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.

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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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frank says:

Jul 21 2015 at 10:38 am

@brett

Holy shit, GT’s one tough mofo! That would’ve snapped me in two.< Agree with the Sagan sentiments, he’s the rider of the Tour for sure. Who cares if he gets twenty 2nd places, at least he’s trying to win. Classy rider.

He’s really eaten some humble pie since his days of easily winning everything. He looks a bit like a meatstick on the bike, but he’s one ballsy racer.

@all

Hopefully I fixed the countdown timer. Looks OK so far, but I wouldn't wait around too terribly long to do your swaps if that's how you're rolling; they could close at any moment if the first rest day is anything to go from!
wilburrox says:

Jul 21 2015 at 1:52 pm

@frank

@brett

Holy shit, GT’s one tough mofo! That would’ve snapped me in two.< Agree with the Sagan sentiments, he’s the rider of the Tour for sure. Who cares if he gets twenty 2nd places, at least he’s trying to win. Classy rider.

He’s really eaten some humble pie since his days of easily winning everything. He looks a bit like a meatstick on the bike, but he’s one ballsy racer.

Like a meatstick on a bike? Peter Sagan? Is that some kind of compliment I've not heard before? It sure doesn't sound like one, being called a meatstick, and damn, if he's a meatstick on a bike I hate to think what I am !! Although I have to say this: you know sometimes you see this big ol' dog running across the yard to intercept ya when riding by? And then you hear it bark and it just doesn't match up, this big bad dog and then out comes this little squeak of a bark?
Beers says:

Jul 21 2015 at 4:43 pm

@Mikael Liddy

@Oli

@Beers

I must have watched the crash 20 times now and no matter how many times I do I can’t see TvG hitting Barguil first, although it’s possible they might briefly contact after Barguil has already lost control. It was all his fault, no one else’s.

yeah, there might be contact between the two of them, but Barguil was going in way hot well before he got to TJ. Reminded me of an F1 car shooting up the inside with both fronts locked up.

Fair nuf, don't shoot the messenger, heh.

So amped for the last week. Lets see what damage the furious 4 can do to each other, and hopefully Nibbles will ride himself to a pulp trying to get his time back too.
Erik says:

Jul 21 2015 at 5:48 pm

Quintana. Quintana. Quintana! QUINTANA!

I have held true to my choices. I have made no swaps. Let the Alpes be awesome. And let Quintana shred that spider looking mother clucker.
LA Dave says:

Jul 21 2015 at 11:07 pm

Goin' to the mat with my OG Picks. Hoping for as final week hail mary that connects for Nanananairo.
LA Dave says:

Jul 21 2015 at 11:08 pm

Also hoping for "a" final week miracle from Nanananairo.
VeloJello says:

Jul 22 2015 at 3:14 am

@Mikael Liddy

@VeloJello I suspect he wouldn’t care if they were alone or not…doesn’t seem to be concerned by attention!

You're probably right. I can imagine him now with that leery grin... It's a tough choice between he and GT for my rider of the last two weeks.
Teocalli says:

Jul 22 2015 at 3:25 am

@Erik

Quintana. Quintana. Quintana! QUINTANA!

I have held true to my choices. I have made no swaps. Let the Alpes be awesome. And let Quintana shred that spider looking mother clucker.

I'm sticking too but have to differ and hope that the Spider keeps the Fly in it's web. Just need Contador to creep up a little and TJ to hang in there.
RobSandy says:

Jul 22 2015 at 5:20 am

Uh-oh...TVG in trouble already.
LeoTea says:

Jul 22 2015 at 5:29 am

@Teocalli

Looks like TJ won't be hanging on. Already out the back door, and his DS has told French TV that TJ is sick.