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

Brett says:

Jun 19 2011 at 2:59 pm

@Blah

Agreed, that incident was the beginning of the ugly side of Fabio for me.
Buck Rogers says:

Jun 19 2011 at 3:01 pm

I imagine that my incredibly poor showing here at the Tour de Suisse VSP is karmic pennance for running (yes, ugh, running) a mountain ultra marathon yesterday. Now not only am I in great pain, I also did not score a single bloody point in the tds vsp. Amazing how life works! Time to get out there and ride my running pain away!
Marcus says:

Jun 19 2011 at 3:59 pm

@Pedale.Forchetta

Before the Tour de Suisse, Cunego was not even considered for the podium,instead he proved otherwise.Of course there is something a bit bitter to swallow now but I think,he should be happy for his overall performance, I am.

@Blah

ramenvelo:"What can I say? It's a time trial, I gave it 100 percent as I usually do and I won," said Cancellara.I don't like the man for some reason, I just can't put my finger on it...

Still smarting from an episode in a tour a few years back in which Cadel drove a break for five or so kay up a hill, noone else taking any turns. So he does all of the work establishing a lead, and a bunch of guys bridge, Cancellara among them, and he demands Cadel goes back to the peleton. Stopped others working, which they were by that time. And this was at a time when everyone hit Cadel for never attacking. Showed what happens when he does, and showed a side of Cancellara that's a bit ugly.

Cadel's attack that day probably ranked in the Top 10 Most Pointless and Doomed Attacks in Tour History. The escape was never going to get away with Cuddles involved. But Faboo still had no right to tell him to leave...

@frank
Speaking of Il Piccolo Principe, given his subsequent career, Canthego's year that he won the Giro (and Lomabardy and a few others as I recall?) against a bunch of very suspect riders does raise the potential that the temporary tattoo was temporary for a reason. On the COTHO Presumed Guilt Principle (dominating against confirmed dopers), Cunego would almost have to have been on the juice? His subsequent lack of performances in 3 week races supports this flimsy hypothesis further.

But I am glad I included him in my picks. And Cuddles always seems to ride well against him.
Dr C says:

Jun 19 2011 at 4:08 pm

Poor Cunego - after that amazing bridge and descent to Grindelwald - nice to see the MJ being aggressive instead of conservative - he deserved better

Makes me think Wiggo might just do something in the TdF if he's not too stuffed by the time he needs to TT

Glad that tour VSP is over, next time I'll not go for a points accumulation by stage policy - doh!

Bring on Letour
sgt says:

Jun 21 2011 at 3:38 pm

Not sure if you all saw this, but some good news re; Soler. Hope this is followed by more.
dr c says:

Jun 22 2011 at 1:24 am

Good news indeed - mind you, it's been a long time coming - being out of it for that length of time doesn't augur well for a future return to racing - thoughts with him, suspect it will be a slow recovery, but fingers crossed for a full one in time
sgt says:

Feb 20 2012 at 1:36 pm

More good news for Juan Mauricio Soler. Whether he ever turns a pedal in anger again doesn't really matter at this point.