Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France
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!
@Joe
Why all the love for Axel? Wasn’t Eddy the better Merckx? Or so I’ve heard (this from someone with two Jens t-shirts in his wardrobe).
Love this blog. Long time reader, first time poster…
1. Bertie (won last year with a sort of team. Even a shit team is better than that)
2. Grimpeur A (TT will hurt him too badly)
3. Good Cadel (because he’s good)
4. Kreuziger (because LeakyGas got it so right at Giro, and here have no responsibility)
5. Banged and Felled (because he’s a good, hard bastard)
Green = Farrar because Douche has a worse leadout train cf. ’09, and worse form. And he is a douche; and Thor is not quite quick enough
Polkadot = Levi because Lance will be out of contention and this jersey has such a proud history of… ahem… certain types of riders winning it… Pelizzoti, Kohl, Rasmussen, Virenque, etc.
Feck just realised it did work from my blackberry! Please delete this one! Sorry. Tecnoretard. @Hawkeye
@Hawkeye
No this makes some sense! Maybe I could re-enter my picks and get double points, too. Inspired idea.
Oh, and Geraint Thomas to win the prologue
@Rob
I agree with you about Armstrong, Rob. But I expect a great teamwork from brothers Grimpeur to make the difference, despite the situation of the team.
…and they’re off!
@Steampunk
From the Lexicon:
Zackerly!
Just rode up the same dumb, stupid, steep, little hill in London 25 times. 45k, 1780m, Swaintoux, done.
Not sure how 4 pints and a couple of fags work as traditional recovery fare, but they segue perfectly into my 3d Fitness ethic.
For you Americans who won’t pay cable companies for the premium package and Versus, get live TdF Eurosport coverage in English with S. Kelly on cyclingfans.com. Who can’t love the internet?!
@frank
Mea culpa. Was being a little tongue-in-cheek, of course.
Syrup-o-figgo’s already got his locks in a twist….46 seconds down on Martin in a stage he should friggin EAT UP!
That boy needs to get a haircut.
@Joe
like he said, you can lose a lot on a day like this, Chris Boardman learnt that in ’95. Wait until all the top contenders are in to see how Wiggins got on.
So far I wasn’t far off in my prologue prediction. Watch out for Mr Thomas in the future, that boy is good.
@Hawkeye Levi winning the KoM would be like a cracker tasting like pie.
Geraint Thomas just interviewed on ITV4 (Britain), saying that he will be keeping it ‘old skool’ & adhering to The Rules by keeping to black shorts with his national champions jersey.
Just like Clue: Faboooooooooo with the Shiv in the starthouse. Slay!
Yes, but they’re just kids… no matter that they still sleep in the same bed and do everything together. The only thing that will stop Arms is himself – cracking beyond saving himself in the time trial – which, hey he just got 4th in the prologue. I don’t think I would have a lot to say to him over some great Belgium beer but he has figured out how to win TdF’s.
@ben
That’s funny stuff. In Faboooo we trust.
@Joe
“Not sure how 4 pints and a couple of fags work as traditional recovery fare, but they segue perfectly into my 3d Fitness ethic.” hmmmmmmm, 3d Fitness ethic…did I miss that somewhere? Joe, you are a mad genius for your fitness ethics(whatever they may be, I like ’em) and your wicked prayer. Don’t weaken.
@Steampunk
Thought you might have been, but just wanted to be sure!
SPARTACUS!!!! John and Ben are having phone sex right now.
@all
Ok, the results after the Prologue are in:
1 Roadslave 3
2 Joe 3
3 Crossy 3
4 Ben 1
5 Dan O 1
6 Daniel 1
7 David 1
8 Frank 1
9 Geof 1
10 Houdini 1
11 Joshua 1
12 Marcus 1
13 Marko 1
14 Pont 1
15 Rob 1
16 Roberto Marques 1
17 Souleur 1
18 Steampunk 1
19 Andy 0
20 Brett 0
21 Cyclops 0
22 Jarvis 0
23 John 0
24 Scott 0
25 Hawkeye 0
Roadslave gets the Yellow Jersey. Improvising the rules on the other jerseys, I’m adopting those of the Tour and giving all three to Roadslave. But, since he can’t wear them all, they cascade down.
Roadslave: Yellow
Joe: Green
Crossy: Spotted Jumper
@Hawkeye
Another dot smock pick for Levi? I’m beginning to think I made the wrong pick (who did I pick again?)
I’m with you one-hundo pocent on Tyler. It’s his year and the doosh is really the only guy I can’t pick due to bias. That and the cobbles are going to rattle his shitty rotten teeth out of his ginormous head, falling to the road and causing riders to puncture which will result in another mass pile-up and a two-minute protest delay on stage 4.
Oh, and welcome to the posting end of Velominati.
This guy is an absolute beast!
@Steampunk
I love that when the bozos from the UCI were scanning his bike after the prologue he told them they’d better scan him because that’s where the motor is. Booyah!
@Marko
Yeah: he’s pissed about all this and he showed it today. “The engine, that’s me.” Love it!
@Steampunk Another guy out there appears to be pissed too. Having picked him #1, I hope reporters and commentators hound him all the way to Paris.
@Joe: “The ‘Unit’ Grimpeurs are going to cockblock each other and Grimp Jr won’t be able to pull out enough in the mountains to make up for his inevitable wet blouse TT. I’d argue the Grimp Sr looks stronger this year anyway….
Cadel is too fat to climb and is going to get touched by too many random french photojournalists. I predict a meltdown.”
I missed this before. Good stuff, Joe! Surely Cadel’s startled-sissy-shriek when the journalist lightly touched his shoulder in the 08 TdF and his subsequent sissy-slap of the journalist’s hand has to be in the top ten list of the most bizarre moments in bicycle racing.
