Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de Suisse

A big man playing where little men frolic. Photo: Sirotti

The Tour de Suisse is the last warm-up race prior to the Tour, and the last chance to test your form. As far as Tour rivalries go, we typically see one rival choose the Dauphiné and one la Suisse; it’s unpleasant to ruffle your feathers too much with a pre-Tour head-to-head, you see.

While the Dauphiné has the benefit of previewing some of the Tour’s stages in a race situation, the Tour de Suisse has the benefit of including the only thing more sinister than cobbled bergs: a cobbled mountain pass. This road also holds the distinction of being the only one where I feel more sympathy for the road layers than I do the riders.

Aside from rivals and masochism, the key factors determining which race to ride have to do with the timing of the peak: this race features a full week later in the calendar than does the Dauphiné, and based on the Tour’s parcours and rhythm of the rider’s season, this race may have better timing. But in any case, as with the Critérium, the effort is a dangerous gamble: ride too hard and you could fire off the Guns enter the Tour with little more than starter pistols. Balance, balance.

So, as the Dauphiné winds down, it’s time to start thinking about Suisse, our last VSP before le Tour. Get your picks in by 5am Pacific on Saturday morning. Same drill as usual: Being a week-long stage race, the points on offer are 7 for first, 5 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth, with the usual allotment of bonus points for getting the rider right but the place wrong. Also, there are no rest days, so no rest day swaps, but we will have our usual approach for riders who drop out. Piti Principle applies as always. Also review the guide, being careful to note that the rules have changed a bit this year, and we may not have completely updated the guide yet, so if there’s a question, ask.

May Merckx be with you all.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

sgt says:

Jun 16 2011 at 9:37 am

@frank, @RedRanger

I don't like their mtb gruppos, but I know a lot of dudes love their road gruppos (is it gruppos or gruppe?) I'll stick with my Campy, thanks.

Chapeau to the young Dutchman Kruijswijk today, and very sorry to hear about Soler. Does anyone else think Levi could've gotten a little more time back on Cunego if he'd gone a little sooner? I mean Il Piccolo Principe looked fine today, but other than one attack, he didn't really fire the guns. And what's up with Frankie? No stones... I guess everyone's saving it for July.

Tomorrow's it, if no one attacks it's Cunego's race.
Karolinka says:

Jun 16 2011 at 10:00 am

@RedRanger

@frank
I have hears horrible things about SRAM products but great things about their customer service.

(snicker)
You funny guy, RR.

Too bad u mention something techy I have OPINIONS (insert usual "my opinion only" disclaimer here) about, to detriment of all I will now WRITE. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Got a couplea friends work directly for Shimano; been a few SRAM products that've fit me like a glove for some reason; man do I get an earful when they show up on my ride.

I don't pay attention to advertising, guess I don't spend much time reading about riding... other than couple of BB's/Blogs w/no advertising. See what ppl are using, ask about it, try it. So I'm not brainwashed. I don't think.

Heard plenty of crap about crappiness of SRAM, I got no reason to dispute 'coz my personal sample pool is tiny.

What I DO like: they think in a different box (sometimes moreso, sometimes less) than Reigning Component Co.s.

They TRY shit. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. That's good for us all (the trying diff things part, that is). Which I guess would be my main point.

If you rode mtb back in the day, remember Gripshift? Early versions sucked. After they tuned it up, vs. other top of line stuff of the day, I loved it. For some reason it fit my brain. Never had any particular problems with it; worked spot on for me. Now, of course, it would be like rocks and sticks.

Currently have 2009 Force, except Dura Ace calipers, cog set. Dunno what it is, I like what lotsa ppl hate about the levers' shifting action. It's... organic. (yeah, that means inexact, if u don't like it!). Took a couplea rides, but then it slid into some spot in my brain that it connects with, better than equiv. equipment of Reiging Component Co.s.

I hope this is not too tangential to the current conversation, as the door was opened by RR.

I enjoy letting the ppls know about things that have worked, for their own digestion.

I thought talking RE. myself was relevant since my opinion is based on my experience.

Et finis.
Alpin says:

Jun 16 2011 at 10:02 am

it seems more than serious for Soler..

"Affected by crashes on several occasions during his pro career, Team Movistar's Maurico Soler has once again experienced bad luck and has crashed out of the Tour de Suisse.
"
Now in english language from VeloNation

PS: He now has been subjected to an artificial coma...friggin' bad luck ...
Alpin says:

Jun 16 2011 at 10:04 am

Soler's Crash(ed) Link
sgt says:

Jun 16 2011 at 10:23 am

@Alpin
Man that's bad news... I like Soler, he's a scrapper, and he's had more than his fair share of bad luck. Plus I'm partial to big guys that can climb, too...
Buck Rogers says:

Jun 16 2011 at 10:53 am

Frank: As much as I would love to have 4 points, I should only have one point. I am getting three points for having A Schleck in 4th place (it's misreading him as Frank).
Buck Rogers says:

Jun 16 2011 at 10:55 am

@Alpin
This is not good. Skull fx with reported cerebral edema. Even if he recovers, looking at having some mTBI. Rough year for cycling so far. Prayers to him and his family.
Netraam says:

Jun 16 2011 at 12:53 pm

@Buck Rogers
It was a news article on some site. I can only get the last hour or so live, IF I have the time.

And it is way more serious than I thought. I feel bad about commenting with a joke.
G'phant says:

Jun 16 2011 at 1:16 pm

@Buck Rogers
Yes to all that. Bummed for Soler and his family.
sgt says:

Jun 16 2011 at 1:37 pm

Here's the latest on Soler. Dear God. Prayers and positive vibes going his way.

@Netraam
Don't beat yourself up. Light a candle and/or do whatever else to send him good sensations, then get on your bike.

Shit like this should put our individual gripes about wheel-sucking MAMIL's, nod-snobs, component preferences etc., etc., etc. in perspective.