Velominati Super Prestige:
Giro D'Italia 2013
Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: Alex

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

Social: Website

based in Geelong, Australia '95 Serotta CSI :)

@Alex's activity:

The Weight of a Moniker

Young riders rise through the ranks with such promise. We all know the story; the rider who borrows a bicycle and enters a local race and wins. He decides he might be good at going batshit fast on a bike. Mom and Dad buy him a klunker for his birthday and he takes out a license. He starts winning most races he enters locally and rises to the region...

@Alex's posts:

  1. @Cyclops +1 for rad BMX stylin, +1 for elegant explanation for ‘shopping »

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro D’Italia 2013

Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spri...

@Alex's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Wiggins 3. Ryder 4. Cadel 5. Betancur »

The Weight of a Moniker

Young riders rise through the ranks with such promise. We all know the story; the rider who borrows a bicycle and enters a local race and wins. He decides he might be good at going batshit fast on a bike. Mom and Dad buy him a klunker for his birthday and he takes out a license. He starts winning most races he enters locally and rises to the region...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Nice article Frank. The photo is stunning, good find. I love the glint of the Rolls saddle in the gloom, and the sign on the right, in case the riders hadn’t figured it out, that this is teeth clenching steep. »

La Vie Velominatus: Lean Properly

There are always at least two ways to accomplish any task: properly and improperly. Drinking beer from a glass, not the bottle; carrying a full umbrella instead of a miniature fold-up; stirring your gin martinis, not shaking them; wearing french cuffs with a suit, not button cuffs. The Velominatus, of course, is drawn towards doing things Properly,...

@Alex's posts:

  1. @frank you could add in another, a personal favourite of mine… http://drunkcyclist.tumblr.com/post/11394812640/edwig-van-hooydonck-won-the-tour-of-flanders-twice For the record I’m 6’5 and half Dutch. I reckon I know more about the wind than any sho… »

  2. Oh and I just came across this (for any PiNP/Fyxo followers): http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2013/04/melburnout-shifter-dans-40th-birthday-bush-bash-day-02/?utm_source=feedly#1 »

  3. from memory, didn’t The Cobra throw a bike once? »

  4. @nickleggs aye but he threw it just right so it landed leaning against the wall. I was very impressed when I saw that highlight the other day on TV. Even throwing the bike has to be done the right way. Millar shows a different approach, throwing his over… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Luik-Bastenaken-Luik 2013

There is something to love about a race that makes a deviation to its route for the simple joy of sending a fleet of professional riders up a fiendishly steep and narrow ramp. The Cote du Stockeu offers zero benefit to the route from a logistical standpoint – in fact, all it does is complicate things. On the way down from the Cote de Wanne &#...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Gotta go with the guys with the form and the form in these kind of races. No doubt Froome and Nibbles ante going great but the punchy guys have this in their sights me-thinks. I don’t like backing Valverde but he’s the one to beat. VSP PICKS: 1. Valverd… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold 2013

Yes it is a race named after a barely drinkable Dutch beer. I have enjoyed Amstel beer, brought to our table by a nice waitress, sitting outside in the Dutch spring. Atmosphere is everything. Do the Dutch brew awesome beer? I drank some good stuff in Amsterdam last spring but I’m pretty sure it was Belgian.Now we begin the Ardennes three race...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Delgado’d again! Mind you the original Delgado moment made for a dramatic start to the most dramatic tour ever so let’s hope that spirit translates into tonight’s race. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2013

It looks so easy on the television. Well, no, actually it looks pretty bloody hard. We think we have some understanding of how they suffer, how their bodies can take the continual beating. But we don’t really know. Not even by riding these abominations they call roads twice in the space of a few days can we understand the scale of the thing...

@Alex's posts:

  1. @Harminator good call! »

  2. Sorry about errant auto-corrects. »

  3. Delgado’d but who cares, we’ve a RACE to watch. All the talk about Cancellara, psssffffttt. Interestingly there are two names that haven’t been mentioned at all in any of the blogs and news previeware round the net.    that riders that are riding well an… »

Guest Article: Bike #2

I don’t have to tell anyone around here that @Cyclops is weird guy; most of you have already figured that out, and if you haven’t figured it out, you will soon enough. But weird doesn’t have any negative meaning, if you ask me. In fact, I’d say we’re all weird which makes normal more suspect. Several years ago, long be...

@Alex's posts:

  1. That should read “sweet” not newest. Likewise app coated should read “appreciated”. My spelling override system must be on full alert tonight or perhaps I’m just tired and only hitting half the keys I’m aiming at. Either way, keen to get in touch. »

  2. @Cyclops Great work, that really is a newest looking frame and I really app coated the little details. As it happens I am in tmark trite for a CX frame, had been thinking Surly or Soma but this opens up new possibilities. Im keen to talk to you about d… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Milan-Sanremo 2013

Finally, we have Milan-Sanremo. I hope pedale.forcetta is ready to shoot some pictures, especially black and white because it will be cold and possibly wet. Throw in a little wind and a race of this distance will weed out the less hardy. Recently, but not too recently, this race would be won out of a decent size field sprint. And yet, besides Fabs...

