Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2015

Sep Vanmarcke rides the cobbles Kelly-Style in the 2014 stage to Port du Hinault. Photo: Cycling Tips

Cobblestones make the race, I’m not ruining any fantasies telling you that. Wet cobblestones, well, those make a legend. Nibbles rose in my esteem considerably when he rode the wet cobbles as well as he rides any mountain descent or climb; that is a boy with some nerves and some mad bike handling skills.

Wet cobbles are scarier to ride that dry ones, but they aren’t really that much more difficult to ride; you’re still playing the lottery that your wheels keep pointing where your bike is trying to go. But wet stones are definitely more draining; the mud and silt you ride through make it like riding through molasses. Awesome molasses, but molasses nonetheless.

The cobbles are back this year, and hopefully so will the rain. Let us pray for rain, because last year’s stage made the race.

The Tour de France needs no introduction but the VSP prizes deserve a gentle reminder. This is a Grand Tour, people, lots of points at stake. And those points are going towards amazing prizes including a Jaegher frame and a Café Roubaix wheelset. There is plenty of time for you to Delgado this thing, too, if you wait around until the last minute. So my advice is that you avoid doing that.

Give yourself enough time to enter your picks so if something has gone amuck, you have time to hit “reload” or come back V minutes later to try again before the event closes. Remember, your procrastination in this matter will not result in our emergency to enter your picks for you. All that said, if you do encounter a problem, please be so kind as to take a screenshot and upload it because the descriptor “it didn’t work” or “hm, not working” doesn’t help us debug the problem. Also, Internet Explorer is not supported and apparently only shows one Pick Entry box, so use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari instead.

The scoring for the Grand Tours is a tad more involved than the one-day races and one-week Tours, so look the guidelines over before making your prognostications.

So get your picks in before the countdown clock goes to zero, hit the go button, and good luck.

[vsp_results id=”33262″/]

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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Mikael Liddy says:

Jul 19 2015 at 9:19 pm

Not sure if this embed will work, but it seems Sean Yates has been booted from the tour for a day as punishment for a Saxo mechanic taking issue with a press moto blocking them getting to Sagan when he needed a bike change.

En fin... #TourTVE #TDF pic.twitter.com/UrFuWf1hRO

— Espacio Ciclista (@EspacioCiclista) July 19, 2015

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tinkoff-saxo-director-yates-ejected-from-tour-de-france-for-bottle-toss/
RobSandy says:

Jul 20 2015 at 1:23 am

@ped

TWAT

Eduardo Sepúlveda (Bretagne-Séché) disqualified. His chain broke and, unable to ride, he rode 100m in Ag2r car to get to his team car

Rule #69?
ped says:

Jul 20 2015 at 1:37 am

@RobSandy

@ped

TWAT

Eduardo Sepúlveda (Bretagne-Séché) disqualified. His chain broke and, unable to ride, he rode 100m in Ag2r car to get to his team car

Rule #69?

I think the Koppenberg clause applies here!

WTF Vincent Lavenu was thinking -
Vincent Lavenu, who was driving the vehicle, did not return after arrival. "Sepulveda broke his chain. He stopped on the roadside, but his car passed without stopping to troubleshoot. They have not seen and have finally stopped 100 or 200 meters away. We, we stopped at the line of cars and the mechanic came out with a wheel for service. But Sepulveda jumped in the car! He yelled "go go go" and I have started by reflex, because the file was restarting. And he fell back as soon as we stopped at his car
ped says:

Jul 20 2015 at 3:07 am

@Mikael Liddy

Moving target, even more impressive

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CKSO6iFUAAAC1cI.mp4
Mikael Liddy says:

Jul 20 2015 at 8:40 am

Dare say GT might be paying the Giant Alpecin bus a visit after today's stage!
chris says:

Jul 20 2015 at 9:48 am

@Mikael Liddy

Apparently, Barguil apologised at the finish but blamed TvG for pushing him.

