The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues the with Tour de France edition, on Saturday July 3rd in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, just kilometers from the start of the Giro d’Italia in Amsterdam (Dutchland is a small country). This will be the second Grand Tour of the series, and at this stage the Grand Tour rules and regulations are fairly well-defined, so take a moment to review them on the VSP Page.
The Tour is, of course, a major event. My personal preference lies with the Giro, but there is no denying the magnitude of the Tour and the appeal it holds. For three weeks, the world pays attention to our sport, and – provided the Tour doesn’t coincide with the World Cup football matches – this is the biggest sporting event during this time of the year. (An interesting observation: the last time these events coincided, the winner was eventually stripped of his title.)
Having run the VSP Giro edition where we tested the ruleset for Grand Tours, we’ve managed to set up a scoring system that seems fair and helps to close down the competition to afford newcomers the ability to catch up with some good picks; the Giro proved that lineup switches and the associated penalties kept the point gains pretty small while allowing strategy to play an interesting role. There is a full overview of the rules and standing at the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page, but here is the ten-second overview:
Every contestant is to choose their top five General Classification picks of the race. The final podium of le Grande Boucle is worth 15 points to the winner, 10 points for second, 5 points for third, 3 points for fourth, and 2 point for fifth. Given the effect crashes can have on a tour, we’ve set up some guidelines around making changes to your lineup during the race: you’re allowed to change your lineup if any rider in your pick list drops out for any reason without any penalty; rest days will allow contestants to make changes to their lineup, however those changes will come at a point penalty. (Visit the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page for a complete breakdown of these points.)
Every day, the leader in the points standings will have the honor of wearing the Yellow Jersey when posting on the site; the overall winner will wear the Yellow Jersey for the remainder of the season and will also earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker. All reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free Velominati Shop Apron. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings.
New to the Tour de France edition is the addition of naming the winner of the Green and Polka-dot jerseys for the Tour. There will be no points awarded towards these two jerseys, but the leader of the competition of these jerseys will have the honor of commenting with a Green or Polka-dot jersey badge throughout the competition and the winner will earn the right to comment with that badge until next year’s Tour. The contestant who picks both the final Green and Polka jersey winners correctly will win a Velominati Logo bumper sticker. Tie-breakers will go to the first contestant who posts their entire lineup (all 5 GC picks plus Green and Polka-dot jersey winners). Given that this sub-competition has no points, pick substitutions will only be granted under the DNF regulations of the VSP; no rest-day substitutions are allowed.
Sub-competitions will be conducted while the Tour is underway for specific stages. These stages will be chosen a few days prior to the stage being held and will be selected based on the current race conditions with the aim of choosing the most decisive and exciting stages of the race, so check back often to make sure you don’t miss out. Sub-competitions will be held in separate editions.
Good luck!
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@david
LeMelvis is back at it. However, the WSJ is fixing to print an indepth article tomorrow on the Roid stuff. (literal and figurative Roid stuff)
When I was out visiting with Frank we were talking about this and I said something to the effect of "just wait, something huge is going to come out about this right around the start of the tour." Not to say I called because it hasn't happened yet but we shall see.
I thought for sure that would be understood.
@david Oops. I read that too quickly. O.K, "A-Merckx." Very nice.
@Marko When I read Lemond's comment, I'm thinking, "It's so bizarre it sounds like he's got some juicy inside info on something about to break wide open." Maybe the WSJ story is what he had in mind. Still, a big WSJ story has got to go a good ways beyond the evidence presented so far, I think, to force LA out of the Tour. I'll be looking for the story with some interest.
@david
I couldn't find the Lemelvis article you referene but saw the WSJ comment in the article about Kimmage I was reading this morning. You're right about the WSJ article needing to go deeper and I'm not sure elaborating on Landis is deeper. That said, WSJ is not L'Equipe and will surely cause some ripples.
Cyclingnews, "The Art of Peaking: An Exlusive Blog with Greg Lemond". On my screen, it's at the top of the highlited stories list in the black box.
True, a WSJ story by itself will be big news. They had better have more than Landis' own "testimony", or else I'll never read the thing again.
@david, @Marko
A-Merck added to the Lexicon. Brilliant work on all counts there, lads.
(You can check our Twitter feed for the article as well.)
In a Cyclingnews article titled, "Kimmage calls for UCI Transparency", Kimmage says that Wiggins and Vande Velde are barometers for how clean the TdF will be this year. So, if Contador, Armstrong, Basso, Evans, A/F Schleck, Gesink, Menchov, etc, drop them, then we have evidence they are doping. Really? That's just plain fucking stupid, Kimmage.
