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.

Next William Fotheringham: Racing Hard »

Previous « Festum Prophetae: The Impossible Hour

View Comments

strathlubnaig says:

Jun 15 2013 at 11:18 am

Attaboy Giblets taking 3rd spot today.
Buck Rogers says:

Jun 15 2013 at 11:22 am

Just need Tejay and Martin to move up a few spots (as well as Kreuziger as well--one can dream, right) in the ITT tomorrow and I'll be in the money!
strathlubnaig says:

Jun 16 2013 at 8:52 am

@Buck Rogers

Just need Tejay and Martin to move up a few spots (as well as Kreuziger as well-one can dream, right) in the ITT tomorrow and I'll be in the money!

not a bad result then for you.
Tobin says:

Jun 16 2013 at 9:58 am

Costa laid down some hurt today - great win for him, not so much for my VSP.
frank says:

Jun 17 2013 at 11:24 am

Final standings updated - sorry, I was offline most of the day yesterday. Dr. C had the lucky charms and takes the win! Strong work!

And I repeat:

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.

Final Race Results
1. DA COSTA, Rui

2. MOLLEMA Bauke

3. KREUZIGER Roman

4. PINOT Thibaut

5. FRANK Mathias

Final VSP Results
1. Dr C (17 points)

2. tony macaroni (12 points)

3. NoTubes (12 points)

4. Skip (11 points)

5. razmaspaz (10 points)

6. dancollins (10 points)

7. ChrisO (10 points)

8. Steampunk (9 points)

9. mlambert1us (7 points)

10. Giles (7 points)

11. Lukas (7 points)

12. Chica (7 points)

13. xyxax (7 points)

14. freddy (6 points)

15. the Engine (5 points)

16. asyax (5 points)

17. Mike_P (5 points)

18. Mikael Liddy (4 points)

19. LA Dave (4 points)

20. Nero (4 points)

21. coquito (4 points)

22. Adrian (4 points)

23. napolinige (4 points)

24. eenies (4 points)

25. erik (4 points)

26. Duende (4 points)

27. sprider (4 points)

28. motor city (4 points)

29. efguerrero (2 points)

30. unversio (2 points)

31. Bianchi Denti (2 points)

32. Buck Rogers (2 points)

33. pakrat (2 points)

34. strathlubnaig (2 points)

35. chrismurphy92 (2 points)

36. sthilzy (2 points)

37. Two Ball Billy (2 points)

38. CanuckChuck (2 points)

39. scaler911 (2 points)

40. San Tonio (2 points)

41. niksch (2 points)

42. gino (2 points)

43. TOM.NELS2120 (2 points)

44. Daccordi Rider (2 points)

45. torrefie (2 points)

46. Simon (2 points)

47. anotherdownunder (2 points)

48. V-olcano (2 points)

49. HeinrichHausslersHairstyle (2 points)

50. seemunkee (2 points)

51. RedRanger (2 points)

52. mouse (2 points)

53. VeloVita (2 points)

54. TomC (2 points)

55. gladoe (2 points)

56. snoov (2 points)

57. mbarston (2 points)

58. Tobin (2 points)

59. MJ Moquin (2 points)

60. harminator (2 points)

61. Rigid (2 points)

62. Smithers (2 points)

63. Facetious_Jesus (2 points)

64. Nate (2 points)

65. wiscot (2 points)

66. Jay (2 points)

67. VirenqueForever (2 points)

68. Smithers (2 points)

69. leadout (2 points)

70. ramenvelo (2 points)

71. TBONE (0 points)

72. taon24 (0 points)

73. Fins (0 points)

74. piwakawaka (0 points)

75. Bat Chainpullet (0 points)

76. Sauterelle (0 points)

77. Yannersan (0 points)

78. jeyrod (0 points)

79. il ciclista medio (0 points)

80. Deakus (0 points)

81. Don Amedo (0 points)

82. JohnB (0 points)

83. SimonH (0 points)

84. simonsaunders (0 points)

85. Dan_R (0 points)

86. V-inden (0 points)

87. oneninefiveninesix (0 points)

88. eightzero (0 points)

89. Heihachi (0 points)

90. starclimber (0 points)

91. brett (0 points)
wiscot says:

Jun 17 2013 at 11:33 am

Spectacularly bad picks. Must. Try. Harder.
sprider says:

Jun 17 2013 at 5:09 pm

Hmm, it appears I need a refresher on point accumulation for this race...I.e., how many points for picking winner, how many extra points for selecting riders who end up in top 5, regardless off order...

I only get 4 points for picking Costa to win and having Mollema and Pinot in my top 5?
Mikael Liddy says:

Jun 17 2013 at 5:55 pm

@sprider Here's where you need to look for the scoring guide, what it sounds like has happened is your Costa pick has been mapped incorrectly (as you'll see Frank allude to above, it happened to a few people). If that's the case use the dispute button next to his name in your picks.
Mikael Liddy says:

Jun 17 2013 at 5:56 pm

It's nice to see the name in the top 20, although the shine comes off it somewhat when you see that you only scored 4 points!
Steampunk says:

Jun 17 2013 at 6:19 pm

@Mikael Liddy

A bit like watching Van Garderen destroy the field in the first half of the TT (and therefore be in position to net me more points) only to totally blow up going uphill. Not a good sign for the TdF, unless he's better when he has company. Meanwhile, his teammate also lays an egg and lets Costa knock him off the top spot. I would have been sitting pretty if Frank had held on and Van Garderen finished as strong as he started. Heigh-ho...