Velominati Super Prestige: Milano-Sanremo 2016
Milan Sanremo. I know we’ve been watching the men and women crush the cobbles already, and that’s the spiritual beginning of the season, but La Primavera is the longest Classic of them all, and the first race of the season that will be a genuine target for all the gunslingers. Which makes this the symbolic start to the season and, typically, the first event of our annual Velominati Super Prestige.
Please don’t call it a fantasy cycling game; the VSP is based on the old season-long Super Prestige (and later the World Cup) which awarded points to riders for how they finished in the qualifying races. The points were tallied and whomever held the most points at the end of the season was declared the winner, was showered in champagne, got epic bragging rights, and presumably got the girl. During the year, the leader earned the right to wear the white leader’s jersey with verticalized rainbow stripes.
Our series is based on the same principle, where you select the riders you think will be in the top five, in order of finishing. Points are awarded for getting your picks right, and bonus points are on offer for getting close. The leader of the event gets a little white jersey as their posting badge, and those who win the events for the Monuments and Grand Tours get to post with a commemorative badge for the ensuing year.
For the last several years, we’ve also been offering some crazy prizes; a custom road frame to the winner, hand built wheels to the runner-up, and a full v-kit to the runner-up-runner. This year, we’re delighted to announce that our friend Dan Richter of Café Roubaix will be offering up another of our collaboration Velominati-CR Wheelworks wheelsets. The V-Kit is the same as last year, with the addition of the possibility to choose the new VLVV design should you so choose.
The big news is that Don Walker of Don Walker Cycles and the head honcho of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show is going to be offering one of his hand-built, custom road frames. I was introduced to Don through @Haldy, who owns something like five of his bikes. There is no denying it when you meet a fellow Velominatus: instant friendship. I had him build me a track bike for The Improbable Hour on Festum Prophetae, and now we’re flirting about my first custom road frame because my other bikes just seem so impersonal now.
Don is the quintessential small frame builder; he only take 6 customer orders per year so you won’t be rolling up to the local group ride only to find four other riders on the same steed. The rest of his bikes are for his team and for the therapy of working with his hands. Working with him on the bike design is an incredible experience; delving into riding style and position and fine-tuning every detail of the build. And then it quickly devolves into shit-talking and teasing. I am so excited to share this experience with the lucky winner.
With that, start prognosticating on your picks and check the scoring guidelines. I know some of you are doing some intense analysis, and recall that last season we had a tie which we had to break by going back to see which of the two were entering their picks in earlier on average. Also don’t Delgado it; we have been known to have the odd timing glitch and even though that’s not your fault, I’m still not going to manually enter your picks because you waited around and the window closed earlier than you thought it would. The kids probably have an emoji for that.
Good luck, and may the V be with you. VLVV.
Café Roubaix's CR Wheelworks Arenbergs
[vsp_results id=”38071″/]
I want to have a finish just like Strade Bianche…..
And may god have mercy on my soul…
Was in & around the top V up until the TdF in my maiden VSP last year where it all went wrong & the wheels came off. Hill repeats to increase stamina have been undertaken to hopefully avoid the same scenario this year.
Here’s for the opener…….
@Barracuda
Dege will not be able to participate in any of the classics this year. What a shame!
Kristoff
Cancellara
Matthews
Van Avermaet
Sagan
@frank
Just fix that bit of code on the left…. “non-drive side” then you’ve got it.
Done!
Ehh, hedging my bets
Team Australia
WTF does ‘pick not yet mapped’ mean???
Can’t see past Sagan to take it, but I’d like to see the Colombian doing well. Don’t know if he has the distance in him but worth a shot.
@Richo
I believe it means that the name you have picked cannot be identified against an actual rider name – are you using pseudonyms for the riders? Usually it means Frank has to go through and map to an actual rider.
No studying/copying other peoples choices? What a novel idea.
Beta picks…
Error: please type something.
Oh yeah
@Buck Rogers
If I remember rightly, LeMan was pissed because he wasn’t drafting, he was being impeded by the moto! That was cramping his style and giving Kelly the chance to bridge. Once across there was only going to be one result.
Maybe it’s more that I want Peter to win than it is that he’s likely to win, but there we go. He attacks, doesn’t shirk when it’s his turn to pull, he’s got panache, and he’s got heart. Give ’em hell.
Not sure if my picks have gone through. Any chance of a confirmation?
Tough to call. A lot of teams are showing up with their biggest guns. I’m thinking Sagan will be a contender out of his sheer power, but deliberate in not going full bore. I think that alone is enough to get him in the top five though.
@SamV
@frank I only said any of this because the Error message told me to say something. My picks aren’t showing up in the thread, but they seem to have been entered. Enjoy your headache.
@Teocalli
Ah yes. thanks. Sorry Frank.
Let’s see Bouhanni try that with someone his own size….