It doesn't sound like he was overly pissed off about the incident. Cycling News had the follwoing:

"I'm alright, I'm a bit shaken up but fine. I've had a lot worse. It's frustrating, I tried so hard to get over the climb, I don't know why some guys just sit where you are on the descent. What's the difference between fifth and third. Just get down the descent. Everyone knows it's a tough descent."

"I guess the doctor will ask me my name and date of birth soon," he said in another interview. When asked if he could remember, he joked: "Chris Froome".

"A nice Frenchman [pulled me out of the ditch]. They are nice here, there's a few that aren't, but a nice Frenchman. I lost my glasses as well - they don't even make them anymore," he continued.

He doesn't strike me as the type to make a big thing of something like that although he might not have seen the footage of it at that point. Barguil's approach into that corner was suicidal. Thomas probably did him a favour by being in the way.
ped says:

Jul 20 2015 at 11:29 am

@chris

@Mikael Liddy

Apparently, Barguil apologised at the finish but blamed TvG for pushing him.

It doesn’t sound like he was overly pissed off about the incident. Cycling News had the follwoing:

“I’m alright, I’m a bit shaken up but fine. I’ve had a lot worse. It’s frustrating, I tried so hard to get over the climb, I don’t know why some guys just sit where you are on the descent. What’s the difference between fifth and third. Just get down the descent. Everyone knows it’s a tough descent.”

“I guess the doctor will ask me my name and date of birth soon,” he said in another interview. When asked if he could remember, he joked: “Chris Froome”.

“A nice Frenchman [pulled me out of the ditch]. They are nice here, there’s a few that aren’t, but a nice Frenchman. I lost my glasses as well – they don’t even make them anymore,” he continued.

He doesn’t strike me as the type to make a big thing of something like that although he might not have seen the footage of it at that point. Barguil’s approach into that corner was suicidal. Thomas probably did him a favour by being in the way.

Dammit, G's white Oakleys were always the way to pick him out, this is serious
wiscot says:

Jul 20 2015 at 1:56 pm

Holy shit! GT is the man! That he crashed like this and then got up and rode on shows that Tour riders are a different breed from most sportsmen.That he is still using Oakley's that aren't made any more (instead of the latest model) is even better. Check this clip out. 100% Barguil's fault.Sorry for the long link and the ad, but watch it. Amazing.

http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/nbcsports3/?title=Geraint+Thomas+forced+off+the+road,+slams+head+first+into+telephone+pole,+Stage+16&dashboard=tour-de-france&id=E4XGrbgujcET&yr=2015
gilly says:

Jul 20 2015 at 3:32 pm

@chris

@Mikael Liddy

Apparently, Barguil apologised at the finish but blamed TvG for pushing him.

It doesn’t sound like he was overly pissed off about the incident. Cycling News had the follwoing:

“I’m alright, I’m a bit shaken up but fine. I’ve had a lot worse. It’s frustrating, I tried so hard to get over the climb, I don’t know why some guys just sit where you are on the descent. What’s the difference between fifth and third. Just get down the descent. Everyone knows it’s a tough descent.”

“I guess the doctor will ask me my name and date of birth soon,” he said in another interview. When asked if he could remember, he joked: “Chris Froome”.

“A nice Frenchman [pulled me out of the ditch]. They are nice here, there’s a few that aren’t, but a nice Frenchman. I lost my glasses as well – they don’t even make them anymore,” he continued.

He doesn’t strike me as the type to make a big thing of something like that although he might not have seen the footage of it at that point. Barguil’s approach into that corner was suicidal. Thomas probably did him a favour by being in the way.

Nice to see how concerned Barguill was for G, I know they're racing but he's 10th, not pushing for Yellow, he didnt so much as glance at where G went off. Agreed Mikael, his line through there was garbage, bit of a cheap shot blaming Teej.
Two Ball Billy says:

Jul 20 2015 at 6:37 pm
Rest day Swap

VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
1. Chris Froome
2. Nairo Quintana
3. Alberto Contador
4. Romain Bardet
5. Thibaut Pinot