Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de Suisse 2016
We are opening the rolling metal door to the VSP generator and warming it up for this weekend’s start of the Tour de Suisse. As usual, the big hitters of the Tour are riding the Dauphine; I should be more excited about that race but, yawn, not so much. The Swiss tour is longer, more climbing, generally a more awesome race and with any luck they will climb the Passo San Gottardo. The Swiss don’t fool around with their roads, tunnels or cows. Here is your start list.
OK, everyone knows the drill here. Delgado-ing is right out, this starts on Saturday, you have been warned. Prizes, rules, go to the VSP pages for the specifics.
[vsp_results id=”47525″/]
VSP PICKS:
Dang, almost missed it!
VSP PICKS:
VSP PICKS:
VSP PICKS:
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VSP PICKS:
DAMMIT, how short of a pick window was that?!?!?!!?
FUCK.
@VbyV
A couple of days or so…..
@Minnesota Expat
My name is also Jon Izagirre and I’m riding the Morgarten memorial in Baar tomorrow (amateur event organized by the Tour de Suisse). I was hoping the organizers would get confused and give me VIP treatment, but no luck so far :-(
@Jon
If I’d known that, I would have picked you for my VSP! Are you riding any of the amateur stage rides at the Tour this summer?
@Minnesota Expat
Nice! There are a few of us who didn’t pick G for the win and went with Izagirre instead. Always feel like that guy is on the brink of something amazing, so really hoping he decides to stamp his authority on the race – otherwise if G wins, I’m going to plummet in the standings.
arghh… Delgado’d
@Teocalli
GRRR. I was actively looking for it, but somehow I still managed to miss it. I got lucky with some early picks and I’m up in the standings. Hurts to miss a whole selection. DAMN DAMN DAMN!
Busy at work and a screaming baby at home. Delgado’ed this race. Shitdamnit.
Oh, and the Copa and the Euro Cup and the Dauphine and trying to find time to ride didn’t help.
Get used to it, bud.
@Oli
Ha! Oli means this in a good way! Kids are addicting! They sure take over your life but most definitely in a great way!!!
@Buck Rogers
Mostly. Sometimes.
@RobSandy
Agree.
Addicting when they want you take them out on super long rides.
or side with you in discussions relating to N+1 or other bike related expenditure.
Less so when they tell you that they’re ready for school neglecting to say that whilst they’ve got their shoes on their socks are in their pocket and they’re still looking for their blazer which they haven’t actually seen since Friday afternoon when it was a goal post.
or leave your track pump at a race.
or strip the threads on their brothers MTB’s cranks; one side because they’ve got the wrong pedal and the other one because they they’ve then picked up the other pedal to try the other side.
Pinchy wins today again. Did not have him in my top 5, am getting worried here.
And he’s leading now, wearing the yellow jersey although I prefer the worldchamp’s white. There should be some hierarchy here.
So much for the Curse, eh??? Dude fucking KILLED it with CLASS!!! The Man has certainly honoured this jersey so far this season!
@Buck Rogers
Also in a be realistic way; if you think it’s going to be all free time and fun, fun, fun, your expectations are too high, and frustration and trapped feelings will ensue. Far better to understand early that your life is now not your own, and that being busy will be the norm – I believe this keeps you much happier in the long run.
@Buck Rogers
massive V to leave the reduced bunch on the final climb and bridge solo to Albisini and Dillier, who were driving to the line together, then unsuccessfully attack them, and have to ride them in, and take the win.
@KogaLover
Don’t worry, Switzerland has some big arse mountains & I don’t see him revisiting last year’s ToC efforts with le Grande Boucle just around the corner.
@Buck Rogers
Also, how much better is it to see a rider who actually looks like an athlete (e.g. has an upper body) compared the frail birds of the GC classification who look like they’d snap if they were caught out by an unexpected gust of wind?
I know he’s still tiny in comparison to your rugby & football types, but much like Tornado Tom in 2012 at P-R, it’s good to see some upper body definition on a rider.
