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!

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

tony macaroni says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:18 am

VSP PICKS:

1. Vos
2. Bronzini
3. Cooke
4. Arndt
5. Armistead
Anthony says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:21 am

I think you've overlooked Canada in your preview... We have some podium hopes, especially after placing riders 4,5,7 in the TT. Although she is a world champion in track I think someone like Tara Whitten could surprise in the road race.
Nate says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:26 am

VSP PICKS:

1. vos
2. arndt
3. teutenberg
4. pooley
5. bronzini
Netraam says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:39 am

Robbie McEwen was a BMX cyclist as well.

I did a bit of BMX-ing myself a couple years ago, but lost interest when my knee exploded and I couldn't keep up with the rest of the group anymore. If you want to know who else rode with me, google FCV Wycross. I rode in the same training category as for instance Sander Bisseling.
Steampunk says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:43 am

@Anthony
Word! I mentioned this the other day, but it got no traction. I could also see Clara Hughes pulling off the incredible and finishing top five.

@snoov
That is a very cool pic.

VSP PICKS:

1. VelOSeraptor
2. Arndt
3. Pooley
4. Johansson
5. Cooke
Chris says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:54 am

@Cyclops

@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"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.

Some of the stuff we used to ride as kids on our BMXs would have me reaching for my downhill bike now.

It's the best way to get kids into cycling. Decent race BMX's are the best choice of bix for the under 10s.

VSP PICKS:

1. Pooley
2. Gilmore
3. Armstrong
4. Vos
5. Cooke
Chris says:

Sep 23 2011 at 11:58 am

@snoov
Nice photo! We built a quarter pipe in the eighties but it wasn't exactly a smooth arc more a series of poorly bent sheets of ply with angles transitioning betwen them. I don't recall anyone having the balls to send it off the top!
xyxax says:

Sep 23 2011 at 12:13 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Vos ist los
2. Ballad of Ina-Yoko
3. Takes the Bronzini
4. Ardnt sure
5. There for the Hosking
ben says:

Sep 23 2011 at 12:37 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Vos
2. Johansson
3. Arndt
4. Van Vleuten
5. Pooley
Mikeweb says:

Sep 23 2011 at 1:27 pm

VSP PICKS:

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