Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2014

Marcel’s tan lines are crisp

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″/]

Gianni

Gianni has left the building.

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View Comments

Chris says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:06 am

@VeloJello

@Chris

@Teocalli Bollocks. I really to sleep not stay up all night watching it. I've got in on record but I've missed the first eight minutes. Does 4 have a +1?

Have you not heard of cyclingtorrents.nl ? Get with the bloody program man!

No. I hadn't. Is it legal?
Mike_P says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:12 am

@VeloJello

@Mike_P

Prudhomme was on BBC Radio last Saturday morning, ahead of the Grand Depart, saying that after London in 2007 and with Wiggo causing such huge public interest in the 2012 Tour and Olympics, he and ASO had already made a decision that they needed to come back to the UK within 3 years, either to Edinburgh or Yorkshire. How do we get it back again?!?!

I can see Edinburgh being the next pick in the next 5 years. If Edinburgh can get off its arse and put together a persuasive argument to start there. Just saying "Its reet nice city ye ken?" isn't gunna cut the mustard.

The Scots have some great riding, albeit in some pretty remote regions. I live on the North East coast near Northumberland, and I'd love to see the tour run through some of my playground (or as Matt Hayman calls it "our office"), but it's pretty remote countryside. Edinburgh is an hour and half away and a joint Lothian/Berwickshire/Northumberland bid would be fantastic, and at least spread the cost. That fucking Scottish Independence vote may be distracting time and funds elsewhere at present mind...

Plus Glasgow is running the Commonwealth Games this year... Now Glasgow, there is a thought, if they want to keep the momentum running, could be a good shout.

Grand Depart Prologue - Edinburgh

Stage 1 - Edinburgh to Northumberland

Ferry Newcastle to Amsterdam

Stage 2 Amsterdam to Antwerp

Stage 3 Calais to Dieppe

That's that sorted.
VeloSix says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:14 am

@piwakawaka

@VeloSix

@Teocalli

The thing that struck me most about what state Froome was in was that having got in the car he was unable to close the door himself. He clearly wanted it closed to shut out the cameras but was unable to grip or pull it himself and had to ask for it to be closed.

I saw that too. The guy must have been half out it after that crash. It looked like he didn't know which part of his body to hold. When they got a new bike for him, he almost looked at it like he thought it was going to bite his good hand off.

The guy had to be sitting in the car just devastated, confused and in dismay. How long did he sit in the back seat in the warm comfort of that Jaguar with his helmet still atop his dome?

I was completely rooting against Team Sky and Froome, but to see the top contender withdraw is disappointing. A victory seems somewhat diminished when the defending champion isn't there to compete against.....

I can't understand this sentiment, the defending champ was in the race, he has been beaten, simple as that, maybe the course was the winner but to finish first , first you have to finish, anyone who completes the race has beaten Chris Froome.

Personally, I'd rather beat a guy who's at his best, than win because they didn't survive the bad luck of the day.
VeloSix says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:18 am

@Fausto Crapiz

Waiting on the mountains...... getting tired of watching guys crash (and motorcycles almost run them over) in the rain.

Let me guess, you're favorite race would be a time trial up Haleakala. Everything else is not racing according to you, right?
VeloJello says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:19 am

@Chris

@VeloJello

@Chris

@Teocalli Bollocks. I really to sleep not stay up all night watching it. I've got in on record but I've missed the first eight minutes. Does 4 have a +1?

Have you not heard of cyclingtorrents.nl ? Get with the bloody program man!

No. I hadn't. Is it legal?

I've never asked. Cosmo Catalano uses it quite regularly for his Youtube clips.
VeloJello says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:23 am

@Mike_P

Grand Depart Prologue - Edinburgh

Stage 1 - Edinburgh to Newcastle

Ferry Newcastle to Amsterdam

Stage 2 Amsterdam to Antwerp

Stage 3 Calais to Dieppe

That's that sorted.

Now that would be fucking awesome! I live a 10 minute ride from the ferry terminal.
Fins says:

Jul 11 2014 at 7:48 am

I watched THAT stage a day late on DVR...wow, just fantastic to watch, everything I had hoped for and more. I love that a serious difference was made by a GC guy somewhere other than in a TT or the mountains. To me a the winner of our biggest event should be the best all-round rider and I think if Nibali wins it would be hard to argue that's the case. Even if Contador or Valverde can pull back two minutes on him and win then I think they qualify as well because they fought through this stage to limit their losses (Valverde moreso).

About the stage itself, it seems to me that it was almost more about bike handling than actual power. If you look at the top 5 all those guys are notable for their brilliant bike handling - cyclocross world champ, former mountain biker, best GC descender, perhaps best overall bike handler and a guy who descends at 100 kph on a TT bike. I would like to see a replay of how how Sagan/Cancellara got gapped off on that pentultimate section, seems strange to me that the Astana guys could do that - is that where Kwiatkowski crashed? Well done by Boom to recognize the danger and close the gap - remember initially the 3 Astana riders were away alone until Boom came across. Once he did you figured he was good for the win. Also, Lieuwe Westra should be getting WAY more credit than he is. Got into the break, was pulled back to help Nibali when the other Astana riders crashed (where Nibali almost went over his own guy) and drove that lead group for probably 30 key kms. This was right after Talanksy and VdB had gone down on the cobbles and were trying to get back. Westra didn't look like he was getting a ton of help, but he still put time into Garmin, which had JVS, Langeveld and Bauer pulling full gas to bring back Talansky, not to mention Movistar/Tinkoff/BMC further back. Impressive stuff.

Finally the average speed - 160 km in 3:18!? In those conditions, considering how much they had to slow down to make some of the corners, especially on the cobbles. That's absolutely unreal.
wiscot says:

Jul 11 2014 at 9:17 am

@VeloJello

@Chris

Anyway it'd be wasted on the Scots, they're even less familiar with exercise than they are with food that hasn't been battered and deep fried.

Ha ha. I'm picturing Porte riding up to Froome in the last 5km and passing over a deep fried Mars Bar from his back pocket.

The Scottish musette: two cans of Irn Bru, a deep-fried mars bar, some crisps, a Tunnocks Tea Cake, a big block of tablet and a cheeky wee bottle of Buckfast. Rocket fuel right there, pure magic rocket fuel!
Chris says:

Jul 11 2014 at 9:45 am

@wiscot

@VeloJello

@Chris

Anyway it'd be wasted on the Scots, they're even less familiar with exercise than they are with food that hasn't been battered and deep fried.

Ha ha. I'm picturing Porte riding up to Froome in the last 5km and passing over a deep fried Mars Bar from his back pocket.

The Scottish musette: two cans of Irn Bru, a deep-fried mars bar, some crisps, a Tunnocks Tea Cake, a big block of tablet and a cheeky wee bottle of Buckfast. Rocket fuel right there, pure magic rocket fuel!

Dunnae forget twenny benny hedhogs or a packie o ten regal, pal
DeKerr says:

Jul 11 2014 at 9:46 am

I hereby nominate for the Anti-V moment of the year every single rider who says the cobbles have no place on a Grand Tour (and it is with a heavy heart because I realize this includes Spartacus, but we all have our off days).

And please everyone, stop feeding Feisty Crapsalot by quoting his misguided ramblings. It is my fear that the V-computer may be including them in calculating his ranking (shows up on June 23, shits all over everyone, and is already level 2?)

Okay, done with being grumpy for today.