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!
[vsp_results id=”104413″/]

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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RobSandy says:

Jul 13 2017 at 5:50 am

Steve Cummings for the win today. Go Steve!
wiscot says:

Jul 13 2017 at 7:24 am

GO BIG STEVIE! GO!
Teocalli says:

Jul 13 2017 at 7:32 am

@wiscot

GO BIG STEVIE! GO!

0

Hope he has the right Bike Computer fixed...............
RobSandy says:

Jul 13 2017 at 7:36 am

@Teocalli

@wiscot

GO BIG STEVIE! GO!

0

Hope he has the right Bike Computer fixed……………

0

I bet he's not looking at it. SteVe rides on pure unrefined V.

What a guy.
Teocalli says:

Jul 13 2017 at 7:39 am

@RobSandy

@Teocalli

@wiscot

GO BIG STEVIE! GO!

0

Hope he has the right Bike Computer fixed……………

0

I bet he’s not looking at it. SteVe rides on pure unrefined V.

What a guy.

0

Ref #485..........above.........
RobSandy says:

Jul 13 2017 at 7:40 am

@Teocalli

Yeah, I got that reference. Tres hilare.

Just caught up in a bit of Cummings love.

Err, that sounds gross.
stooge says:

Jul 13 2017 at 7:51 am

@wiscot

@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.

0

I don't think anyone said Sagan would beat Kittel in a pure sprint, did they?The sprint final points as they are, you're right - Sagan would have to have a sit load of minor placings and intermediates to equal Kittel or better him. He'd already won a stage, though. And there are stages coming up in which Sagan would have a better chance of winning the final and the intermediate than Kittel would. Also, I stand by my main point - with Sagan and Cav still in the race (Demare, too), it's altogether different - the trains, the composition, basically the sprint as a whole.

You say Sagan would need a shitload of minor placings and intermediates to counter the wins, yet that if Kittel wa aware of this that we'd have a battle royal. It's all a bit inconsistent...

In any case, it is backward speculation, which is a worse kind of speculation than forward, both being not particularly constructive.
Ron says:

Jul 13 2017 at 8:02 am

Good god, Landa might as well be reading a book, looks so damn calm and relaxed.

And damn, that Aru jersey looks slick!
John Irvine says:

Jul 13 2017 at 8:26 am

Well the last 2 minutes were exciting. Not too different from a sprint stage in that regard. But good on Aru for lighting it up, and Bardet, Uran and Martin to pile on. Froome may well take it, but will he win a stage?
Teocalli says:

Jul 13 2017 at 8:32 am

Dang I'm working on site all this week till tonight and only got the ticker feed but I thought Froome was 18 secs up on Aru yesterday so 7 secs down today with 4 bonus secs for Aru ....... what did I miss for Aru to be 6 secs clear in Yellow..............