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

minion says:

Jun 10 2011 at 9:08 pm

Yee haw, I'm going to curse the other people who have picked the same riders as me with my profound inability to pick a VSP winner if my life depended on it.

VSP PICKS:

1. F Schleck
2. Ryder He don't stall
3. Can E Go? Hell no!
4. Chavanel
5. Di Luca
pakrat says:

Jun 10 2011 at 9:53 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Frank Schleck
2. Kloden
3. Andy Schleck
4. Ryder
5. TJ
Nate says:

Jun 10 2011 at 9:56 pm

@xyxax
You should get a bonus point just for submitting something.

VSP PICKS:

1. Schleck le vieux
2. O, Hesjdahl
3. P. Velits
4. Mollema
5. Klodey
G'phant says:

Jun 10 2011 at 10:28 pm

VSP PICKS:

2. Nation's Weight Rider
3. Siverman Shaved-and-All
4. Shcleck Senior
5. Loopy Leipy
G'phant says:

Jun 10 2011 at 10:29 pm

This time...

VSP PICKS:

1. Nation's Weight Rider
2. Shaven All
3. Schleck Senior
4. Shcleck Senior
5. Fabulosity
frank says:

Jun 10 2011 at 10:42 pm

Steampunk:
Dr C:

By the way, (new to VSP obviously), do I get any bonus points if Cav takes out half the peleton again this year?

Won't happen, according to Cav himself. He tweeted this about an hour ago:

Just saw race handbook for #TourDeSuisse. No chance of another..ahem..mishap between Haussler & myself. BECAUSE THERE'S NO FUCKING SPRINTS.

This isn't the place for this, but it's really starting to annoy me that people can't keep their tense straight anymore. It's "BECAUSE THERE ARE NO FUCKING SPRINTS."

@minion

There is no conundrum with cables. Campagnolo cables are the best there is. They're made to work with your shifters.Set, forget and know they work.

You too, Minion. Campa cables are the best there are.

That aside, @Ron - just get Campa cables. They are way mo' bettah.

VSP PICKS:

1. Grimpelder
2. Grimplette
3. Ryder on the Storm
4. Kloden
5. Eggtimer
Nate says:

Jun 10 2011 at 10:58 pm

@frank
Proper pedantry, please. Those are not verb tense errors, they are conjugation errors.

In any event, if you expect the Queen's English from the Manx Mouth, you will be disappointed.

VSP PICKS:

1. Schleck le vieux
2. O, Hesjdahl
3. P. Velits
4. Mollema
5. Klodey
Jeff in PetroMetro says:

Jun 10 2011 at 11:00 pm

@Steampunk
+1

VSP PICKS:

1. Andy Schleck
2. Ryder Hesjedal
3. Frank Schleck
4. Tejay Van Garderen
5. Andreas Kloden
LA Dave says:

Jun 10 2011 at 11:22 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Kloden
2. Hesjedal
3. Frank Schleck
4. Levi
5. Andy Schleck
Oldschooly says:

Jun 10 2011 at 11:29 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. F. Schleck
2. C. Chavanel
3. Hesjdahl
4. Kloden
5. Sagan