What a pleasure to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TTEaB-TJec
So what was going on with Van Poppel today?
The video shows an amazing save on the final corner but it had started as they came into it.
There’s a photo of his bike with the back wheel rearing up into the air and that’s what causes him to then go wide – did he just jam on the front brake too hard?
In which case it’s a bit harder to credit him with amazing bike skills.
@Oli
If kiddo’s don’t make their parents smile/laugh at least once a day then the parents are not paying attn.
Now… for the kids sharing the love of the bike… having to maintain three mtn bikes over a race season? Let’s just say that the bikes haven’t been kept as spotless and perfect as when it was just my bike needing maintained. But that’s okay. I consider myself a lucky father. Cheers
@Buck Rogers
wow wow wow… much delayed flight at airport right now, go to steephill, watch the last km’s video and what a stud. Just imagine what in the world Alabasini was thinking ? I’m gonna hold him off with my sprint at the end? Just making it respectable. Killed it with class is right. Over the top, descent, catch ’em, pull ’em and out sprint ’em.
@Randy C
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE having kids! I’ve got three beautiful sons (and was a solo dad for a couple of years when my two eldest were around 5 and 3), and not a day has passed in their lives that I have regretted it or wished I didn’t have them, and our laughs and fun times are a massive part of that.
BUT, my point is that it’s also not easy no matter how many smiles and/or laughs you’re having. Being a good parent is no ride on the boulevard, as I’m sure you’re aware. Definitely the toughest but easily the best job I’ve ever had.
@Pali65
From a bit further out you can see how the teams have set themselves up.
@ChrisO
nah, amazing skills, comes into the corner too hot and has the door closed on him, grabs a bit much – but the key is he doesn’t drop it, and nice to see smooth barriers at this race rather than fences.
I guess you could say he should have read the road book, checked the corner etc but they were all smokin’ fullgas and I thought he handled the bike pretty well
@ChrisO
The way I read it was if he had not done that them all 3 would have been on the deck as he was chopped coming into the bend.
Oops!
To clarify – I am stuck…….or IAM stuck……..
@piwakawaka
Well this adds some spice to the incident……
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/riders-arms-danny-van-poppel-relegated-tour-de-suisse-233466?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social
@Teocalli
I wonder if it’s the same driver that got one of the team buses stuck under the finish gantry on a Giro(?) stage a few years ago?
@chris
Orica Green-Edge at the TdeF.
So first mountain stage today – expecting it all to kick off and the favourites to emerge?
Must be a tricky one – there are only 3 mountain days so if you have a bad day today your Tour could be over.
@Oli
Wise words indeed. It is the smiles and laughs, and hopefully a long lifetime’s worth, that pay off for the hard work. Cheers!
@Buck Rogers
From the sublime to the piss poor, how bad are the leader’s jerseys?
@Teocalli
That sucks! They should have given him a friggin’ medal for bike handling skillz. How he stayed upright and didn’t cause a major pile up is a miracle. The speed they went into the corner was incredible.
Somehow I can’t understand the logic why they decided to put such a sharp and narrow corner so close to the finish. It is clear that leading riders will risk everything to gain even small advantage in the final push. I doubt the common sense of those in charge. What were they thinking? Was this some intentional test of riding skills in full speed or what?
Apropos of abso-fucking-lutely nothing, this needs a place on the V site somewhere.
So my steephill.tv feed just tried to tell me it had an urgent Firefox update from eeyah dot fuckbox dot com. Watch out for that! That’s worse than a sharp curve 150 meters from the line.
And FUCK! Who knew that there were two Izaguirres in the race! My VSP pick is for Jon, not Gorka (if it comes down to mattering at all)!!!
@Buck Rogers
I was thinking exactly the same thing!
@Erik
It’s really nice to have your computer worked on and when the tech gives you that look of “You were watching porn, weren’t you?” and you can stare him down with a look of “Nope, pirated feeds of adult men riding bicycles in Lycra.” Admittedly, it’s probably more socially acceptable to be doing the former…