Title of a Cyclingnews article: “Andy Schleck furious over Tour prologue ride.” There’s some bad, bad mojo brewing at Saxo Bank.
@Rob, are shitting that Andy and Frank sleep together in the same bed? What’s that about?
“Wiggins, meanwhile, was forced to look for the positives. “The prologue is insignificant in the three weeks,” he said. “You can lose seconds here, but the difference is going to be minutes in three weeks.” “I didn’t want to chance anything,” added Wiggins. “I said all along the prologue wasn’t the be all and end all for me, so I’m just pleased to have got round in one piece.”
Heh. Heaayahh. Wiggins is so doomed.
Come on, where is everybody? The first day of the TdF and no one is posting. Fuck.
It’s all over… Lance will win. Oh shit, sorry, thought I was Phil or Paul or some cocksucker on the cyclingnews forums…
@brett Heah. Only your hatred will destroy him.
COTHO’s latest non-denial was another virtual admission of guilt in my books. Landis comes up with a specific and detailed story of doping during a particular day during a particular tour – and presumably that would mean a particular hour of that day. Surely surely someone within the COTHO Organisation would be able to go back over that day to piece together exactly where COTHO was at all times during that day? Couldn’t be that hard and it would cut the story to shreds. Of course if there was a vacant hour or two during that particular day…
It’a like clue! It was COTHO, in the team bus, with the drip bag!
-thanks to Ben for the inpiration on that one
Carnage!
Crashes all over the road!! Chaos! I dread the injury report. Question: Did Cav get shelled or held up by a crash?
@frank
He may have gotten bumped off his line this time and been the indirect cause. That’s what they’re saying the video looks like over at VN
@Marko
Yeah, it’s hard to see on video. Ligget said he went down, but Ligget would just say that because he thinks thats what happened, not that it actually happened.
Petacchi went from way out–looked to me about 400-450 meters–even with Renshaw, Hushovd, and McEwen remaining in that final group. Impressive.
Did Cavendish cause another crash? I couldn’t tell. Taking up the mantle as his defender may prove more taxing than a three-week block of interval training.
@David….looks like I’ll be your lead out man for that unenviable task. Still, neither Farrar or Hushovd covered themselves in glory either….
Great day in the sunshine – I’d like to think Eddy was telling Spartacus to tear it up over the cobbles.
Speaking of cool though, how the hell did little Perez stay with Boom and Wynants for so long!? HTFU indeedy.
Happy 4th July all, I’m off out to continue working on Sunstroke and alcohol poisoning….
Does ‘being in yellow’ mean that when I go out riding in the ‘real’ world, I can legitimately wear a yellow jersey without being in violation of Rule #16? Or only when reading or posting on line?
Despite Twiggo’s poor prologue… a good start for the Brits: go Geraint and Millar
@roadslave
Millar is one of my absolute favorites. I was really gunning for him at Flanders.
And no, you cannot wear Yellow without violation in the real world. Of course.
@all
Polkadots stays with Roadslave today and thus falls to Joe; Steampunk, the first to pick Hushovd, takes Green today.
Cheers!
Sweetness. It’s not easy being green. Hopefully, Hushovd will be given free rein on Tuesday.
@Marko
Well, after reviewing the footage a number of times, Cavendouche went down for sure. In fact, the little twatwaffle is the one who caused it. Seems he just didn’t know where the road went; as they round the bend, he goes straight and shoulders into what looks like a Cervelo rider and eventually they all go down.
It’ll be interesting to watch the blame game and see if he spits on anyone again.
@Steampunk
Are you going to change your screenname to “Kermitpunk”?
@frank
Yep: he went into Hunt. Another Cervelo rider.
@frank
No. Why would I do that?
I assume most of you were watching on VS. – they had in-car audio from Brian Holm (HTC D.S.) and he said “You can go 90% top speed through that last turn”. But, I guess considering Cavendouche’s top speed is 110% of everyone else and he’s terrible at math, he just couldn’t figure it out. Again, Rule #59.
Rule #59a: HOLD YOUR LEASH. http://nos.nl/video/169582-valpartij-in-tour-door-hond.html
Also, that last pileup was INSANE. See, I could make mention of how many dudes where piled up on Faboo, but I’m not gonna. Not. gonna.
@Kermitpunk
++1
@ben
I guess Millar still loves his Zipp 808’s. Looks like he’s riding some unlabeled one in that footage.
Is it wrong of me to feel worse for the dog than I do for the riders?
Umm. Out riding?
@frank Here we go again. Blame Cavendish because he speaks his mind and looks like a hobbit. Even though it’s the American Independence Day, I’ll set down my flags, hotdogs, and beer for a moment and defend Le Grand sprinteur. Here’s what happened. The rider behind Mark is on his left, and actually putting his front wheel into MCav’s rear wheel with a force vector running from the outside to the inside of the turn. To avoid going down, Mark very deftly steers to the left to counteract the force on his rear wheel. That’s why it appears MCav doesn’t know the corner is actually a 120 degree turn and just takes the standard line for a 90 degree turn. Of course he can see everyone in front of him taking a line for 120 degree turn. What do you think he had his eyes closed?! The best sprinter in the world just misses the fact that 10 guys in front of him are taking a line for a 120 degree turn? Impossible. Unfortunately, the riders behind MC Avenuerash weren’t paying attention and missed the fact that Mark was maneuvering to avoid crashing. They blithely held their lines, and in so doing, ended up on the pavement. It’s their own fault, clearly.
And let this unfortunate episode be a lesson to you Rule Holists. The riders behind MC should have violated Rule #59 in this situation. The mindless, rule-following zombies got knocked on their butts and out of contention for the stage. It’s about doing what you have to do to win the race.