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

Xponti says:

Jul 16 2014 at 4:53 pm

@Mikael Liddy Damn, you beat me to it. Was about to say she is a gun VMH in her own right. If those two have kids, heaven help anyone in the tour in 25 yrs time...
Xponti says:

Jul 16 2014 at 5:00 pm

@Chris

@Chris

@wiscot

@Steampunk

@wiscot

GC aside, though, I'm really delighting in the renaissance of French cycling. Gallopin, Bardet (I really like this kid, too!), Pinot, Cocquard, Gautier, Kadri, Bouhanni, DÃ©mare, Elissonde, Jeannesson. And don't forget the boys for spring: Ladagnous, Gaudet, Offredo. Fun stuff!

I think the French ran a lot cleaner than a lot of nationalities during the 90s and oughts. Maybe now that the playing field is a bit more level, French riders are starting to show up again in the higher placings. It just seems odd that a country who could produce such stellar talent for so long could suddenly have almost two decades in the wilderness. I for one, am thrilled to see the French riders make a comeback and would cheer a French tour winner.

Bang on...French riders are finally not having to compete clean against dopers, and so now there clean talent is showing through. Great for the sport and for french cycling, who, for all those years, persisted with what appeared to be clean teams.
seemunkee says:

Jul 16 2014 at 6:41 pm

Traveling for work and Delgadoed rest day swaps. I'm screwed.
Jay says:

Jul 16 2014 at 6:59 pm

Three out of five out of the race or hopelessly out of GC contention. Next rest day may warrant some swaps, but I was already going backwards, so what the heck? You can't go into negative points, can you?
oldensteel says:

Jul 16 2014 at 7:19 pm

If Talansky makes it to the line or better yet, through tomorrow, we should re-badge him as V-Lansky.
The Grande Fondue says:

Jul 16 2014 at 11:43 pm

@il muro di manayunk

@Steampunk

@wiscot

You know, Froome and Contador are gone and that would have been a great match up, but we have what we have and you can only ride and win against those who take the start line. So let's not have any "well, if XXX and XXX were still in the race, things would be different." Of course they would be but they're not. Let's just sit back and enjoy the race - there's plenty of talent and great stages to come.

Bang on. I feel a bit badly for Nibali, because history will always put an asterisk beside this win (assuming he can hold on). But you don't fluke into a TdF win, and what's all the more disappointing is that he's got that look in his eye: Froome and Contador might have had real trouble with him.

GC aside, though, I'm really delighting in the renaissance of French cycling. Gallopin, Bardet (I really like this kid, too!), Pinot, Cocquard, Gautier, Kadri, Bouhanni, DÃ©mare, Elissonde, Jeannesson. And don't forget the boys for spring: Ladagnous, Gaudet, Offredo. Fun stuff!

But let's imagine Froome doesn't crash and goes on to repeat as champion. Wouldn't an asterisk also accompany such a victory? What with inhalergate and the recent Therapeutic Use Exemption fiasco? This is not to suggest Froome is a cheater, simply that there is a growing perception (in Europe, it would appear) that he is.

No.

Inhalergate and the TUE thing are nothing more than forum wanking. Inhalers don't improve performance, and the TUE thing just shows the UCI couldn't organise a snowfight in a blizzard (nothing new there!)

If you use that level of suspicion historically, there are only 2 winners of the TdF since 1980 who are above suspicion (Hinault and Sastre). There's always sometime people can interpret as being suspicious.
Ron says:

Jul 17 2014 at 2:52 am

Jeez, just when I thought this was a safe place. Please, for fucks sake, don't put "-gate" after every single goddamn thing that happens in the world. Watergate. Big Fucking Deal. Some monkey humping a tennis ball and using an inhaler - NOT a big fucking deal, as 99% of the world's population has no fucking clue it went down.

Teenage girls and talking heads on twenty-four hour news stations have a need to hyperbolize things. Don't let that nonsense creep into the Followers.

Thank you.
Geraint says:

Jul 17 2014 at 3:51 am

Talansky has abandoned:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/talansky-abandons-the-tour-de-france

Sorry to see this, but it doesn't take anything away from his massive rule #5 ride yesterday. Chapeau and speedy recovery, fella.
wiscot says:

Jul 17 2014 at 5:19 am

@Geraint

Talansky has abandoned:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/talansky-abandons-the-tour-de-france

Sorry to see this, but it doesn't take anything away from his massive rule #5 ride yesterday. Chapeau and speedy recovery, fella.

Sorry to hear this. He may be out of the race, but he's won himself a ton of fans and respect from his peers. To ride with the Broom wagon revving the motor behind you for 60kms cannot be fun - although in a perverse way it may have been motivating.
Geraint says:

Jul 17 2014 at 5:41 am

@wiscot Amen to that. Won't forget this image in a hurry: