Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de Suisse 2013

Descending the Nufenenpass photo:(KEYSTONE/Jean-Christophe Bott)

The mighty VSP generator has been switched on once again. The mil-spec hydraulic fluid has been changed since the Giro. A new power take-off belt has also been installed. And the punch card reader has been refurbished.

Broome and Berti are already riding the Critérium du Dauphiné. The top contenders prefer the Dauphiné for the decent recovery allowed between it and the Tour. The Tour de Suisse provides a chance for everyone else to prove they are worthy to make their Tour team or they are lieutenants who actually would like to win this Swiss tour before they have to work for their Tour de France team leader, who will falter and then they will assume the leadership, the understudy, as it were. No, did I say Cadel’s name? I did not.

Fabian Cancellara is in, he is a past winner of the Tour de Suisse, like Francesco Moser is a past winner of the Giro. Two Passitas if there ever were, winning mountainous stage races of their home countries. Vlad Karpets won the Tour de Suisse in 2007! What does this mean? It means picking the winner of this race could put you in a spot of bother is what it means. Some are riding to gain fitness, some are not riding too hard to keep fitness and some are racing to win because they have no chance of winning the Big One just weeks later. Clarity on this issue is only achievable from the correct reading of chicken bones stirred with monkey paw, or a life of purity.

This race begins on Saturday so don’t mess around. The provisional start list is here. This is a stage race but not a grand tour so the winner’s prize is not as grand, but the bragging rights are.

[vsp_results id=”23918″/]

Gianni

Gianni has left the building.

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View Comments

frank says:

Jun 14 2013 at 9:41 am

@HeinrichHausslersHairstyle

Heinrich DOWN! Bruises, multiple wounds, fractured pelvis, fractured hip...hair messed up.

Brilliant...aside from the injury...
freddy says:

Jun 14 2013 at 9:52 am

@Frank I think Mollema is 5th overall
frank says:

Jun 14 2013 at 9:58 am

@freddy Right you are.

Provisional Race Results
1. FRANK Mathias

2. DA COSTA, Rui

3. KREUZIGER Roman

4. PINOT Thibaut

5. MOLLEMA Bauke

Provisional VSP Standings
1. Steampunk (15 points)

2. freddy (12 points)

3. NoTubes (12 points)

4. Dr C (11 points)

5. Skip (11 points)

6. LA Dave (10 points)

7. erik (10 points)

8. strathlubnaig (8 points)

9. mouse (8 points)

10. mlambert1us (7 points)

11. Giles (7 points)

12. Lukas (7 points)

13. xyxax (7 points)

14. asyax (5 points)

15. Nero (5 points)

16. Adrian (5 points)

17. Mike_P (5 points)

18. Chica (5 points)

19. the Engine (4 points)

20. Mikael Liddy (4 points)

21. coquito (4 points)

22. napolinige (4 points)

23. eenies (4 points)

24. Duende (4 points)

25. tony macaroni (4 points)

26. sprider (4 points)

27. motor city (4 points)

28. dancollins (4 points)

29. ChrisO (4 points)

30. efguerrero (2 points)

31. unversio (2 points)

32. razmaspaz (2 points)

33. Bianchi Denti (2 points)

34. Buck Rogers (2 points)

35. pakrat (2 points)

36. chrismurphy92 (2 points)

37. sthilzy (2 points)

38. Two Ball Billy (2 points)

39. CanuckChuck (2 points)

40. scaler911 (2 points)

41. San Tonio (2 points)

42. niksch (2 points)

43. gino (2 points)

44. TOM.NELS2120 (2 points)

45. Daccordi Rider (2 points)

46. torrefie (2 points)

47. Simon (2 points)

48. V-olcano (2 points)

49. HeinrichHausslersHairstyle (2 points)

50. seemunkee (2 points)

51. RedRanger (2 points)

52. VeloVita (2 points)

53. TomC (2 points)

54. gladoe (2 points)

55. snoov (2 points)

56. mbarston (2 points)

57. Tobin (2 points)

58. MJ Moquin (2 points)

59. harminator (2 points)

60. Rigid (2 points)

61. Smithers (2 points)

62. Facetious_Jesus (2 points)

63. Nate (2 points)

64. wiscot (2 points)

65. Jay (2 points)

66. VirenqueForever (2 points)

67. Smithers (2 points)

68. leadout (2 points)

69. TBONE (0 points)

70. taon24 (0 points)

71. Fins (0 points)

72. piwakawaka (0 points)

73. Bat Chainpullet (0 points)

74. anotherdownunder (0 points)

75. Sauterelle (0 points)

76. Yannersan (0 points)

77. jeyrod (0 points)

78. il ciclista medio (0 points)

79. Deakus (0 points)

80. Don Amedo (0 points)

81. JohnB (0 points)

82. SimonH (0 points)

83. simonsaunders (0 points)

84. Dan_R (0 points)

85. V-inden (0 points)

86. oneninefiveninesix (0 points)

87. eightzero (0 points)

88. ramenvelo (0 points)

89. Heihachi (0 points)

90. starclimber (0 points)

91. brett (0 points)
xyxax says:

Jun 14 2013 at 12:10 pm

@frank

Steamy takes the lead after a cracker of a stage!

Wait, what? I just called Hell and they report no freezing.
Steampunk says:

Jun 14 2013 at 3:35 pm

@xyxax

Hell has socialized health care: come on in"”the water's fine.

I guess I'm pulling for Frank to maintain the status quo at the top, and for Spilak and Van Garderen to enter the top five after the TT...
Harminator says:

Jun 14 2013 at 6:07 pm

Sensational stage. @all should catch the last 20k if you can.

I even found myself giving Andy a hearty "C'mon!"

Rat pack buries himself! And the banner collapse on the frantic descent?

Crazy stuff!
frank says:

Jun 14 2013 at 6:35 pm

@Harminator

Sensational stage. @all should catch the last 20k if you can.

I even found myself giving Andy a hearty "C'mon!"

Rat pack buries himself! And the banner collapse on the frantic descent?

Crazy stuff!

It was awesome - and yeah, I've put all my Frandy memorabilia up on eBay and Craigslist with a giant "FREE" sign, but seeing Andy ride well again and giving it the berries was great. He rides a bike beautifully. Now, if he can stop with the whinging and all that shit and get around to winning a race...there might be some hope.
mouse says:

Jun 14 2013 at 6:37 pm

@Harminator

yes, I saw that Andy Schleck was only a minute 20 or so back at the finish of the queen stage.

Think what you like about him but that's an encouraging sign.
harminator says:

Jun 14 2013 at 7:01 pm

@mouse

Yep. A good showing for one day. Lets see if he can put a few together including a TT.

And not insignificant that he lost very little on the long, slightly technical descent.
frank says:

Jun 15 2013 at 8:45 am

A further reminder for people disputing your picks; starting with the TDF VSP, it will be your responsibility to verify and dispute your picks through the end of the first stage. After that time, it will be at our discretion as to whether we will honor a dispute.

This is principally for Piti Principle naming of riders with ambiguous names, but will with decide at the time of the dispute as to whether it should have been caught earlier.