Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2014

Phinney takes flight in the Trouée d’Arenberg.

It has been a brutal week for us Keepers, having decided not to hold a Keepers Tour this year. Watching the action from half a world away has been almost too much for us to bear, and I know most of the participants from last year must be feeling similarly. On Sunday, we would be escorted by our friends and guides, William and Alex of Pavé Cycling Classics, shooting from one location to another to watch the race, eating Genevieve’s homemade sandwiches and pounding Malteni like its going out of style.

We may not be there this year, but that doesn’t change the question on everyone’s mind: can Fabian do the double a record three times? Personally, I hope not – I want the double to stay special. Until 2003, the previous winner of the double was de Vlaeminck who had managed it in 1977 at which point it had only been done six times previously. But since Van Petegem pulled it off in ’03, Boonen and Cancellara have done it twice each – that’s 4 doubles in the last 10 years.

Come Sunday morning, I’ll be gunning for Boonen. He’s been behind his form just a tad, but he forced the selection on the Koppenberg last Sunday, so he has the power. Maybe a day of killing it in de Ronde was last touch he needed and he’ll be peaking for Sunday. Fabian of course will be strong, but Sep and Greg had strong showings last week and Vanmarke is now proving to be Flecha’s replacement – hopefully he’ll have more luck taking a big win Sunday.

The points from the Paris-Roubaix VSP count towards the overall prizes plus the winner of this event also gets to post for the rest of the year in the cobblestone badge. So check the start list, review the VSP Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on Sunday the 13th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero, so be sure to give yourself enough time.

Don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:

First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron
Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
Third place overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.

Good luck, have fun with it, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.

[vsp_results id=”29528″/]

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

Harminator says:

Apr 13 2014 at 1:01 pm

Viewing issues here too. Damn interwebs. Live feed shat itself.

Unfortunately I watched the last 10k on youtube. What a display of Anti V! Looked like a payoff to me. The who's who of in-form classics rider holding tempo while Terpstra rides away? Pfft! Booooo. WTF were Thomas and Twiggo discussing?

"Should one of us respond to the attack from the peaking, hungry, Dutch hardman?"

"Ummm I guess so. Next year we should work this out in advance don't you think?"

"Oooh but my legs are hurting somewhat."

What a crock. Boooo.
Teocalli says:

Apr 13 2014 at 1:07 pm

Good grief - I got on the podium.
DeKerr says:

Apr 13 2014 at 1:55 pm

I still can't figure out how the math works for scoring, let alone how the Keepers manage to "interpret" some of the entries. Nonetheless, I'm happy with my 4 points and a position in the front swarm of the VSP peloton.

Chapeau Terpstra! Go Norway!
tony macaroni says:

Apr 13 2014 at 2:00 pm

Whoop - a classic in the bag!

What a race - apart from the coverage of course.

Got to show my brit colours and would loved to have seen a tour champ on the podium #allezwiggo
PT says:

Apr 13 2014 at 2:10 pm

@The Grande Fondue

@scaler911

4/5 in the wrong order, but totally stoked for Niki. I really thought about putting him #1 after last weeks performance. Does anyone know what happened to Kristoff? Totally expected him to be in the mix, but didn't start watching until 15-20Km to go.

Kristoff dropped out soon after (maybe during?) the forest of Arenberg. 2 flats within a few km and he couldn't get back on.

I think he flatted a couple of times and then crashed while still at the back. Left in an ambulance apparently.
PT says:

Apr 13 2014 at 2:12 pm

@DeKerr

I still can't figure out how the math works for scoring, let alone how the Keepers manage to "interpret" some of the entries. Nonetheless, I'm happy with my 4 points and a position in the front swarm of the VSP peloton.

Chapeau Terpstra! Go Norway!

?Norway? Hushovd finally had a decent ride but Terpstra is Dutch.
Gianni says:

Apr 13 2014 at 2:31 pm

And no mini-phinney toward the end? I'm learning, over the years, to stop putting him, Boss-Hog and Farrar into my P-R picks. I also believe I shot my mouth off about Thor no longer being the god of thunder, and implying he was a maybe the god of static electricity when one scuff around the living room rug in socks. Shut up mouth!
Geraint says:

Apr 13 2014 at 2:35 pm

@Steampunk

@Ron Yep: if there was any doubt, I think we can put the bash on Wiggo stuff behind us. That was a very impressive ride from him. Big respect.

I agree and hope so, but some will continue to bash him regardless...

Interesting fact presented on Eurosport in the intros - apparently Wiggo was the first Grand Tour winner to start P-R in 20 years. It seemed to surprise LeMond.
DeKerr says:

Apr 13 2014 at 2:42 pm

@PT

@DeKerr

I still can't figure out how the math works for scoring, let alone how the Keepers manage to "interpret" some of the entries. Nonetheless, I'm happy with my 4 points and a position in the front swarm of the VSP peloton.

Chapeau Terpstra! Go Norway!

?Norway? Hushovd finally had a decent ride but Terpstra is Dutch.

Oh Crap! My bad. That should read "Go Netherlands!"

I apparently didn't eat enough bacon this morning.
wiscot says:

Apr 13 2014 at 3:13 pm

@frank

@paolo

@frank

Overslept and then found out the race won't be shown on TV until tomorrow. Grrr!!

@tonymacaroni takes the cobble over @john and @Teocalli. Looks like a huge group got to the line together. Crazy! Going off to sort out what happened now!

Final Race Results

1. TERPSTRA Niki

2. DEGENKOLB John

3. CANCELLARA Fabian

4. VANMARCKE Sep

5. STYBAR Zdenek

Final VSP Results

1. tony macaroni (11 points)

2. John (10 points)

3. Teocalli (9 points)

4. unversio (8 points)

5. Ron (8 points)

6. Mike_P (7 points)

7. scaler911 (7 points)

8. Cajun Pseudo-Belgian (6 points)

9. Wardy (6 points)

10. the-farmer (6 points)

...

195. eenies (0 points)

NBC Sports are really screwing things up this year, no Flanders, PR not on live...at least they streamed it for free. I wonder if there is going to be less and less coverage on this shite channel as they show more and more NHL and Bull Riding!! FFS!

What pisses me off the most is that I can't even buy Universal Sports online because I have Comcast. I woke up around 7:30 but went into internet blackout mode assuming NBC would show it at their usual 5pm. Fucking hate Comcast and NBC.

Yeah, and wait until the FCC give Comcast the green light to really dominate the market. I'm sure everyone's choices will get so much better . . .