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!
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Come on! I'm missing the Velominati spirit here. This is supposed to be the place where leisure cyclists freely malign the sport's champions. Cadel, what whining excuse will it be now? A broken elbow? Yeah right. Jen's duty was to get over the climb with A. Schleck and take him home to the finish line. He quit when the going got tough. He should be demoted from lieutenant to corporal.
@David....nah Big Jens gets props for that blow-up - that's about the only thing most of us can ever hope to do as well as these fellas...we should take glory in it.
In fact, I'm going to go home, lycra up and ride til I puke. After that, (and because it's tuesday), I'm going to shower, drink several pints of beer, maul an overseasoned kebab of the gyro variety and finish the evening with some grubby non-cognac, digestif. The whole evening, I dedicate to Jens. I think he'd approve.
Great riding from Hushovd today, too.
@Joe
Cheers, mate! That sounds like a fucking way to honor him.
@david
Excellent point, but those lads did their best. Good on them. But back to skewering people like is our job: that fucking Twiggo. What an ass! The fucker gets what he deserves, ditching a team that done him good like that. Talking like big shit all year since getting 4th and now he's pulling out his second GT in the Laughing Group. Jackass.
I think Count Drac is a funny thing to watch. The poor sack of shit is actually trying to play the good domestique but he just can't seem to pull it off. Couldn't quite understand his move at the foot of the Madeleine; I understand the tactic but he didn't seem to execute; went so hard to get away that he was useless when the group got back to him. He needs to take some remedial classes in gauging his efforts.
@all
Major change-up in the GC today, with the VSP seeing changes in leadership of the Yellow Jersey badge and the Polka Dot badge.
1 Daniel 25 points
2 Joshua 25 points
3 Nathan Edwards 25 points
4 Marko 11 points
5 Dan O 11 points
6 Roberto Marques 5 points
7 Andy 5 points
8 Scott 3 points
9 Roadslave 2 points
10 Steampunk 2 points
11 Souleur 2 points
12 John 2 points
13 Rob 2 points
14 Geof 2 points
15 Marcus 2 points
16 Brett 2 points
17 Jarvis 2 points
18 Hawkeye 2 points
19 David 1 point
20 Ben 1 point
21 Frank 1 point
22 Pont 1 point
23 Crossy 1 point
24 Cyclops 0 points
25 Joe 0 points
26 Houdini 0 points
Dotted Jumper: Souleur
UPDATED: Please help validate that the scoring is accurate on the Google Doc VSP Spreadsheet. We are aiming for transparency and accuracy here...
@frank - is there some magic you can weave to let everyone see everyone else's picks? perhaps you are using some sort of spreadsheet to keep the tally on this...and perhaps you could turn that into a publically-viewable Google Doc? That'd be sweet.
@all - David Millar appeared to be Lantern Rouge on the stage today - +45' Gazzetta is hoping he missed the cut...
Quote of the Day: "someone that doesn't love Jens is the same sort that would kill baby kittens"
@Cyclops
Word is Jens's favorite recovery meal is raw (and still kicking) baby kittens.
I fucking rue my idiotic bombast...my legs aren't aching yet, but I've sent them the hurt, recorded delivery...all they can do now is twitch spasmodically and fail to support me particularly well. Off to the pub then I suppose. The last fucking thing in the world I want right now is alcohol. Still, might make it a cider, pint of old rosie, keep things interesting. Rule 5. Toodle-pip.
Which is why JENS! doesn't event like JENS! because even JENS! would kill a kitten, if the kitten attacked JENS!
Don't attempt to understand that statement beyond the time it takes to read it, because you would not escape the JENS! Horizon and would be sucked into an infinitely deep swirl of suffering and pain.