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
OK, let me get this straight:
On Cavendouche:
On the other riders behind him:
So, Cavendish is the only rider smart enough to crash while paying attention, and the other riders are idiots. Got it.
Rad new nickname for Cantkeeptherubbersidedowndish, by the way.
Seriously though, an ex-pro told me that when people start going down the best thing to do is hold your line and try to ride straight through it. This is a principle that benefited Flecha beautifully in the Tour de Suisse crash. See Cosmo Catalano's analysis of Flecha's skillful riding at cyclocosm.com in a piece titled, "The Luckiest Man in the Peloton." Although, Cosmo calls it luck. Well, in a way it is, but in a way it is not. Flecha is following what I understand is a time honored principle for pros.
Yes, precisely frank.
Guys, so sorry about Cav. As a Brit, I feel somewhat embarrassed... I didn't see the post stage press conference but I imagine it went something like "Well, the stage was going well, HTC were in good position, the lead out train were firing on all cylinders, we were in a great position, then we hit a corner THAT WE KNEW WAS THERE and I forgot to turn. Yes, I forgot to turn. Urmmmm. Balls"... go back three days to description of 'plonker'... when he talks of 'fat english'... he is meaning 'between the ears'. Grrr.
But I do have to digress: out riding this morning. A guy from work who had heard we cycle asked if he could join us. We said yes. He turned up. We rode, and it was a good - if not frisky - ride. He kept there and there abouts... never leading, never lagging, taking his fair turns, but nothing too flash. We stopped for coffee. We're talking the prologue. Someone says, "did you see Cancellara blow Boonen away at Paris-Roubaix?" (duh?) to which he replies... "Paris-Roubaix can be disconcerting. When I rode it in 2001..." at which point, the ENTIRE CAFE SHUT UP and turned towards us... we didn't pay for our coffee, and the ride ended there.... I can't tell you his name (on line, and all that), but today, we rode out with an ex-US National Team cyclist, who rode all the Northern European classics, and who rocks... a real gentleman on the road, and our very own tame racing cyclist: We're calling him 'the Stig'. Today was a good day, in all but the TdF.
@roadslave
Wow! Very cool story. Maybe the maillot jaune should tell a story at the end of each stage.
Or, er, sleeping (for those of us DownUnder). It truly sucks being on the opposite side of the world from all of this...
Cool. The sprinters are all riled up and onry. E.g., here's Farrar busting on AG2R's Lloyd Mondory in public: "He did a classic Lloyd Mondory move," Farrar told Cyclingnews as he dragged his own damaged bike to the team bus. "He decided to try and commit suicide into my back wheel with 300 meters to go when I was with Petacchi and Renshaw."
Angst, anger, passion, amongst the sprinters as well as amongst the GC contenders. Damn, this Tour might top this year's Giro.
"War is the king of all."
Heraclitus
Too Cool. Now Friere is casting aspersions at the GC riders. Freire said, "Then, some people don't know where they belong. A lot of these crashes happen because of that." The Spaniard added that the riders not leading out a sprint, and even those going for general classification, should distance themselves from the top of the field in order to make it less crowded.
"Maybe some of the leaders, once they've inside the two last kilometres, should maybe fall back a bit more than they do," he said. "It's still better to lose one or two seconds than all the Tour."
Er, damn. The Heraclitus fragment is, "War is the father and king of all." Sorry.
Reminded me of a younger (and doped?) Petacchi the way he gapped what was left of the bunch. Gee he looks good when he nails his gear. He made that uphill sprint his bitch.
Would love to see Cantkeeptherubbersidedowndish earn the name Cantwinastagethisyearstourdish. Won't see him again until Wed-Fri presuming he is cantridethecobblesdish. By then he will be miles back from the green - presuming Thor stays with the bunch tomorrow and Wed...