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.
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View Comments
@JohnB
Yup. I was sitting pretty in the top 10 before I spent 10 points to achieve FA. But I had no way to guess TVG was going to drop out at that point.
Man, I loves me that side angle camera on the Champs finishing sprint. What a great angle to see how they crush their bikes into submission.
Anyone know what happened to the Trek rider left still on the floor of the Rue De Rivoli?
@frank
WTF, that finish looked like it was directed by an intern... on his day off.
You couldn't see anything in that side shot. Who was coming up, where they were, the relative speeds.
It's one of the few finishes where they could justify rigging up an overhead camera to follow the front of the sprint down the last 100m so you could see all the action.
Seriously it's fucking piss-poor.
That's before you even take into account the shitty way they've incited the crowds - France Television should get some of the blame for the behaviour of the fans.
The UCI needs to do what F1 does - award TV coverage to a single company which produces international standard feeds for a global audience. I know the races belong to other organisations but the participants belong to the UCI so they've got leverage... unfortunately they have no balls or brains so it won't happen.
@VeloJello
I was wondering same thing. Let's hope just laying still to avoid any more mishap with the other riders passing.
@VeloJello
According to CylingNews >>> Trek says that it was Devolder and he is okay <<<
@JohnB
Insert forbidden emoticon here
@the Engine
Top result man, both the Tour and in the VSP thus far. You clearly spend a disproportionate time checking out the Pro's form. Note to self. Stop working.
A well deserved maillot jaune badge for you.
@JohnB
It's as if I analysed complex ambiguous data for a living.
Does anyone feel a Scottish Cogal coming on?
First day at work since July 13. Was on vacation at a lake in northern Ontario. No lake livin', no Tour, a cubicle for the day...feeling some serious mid-summer let down. I guess this is the first time I've had a 9-5 in a few years, so that isn't helping either.
I guess I know why my father always hated the end of vacations so much. I suppose everyone does, duh. But I'm feeling a serious malaise today.