@wiscot
Yup. Gianni has already told me as much as well as that I am a stupid fuck, but we already knew that last bit.
“Once across there was only going to be one result.” Until 1989 at Chambery, France, eh???
@Buck Rogers
If I remember rightly, Kelly was undergeared that day. I think his smallest cog was a 13 and he admitted he should have gone with a 12. He was also likely a bit gassed after his heroic descending to get with the lead group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=torKC78EpHU
As for the 86 M-SR here’s the clip. Around 1:50 you see that LeMond and Beccia are being impeded by motos, Kelly bridges alone and unaided. He then leads almost the entire way down ensuring that it was a three rider race and that the chasers had no chance of catching. The distance that they put on the gruppo on the descent is huge – and all thanks to Kelly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaVbRk_-hpM
I am typing something so my picks submit.
300 kilometers, who can keep gas in the tank!
@wiscot
So you’re saying that LeMan chose the correct gears and Kelly chose the wrong ones, right? (insert smiley face emoticon) (or maybe his mechanic was out taking a piss for Kelly’s test later on after the race and forgot to put the correct cassette on after he got back and gave Kelly the vial of urine???)
Here’s a great piece on their rivalry and how Kelly almost always came out on top except at the WCC. Love the line about trading a WC for a P-R. Class acts, both of them.
https://greglemondfans.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/the-story-behind-the-picture-1/
Picked
@Buck Rogers
Hey! Thanks for that link – fantastic read! I think Kelly was undergeared because cassettes were not as versatile back then and the mechanic gave him a larger low gear (you know what I mean) at the expense of a 12 sprocket. They would have been on what? 7speed/8speed cassettes? Now they could do 11-25 no problem.
What’s with the implication of Kelly doping at this race? That’s a new one on me.
Here goes nothing; I think it is working now!
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@wiscot
@Buck Rogers
Hill repeats for me too. I was sure those photos were from the descent on the Poggio but now I see Kelly caught them well before the descent and they stayed together until the sprint. Nice work Wiscot.
I’m really glad the season has gotten in gear. This should be a great year for cycling. Good luck to all.
Sagan
Thomas
Stannard
Matthews
Boonen
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@wiscot
Nah, he wasn’t doping at this race (at least that I have ever heard of), just giving you shit for your Kelly defense over LeMan!
But Kelly was busted twice for doping in his career and the story goes that one time it was actually his mechanic’s urine as, “for some reason”, Kelly had his mechanic supply the urine for the drug test and his mechanic had used some speed the night before staying up all night working on bikes.
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Jeez. It’s Wednesday everyone. No need to get all worked up. Yet. If the VSP isn’t running mere hours before a race, then we have problems. Not in the middle of the week for a Saturday race.
Let’s calm ourselves, the VSP is a long-haul, not a sprint.
@Richo
No sweat – we like the nicknames. In fact, the system is the closest thing I’ve coded to a “learning” system and it does a pretty great job of automatically mapping, and once I map a new name, it will remember it for anyone who uses the same nickname.
Narrows the list down to 8, throws darts…
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Well, the picks post up, but it still says ‘Pick not yet mapped’.
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Apparently it’s just Bo-Hag it doesn’t like.
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So want to go with the kid, Gaviria, to win it all. Because that would be a story. But too far and too soon. His turn will come.
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I’m going with youth before experience, even though Cancellara will probably take it…
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Pretty stoked… and ready to admit that seeing Spartacus on top may be wishful thinking, but few here have tipped him so I’ll roll the dice. My personal pick for whiniest DNFs: Bouhanni (over Viviani, but barely).
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Sparty has looked great so far this year. I’m picking him to escape with Boss Hog and Stybie over the Poggio, and then smash them.
GVA will use this for RVV training. Sagan will again leave the party moody and disappointed.
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Sagan is in fine runner-up form. Second again, surely.
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@TheVid
We map them manually if it doesn’t do it automatically. No worries.
Here goes nuttin’!
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Dammit, doesn’t Kristoff have a common-use nickname yet? Also backing Spartacus is all very well as long as the weather’s nice.
I was tempted to throw a Sky rider in there but I couldn’t figure who and haven’t seen who’ve they’ve said they’re backing. Thomas/Kwiatowksi would be good for “attack at the bottom of the Poggio”, Stannard/Rowe/Kennaugh for either “long range small group from the Cipressa or kamikaze down the Poggio” and Swift or Viviani (probably the latter with Swift leading out) if it was a full bunch sprint. There’s too many options there so they’ll fuck up royally and not place in the top 20.
Tinkoff still don’t know how to look after Sagan/Sagan still doesn’t actually get having a team work for him. Trek-Segafredo are basically a multi-stage mainly Italian launch system for Spartacus. Katusha will sorely miss the coke fiend. GVA has peaked already. I’m not going say anything about Niballi because he might set lawyers on anyone disrepecting him.
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