Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2014
Attention all Velominati. The Tour VSP is going on line and it should be a good one. Sure, between Froomy and Bertie a person could hedge their bets but Moviestar is all in for Valverde, BMC for TeeJay, Astana for the Shark and Garmin is finally committing to a team leader in Talansky. Some other teams (ahem…Trek Factory Racing for one) have resigned themselves to hunting stage wins. The Tour swings through the Yorkshire Dales, everyone but the riders can enjoy some excellent ales. As the Tour continues to Lille, Norther France and Belgium, the quality pints continue. Yes, it’s hot and the VSP generator has beer on its mind.
The route, the sprints, the climbing and even the final time trial should make this a decent Tour. Here is a start list. Everyone will have a vial in their jersey pocket, but don’t worry, it’s legal.
It is still not too late to win the overall 2014 VSP and we have made it worth your while.
- 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.
Refer to the VSP page for details concerning scoring and rest day swaps. If you want to call yourself Pedro Delgado, you will only have yourself to blame. The VSP banner on the homepage has the countdown clock, refresh your browser and don’t be late. Good luck and good picking.
[vsp_results id=”30275″/]
@Deakus
They could not have won, there can be only one winner.
@Ron
Don’t encourage me, man. I’m trying to cut back on my pissy comments!
@wiscot
YES! I feel my French love coming back! (Was soooo in love with a young French lady when I lived there for a month in my junior year of high school-ahhhh, sweet Frnech memories).
@wiscot
I heard that the gesture was a tribute to his baby girl. Nice, but it was a bit odd.
@KW
As for bows at the finish line, I don’t know if it was the original, but it certainly preceded, and was more deserved and classier than Rogers or Phinney, and that was Vos the Boss’s bow at the 2013 CX Worlds in Loisville after an absolutely dominant and perfect ride. Maybe I’ll get off my ass and find a Youtube link to it. Or not. Worth a watch if you can find it.
P.S. Looks like his solo altitude training (and fishing) in my beloved town of Truckee, CA is paying off for ten Dam. There’s a video (in Dutch) of that out there too somewhere. Nice riding. Go Larry!
This. Part of me would love to see him at Sky or OPQS next year, but the anti-patriot in me would love to see him win whilst with FDJ.
wiscot – He had a child earlier in the year, maybe during Tirreno-Adriatico? One of the warm up races. That’s all it made me think of, maybe the baby is keeping the VMH up at nights and he wanted to let ’em know he’s thinking of them?
I stole Angus Young’s move for my goal scoring salute…the little jump in the air, plus final strum, he did at the end of a song. A lot of love for AC/DC when I was a kid.
Did Contador’s ban require that he get his Volvo repainted or does he still have that damn thing with the fingerbang on it?
@frank
He should take a fucking hike…
I’d like to dedicate this post to Alex Stieda and Steve Bauer.
@Buck Rogers while I’m right there with you on the Artful Dodger, I’m not sure I agree with Mini Phinney being a twat…care to state your case?
I hope this was not posted already. My boy T (not riding for GC) Voeckler actually stopping to abuse some Dutch Monkey on the side of the road. Chapeau Tommy-boy.
@Gianni Ha ha, Tommy is a legend. Apparently the translation is along the lines of “watch out for the bike!” as some dick was selfie-ing at the side of the road.
@piwakawaka
Good point…
I just need TJtheDJ to find his perfect day in the Pyrenees, dick the whole bunch by 6 minutes and hold out in the time trial and I am home and dry….
and if Mollema and Kwiatkowski could find a return to early tour form it would be much appreciated….
O is that a pig flying overhead?
@Deakus The only place where the Dj has a chance of gaining time is probably in the TT
Damn, Gianni. That is pretty amazing. After getting harassed playing college sports (one no one used to fucking care about) by drunk frat dudes during a spring party weekend I realized how shitty hecklers are. The worst. I can’t imagine saying anything critical to someone infinitely more talented, dedicated, and focussed.
Sure, I might not like their shoe or hat choices, but I’d never legitimately criticize some fucking stud/studette who can smash a mountain to bits, shoot a puck into a corner from mid ice, or race down a mountain and hold an insane line.
