Google Image Search Marianne Vos and you will turn up a mountain of photos of her throwing her arms aloft in victory aboard every kind of bicycle you can imagine. Road racing, Cyclocross, Track; she’s been World Champion in every discipline I can think of without trying very hard to think of every discipline. She’s even been Dutch National Champion in Mountain Biking, although if you’ve ever been to the Netherlands, you might have noticed a paucity of mountains, so I’m not sure how significant that accomplishment is. I suppose, however, that this is a bit of a redundant discussion since she’s Dutch, and that’s already the same as saying she’s Awesome.
In the other corner, we have Nicole Cooke; a woman who’s palmeres on Wikipedia fills up three entire rows to Vos’s measly two. She’s been British National Road Race Champion so many times that for a number of years I had no idea what her team kit actually looked like. Her list of wins, while not as diverse as Voseseses in terms of disciplines, boasts wins in every road racing category: Time Trials, Road Races, Grand Tours as well as Classics, and Points and Mountains Classifications in stage races. She was the first woman to the top of le Mur de Huy so often that it took the rise of a certain Dutchwoman to break her seemingly unstoppable streak. As is customary, however, when you kick that much ass it’s hard to keep your knees in order and as a consequence she’s been sidelined repeatedly with chronic knee injuries. A pity, that; I bet she could have filled a fourth row had she been able to race uninterrupted.
But two favorites don’t make for an exciting race, and thankfully the list of contenders for Saturday’s Women’s World Road Race Championships goes well beyond Vos and Cooke. A quick browse through the startlist shows Rochelle Gilmore riding for the Aussies, Judith Ardt spinning the cranks for Germany, Emma Pooley singing backup for Nicole, Giorgia Bronzini leading for Italy, and the great Kristin Armstrong returning from motherhood to lead the US team together with Amber Neben.
Mix all of them up on a course that’s harder than people are giving it credit for, and you’ve got an unpredictable race in the works. Consult the Oracle and enter your picks; this edition of the Velominati Super Prestige will be followed closely by the Men’s race on Sunday, so buckle up a for a great weekend of guessing and racing. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the form below. Make your picks by 5am Pacific Saturday morning, regular VSP Rules apply. Good luck!
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@frank
The gauntlet has been thrown. A little story I like to tell is when the BMXers first started showing up a downhill MTB races. Mike King - a GT factory pro BMXer - shows up at a race in GT Pro Factory gear and everybody is like "Who are you?" "Oh, you're just a BMXer." was the response of all the MTB "Pros". He then kicked their asses all over the place and that opened the flood gates for likes of Eric Carter, Brian Lopes, Shaun Palmer, etc. All BMXers. The average 12 year old BMXer has better bike handling skills than most "Pro" road races and MTBers.
When BMX was introduced as an Olympic sport the USA Cycling coaches were amazed when they hooked up 5'-4", Donny Robinson to a power meter and realized that he had the highest power to weight ration of ANY cyclist they had EVER seen.
Why can this 50 year old Cyclops hang with 20 year olds in Criteriums? Because I'm used to coming out of corners spun up to the nuts. I'm also used to having somebody's shoulder tucked up into my armpit at 50kph - 10 feet off the ground.
Almost all of Great Britain's track stars were BMXers. Cadel Evans? BMXer. The future of American cycling? BMXers.
I rest my case.
Not following XX cycling too closely, I was going to go with an all canuck line up (after all, we did have 3 women in the top 7 in the TT), but then again, I need the points!
VSP PICKS:
1. Vos
2. Cooke
3. Pooley
4. Kichmann
5. Armstrong
VSP PICKS:
1. Emma Pooley
2. Vos
3. N. Cooke
4. Fahlin
5. Bronzini
ok i think i'm gonna have to go for the patriotic vote, and as Lizzie beat Nicole to the British National champs earlier this year
VSP PICKS:
1. Lizzie Armitstead
2. Cooke
3. Vos
4. Bronzini
5. Ardnt
@Cyclops
Now THERE'S a screen background for you! (screw the Tourmalet!)
@Cyclops
Touche'! Moi aussi! :)
@Cyclops
Gee Fronk, I'm not too sure but you just MIGHT have touched a nerve there. :)
VSP PICKS:
1. Vos
2. Cooke
3. Gilmore
4. Armstrong
5. Ardnt
@Cyclops
@frank
Whether or not BMX is a sport is irrelevant, BMX is rad! I raced and me and my pals built a halfpipe in a bit of waste ground in the early eighties. Scott Carroll was the best of us and he won the World Freestyle contest in Paris in 1987 or there abouts beating Matt Hoffman (the favourite). Then the next year he showed up in California and beat him again! He's no longer with us but he could ride the shit out of one of those toy bikes!
I took this photo of him one evening - maybe the best photo I ever took.
VSP PICKS:
1. Cooke
2. Armitstead
3. Vos
4. Pooley
5. Arndt