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″/]
@Unversio sits in the lead on the Vuelta (sorry it took us a week to get round to loggin’ some results!) – I’ll be curious how this shakes out. That will be a shocker if Quintana takes a second Grand Tour. Even finishing on the podium would mean a near-perfect GT record.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Chris Froome
2. Nairo Quintana
3. Alberto Contador
4. Alejandro Valverde
5. Joaquim Rodriguez
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Contador
3. Rodriguez
4. Froome
5. Sammy Sanchez
Swap Evans for Sanchez. Hold true to the rest.
Round Two
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Froome
2. Quintana
3. Valverde
4. Contador
5. Uran
I hope this gets some traction.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Contador
3. Rodriguez
4. Froome
5. Uran
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Contador
2. Quintana
3. J-Rod
4. Rigoberto Uran
5. Dani Moreno
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Contador
2. Quintana
3. Froome
4. Rigoberto Uran
5. Dani Moreno
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana, Nairo
2. Froome, Chris
3. Rodriguez, Joaquim
4. Contador, Alberto
5. Valverde, Alejandro
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Contador
4. D. Martin
5. Ancona
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Uran
4. Rodriguez
5. Aru
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Quintana
2. Froome
3. Contador
4. Rodriguez
5. Aru
Oh for Merckx’s sake, STFU Fabian!
Via Cycling News:
“Fuckin‘ Quintana… that creep can roll” right over his handlebars, into the ditch and straight out of the Top 5. Fuck me! What a day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2EHh8B3lA0
See 1:40
@il muro di manayunk
Seriously! Next thing he’ll be saying that the cobbles at Roubaix are a bit rough or Flanders has some nasty wee hills. Spartacus is really chipping away at his hardman status with his whingeing these days.
@wiscot
These days? THESE DAYS??? Guy’s has been fuckin whingin’ for YEARS!!! “If I stopped to take a piss they would have all stopped with me”, etc, etc, etc. Fuckin Boonen tows the entire pack to the velodrome and beats them and says,”Yeah, bit rough today” and fuckin Spartypants has two guys sit in on him and bithces for the next 5 years. Jesus, Boonen had Stijn Devolder sticking closer to him than Tyler’s unborn twin and he still won and never bitched a bit. Don’t get me fuckin started on Sparty!
FFS – my VSP f’d over again…
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Quintana-la-chute/496011
@Buck Rogers
So here’s the debate, if Quintana is Jesus, who plays The Dude, Donny and Walter?
The Dude = Nibali
Donny = Froome
Walter = Cavendish
@Buck Rogers
Wow, sounds like I got you started! Also, another thing Lebowski Jesus and Quintana have in common is sock length. Damn near knee-length FFS. WTF was he wearing in the TT? Those abominations were longer than the pink sexy boots he wore in the Giro. I thought there were UCI regulations on sock length, or does that not apply to overshoes?
Also, that curve where Q crashed wasn’t too bad – just a case of Rasmussen-style bike handling.
I’m enjoying this Vuelta because I Delgadoed the VSP and have no skin in the game.
Another great win for Tony Panzerwagen – and it was a testing course. Barring accident/injury, who would bet against him in the Worlds? Not me.
@wiscot HA! Yeah, had to cruise over and see what the V site reaction was to poor Quintana going head-over-heels today and saw your Sparty comment. Being a true Boonen-Lover I could not let your post go without throwing some more gas on that fire!
But poor Quintana. 8 year olds, Dude, 8 year olds.
@Buck Rogers
And here’s the evidence of bad dress sense and worse bike handling:
http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube3/?title=Nairo+Quintana+stage+10+TT+crash&dashboard=vuelta-a-espana&id=jI8iOqgIy5I&yr=2014
@wiscot
He should be ashamed of himself – and then to turn around and blame the brakes? Are you fucking kidding?
another view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI8iOqgIy5I
@wiscot Looks like someone had a case of the Schleks today. Karma for kitting up so fuckingly horribly!
@wiscot
And it looks like his saddle chased him down the road.
Appears that he may have lost focus when he was fiddling with his right shoe and the turn snuck up on him before he could slow down and take the correct line.
What. The. Fuck. was I thinking when I put Uran in the top spot?
@il muro di manayunk
I thought that was his saddle, but wasn’t sure. Maybe his fancy shoe covers made adjusting his shoes tricky. If the covers were super tight, it would mean pulling up on the ratchet would be hard to do. Don’t they test ride this stuff?