1. How is it you know that Wiggins and Vande Velde are clean? Oh, I see, they are on teams that publicly declare they are really clean and don't do drugs at all and none of their riders have ever tested positive. Hmmm.
2. Supposing they are clean, how do you know they are in the first rank of clean GC riders, such that any rider that is clearly superior can be suspected of drug use? Wiggins--a pursuit rider for Christ's sake--has only one GC campaign under his belt. "Oh, but look how much weight he lost!" In fact, given Wiggins' background, and the fact that he hung fairly well with AC and LA in his first GC campaign, I'd say his 4th place finish is evidence that he microdoses along with the rest them rather than that he's a first rank, clean GC rider. Vande Velde has had only one first class GC campaign. So, unless you can say all of the opponents that beat him soundly are dopers but he is clean, you have no reason at all for thinking he's a first rank, clean GC rider, and hence a barometer for anything. The environment is so polluted, there is not a single person you can point to and say they are riding clean--except Chris Horner. He'd never do it.
I assume all the big GC guys are microdosing. Do I know it? No. But, I just don't care. I do however get annoyed with the irrationality spewed so frequently on the drug issue. It gets in the way of my enjoyment of the sport. You've got some subsection of cycling journalists who, apparently, think they are covering politics. They seem to think something is rotten in Denmark, and it is their God-given duty to expose it. Yet, they lack the evidence to really make the case. Because they are activists in some cause--honestly just their own pocket books or else indulging their Armstrong-hatred--they won't shut up about it until they get sufficient evidence. No, they're just going to keep flogging us with insinuation, cynicism, fallacies, and non-sequitors. God I hate journalists.
Kimmage buys what Landis says hook line and sinker, despite the fact that Landis' claim that Armstrong bribed the UCI to overlook his 1999 AFLD lab results has been shown to be conclusively false. Landis made the sheeit up. The dude is certifiable. Of course, Kimmage is going to endorse it just because he's on the warpath against Armstrong.
The only evidence really against LA is Frankie Andrieu's confession. I can find no reason for the guy to lie. His wife made him do it. He stood to gain nothing from doing it. In fact, he lost his job as a director just afterwords. LA is so lucky Andrieu is going to say nothing more about it and so lucky Andrieu's wife mistimed forcing the confession from her husband. Andrieu to wife: "I did it once for you. That's it. Not again. I seemed to have found an extra-ball down here."
And what the fuck is Cyclingnews doing posting an article on what Kimmage thinks the UCI ought or ought not do anyway?? And, why are they letting Greg Lemond write blog articles for them, when it's clear he just wants to grind an axe. Here's Lemond's first installment, in essence: "Peaking is really hard. In 92 people started doping seriously; that's why I wasn't as good. I started 92 with no sleep. Oh, did I mention that Armstrong is going to get kicked out of the Tour? God the sport will be great then!"
Just shut the fuck up and cover the actual sport until you make a decent case for Armstrong or Contador doping. Cycling isn't politics.
Holy shit, some crazy ass posts and picks so far. Amazing to see how often Pharmstrongs name comes up...no frickin way I see him on the podium. He has a better chance of taking the Green Jersey than finishing top three in GC.
Here are the goods - no debate, no bullshit:
1. Contador - he will survive the cobbles after his phot op- tutoring session with Van Petegem, and will destroy the field...shoudl be fun to see if Veino will actually work for him.
2. A. Schleck - what does this guy weigh anyway? He looks like he could give Chicken Rasmussen a run for his money in the skinny department..at least Schleck does not crash multiple times in TT's though.
3. Basso - after his solid performance at the Giro, he should be able to grab third...he has a great team who "should" work for him..would love to see him take the double!
4. Wiggins - 4th again..if he loses those fukkin super tall black socks he may be able to crank out another bit of horsepower on the climbs.
5. Menchov - unless he falls off his bike, breaks his wrist putting Nutella on his bread, or has some other freak accident.
Dots: Gesink..if he does not crash into Menchov
Green: Frick..I dunno, I will go with Cav, then Farrar, then Hushovd.
Bring it on beeotches!
Another Brazilian trying his luck:
1 - Little Schleck
2 - Contador
3 - Armstrong
4 - Wiggins
5 - Basso
Green: Hushovd
Polka: Kreuziger