect the answer will be none of the above.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cav
    2. Sagan
    3. Kristoff
    4. Stybar
    5. Faboo

  26. VSP PICKS:

    1. Van Avaermart
    2. Cancallera
    3. Krustoff
    4. Guardini
    5. Cavendish

  28. VSP PICKS:

    1. Van Avaermart
    2. Cancallera
    3. Cavendish
    4. Kristoff
    5. Guardini

  30. Shots in the dark…

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Alexander Kristoff
    2. Zdenek Stybar
    3. John Degenkolb 
    4. Fabian Cancellara
    5. Peter Sagan

  31. VSP PICKS:

    1. kristoff
    2. cancellara
    3. degenkolb
    4. kwiatkowski
    5. sagan

  32. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Alexander Kristoff
    3. John Degenkolb
    4. Michael Matthews
    5. Edvald Boasson Hagen

  33. All the best everyone.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. SAGAN Peter
    2. DEGENKOLB John
    3. STYBAR Zdenek
    4. CANCELLARA Fabian
    5. VAN AVERMAET Greg

  34. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Fabian Cancellara
    3. Greg Van Avermaet
    4. John Degenkolb
    5. Alexander Kristoff

  35. Bunch gallop in the rain. Heiny gets his revenge. Well I have to pick him because I said he’d win a Classic this year!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Haussler
    2. Cav
    3. Kristoff
    4. Degenkolb
    5. Sagan

  36. I’ve bent to the overwhelming opinion of the pundits, the blogging heads.  Where is my mind?

    Do we need to make it clear that Kristoff is not the dude from Frozen?

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Kristoff
    2. Degenkolb
    3. Lobato
    4. Cancellara
    5. Sagan

  37. A flyer only ’cause Kristoff seems to be the guy too favored…

    VSP PICKS:

    1. John Degenkolb
    2. Peter Sagan
    3. Fabian Cancellara
    4. Lars Boom
    5. Ben Swift

  38. VSP PICKS:

    1. KRISTOFF Alexander
    2. VAN AVERMAET Greg
    3. MATTHEWS Michael
    4. KWIATKOWSKI Michal
    5. SAGAN Peter

  39. Etixx-Quick-Step took at 1-2-3-4 at Ronde van Zeeland Seaports. 3 off the front, then won the sprint for 4th too. Pretty good work!

  40. VSP PICKS:

    1. cavendish
    2. sagan
    3. gilbert
    4. kwiatkowski
    5. cancellara

  41. Good luck gents.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Kristoff
    3. Cancellara
    4. Degenkolb
    5. Van Avermaet

  44. VSP PICKS:

    1. Kristoff A.
    2. Kwiatowski M.
    3. Cancellara F.
    4. Van Avermaet G
    5. Rojas J.

  46. VSP PICKS:

    1. kristoff
    2. sagan
    3. thomas
    4. dumoulin
    5. van avermaet

  49. VSP PICKS:

    1. Degenkolb
    2. Kristoff
    3. Sagan
    4. Cancellera
    5. Stybar

  50. Certainly no bonus points for the originality prime here.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Kristoff
    2. Sagan
    3. Kwiatkowski
    4. Van Avermaet
    5. Cavendish

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