Velominati Super Prestige: Vuelta a España 2012

Nibbles wins the 2010 edition of the Vuelta. Photo: Cyclesport Mag

One of the loveliest things about the Grand Tours is that you get a feel, by the nature of the route, of the country’s landscape and physical qualities. Italy is littered with mountains and coasts, France is bordered by mountains with large swaths of open landscape throughout, and Spain is like Tatooine; mostly desert with some rocky outcroppings. I might be oversimplifying here, but it seems like every edition of the Vuelta features a week or two of riders cutting through open desert on a freeway and then finishing it off with some climbs that require a buzz-saw gear to get up. Of the three Tours, this one is my least favorite, but it’s a bike race and I loves me a bike race.

The Vuelta also stands apart as being the event which generally decides the Velominati Super Prestige GC and the personalized Shop Apron that goes with it; in past editions, we’ve even had newcomers to the event debut at the Vuelta and win the overall, as was the case last year with @Nate’s performance. Unless I have that wrong, in which case I don’t really care. The important point here is that even though there is less interest in this event than others, it matters quite a bit to the year-long VSP, so you better be paying attention, corporal.

No fancy prizes on offer as we did at the Tour, but we do have our customary Symbol Pack up for grabs, in addition to second and third places winning a pair of Handlebar Cufflinks each when they come available in a few weeks. So, check the race details, get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero (5am Pacific time on Saturday), and buckle in for the ride. Regular GT VSP rules apply. Good luck.

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

Matt says:

Aug 16 2012 at 11:33 am

I don't know about anyone else, but I miss that HTC kit. Sure looks like class to me!

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Froome
3. Jurgen VDB
4. Krueziger
5. Igor Anton
San Tonio says:

Aug 16 2012 at 11:40 am

A couple changes here

VSP PICKS:

1. A. Contador
2. De Gendt
3. J. Rod
4. Froome
5. Van den Broeck
scaler911 says:

Aug 16 2012 at 11:48 am

As much as I hate to say it, Clenbutador is going to win by a huge margin. He's the new "angry stomach"

VSP PICKS:

1. el Pistolero
2. J Rod
3. Gesink
4. Zommy Froomy
5. Duran Duran
unversio says:

Aug 16 2012 at 12:44 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Alberto 'Mr. Fabulous' Contador
2. Joaquin 'Blue Lou' Rodriguez Oli
3. Alejandro 'The Colonel' Valverde
4. Johan 'Too Big' Van Summeren
5. Antonio 'Bones' Piedra Perez
Dashiell says:

Aug 16 2012 at 12:59 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Contadorrrrr
2. Froome
3. Purito
4. JVDB
5. Boom
Bianchi Denti says:

Aug 16 2012 at 1:25 pm

Even without an analysis from @ChrisO, I can see pretty much the same 5 or 6 riders in almost all picks. Maybe it will come down to whoever selects the correct outsider.

Based on this logic, Capecchi is going to win me an apron! So Eros replaces the crashing carrot.

Or it could be Mollema by the time picks close. Or Gadret. Or Jerome Pineau. Or...

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Purito
3. Froome
4. Uran
5. Capecchi
Grant Henninger says:

Aug 16 2012 at 1:45 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Talansky
4. Purito
5. Van Den Broeck
taon24 says:

Aug 16 2012 at 1:46 pm

Contador cannot not win this. He has targeted this as the only GT he can win this year. Last year he won the Giro, while waiting to find out he could ride the tour. Ultimately he lost the tour to Cadel due to the Giro, a crash early on and DQ.

Froome was awesome at the tour, but rode the tour.

Rodriguez was the best climber at the Giro and has had time off to be competitive.

VDB was a real contender at the Tour, but was unlucky on the stage that finished at la Planche des belles filles and was poor in the TTs, this shouldn't disadvantage him relative to J Rod though, but with the tour in his legs I can't see him on the podium really.

De Gendt as an outside pick for 5th place. He had a reasonable Giro and showed himself to be strong in the mountains.

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Froome
3. Rodriguez
4. Van den Broeck
5. De Gendt
Simon says:

Aug 16 2012 at 1:47 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Froome
2. Contador
3. Cobo
4. J-Rod
5. Uran
TommyTubolare says:

Aug 16 2012 at 2:09 pm

@frank

Hey Frankie nice choice of the article photo.Loved those Cannondales with Campagnolo 11 before Liquigas moved to Sram.