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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VSP Master, herewith my re-submitted picks (given Grimpeur F's very sad departure):
1. Alberto Can't-adore-but-can-certainly-admire. (As per initial pick, and even more definitely now.)
2. Andy Grimpeur. (Also as per initial pick. I admit to misgivings given the pounding his skinny little frame has taken in the last two days and Brother Frank's absence. But the way he manned up on both days is pretty impressive, he's still got an awesome team (including Fugslang, who should assist in the mountains), he'll bemotivated to do it for his bro, and he won't have any temptation to wait and try to tow Frank up a hill to try to get him on the podium.)
3. Robert Ges-weak. (Not a show, I don't think, despite his HTFUing into 47th place today with a broken bone. But Frank's absence doesn't change the race dynamics for Frail Robert in a way which would justify turfing him, so I don't see how I can swap him out without risking Piti Principle justice.)
4. Good Cadelephant. (Am not confident. Basso, Kreuziger, Twiggy, Vino(?!!!), etc all possibilities. But he HTFU'd today and I don't think he'll crumple like last year.)
5. Pharmstrong. (Again, given the Piti Principle, the only thing I think I could legitiately do is move him up to fourth in place of Frank. But I don't want to do that.)
Shit, been at work, come home to NO cable TV and internet! FUCK! So waiting til 24 hours after to see half hour highlights. Can't wait.
Looks like the boys manned up big time. Loving the rides from Thor, Cadelephantitis (look to the Lexicon) G-Tom and even Poncellara (who redeemed himself a poofteenth, but only just).
It's shaping up nicely, eh?
@Marko - COTHO he may be....but the bloke is a hard b'stard. Awesome riding from him after the pucture yesterday. Check out this pic....
@Joe
Reckon that dust cloud was Lance's former domestique Whitey (now Garmin Transitions DS) doing wheel spins in front of him. Hahahaha.
Banged and Felled is (sadly) out, so I'll substitute... Basso please. He lost more to Good Cadel in the Giro mud stage and shredded him later. He won't be able to take as much time here because the stages aren't so ludicrously over the top, but will drag more than the other lads who need time.
Is going to be great watching COTHO attack, be covered, then dropped by the younger blokes. His PR spin gymnastics will have to be at their absolute best to explain that away. How (or who) do you ad hominem attack to talk your way out of that? Guess he'll just have to pull out his cancer shield again...
Yes I'm a bitter bitch.
Dang, I was pulling for Thor but at least the Manxgina Missle lost out.
Wow! Canvencan'tdish. At all. Not even in the top ten today. To be fair, it looked as though his train was forced to go earlier than they wanted. It's probably good to see more than one decent train on the Tour. Petacchi looks scary fast, and nice to see him back up his boast from stage 1.
@Hawkeye
Cancer shield, it's inspired! I don't dope, I have a Cancer foundation! I can go back on what I said, I have a Cancer foundation? How dare you attack me, don't you know Cancer is bigger than the Tour?
I like it.
It's great to see Garmin getting some results too. Looks like if the sprint had been 100m longer Dean may have passed Ali-Jet. Thor just didn't have the mustard today.
@Cyclops
Yesterday with your Rule, and now today with this. You are on fire, my son!
@Canarypunk
Cavennochanceinhellforthegreenjerseydish sure isn't firing like last year. Suprised Hushovd fell back as far as he did in the sprint; although you can't blame him after slogging himself over stones like he did yesterday.
@all
I forgot to toss up my change for The Man With Almost The Same Name As Me, but picked Evans (regretting it already based on Hawkeye's input) last night. Honest, I just forgot to post them here! Promise!
Petacchi in Green? My god, the color clash of Lampre cotton-candy wear with the maillot vert....