Velominati Super Prestige

Velominati Super Prestige: 2011 Women’s Elite Worlds Road Race

Nicole Cooke beats Marianne Vos to the line. Photo: Cor Vos

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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103 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: 2011 Women’s Elite Worlds Road Race”

  2. won’t pretend I know anyone beyond these three….poor effort by yours truly I admit

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Vos
    2. Cooke
    3. Fast Phil
    4. Emma Pooley
    5. Phil Giblets

  4. Right, so a little nationalistic fervour combined with some favourite picking & homage to a seminal Danish cycling surname…

    Watch out for Hosking though, the kid’s only 20 & is lightning quick. Chapeau to Rochelle Gilmore for coming back from a broken pelvis in the Giro Donne, Hard(wo)man.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Chloe Hosking
    2. Nicole Cooke
    3. Marianne Vos
    4. Rochelle Gilmore
    5. Julie Leth

  5. VSP PICKS:

    1. Giorgi Bronzini
    2. Nicole Cooke
    3. Ludivine Henrion
    4. Marianne Vos
    5. Anna-Bianc Schnitzmeier

  6. As you mentioned that Cooke hasn’t been at her best in 2011, there’s no way she could suddenly compete with Vos or Pooley or Arndt at the Worlds. Vos has been silver medalist for last four years and she would want to win this time around.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Marianne Vos
    2. Emma Pooley
    3. Ina Yoko Tutenberg
    4. Giorgia Bronzini
    5. Judith Arndt

  8. Put two of my favorite things together. Win, win.
    I wish there was more women’s racing, and wish you could see more on television.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Judith Arndt
    2. Nicole Cooke
    3. Chloe Hosking
    4. Marianne Vos
    5. Ina Teutenburg

  9. Fickle.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Judith Arndt
    2. Chloe Hosking
    3. Emma Pooley
    4. Marianne Vos
    5. Ina Teutenburg

  10. I saw Judith Arndt racing mountain bikes here in Melbourne about a year or two ago. It’s pretty cool seeing heroes up close, hence my sentimental pick. That and her TT win points to some solid form.

  11. VSP PICKS:

    1. Marianne 5os
    2. Judith Hardnt
    3. Bronze-ini
    4. Linda 5illumsen
    5. From Milan to Minsk

  12. Vos is the Gilbert of women’s cycling.

    Imagine if they could breed together… I’m mentally seeing a baby with the head of Eddy Merckx.

    Sorry, long and hard ride this morning – I’m a bit delirious.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Vos
    2. Teutenberg
    3. Bronzini
    4. Pooley
    5. Johansson

  13. VSP PICKS:

    1. Marianne Vos
    2. Nicole Cooke
    3. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg
    4. Emma Johansson
    5. Giorgia Bronzini

  14. VSP PICKS:

    1. Marianne Vos
    2. Emma Pooley
    3. Chloe Hosking
    4. Eneritz Iturriagaechevarria Maza
    5. Giorgia Bronzini

  15. Ha, I glanced at that photo and thought, “Who are those dudes?” Not that they look manly, they just look PRO & I see a lot more photos of men than women looking that way.

    Hmm, going to have to study up for this one!

  18. I have ridden with Emma Pooley on a few training rides and cycle sportives in Switzerland..she is as nice a person as she is a machine on the bike..the course may not have enough climbing for her.but this is the sentimental pick

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Pooley
    2. Vos
    3. Arndt
    4. Cooke
    5. Armstrong

  23. VSP PICKS:

    1. Belinda Goss
    2. Mariannne Vos
    3. Judith Arndt
    4. Magdalena De Saint
    5. Irene Van den Broek

  27. I disappoint myself in not being more familiar with women’s RR. I do follow one of our local gals who is mind-blowingly awesome:

    http://obra.org/people/41394/2011

    You say so what? Sue Butler is 40 y/o and current Masters National RR champion, Silver medal at Masters Crit Champs; she only raced them to warm up for ‘cross.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Vos
    2. Johansson
    3. Cooke
    4. Armstrong
    5. Jens Voigt

  28. No Cooke for me (but what the HELL do I know???).

    I have to admit that I know absolutely jackshit about women’s road racing, or to be more honest, women’s cycling in general.

    Ever since Barry married Dede Demet, I lost all interest! (had a crush on her since the late 80’s!)

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Vos
    2. Teutenberg
    3. Arndt
    4. Pooley
    5. Bronzini

  30. @Cyclops

    VSP PICKS:
    1. Headlights2. Dutch Monkey3. Frau Kaiser4. Drowning Poole5. Boise Gurl

    Headlights??? I need to do an image search on this one. To whom are you referring?

    ;)

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Vos
    2. Teutenberg
    3. Arndt
    4. Pooley
    5. Bronzini

  35. @Buck Rogers

    Ever since Barry married Dede Demet, I lost all interest! (had a crush on her since the late 80″²s!)

    Yeah, mega crush for me too. Who can blame us? BAD. ASS.

    @ramenvelo

    Picks are still open and the results are posted. I guess putting in the top 5 would invoke the Piti Principle. When did this go up?

    You scared me there for a second.

  36. Since we’re talking about Dutch women and cycling and since I’m an old BMXer do a google image search for Corine Dorland. She pretty much dominated the Worlds BMX scene in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Whenever she would show up in the States to race there were a lot of Pros with pissed of girlfriends in the pits.

  39. For what it’s worth…

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Vos
    2. Arndt
    3. Pooley
    4. Cooke
    5. Johansson

  41. @frank

    @Cyclops
    You keep talking about BMX like it’s a sport.

    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.

  42. 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

  44. 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

  46. @Cyclops

    @Buck Rogers

    or to be more honest, women’s cycling in general.

    For me it’s just women in general.

    Touche’! Moi aussi! :)

  47. @Cyclops

    @frank

    @CyclopsYou keep talking about BMX like it’s a sport.

    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″²-4″³, 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.

    Gee Fronk, I’m not too sure but you just MIGHT have touched a nerve there. :)

  49. @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.

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