Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2017

Favorites ascending. Photo: Gruber Images.

As many of you know, I write a monthly column for Cyclist Magazine where I answer Dear Abby-esque questions, and the most recent query pertained to whether I consider the Tour the best race of the year, or whether it’s an over-publicized circus. The question made me realize something about myself: I have a weariness around the Tour de France not unlike a romantic whose heart has been broken one too many times.

The fact is, as much as I prefer a race like Paris-Roubaix or the Giro d’Italia to the mid-summer shit show that is the Tour de France, nothing gets my anticipation going quite the way the Tour does, which is undeniably the pinnacle of the season; all the classifications and stages are prestigious enough that racers of all sorts are all arriving at the start in peak form. There is a promise of hard racing from day one, but the first week consists mostly of me worrying about the big favorites crashing out. As soon as we get through that mess, my heart is usually broken on the first day in the mountains, when the favorite takes a decisive lead and the rest of the race is most about stages than the GC.

At least, these are the dreads of a man who lived through the Indurain and Armstrong eras of racing.

Nevertheless, the Tour always manages to seduce me, and this year is no different. Maybe this year, she won’t be such a cruel lover. And, maybe this year, I won’t make horrible picks in the VSP. Just maybe, just maybe. You know the drill; get your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero, and you get some swap options on the rest day. 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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wiscot says:

Jul 12 2017 at 9:13 am

@Rick

Breakaway caught, Kittel wins……yawn.

Am I the only one that thinks Quickstep and Sky must be laughing their asses off as everyone else chases?

0

Yeah, it would have been fun for all the other sprinter teams to sit back and say to EQS, you want the stage win? You chase Bodnar down. We'll just roll along here.

Nice to see Danny Martin in some all yellow shoes instead of the yellow and black things he was wearing, so at least there was one positive to the day!

Would Sagan and Cav been good enough to beat Kittel? I doubt it.
stooge says:

Jul 12 2017 at 10:33 am

@wiscot

Would Sagan and Cav been good enough to beat Kittel? I doubt it.

Kittel is obviously the fastest individual on the planet right now, but it doesn't mean Cav and Sagan wouldn't have beaten him. Everything changes with them in - the lead out trains, the composition of those trains, the intermediate sprints, especially for Sagan when it's a bit lumpy.

Exciting times ahead for sprint fans I think, with Gaviria, Kittel, Ewan, and other fast younguns with still years to peak. It's a pity Viviani didn't get a ride here.
Pali65 says:

Jul 12 2017 at 11:23 am

Sagan won one stage after all... The question is if his "second places" would be enough for green jersey with the points from stages where Kittel would stay behind due mountains which wouldn't deter Sagan from fighting for the win.
Randy C says:

Jul 12 2017 at 11:29 am

@stooge

@wiscot

Would Sagan and Cav been good enough to beat Kittel? I doubt it.

Kittel is obviously the fastest individual on the planet right now, but it doesn’t mean Cav and Sagan wouldn’t have beaten him. Everything changes with them in – the lead out trains, the composition of those trains, the intermediate sprints, especially for Sagan when it’s a bit lumpy.

Exciting times ahead for sprint fans I think, with Gaviria, Kittel, Ewan, and other fast younguns with still years to peak. It’s a pity Viviani didn’t get a ride here.

0

Kittel could have a tour for the ages… 6,7, even 8 stages ??? And 2017 will still possibly be remembered not for his performance but instead remembered as Le Tour that Sagan was wrongly bounced from.
Harminator says:

Jul 12 2017 at 11:35 am

@RobSandy

@wiscot

@Teocalli

0

Computers, “syncing it up”, powermeters, wattage. What is this madness? Can’t we just have a bloody bike race where you race how you feel? Bernard Hinault said (and I may paraphrase here) “As long as I breathe, I attack.” He certainly didn’t say, I’ll attack within the perameters dictated to me by my carefully calibrated powermeter.”

0

I think it was Boardman on the ITV highlights the other night who described how track riders are allowed to fit a bike computer somewhere on their bike to capture data, but aren’t allowed to look at it during the race, and went on to suggest the same thing is brought in for road racing. Might liven things up.

Oh, and no race radios either.

And you kids, get the fuck off my lawn.

