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
@Guy Well done. Rode the same stage four weeks ago, in rain, in fog, in pain, in delirium. Toughest thing I ever did, and it wasn't pretty. I share your pain, despite liberal application of Rule 5. Suffered on Marie Blanque, Died on Soulor, Resurrected on Tourmalet. Chapeau! Well done... you have earned the right to refer to your legs in the third person (BTW, anyone noticed how Veino now refers to himself in the third person, as in "Vino won't talk about 2007, ask a different question")
Is it just me (and I'm full of self-loathing) did anybody else want Lance to win today? the set-up was perfect (drop so far back over the last week that the main contenders won't worry about you), the run-in was classy (catching Baredo with 1km to ride was cruel but efficient) but the finishing ... was pants... too old to sprint, and "I don't want any gifts"... it reminds me of how he missed the maillot jaune by less than a second in the team time trial last year... I hate myself, but I do want him to have a last hurrah... but maybe those 7am drug tests are doing their job, and he just hasn't got the legs anymore...
@roadslave
I can't wait to hear him say, "Veino wants a num-num. Veino hungry."
As for the Lance bit...yeah...so conflicted...but yeah. I hate to see someone with such an amazing record peeter out like this. I was just waiting for him to launch off the back; he was sitting back there resting; I thought for sure he was going to jump right with the catch. It would have been classic for him to solo the last km and take the win.
Oh well. Maybe he'll just solo off the front on the Champs?
@ben
Amazing story! Surely Gadret would be aware that will come back to him in about 10 different ways? Frank, Gadret's performance surely deserves its own lexicon entry - something like "doing a Gadret" where you put your own interests before the team (but make this funny). Oh wait, maybe you need to make that "doing a veino"?
I too was hoping Lance would pull it off. A little bit like buying Baxter, hoping for a Lance win made me feel a little dirty but also made me feel good. He had nothing in the finale - his half-arsed, too early sprint reminded me of many of my own feeble sprints and efforts, er, elsewhere. Jump out early with a modicum of promise, find my own efforts over before the real business begins, and leave my "supporters" a little underwhelmed!
For a good L'Etape read, go to:
http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2010/07/letape-du-tour/
This guy can ride (one of the better A graders in Melbourne) - and coincidentally, like Guy, he spent a long time with one wrecked pedal during the ride.
@Guy
Was wondering how you'd got on. Thanks for the report. It's unusual to feel envious of and pity for someone at the same time for the same reason. But I do. Chapeau.
@Guy
You hard bastard. Well done. Christ, I remember my own L'Etape effort in 2003 the same way. Brutal as fuck. Without question the hardest day I've ever spent on a bike. After that day, realizing that the pros do this day in, day out, I said to myself, "Right. You can't ride the Tour without doping. Settled."
Still, I hope they don't dope, but it is a tall, tall order.
Can someone please translate "went on left foot" into English for me?
@Guy
By the way, Mr. Photog; any pictures from the day?
@Marcus
Or pulling a Bertie?
@Nathan Edwards
There's no rule for it, but that's a good point. We'll see if anyone tries to pull a Piti on us.
@all
By the way, get your Rest Day lineup changes in by the time the stage Thursday starts for your final substitutions.
Also, we'll be doing a VSP on Stage 17 (going up tomorrow), so get your picks together.
From the "just when you think Jens couldn't possibly get any harder" file:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/07/news/jens-voigt-shrugs-off-another-high-speed-crash_130284
"I'm doing 70 kilometers an hour on the first descent when my front tire explodes. Before I hit the asphalt I actually manage to think that this is going to hurt. Both knees, elbows, hands, shoulders and the entire left side of my body were severely hurt. My ribs are hurting but hey, broken ribs are overrated anyway. Fortunately, I didn't land on my face this time and I'm still alive. I was offered a ride on the truck that picks up abandoned riders but I'm not going to quit another Tour de France."
"Broken ribs are overrated"?! (Is this code for "If that skinny Scot can do it then so can I"?)