Velominati Super Prestige: Vuelta a España 2014
Did everyone got tired of seeing a nearly naked Marcel Kittel on the massage table for the Tour’s VSP page? I know I didn’t. Young Kennaugh will be sporting his British road race jersey and his proper shoe/sock pairing in this Vuelta. Get used to it.
Ladies and gentleman we have a race. We have some Giro winners, we have some Tour de France winners and we have some Vuelta winners all lining up for the 2014 edition.
Quintana won the Giro but wants to prove he is the real deal. Is Malmerde working for him? Froome, he has been training in Sonoma, California. Talansky lives there, maybe they have both been training with egg timer. I think we can count out Horner to repeat or Bertie to do anything other than put some points in his jersey pocket. Carlos Alberto Betancur is here to lose some weight. David Millar is in to show he really deserved to ride the Tour de France. Boonen is here to train for the World Championships. Maybe everybody is here because their boss said get your skinny (or fat, in Betancur’s case) ass to Spain and ride the damn Vuelta.
No matter, the reason you, dear readers are here, is to show your total domination in the VSP. Stare at the start list until olive oil pops out of your tear ducts and stigmata appear on your palms. Redemption, points, the Worlds, spite or orders from the boss are all equally good reasons to get riders on the start list. How many people picked Chris Horner to win last year? Just a moment, I’ll query the VSP generator for archived results.
“Fuck off, I’m full”
The VSP generator is channeling Mr Creosote, that’s not a good sign. The point is, if there is one, this season’s VSP* is hanging in the balance on the Vuelta. Don’t consult the professional odds makers, that is like doping. Who is motivated? Who has a great team? Who does not make too many kit transgressions? Who looks fantastic on the bike? These are the questions.
Who has the answers?
*Prizes are as follows:
- First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron
- Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
- Third place overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.
[vsp_results id=”30805″/]
VSP PICKS:
1. Chris Froome
2. Nairo Quintana
3. Alberto Contador
4. Rigoberto Uran
5. Chris Horner
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Uran
4. Rodriguez
5. Aru
VSP PICKS:
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Chris Froome
3. Rigoberto Uran
4. Fabio Aru
5. Dan Martin
VSP PICKS:
1. Froome
2. Quitana
3. Aru
4. Uran
5. D. Martin
From Mexico on shitty wifi
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. J Rod
3. Froome
4. D Martin
5. Contador
No bloody idea!
VSP PICKS:
1. Vroom Vroom
2. Dirty Bertie
3. Carlos the Jackal (Betancur)
4. Malmerde
5. Jrod
Here goes, good luck to all.
VSP PICKS:
1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Evans
4. Pinot
5. Horner
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Uran
4. Martin
5. Contador
Strained a brain ligament thinking about this one. I agree with the Fragile Froome characterization, it seems that kind of year for him. He’ll just as likely DNF as finish second.
What’s significant about a Quintana victory would be that he joins Merckx, Battaglin, and Contador as the only Giro-Vuelta doubleners. Contador was 26, Merckx was 28, and Battaglin 30. At least 2 of the three were inclined to the secret sauce. Is Nairo at 24 ready to be in this company?
Time to clip in.
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. FROOME
3. Rodriguez
4. Uran
5. Aru
Login doesn’t seem to be working, so I hope this counts.
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Rigoberto Uran
3. Fabio Aru
4. Chris Froome
5. Wilco Kelderman
No clue – most of these guys are tired, injured, haven’t raced, or they/their teams will quit halfway through for Worlds. Typically, picking for the VSP is like shots in the dark, only this time, I’d be happy for even that much inspiration. No fucking clue.
Take two…
VSP PICKS:
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Rigoberto Uran
3. Fabio Aru
4. Chris Froome
5. Wilco Kelderman
VSP PICKS:
1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Aru
4. Contador
5. Uran
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Rodriguez
3. Froome
4. Talansky
5. Uran
I wonder what poor Italian got the call up with less than 48 hours to replace Horner. And Cancellara is in the Vuelta? I thought he dropped out of the Tour to prepare for the Worlds? How many stages of the Vuelta will he get through. I bet he bails with about four to go, tapers like a bastard, then wins the Worlds. BaaaaBoooooom.
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Ryder Hesjdal
3. J Rod
4. Laurens VV Dam
5. Teklehaymanot
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Contador
4. Valverde
5. Uran
Let the racing begin!
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Contador
4. Uran Uran
5. Valverde
Here goes nothing…
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Uran
3. J. Rodriguez
4. Froome
5. Contador
VSP PICKS:
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Froome
3. J-Rod
4. Rigoberto Uran
5. Dani Moreno
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Contador
3. Froome
4. J. Rod
5. Talansky
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Contador
4. Hesjedal
5. Talansky
I can’t not pick Quintana to win, Froome (his training crash) spooks me, literally too, besides his girlfriend drives me nutz, Valverde will hold back for the Worlds, but I can’t ignore him, Rodriguez is tanned, ready and hungry, I loved Aru’s riding in the Giro, and I want to put Kelderman higher, but not with this competition. Whew!