0

That's ridiculous. How can they control their secret motors without "bike computers"?
Buck Rogers says:

Jul 12 2017 at 12:50 pm

@Harminator

@RobSandy

@wiscot

@Teocalli

0

Computers, “syncing it up”, powermeters, wattage. What is this madness? Can’t we just have a bloody bike race where you race how you feel? Bernard Hinault said (and I may paraphrase here) “As long as I breathe, I attack.” He certainly didn’t say, I’ll attack within the perameters dictated to me by my carefully calibrated powermeter.”

0

I think it was Boardman on the ITV highlights the other night who described how track riders are allowed to fit a bike computer somewhere on their bike to capture data, but aren’t allowed to look at it during the race, and went on to suggest the same thing is brought in for road racing. Might liven things up.

Oh, and no race radios either.

And you kids, get the fuck off my lawn.

0

That’s ridiculous. How can they control their secret motors without “bike computers”?

0

Ha! For the win!
wiscot says:

Jul 12 2017 at 2:02 pm

@Harminator

@RobSandy

@wiscot

@Teocalli

0

Computers, “syncing it up”, powermeters, wattage. What is this madness? Can’t we just have a bloody bike race where you race how you feel? Bernard Hinault said (and I may paraphrase here) “As long as I breathe, I attack.” He certainly didn’t say, I’ll attack within the perameters dictated to me by my carefully calibrated powermeter.”

0

I think it was Boardman on the ITV highlights the other night who described how track riders are allowed to fit a bike computer somewhere on their bike to capture data, but aren’t allowed to look at it during the race, and went on to suggest the same thing is brought in for road racing. Might liven things up.

Oh, and no race radios either.

And you kids, get the fuck off my lawn.

0

That’s ridiculous. How can they control their secret motors without “bike computers”?

0

Oh come on! Everyone knows Froome's bike motor is controlled by Sir Dave Brailsford in the team car. It's a wee black box with a dial on it with power markings that go up to 11. When Aru attacked, Davy-boy was changing the batteries. Those AA alkaline ones don't last more than a stage or two.
stooge says:

Jul 12 2017 at 8:34 pm

@Pali65

Sagan won one stage after all… The question is if his “second places” would be enough for green jersey with the points from stages where Kittel would stay behind due mountains which wouldn’t deter Sagan from fighting for the win.

0

Yes. We'll never know, of course, but you can add to his second places a bunch of points he probably would have went for and picked up outside of final sprints. Next year...
stooge says:

Jul 12 2017 at 9:09 pm

@Randy

Kittel could have a tour for the ages… 6,7, even 8 stages ??? And 2017 will still possibly be remembered not for his performance but instead remembered as Le Tour that Sagan was wrongly bounced from.

Quite a prospect, isn't it. He might go close to the record.The high number of pure sprinter's finishes has certainly helped. Still, so very clearly the fastest. As you say, anything less than total dominance by the green jersey winner will have been remembered as ''... won the green the year Sagan was DQd". Surely six plus wins would do much to counter that.

I didn't realise he's 29 years old. At a guess, I'd had said he was younger than Viviani, who I know is 28 only because he shares a birthday with a friend. Must be that baby face..
wiscot says:

Jul 13 2017 at 5:46 am

@stooge

@Randy

Kittel could have a tour for the ages… 6,7, even 8 stages ??? And 2017 will still possibly be remembered not for his performance but instead remembered as Le Tour that Sagan was wrongly bounced from.

Quite a prospect, isn’t it. He might go close to the record.The high number of pure sprinter’s finishes has certainly helped. Still, so very clearly the fastest. As you say, anything less than total dominance by the green jersey winner will have been remembered as ”… won the green the year Sagan was DQd”. Surely six plus wins would do much to counter that.

I didn’t realise he’s 29 years old. At a guess, I’d had said he was younger than Viviani, who I know is 28 only because he shares a birthday with a friend. Must be that baby face..

0

Would Sagan beat Kittel in a pure drag race? I don't think so. And the Slovak would have to rack up a shit load of points in the minor placings and intermediates to counter Kittel's wins. Then add into the mix that Kittel would know Sagan was going for the intermediates and I think we'd have had a battle royale. I'd like to see Kittel win 7 or 8. My only beef is that I wish they'd declared a tie with Eddy BH.