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
And fuck Horner too...
Frank: "I bet a bunch of the guys are wondering if they don't need to study Rule 5 again after the finish. Often, what makes sense at the time just feels like a proper dose of sissy after it's all over and you're back in the hotel."
That's what I was agreeing with you on in your post. Not the other points.
The new Velonews story, "Not all riders happy with the neutral finish", largely verifies my view of the matter. Hushovd is unhappy. And he should be. Cervelo was ready to put the hammer down in the chase of Chavanel, and Faboo stopped them. Now Faboo is talking sheeit about respect for other riders. I don't buy it. You don't think Riis was in his ear telling him to do what he could to stop Cervelo?? If Cervelo got rolling, then other teams vying for the stage win would have started sending their riders flying out of the Armstrong/Contador group. They would have dragged both of them along with them and left the Schlecks 5 to 10 minutes down on LA and AC if not more. It also would have given Radio Shack the excuse it needed to bury the Schlecks. And, if you don't think they would have taken it if they could have, I'll just mention the name of Alex Zulle.
Freakin' Riis got away with murder today and did so with Cancellara's complicity.
And, I hate to say this, knowing how much you like the Schlecks, but I think there's a good chance they were so far back because they were just big pussies. A. Schleck, on the side of the road, looked like he had thrown in the towel. The CN writer, I believe, said he looked dazed and confused. You know damn well that wouldn't have happened to LA, AC, or Vieno. Those guys would have been running down the road looking to rip someone's bike away.
Not a good day for Saxo Bank, Cancellara, or the Schlecks.
Of course Jens was awesome, but that's his middle-name.
Horner too, as much as I love him, comes off as a big pussy.
@david
Yeah, you make some great points. And, the longer I have to reflect on the stage, the more I agree that it was pretty lame. Another great example of how the racing would be different without radios.
The only good bit of the Andy footage was the way he took (was it Fulsangs?) bike from him; just pointed at it and took it. That's leadership, not nice guy there. I think Andy was waiting for equipment because Saxo's riding Specialized and those bikes just seem to fall apart too easily.
But back to your point, some riders - like Armstrong, as much as I hate to say it - just never seem to have to wait for anything, they just get back up and get moving. And there's something to be said for that, that's for sure. Then there's the oposite side - the Hamiltons and Vande Velde's - that seem to fall off and stay off.
I think what happened during the race is one thing, the finish another, but in any case, today is in the past; they better fucking Rule 5 it tomorrow.
@Nathan Edwards
The deadline was the start of the race, but we've made exceptions before, so we'll do it again. Assuming you would've picked Wiggo over Vandevelde anyway, I don't think there's anything in the race so far that's decisive at this point, so with the Piti Principle in mind, we'll just go ahead and add you in. Glad to have you back.
@brett, @david
To your points, Hushovd on what happened:
I chalk most of that up to post-race frustration. Even at my lowly Cat-4/5 level, it's a time-honored ritual to bitch and moan about the course after there are crashes on a course.
Meanwhile, does no one use the months between the route announcement and the Tour to recon these stages? I haven't seen anyone complaining about this route before the race.
- Wise Old Sage Armstrong via VeloNews
Stockeu "like ice", "why didn't Chavanel crash?" Well..
via http://twitter.com/TrueBS/statuses/17817998734
Boardman on ITV was pretty scathing tonight about the possibility of them neutralising tomorrow's stage; I got the impression he just wanted to shout man the fuck up and then grind the whole peloton into the dust with his massive guns...
@frank
Breschel's bike, not Fuglsang's, I believe. What do you want to wager that Hushovd will put himself in Chavanel territory tomorrow before the cobbles so as to avoid having to slow down?
...and Banged and Felled makes good on his moniker. Shame, that. I wonder if they've booked a flight home for Farrar, too.
@ben
An earlier report seemed to indicate that Farrar had done a pretty good job of imitating VDV, but a more recent one just said bruises and he'd be okay. Go figure...