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

wiscot says:

Apr 13 2014 at 3:19 pm

@chrismurphy92

Terpstra with a proper cycling cap on the podium. True CHAPEAU for that!

Indeed. Look at the clothing on the podium: Fabs wearing a ball cap and hideous leggings/tights. Degenkolb wearing awful socks and a ball cap (at least it looks like the "tache" is gone.) Terpstra looked like a million $$. The proper cap, the sunnies perched just so, the great l/s OPQS jersey, perfect shorts and socks. A lesson in how to look PRO.

Great ride by Wiggins. He said he was going to go for it and put himself right in the mix. Sad for Boonen, but his loyal teammate won so there's some consolation there. I'm sure he does not resent Terpstra's win for one second.

We are so overdue for a muddy P-R . . .
PT says:

Apr 13 2014 at 3:27 pm

@DeKerr

@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.

Or perhaps enough waffles? On reflection, is there such a thing?
Mikael Liddy says:

Apr 13 2014 at 3:54 pm

@Gianni

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!

Mini Phinney flatted from the lead group with 15k to go, not sure how many would recover from that. Looking at the youngsters though, Degenkolb is 25, Sagan 23/24 (PnP couldn't quite decide last night) & Phinney is 23! There's some good classics racing coming up over the next few years...
Ron says:

Apr 13 2014 at 4:05 pm

What to think about the build of Niki? He's tall, but has pretty slim legs and arms. Nothing like Boonen, Cancellara, Sagan. Not really the bulk of a cobbles man, but he's an Awesome Dutchman, of course.

PRO: no silver shoe covers halfway to his knees

CON: don't his bibs seem a bit, long, considerably longer than the rest of QuickSteppers?

Did anyone else see the LeMan discussion afterwards? The funny Italian host, Flecha, and LeMan. LeMan seems a bit nervous in front of the camera. Flecha...looked ace and seemed cool, composed and gave really sharp, insightful answers.
Gianni says:

Apr 13 2014 at 4:07 pm

@Mikael Liddy

yep, no recovery from that. The race was On and getting a spare wheel on the Roubaix course tough enough. Mini-phinney will eventually help me in the VSP, luckily I didn't pick him this time.
Xponti says:

Apr 13 2014 at 4:39 pm

@Xponti

I guess it will play out like Flanders, Group of three or four into the Majestic Circle of Roubaix, GVA forced to do a lead out and Faboo too strong in the sprint. Boonan is still too emotionally fatigued from his recent loss to be performing at his best, Van Summersgone is likewise too emotionally wreaked to perform without distraction. Stybar to stay upright and not clip any spectators this year, but will prove too slow in the sprint at the end of the race.

Then again it could play out differently....

I guess it played out differently. Anyone that picked that deserves the Cobbled Icon....
Steampunk says:

Apr 13 2014 at 4:40 pm

@Gianni

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!

You talked me out of picking Thor. When he bridged to Boonen's group, I figured it had to be the winning move.
Barracuda says:

Apr 13 2014 at 4:49 pm

@Mikael Liddy

@Gianni

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!

Mini Phinney flatted from the lead group with 15k to go, not sure how many would recover from that. Looking at the youngsters though, Degenkolb is 25, Sagan 23/24 (PnP couldn't quite decide last night) & Phinney is 23! There's some good classics racing coming up over the next few years...

Sadly the men in the balcony on the muppet show called Boonen "Tim" on a couple of occasions also. Not like he's a neo pro and only done a couple of classics.

@Gianni

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!

@Mikael Liddy

@Gianni

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!

Mini Phinney flatted from the lead group with 15k to go, not sure how many would recover from that. Looking at the youngsters though, Degenkolb is 25, Sagan 23/24 (PnP couldn't quite decide last night) & Phinney is 23! There's some good classics racing coming up over the next few years...
Gianni says:

Apr 13 2014 at 4:55 pm

OK, I'm really liking Stijn Vandenbergh. One, he is huge and two, this is his car.
Barracuda says:

Apr 13 2014 at 5:01 pm

@Gianni

OK, I'm really liking Stijn Vandenbergh. One, he is huge and two, this is his car.

Begs the question, under what circumstances does one need a camo beemer ?