VSP PICKS:
1. Nairo Quintana
2. Joaquim Rodriguez
3. Alejandro Valverde
4. Fabio Aru
5. Wilco Kelderman
VSP PICKS:
1. Contador
2. Quintana
3. Froome
4. Navarro
5. Uran
Whew, vacation with a bad inter web connection nearly had me Delgado the thing. Thanks to good timing on the return to the working world to save my picks.
VSP PICKS:
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Uran
4. Aru
5. Dan Martin
1 Rodriquez
2 Martin
3 Talansky
4 Quintana
5 Froome
Um…just heard in a Vuelta preview video that “Froome has decided not to race to train but instead has been riding with former rider Levi Leipheimer in the U.S.”
What the FUCK? Is he counseling him on how to look less shite on the bike? Nah, can’t be. Eggtimer, Froome and Horner always look like fucking shite and decidedly unPRO at all times. I can’t believe SKY let him train with Eggtimer, just from a PR perspective.
Movistar winning the TTT? Is that crickets chirping?
Two new posts since the race started on Saturday?
Yes, I’d say there are some chirping crickets about.
@gianni if checking the professional odds makers sites is like doping I am pretty sure I would’ve been like the Chicken in the 2007 tour instead of the mediocre suckfest that was my early season VSP.
Candelabra still bleating, too hot for him now, chrissakes he can moan for La Suisse.
I know that the picks are closed, but I tried several times on Friday and the site wouldn’t let me stay signed in when I navigated to the VSP page. Oh well, here are my picks so that I can say I told you so without any reward.
Horner, Valverde, Talansky, Quintana, Uran.
I spent Saturday doing 118km on gravel, great fun! Hope you all had a great weekend.
Blingtastic finish to stage 3, this kid is gonna win some big 1 day races over the next few years.
Stage 3 Final Mr Dan Martin needs to learn Rule #92
Delgado due to computer thingy issues.
Can now sit back and watch and not get pissed off by worrying about tips.
Bling Matthews, well played sir.
@Ron
I’ve been a Cogaling…
@strathlubnaig
For Fuck Sake. If I see another tweet about how it’s too hot at La Vuelta, I’m gonna break my internet box.
If you don’t want to race in the heat, don’t enter a bike race in SPAIN in AUGUST.
(Similarly, if you don’t want to race in the snow, don’t enter a bike race that goes through the mountains of Italy in May.)
Seems they are finding ways to keep cool. I wonder if Froome calculated the precise reduction in core temp before allowing the water to be poured on his head.
@Mikael Liddy
Yep. World Champion this year, MSR and LBL next year. #bigcall
@The Grande Fondue
#noteventopten
Bugger it! Delgadoed this one as I was on vacation. Oh well, not even a perfect five would have resurrected my VSP chances. Good luck to those who entered. At least I won’t have to worry about how shite my picks would have fared.
So I re-read the article at the top of this tonight. A query was posed…
“How many people picked Chris Horner to win last year? Just a moment, I’ll query the VSP generator for archived results.”
One person. Me. But it would take a miracle to save my VSP. And even though I picked Horner, I did such a terrible job with my other picks that I still didn’t win the Vuelta VSP 2013.
I think my picks are pretty strong this year, too.
Ruh-roh….Quintana just got dropped and lost 14 secs to the faves. But what an end to the first summit finish!
@Floridian
Valverde over Quintana? Huh. This Movistar team is a great mystery to me. I didn’t think Valverde had it in him to ride like that anymore.
@Erik
My thought too, but then my guess is that this may be a one off and in the next few climbs Quintana will be consistent and go into the leaders jersey while Valmerde will fade to support…
@Rob Yup. Seems like Movistar’s doing the GC version of the old 1 – 2, sending Valverde up the road early on with the expectation that he’ll fade, but meanwhile forcing the other GC guys to chase while Q lurks and conserves energy.
I wouldn’t read too much into that finish, I think it was more about forcing Froome and Contador to show their hands, while Quintana can keep his closer to his chest, Sunday looks a lot more selective.
@Rob
This. It’s all about consistency and that’s why it was impossible to not pick Quintana for the Giro, or Vuelta. Or is it just that poker face that makes you think he’s invincible?
Froome (crash out of the Tour and during training for the Vuelta) and Contador (broke his leg just 5-weeks ago. really?), not so much lately.
Regardless, great stage! We got us a race! If nothing else, we have five of the six top GC riders in the world tour and all in good form. It’s going to be a great two+ weeks.
What’s up with Tommeke in the Vuelta? It seems like he’s not contesting the sprints at all. Does he have a cunning plan to ride into ace form for the World Championships? Is his plan more cunning than the foxy Faboo?
@Rob
I have to agree, I don’t think Valverde will be around at crunch time in the high mountains. This was just a teaser of what is to come, where Quintana will rise up. Don’t count out Froome though – he left the Tour because he couldn’t hold onto his bars, not a busted leg like Bertie. Froome made a bit of a case for himself on this finish. I would be surprised if Bertie’s knee holds up throughout.
@Floridian
There was a great interview on Eurosport with Valverde and Quintana together on a golf cart. They agreed that Quintana was for the GC, Valverde for a few stage wins. Quintana will smash this in the Mountains, I have no doubt.
Can I put it on the record, following his yet another crash yesterday, that I am coining the phrase “Chris “Dooom” Froome”? His luck this year just sucks.
Clenbutador will fade out too I reckon…