@Alex's posts:

  1. So excited. I feel like the season is actually starting for real now! VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Goss 3. Haussler 4. Thor 5. Chavanel »

In Memoriam: Leather and Brass

Composites, microfibers, synthetics. They amaze in their qualities; light, strong, durable - unyieldingly stiff or unimaginably suple, depending on our whim. When modern components arrive on my doorstep, upon lifting the unremarkable cardboard box I often wonder whether there is anything at all inside or if perhaps the person on the other end of...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Ahh, lovely, I used to ride a Rolls when I was a young man. I recently went back to a Regal from a carbon and titanium wonder as I just wanted that classic shape again and some padding. When did all the padding move out of the saddles and into the shorts… »

The Lexicon: A Retraction

The recent headlines being made in the cycling world have honestly not garnered a whole lot of attention at V-HQ, at least where a certain COTHO is concerned. Yes, The Keepers have added to the usual discussions on the topic here, read the news, and given it some thought. But we really don’t feel the need to take any sort of official position...

@Alex's posts:

  1. I never noticed this before but with 21st century eyes I can see he totally slammed that quill stem on the TVT Lemond (main pic). Cool. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro di Lombardia 2012

Il Grillo gives it some stick in 06. Photo: actionplus sports images[/caption]Lombardia is a beautiful race. Taking in the majestic shoreline of Lake Como and climbing past the shrine to the Madonna del Ghisallo, its stunning Italian-ness bookends the Monuments along with Milan-San Remo which started them way back in March. And it’s a coming...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Nibali, Uran, Albasini, De Gendt, gilbert in that order (in case there’s a problem later). »

  2. My picks didn’t post it seems, but did get mapped. Let’s try again. »

  3. I’m gunning for a small breakaway to get clear and stay away, with Gilbert leading home as best of the rest. »

Guest Article: I’ve Fallen for You

What does this have to do with the Worlds? Nothing, but it makes me laugh and includes a wicked photograph so this is the guest article today. @roadslave joined the 2012 Keepers Tour for the full week of riding and ranting and he was excellent at both. He rode at the front with a Chris Horner smile and now he admits to only riding for four years. F...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Wow nothing like coming late to the party and a polemica has erupted. Oh well. I want to say thanks for a great article @Roadslave. It may be a right of passage but not fun. Glad you are ok and up and riding again, and importantly still loving it. Nothing… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Mens World Championship Road Race 2012

I’m quite upset about it, actually, all this racing that’s been going on in perfectly good weather. Vlaanderen, dry. Roubaix, dry. We were nearly guaranteed shit weather with the Olympics in London, but even then, only the women got to get all Rule #9 on our asses – and only for one race. Damnit, I want Epic, and if we keep insis...

@Alex's posts:

  1. As usual it’s a wild ol’open race. Anything can happen out there and other clichés. Tommy is fainting outsider so he’s feeling on, watch for a long ish escape and ultimate glory. Gerro to lead in the best of the rest who will catch Tommy’s breakaway compa… »

Velominati Super Prestige

Jump to: Scoring Guidelines • Schedule • ResultsThe Velominati Super Prestige is a season-long competition wherein readers will be submitting their predictions for the top five finishers of each qualifying race.  In order to qualify, the reader must enter their submission as a comment to the post pertaining to the race in question by 5am on th...

@Alex's posts:

  1. @Nate The race is already well and truly underway.  Seems to have fallen off everyone’s radar, not even Cyclingnews is running a live ticker. I’m not fussed as totally out of the VSP running but always interested in the intro article @Frank. »

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Olympic Road Race 2012

What a difference four years can make. In Beijing, Nicole Cooke was the dominant rider in Women’s Cycling, taking wins in every important race on the Women’s calendar for several years running. Fast finish, good in the hills, good against the clock, she helped give context to what we mean by the term “all rounder”.Four year...

@Alex's posts:

  1. Agree course should be harder, only two times Box Hill seems a shame for the women. I expect that they want a more selective race as well but think this will be a Copenhagen redux and for Vos as well unfortunately. VSP PICKS: 1. Bronzini 2. Vos 3. Teute… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Olympic Road Race 2012

You can all wave “goodbye” to your Post GT Depression Syndrome, because the Men’s Olympic Road Race is only three days yonder. I don’t typically give two shits about this particular event; while contested by national teams, unlike the Worlds it appears as just another one-day race on a calendar filled with events that carry...

@Alex's posts:

  1. RememberRemember 5 man teams means that if a strong classic group goes up the road it will be super tough to bringthem back, doesnt matter who you are… »

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