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
btw: I also agree on best thoughts/wishes for all those who are suffering through cancer. I will give LA the thumbs up on his good efforts in fighting that.
I have a few friends with it as well, and before a race, I put their names on the top of my bars and when I feel the pain, I can't breath, & feel like quitting I look at their names and realize my suffering is nothing. So I press on and in my own very little way ride for them as a token of sacrifice.
My sister-in-law just died of cancer two weeks ago. In and out of hospitials and nursing homes for 2+ years. Horrible way to go.
@Souleur
In a similar fashion - I think about my dentist when I ride my carbon Ibis. He was a super nice dude, we'd talk about mountain biking - he rode also. Then he gets wacked with ALS and dies within two years.
At the time, I was debating with myself on buying a new road bike - too much money, yet another bike, being family guy, etc. After hearing of his passing, I said screw it - life is short, I'm lucky enough to still be able to ride - and bought the Ibis.
As you get older, you realize your turn could be next, do things now while you can.
I'm surprised so many people are backing armstrong for the top. My reasoning being for not putting him in at all; he can no longer time trial; i'm unconvinced he can match top notch uphill acceleration; he's looked vulnerable over the last two years. 99-05, with one or two notable exceptions, LA never looked like people could beat him. Now, he's got beat by a completely unconvincing time trialist in Grimpeur 1.0! I think with lance it'll be either a top 10 finish (but only just) or he'll crack and quit early.
Going back to KoM picks, mine is now Veino
Polka dots: Matt Lloyd
Green jersey: Eddy B-H
Both (very) long shots, but obvious choices taken in priority so no point in going with them.
As for GC:
1. Bertie
2. A Grimpeur
3. Gesink
4. F Grimpeur
5. Trash Talking Texan
But, frankly, this is very unlikely to eventuate. I picked England for top 4 in that other global competition, so I'm pretty sure I'm pretty crap at this kind of thing.
1. Contador - really the only thing that can beat him is the pave and then we get to substitute.
2. A. Schleck
3. Armstrong
4. Evans
5. Rogers
Mountains: Lloyd
Sprints: Farrar (tipped against Cavendish on principle)
Am worried about good cadel/bad cadel and my picks are based on misguided patriotism. Check out the photo of Cadel that he tweeted last week.
http://twitpic.com/1zgzhh
Those are fucking big arms for a GC guy to carry over the Tourmalet. But his Giro stage win in the mud showed some serious Rule 5 credentials - he will be a force.
eh Frankie, think I snagged 2 pts in the TdSuisse but am not recorded in the overall? This will be important when I shoot up the standings later this year.
Has anyone seen all the tweets from tour riders over the last few days regarding the cobbles? They are predicting all hell will break loose!
@Marcus: "Contador - really the only thing that can beat him is the pave and then we get to substitute." Has anyone seen all the tweets from tour riders over the last few days regarding the cobbles? They are predicting all hell will break loose!
Yeah, something is off with the rules for VSP here. You can pick Contador #1 for obvious reasons, but then the VSP rules allow you to avoid the risks of picking someone, Contador, who's never raced on cobbles and doesn't have a team experienced and powerful enough to insure his safety on cobbles or in cross winds. Worse, when he goes down, you can then change your whole freakin' line-up, based on new information that others don't have as the race unfolds. Picking either a doper, someone injured, or someone who can't ride a bike starts looking like something to bring into consideration. You might want to slot the least likely rider to make it in at #5.
Was wondering the same thing, when I inserted Fuglsang for Kirchen.
@andy
I think you might be onto something. Nobody really pressed in the TdS, except maybe Gesink who can't TT (Rabobank is where bad TTers go to die?). Armstrong looked decent in comparison. At the same time, he has the knack of not getting dropped. It will be interesting how the media spin the story if he falls out of contention.
@Souleur
Sanchez! Forgot about him! Excellent KoM choice.
@david " Worse, when he goes down, you can then change your whole freakin' line-up, based on new information that others don't have as the race unfolds. Picking either a doper, someone injured, or someone who can't ride a bike starts looking like something to bring into consideration."
Refer to the Piti Principle. Picking, say, Petacchi for GC would clearly be taking the piss and render one's revised pick subject to penalty. But picking Bertie for GC is different. If he survives the cobbles with only a few minutes' deficit he will remain odds-on. The fact that he also may crash and pull out, entitling you to substitute, is a possibility - but the Piti Principle will still apply to the substitution.
Hincapie will slay all!
@josh
Because he looks like you?
Because he puts Nutbrown in his bidon?
or
Because of his shoecovers?