It’s right around this time of year when the little voice in my head that spurs me on in cold, wet, Rule #9 conditions starts getting overpowered by all my other personalities who at this stage are gathering stones and crowbars and getting ready to enforce their will on him regarding their preference for riding in nice, warm, sunny conditions. I feel bad for the little guy, too, since he helps me a lot in a climate like the Pacific Northwest; but truth be told, my fingers still haven’t regained their feeling from last week’s ride and I admit it would be nice to arrive home after a ride triumphant and warm instead of frozen and soaked like a wet rat.
It appears I’m not the only one ready for some warmer weather, and Paris-Nice traditionally holds a place of honor as “The Race to the Sun” for its timing is such that the race often starts in the French interior with rain (and possibly snow), and arrives on the sunny Cote d’Azur in Nice in balmy conditions.
With that we start our first stage race of the season, along with an opportunity to expose more bugs and logical faults in the VSP software. But never mind that; the same basic rules apply as do with one-day races, expect the stakes are a bit higher with 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 7 for third, 5 for fourth, and 3 for fifth plus two bonus points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing. Should the race be exciting enough to merit its inclusion, The Keepers may elect to include a bonus round on the VSP for one of the stages along the way. Watch this space for news in that arena.
Check the start list and watch the countdown timer as picks close at 5am Pacific on Sunday; up for grabs is the personalized Velominati Shop Apron to the contestent who wins the season-long competition. Check the Main VSP page for scoring guidelines and rules. Seeing as this is the first stage race, I strongly encourage you to enter your picks early, knowing that you can make changes all the way up until the VSP closes. If you notice something behaving strangely, please let us know and we’ll have time to resolve the issue.
Good luck.
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TJ is in good position. Let's see what the kid has got!
Bugger, first stage race & I manage to Delgado it!
Looked at the timer on Saturday night & saw I had a day and change to enter, figured it'd be a better move to do so sober so decided to wait til Sunday. Cue unplanned Sunday Session (including a couple of tasty Belgian Ales) & I forget it entirely.
Yuck, Valverde 30 seconds down. Not insurmountable but I doubt the peloton will let him get too far ahead.
Speaking of Eurosport, why the hell can't I purchase one of their streaming passes here in the US? They don't off the TV channel here and I guess that's alright with me, but the online passes? Instead of forcing people to jack their feeds illegally, they could be turning a profit from people who actually enjoy their programming! They have the tech set up, so why the holdout?
I just heard Bob Roll say that the TT is a window in to the soul of the rider. Am I to believe then that the Brothers Gimp have no soul????
@King Clydesdale
I would pay for that!
Anyone seen this pic that Greg Henderson has posted on twitter? Gives a pretty good impression of why the brothers struggle TT-wise.
Froome was pulled from Team Sky due to a chest infection and replaced with Xabier Zandio on Team Sky. I don't recall if there is a clause when a rider is pulled prior to the start? A ruling from the wise and all knowing referees? Can I swap him with the teammate that started in his place at least?
I didn't see this reported prior to the selections being closed and I could be wrong (and often am) about the timing. If it goes down to bad luck that is how it goes. I have had plenty of good luck so far this season. It was bound to even out.
@King Clydesdale
Because they only purchase the European rights to the races. In theory if they offered online rights in the US etc it would lower the value of the broadcast rights there.
There are of course many flaws in this - for example I am in a region where nobody has the broadcast rights so there is no business to undercut.
But the simple fact is that if Eurosport asks for worldwide streaming rights then (I am pretty sure) ASO will charge more. The problem is with the rights holder not the rights buyer.
Look at the Strade Bianche - instead of making a paltry few thousand extra Euros from flogging limited online rights they allow the whole thing to be streamed for free. Surely at least part of the reason it has become an instant classic.
There is a simple way around it if you are willing to spend a bit more money - get a UK VPN account (I pay US$15 per month) and you will show as a UK IP address and be able to subscribe to Eurosport and anything else which is geo-blocked to Europe/UK.
It makes sense for me because I need it to get around the firewalls here which even block access to things like Skype so I can talk to my wife and children. Accessing the sport is just a side benefit... or maybe it's the other way around.
@ChrisO
If you want to change your IP address, there are a lot of ways to do that for free. 5 seconds of googling and I got a tutorial.