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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This from Geraint Thomas in an interview with cyclingnews:
"Having the national champion's jersey on my back, and being in the front group with the world champion, Fabian Cancellara [Saxo Bank] and Thor was amazing. It was a massive buzz going across the cobbles with those guys - you don't get a better group than that.
I can imagine! Nice bit of modesty from a good, young rider. He looked very impressive today. More:
Thomas has experience on the pavé, having won the junior Paris-Roubaix in 2004. "Yeah, but it's a bit different with the big boys."
I've not been big on Sky since their inception, but that's not a bad team they have going. Some good character with Thomas, older sage Barry, Hagen, Flecha. Good ride from Cummings today, too. And Wiggins hasn't dug himself any holes, either. The kit is appropriately British"”devoid of any style"”but these guys could do alright...
@nof Oh man, Phil and Paul sucked today. I don't know how its possible to go from praising Faboo in one breath, to completely forgetting he existed... Although Paul did have one good line; 'Fabian is really working all three motors today' (which he then promptly spoiled)
As for Geraint, I think he had a great ride today. Holding onto the wheel of spartacus in classics mode is not easy (just ask tommeke). Sky have got two great prospects in him and EBH, although Geraint needs to sack the track off and concentrate on learning to climb...
Only just noticed that Thor was rocking green Oakleys today.
@andy
I loved the comment by Paul asking if he'd brought spare AAA batteries. What a sense of humor! Loves it!
Phil is wrong so often, I'm not sure why is suddenly matters now. Paul's got it going on usually, though, and one of my favorite bits is waiting for Paul to correct Phil. Funny shit. During the crashes yesterday, Phil had no idea which way was up. If you'd put him in a swimming pool, he'd have drowned.
@andy
Watching the EuroSport coverage, and reading Whit Yost/Bill Strickland's live chat - no one had any idea of who was where and which end was up - everyone is watching the same coverage - it was an absolutely clusterflooge. Anyway - helluva stage. I thought Bill Strickland was going to have a coronary.
Either Faboo wasn't 100% or, more likely, he wasn't going to go 100% with Andy on his wheel and with the race exploded behind him. He did attack Thor pretty hard, but I think that was just a test balloon.
@frank
Phil and Paul being wrong doesn't usually bother me, its pretty much pure comedy gold. The Geraint in yellow slip did though, as both of them were caught up in it.
The triple A line was classy
@Kermitpunk
I like their kit... it's simple.
But I wouldn't mind rocking in Argyle. Hmm, maybe I just like the kits cos I associate them with my favourite teams. All the Welsh blood in me (about 37.5%) loves that Geriant Thomas came second today.
Btw, anybody know why A Schleck is still eligible for the Young Riders, I thought it was U25s
Now that he has gone successfully over the pavé and emerged unscathed, does Menchov plan to race in Paris-Roubaix some day? The answer from the 32-year-old was unequivocal: "Not on my life."
Obvious replacement of Cuddles in for F Schleck.
Good to see that at least one of the Brothers Grimpeurs proved that they couldn't ride Pave by crashing all by himself.
Geraint/Gez/G is a completely down-to-earth guy, doesn't take himself too seriously but can do the job. I just hope Sky don't try and mould him into another Wiggins as has been suggested they think he could be...he was climbing OK in the Dauphine without going full-gas. I reckon Thomas would make a far better classics rider and would hate to see that talent wasted as he would only be able to concentrate on the Tour and nothing else. Besides, as long as they work on his time-trialling, Sky already have their successor to Wiggins in Peter Kennaugh.
@andy Thomas won't sack the track just yet, he's a Welshman and so knows that he's got a good chance of bringing Wales some rare international sporting success in the Commonwealth Games (like the Olympics, but only for England & those nations that were conquered and raped by them)
@kermitpunk: "The kit is appropriately British"”devoid of any style"
Honestly, chaps... not fair. Go back to Tommy Simpson who was the only guy who gave Merckxx any run for being playboy of the peloton, and a dapper one at that.... and then fast forward to today, with Rapha stocking the best looking kit on the road (OBVIOUSLY excluding Velominati bib shorts - that rule 1, rule 5, rule 10 design is just epic)... I think you can go suck on one.
Geraint rode a fan-fucking-tastic ride to win UK Road Race Champion 2010, and rode a great stage today... out of his league, outgunned (by Spartacus), outclassed by Thor (I regret choosing Cav for Green Jersey... Thor just rocks), he rode like a complete seasoned pro - real heart, courage and fully applying rule 5.... and I'm even beginning to like Wiggo again... he might have been right that the first day it was worth trading seconds on corners instead of losing minutes to a crash... he rode well today. So quit the brit bashing. I don't like Sky either... a bit too corporate, but let them do their talking on the road.
I'm honestly not bitter about losing yellow. Like David Millar, and Chris Boardman.... I'm just happy to have had the palmares for a brief moment before you EPO-fuelled Euro trash steam past us. No class.
I'm liking this tour, though.