I don’t know if the desire to heckle is born of insecurity or just plain ol’ prickishness. It’s fucking weird. And it seems to only be worse in “popular” sports. For me, I’m generally happy to just see a good bike race and cheer on the winner.
“Can you do this?”
“I didn’t think so. Get fucked.”
@Gianni
As they say in Glasgow “that’s you telt.” Good for Tommy.
@wiscot
As they say in Glasgow “that’s you telt.” Good for Tommy.
I guess adding a Glasgow Kiss would have been a bit OTT.
@KW
Thanks for clarifying! At least he didn’t put a pacifier in his mouth like some clown did a few years back . . .
Hollenstein DNS today after apparently puncturing a lung early on yesterday and still finished the stage?!
For a moment I was possessed by Phil Ligget as I couldn’t keep Bardet and Peraud straight on the road today. As the man I thought was Bardet followed Nibali on the attack I thought I was going to steal the VSP. Ugh.
The French riders were amazing again today as were all the other top finishers. Awesome stage! Peraud gained 49 secs on Valverde–who held is own–even gaining 5 secs on Pinot and Bardet at the line.
@freddy well…his teammates held his hand moreso. The one time he had his nose in the wind he went backwards very quickly, it was only once he had 2 teammates come back to him that he started reeling in Pinot & TJ’s group.
@Mikael Liddy Yeah, I noticed that later when watching the longer rai vid. With Visconti, Izaguirre, Herrada and Gadret all up there plus the others, Valverde has the benefit of a strong and intact team. What’s your prediction for tomorrow?
@Ron
You’re pretty much describing this entire interwebs thing…
@freddy I reckon Bardet’s attack was more to try & draw out the chasers to let Peraud counter. Valverde looks the weakest individually but has a super strong team around him, unfortunately for him, it’s an ITT on the weekend…
Nibs just has to keep it rubber side down & it’s his, Pinot will have to attack cos he doesn’t rate his chances against the clock.
Just caught the finale, we are watching something quite special here, I know, a lot of big names have gone home, a few more who should are still here, but damn there’s some real talent coming through, the future looks better than the past.
@piwakawaka
This +1
Oh what might have been. Watching the finale of the past three stages got me wondering just how huge a battle Bertie and Nibbles would have been having if AC had still been riding. It seems that Nibbles is too strong for his team to support him whereas Tinkoff Saxo Sungard CSC 60% or whatever they are calling themselves this year have turned their climbing domestiques in to final week stars.
My trouble is, I can’t quite figure out why I think a winking Rafal Majka is cool and a breath of fresh air while I also think that a winking Peter Sagan is just an egotistical tw@.
Gonna watch live tonight, sleep’s over-rated, can’t fuckin’ wait, all two hours….
@Mike_P
Majka doesn’t pull wheelies over the finish line? Or have fucking ridiculous hair. Or pinch lasses asses on stage
I kinda like him though…
I’ll take a wheelie-pulling, funky-haired, winkin’, ass-grabbin’, riding-on-top-of-the team car Sagan over Malmerde any day. One is entertaining and the kind of athlete all sports need (talented and a little bit odd) over a cheating, whining twat.
So, Horner finally attacks and Nibali goes with him? Why? Horner is not a threat. You’ve got an ample cushion. Nibali is fascinating. This could doom Horner’s move because the other GC contenders will not want to let Nibs get up the road.
Do you think maybe it has something to do with a certain Vuelta?
Another”selfie phone” bites the dust – hopefully in pieces.
Holy shit stix. That was totes amazeballs.
@erik
Pride and wanting to win impériale.
So does anyone really still think that it would have been a Contador-Froome duel with Nibbles playing bridesmaid? I really don’t think Nibali has truly been tested this year and he could have handled any true rival with aplomb. If anything, I think it would have been a Bertie-Nibbles battle. We’ll never know, but you can’t take anything away from Nibali – he rides like a Merckx or an Hinault. Chapeau!
Malmerde in 4th? Merckx, I hope Peraud does the TT of his life on Saturday to hang onto 3rd.
@wiscot
I think Nibali would have been up there but I also think the lack of competition is making Nibali seem far more dominant than he really is.
We’ll see what today was like but looking at comparison of the times, Nibali is not going any faster than Froome and Contador have done on the same climbs.