@Buck Rogers
You know Buck when you started going off on Sparty this spring I was not seeing it but now I’m there with you. I never understood racers or for that matter any one in a group activity moaning about the conditions if the whole group had to do the same thing. If it’s good or bad it’s good or bad for all and therefore fair – so why whine?
He is doing a really good job of looking like a pussy while still riding like a wolf. He must be searching for excuses because he is one spot off the top step?
@GogglesPizano
Quintana may as well been thrown under a bus too ?? Many Velominati here have lost their minds.
@Rob
Alas, and I hate to say this as I’m generally a Faboo fan, but I think he’s taking the loss of being top dog TT man rather hard. He used to have Martin’s dominance, now he doesn’t and it taking it badly. When you’re used to crushing opponents and now you’re getting beaten regularly, it”s got to hurt. It’s that age thing . . .
Tommeke used to be top sprinter dog. Now he’s not, but you don’t see him whingeing. By the way, talk about whiners, that Nacer Bouhanni is on my shit list. Moans that Degenkolb shut him out the other day (Degenkolb was smart and left not enough room between him and the barriers) then the next day Bouhanni beats Matthews and is lurching all over the road like a drunken sailor. You decide. Matthews should have filed a serious complaint.
Stage 5: http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/universalsports/?title=Stage+5+Finish+Replay+and+Analysis&dashboard=vuelta-a-espana&id=3751536736001&yr=2014
Stage 8 http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/universalsports/?title=Stage+5+Finish+Replay+and+Analysis&dashboard=vuelta-a-espana&id=3751536736001&yr=2014
Quintana crashed again today and has abandoned. Rough.
Well to move the conversation on to a real hardman…Jensie is going for the hour and has set a date! That pisses all over Sparty and Twiglet!
http://app.bronto.com/public/?q=preview_message&fn=Link&id=7854jrgel8vjepr0ivbzyr41ldb59&ssid=31334&t=3
@Deakus Unusual with the typo makes it read: “both Trek and our GM Luca Guercilena were all exited when I told them about my idea.” Exited.
Well the curse of my picks retains 100% of picking a crash-out. Sorry folks!
@Teocalli
I bet his facial expression didn’t change once.
Seeing someone do the double would’ve been nice. Oh well.
@wiscot Nacer Bouhanni. FFS. What a Merckxx damn Fuckwad. More like Mr. Boohoome. I just cannot take this pansy ass serious.
I would expect Ryder to be doing better if he had a motorized bike. Vaughters’s response is fantastic.
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/fresh-motorised-doping-claims-ryder-hesjedals-bike-moves-134745
Update on the standings here; @unversio slips to second as @razmaspaz takes over the lead.
My thighs are exploding with the effort required to stay at the front of the peloton.
Stage 13: Was this the first Cofidis win since…….Frankie VDB ?
@fignons barber
since downtube shifters and toe cages.
Fuck me! I’m in the top 10 (provisionally)!!!
Not bad for throwing darts at the start list. We’ll see if this holds up.
@Floridian
Nah, gotta be since Lucien Petit-Breton was turning the cranks. On one hand I’m happy for them, on the other hand I’m not as their kit is one of the worst out there. What’s with the yellow helmets? Red and white kit, yellow helmet? The kit needs way more white and a red and white helmet.
@wiscot
Agree, He should give his helmet to the MTN team and ask his team for a matching helmet to celebrate his win.
@Deakus
Nice work. Apparently Faboo has put his attempt on hold while he tries to find a smooth enough track. Jensie will surely beat Boardman’s (OK, Sosenka’s) athlete’s hour mark and hold the record until one or more of the Big Three get their shit together. I say chapeau to him.
Great finish today. Hoping they can repeat the slug-fest the next 2 days!
@Teocalli top finish! The contrast in styles is wild, Froome’s technique is so effective, and so awful all at once, the other guy’s race the parcours and each other blow by blow and, wait, look out, the Froome train is back, Choo Choo!!
Amazing! The Spaniards repeatedly put 15-20secs into him but the train just keeps on coming.
I love it when even other Spaniards bitch about how the spanish cyclists refuse to work together. Berti was miffed they wouldn’t work together to bury Froome. Ha!
@wiscot
All about sponsor $ I’m afraid. Mavic is one of their main sponsors & their helmets only come in one colour…