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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Great caption to this photograph:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/on-the-startline-in-epernay/129713
@Kermitpunk
If I were a pro, there are three guys I would not want to have angry at me:
3. Faboo: nice chap but I suspect when he turns, it's over.
2. Voigt: common wisdom has it that people cannot be turned into powder spontaneously. Voigt would find a way.
1. Hushovd: he wouldn't even notice that he killed me for a while. He'd just look at me at some point and go, "Oh. Are you dead already?"
@frank
Don't you think the Schlecks'll just bring Faboo and Jens along with them?
As far as the Douche is concerned (I love the new names, but he will always be the Douche to me - I'm a sentimental bloke), no George, and Hansen out early (Chapeau for Hardest on Tour riding out Stage One and pulling it along at the end with a broken collarbone AND sternum!!!) means his train just isn't as good as it was. And the aura of invincibility is long past, so he's not as winning as he was. And he's a douche of supreme douchitude.
@frank
I've been thinking about this for awhile. Sadly, I think this is Saxo's last year in its current iteration, which is a shame. I mean: O'Grady, Jens, Spartacus, Sørensens, Grimpeurs... It's such a great outfit, and there's not one single guy there I don't like. But there is no team from Luxembourg without the Schlecks. If Bjarne is having a tough time finding a sponsor, he may well be happy to jettison some of the bigger names and bank on success from his younger stars. And he has plenty of them. Porte was a revelation at the Giro; Fuglsang is a stud; Breschel is equally impressive. Moving forward, you risk losing these guys if they have to ride for the Schlecks. Bjarne knows young talent and he develops it fairly well. He might have an easier time getting a sponsor to commit less money if the Schlecks have left. Cancellara is more likely to go to BMC, I would think than any new team.
The bigger tragedy in all this is that I can assume this is likely the last Tour for Jens and O'Grady. And with Frank out, I don't see Jens going in any breakaways so that he can conserve energy for Andy. In all, I agree with the sentiments above: I suspect the Schlecks will miss Bjarne more than the other way around. Unless, of course, there is no sponsor and a full-on mutiny takes place.
ARGGGH!! Cavendouche finally gets one. :(
Classic! Quick addendum: Thor would kill you and eat you for breakfast (raw) without even noticing. Don't fuck with the bull from Grimstad.
Impressive, but hardly dominant sprint today"”it was strangely chaotic without any of the trains really getting going. This is probably good for the Tour to have a number of contenders in the race for green. Another good sprint from Hagen; he could be a threat if he keeps pipping Hushovd at the line. And good to see Farrar in the mix; out of form and clearly still a little timid, but at least he went for it. A sign he's on the mend. Whether he decides to hang as they start going uphill or not remains to be seen, but tomorrow's sprint could be fun if everyone's on song.
Speaking of awesome photos you guys should take a look at the photo I submitted to Astana's photo contest last year.
http://cyclosis.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/astana1.gif
Agreed. Lucky duck of the day is Ciolek, who broke right before Cavendish did, with Cav "holding his line" by swerving to his right... right in front of Ciolek. I was much more impressed by EBH. Garmin's lead out might be fast (as evidenced by yesterday) but they need more speed to hold off Renshaw. THOR didn't have a soul going into the last 250 meters... Hoping for another impressive single-day ride from Thor like last year to sew things up.
What a crock of fucking shit.
He rides shit yesterday and you all cane him (rightly). He rides a demon finish today and killed everyone by 6 ft and you still cane him.
All the bollocks about HTFU. Well he HTFU today didn't he? The easiest thing would have been to pull out citing poor form after yesterday. But no, in a huge display of Rule 5 he comes out and wins and it's still not enough.
I understand people not liking him, but credit where it's due. Seriously people, it's a bit too one-eyed right now.