@frank Damn! 2nd place VSP for Le Tour! What would you do with the yellow jersey icon all year?
@frank
I know there is a lot of coulda’, shoulda’, woulda’ surrounding the might have been leaders of this year’s tour, but I can’t help drawing comparisons between Nibali attacking for the sheer honor of it, and Contador’s dominant stamp on the Giro in ’11. Nibali is making these guys look silly, and his continued attacks are about the only reason to keep cheering for him. I think the most amazing thing about his win to be is that he dispatched Contador and Froome with the weather and the cobbles, before he even got to his strength in the mountains. Looking forward to what will be a great time trial for 2nd.
@razmaspaz
Contador lost what? 2 minutes on the cobbles. Does anyone think he could have pulled that back given Nibali’s form? I don’t.
Lots to look forward to with the TT. Tony Martin for the win. Nibbles and TJVG top 5.
@ChrisO
Based on his performance, Nibali would not be a bridesmaid to a Contador and a Froome. He took this race by the throat from day one. He had time on both of them before they crashed out. And he has been unstoppable since.
It was nice having the little yellow jersey badge while it lasted. Congrats to Two Ball Billy. I must admit I feel a little dirty cheering for Malmerde to keep my VSP hopes alive.
@Erik
https://twitter.com/Scienceofsport/status/492219113096626176/photo/1
Top 3 in watts/kg over time. Almost directly comparable to last year’s top 3.
So yes maybe he would still have won but I think Nibali was going for the early time because he knew that in the high mountains and the TT he had to have a buffer over Contador and Froome.
It’s a pity – it would have been a really interesting battle and I suspect they would all have worn yellow at some point.
Lots of speculation going on everywhere.
Simple fact is, it doesn’t matter.
If you want to win ANY race, you must finish said race.
Nibali’s (presumed) win shouldn’t be regarded as diminished because Froome and Contador aren’t there, any more than it should because Merckx, Hinault, LeMond, etc. aren’t in the race.
Froome and Contador had their shot, and they couldn’t stay in. That’s the way racing goes. I, for one, am having a great time watching Nibali crush the race out of pride.
Regarding the what could have been speculation, +1 to KW. The guys on The Telegraph / Velonews Cycling Podcast were discussing this the other day, and Andy Hood offered the following line he said was translated from the Belgians: “If my uncle had tits, she’d be my aunt.” KW’s point, said with panache.
I like to think that had I been racing in the Tour this year, Nibbles would have been eating my dust. However, work commitments keep me in Wisconsin so we’ll never know. (Well, we do actually, but we can all dream a little, can’t we?)
@wiscot
I agree on all counts here. I’d also like to point out that I hated Contador’s Giro win mostly because I never liked him as a rider. I also didn’t like Nibble’s Giro win – it felt boring.
But somehow, I’m loving this win of his even though it’s largely in the same style. Beauty of being a fan and not having to account for your own irrational behavior while watching the sport! His ride on the Cobbles won the race for him; even if Contador/Froome would have stayed in, they’d have taken time from him maybe but the way he’s riding, not enough. I think he was already nearly 3 min ahead of Bertie by the time he crashed out.
@KW
Froome was bad luck, Contador made a mistake trying to pass a rider at great speed with one hand in his pocket and the other on a handlebar. His own fault he was out, that’s just pure racing. Froome’s accident(s) was racing too, but that was a bit more being unlucky with where he was at that moment for the first crash.
@frank
Agreed, but the Song Remains the Same “…as we go sliding… sliding… sliding through.” Out is out.
Ok, ok, I’ll keep the debate going:
1973 Luis Ocana won, Merckx did not start
1976 Lucien van Impe won, Merckx did not start
1980 Joop Zoetemelk won, Hinault retired injured
1983 Laurent Fignon won, Hinault did not start
We could argue from here to eternity if these winners would have won if Merckx and Hinault had started and been healthy. They didn’t. Every one of these winners deserved to win, no question. They were great riders with great palmares. At the end of three weeks they had ridden skillfully and smartly and finished with the least time elapsed. Froome and Contador started, didn’t finish. End of story. We can debate this forever just like you can so many other situations in other sports. No asterisks on clean wins.