Velominati Super Prestige:
Giro D'Italia 2013
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Velominatus: sprider

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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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. @strathlubnaig Shite, there’ll be no Hampsten moves in thuds Giro… »

  2. Looking forward to this! VSP PICKS: 1. Nibali 2. Wiggins 3. Hesjedal 4. Gesink 5. Henao »

Guest Article: Bernard Hinault’s 1980 Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Unfortunately the weather for 2013 L-B-L looks a lot nicer than the 1980 episode.  Then again, if the weather looked that bad, they might have cancelled the race or put them on buses before Bastogne and driven them back towards Liege. Who would be the Badger of the peloton of this year’s race in those conditions? Discuss. As always, we have...

@sprider's posts:

  1. Great read and insight to the Badger. Keep ‘em coming. »

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 &#...

@sprider's posts:

  1. Can’t do any worse than I did for La Flèche… VSP PICKS: 1. Valverde 2. Rodriguez 3. Gilbert 4. Mollema 5. Martin »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone 2013

We came tantalizingly close to adding a foray up the Mur de Huy during our excursion to Liege-Bastogne-Liege during this year’s Keepers Tour. But good sense and The Anti-V prevailed, as they are wont to do, and only two of us were left wanting a dig at the most notorious finishing climb in the Classics season.I write this, then, woefully igno...

@sprider's posts:

  1. Should have picked a couple more dark horses, we’ll see how the popular favorites fare… VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Purito 3. Valverde 4. Vanendert 5. Mollema »

Velominati Super Prestige: La Flèche Wallone Féminine 2013

Last year we saw Evelyn Stevens out-last Marianne Vos at the top of the Mur de Huy. The take home message is don’t start one’s charge too early. Vos should know this finish, having won it four times already. It’s hard to know who is on form in the professional women field as the races are too far apart to infer much from the last...

@sprider's posts:

  1. So, Delgato’d Amstel, frickin taxes, hoping to make up some points here. Wish there was better coverage of the dammes… VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. VanDijk 3. Wild 4. Pieters 5. Borgato »

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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. Looking at the picks of the prominent prognosticators of this group has me feeling pretty complacent. Win or lose I’ll not fall far in the VSP standings… »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabian Cancellara 2. Sebastien Turgot 3. John Degenkolb 4. Sylvan Chavanal 5. Taylor Phinney »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen Féminine 2013

Marianne Vos has never won this? She who wins everything all the time has never won this? Is it not hilly and tough enough? This seems like a tear in the time-space continuum. Someone is going to be wanting to add this to her palmarés. Weather sounds like a cold but dry day for racing. This is a big one, maybe worth two bumper stickers, so ponder...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Borghini 3. Johansson 4. Van Dijk 5. Wild »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2013

Imagine a world without the little things we take for granted; a house without a roof, a pub with no beer, a Keepers Tour without any clothes. The last one is a reality for me at the moment, five days in and still no trace of where the hell between Wellington and Paris my bag (filled with V-Kit, shoes, helmet, everything) is. The other thing that h...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Flecha 3. Boonen 4. Degenkolb 5. Gatto »

Velominati Super Prestige: Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2013

This is the second round of the Women’s World Cup, the first being the Ronde van Drenthe. Laveno Mombello to Cittiglio, 120 km of racing in Italy. It is a very worthy course and we know who will be wearing the number 1 on her jersey. Enough already, I like Ms Vos as much as the next person but someone has to work her over on the climbs and ri...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Borgato 3. Johansson 4. De Vries 5. Van Dijk »

Velominati Super Prestige: Gent-Wevelgem 2013

Gent (Deinze)-Wevelgem, it starts with 130 km of cruising around Belgium and Northern France followed by a flurry of bergs and then a final 38 km of  flatter riding to the inevitable sprint finish. How hard can the climbing be if Super Mario got over them? Ask the riders from KT 2012, (the ones not in the following car) and they will tell you...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Boonen 2. Cancellara 3. Sagan 4. Cavendish 5. Phinney »

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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Gilbert 3. Cancellara 4. Pozzato 5. Sylvain Chavanel »

Velominati Super Prestige: L’Eroica/Strade Bianche 2013

Until the 70′s it was common to race on gravel roads, but the Paving of the Planet has led to nearly every road being graced by smooth, black tarmac. As is the case with most things, once we are shown the easy path, it is difficult to return to more arduous ways. So it is with gravel roads; we take measures to avoid unpaved roads and in doi...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabs 2. Phinney 3. Valverde 4. Sagan 5. VanAv »

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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Contador 3. Purito Rodriguez 4. Nibali 5. Uran »

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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Valverde 2. Gilbert 3. Purito Rodriguez 4. Boonen 5. Sagan »

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Road Championship 2012

It seems like just weeks ago that Cav won his rainbow stripes, things were said, umbrage was taken. Luckily we have found more umbrage so we are good to go. This course is not like last year. It’s not exactly a sprinters finish. It’s a 128 km rumble in Valkenberg and the Dutch team is there for Marianne Vos. She has finished second in...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Bronzini 3. Pooley 4. Evelyn Stevens 5. Armitstead »

Velominati Super Prestige: Vuelta a España 2012

One of the loveliest things about the Grand Tours is that you get a feel, by the nature of the route, of the country’s landscape and physical qualities. Italy is littered with mountains and coasts, France is bordered by mountains with large swaths of open landscape throughout, and Spain is like Tatooine; mostly desert with some rocky outcropp...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Chris Froome 2. Alberto Contador 3. Jurgen VanDenBroeck 4. Robert Gesink 5. Bauke Mollema »

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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Marianne Vos 2. Georgia Bronzini 3. Lizzie Armestead 4. Shelly Olds 5. Emma Johansson »

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...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Mark Cavendish 2. Peter Sagan 3. Philippe Gilbert 4. Fabian Cancellara 5. John Degenkolb »

Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2012, Stage 16

Which bold rider has this stage circled in their tour bible? Wednesday July 18th, Stage 16, 197 km. The day after a the final rest day. A climbing day with two HC climbs followed by two Category 1 climbs and a serious descent toward the finish. The Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde: you better be a fearless climber and a good descender, bu...

@sprider's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Froome 2. Kessiakoff 3. Nibali 4. Rolland 5. Pinot »

Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2012, Stage 11

During the 1969 Tour de France, Felice Gimondi and Ray Poulidor were fined for taking a ride from a lorry up the Tourmalet. What about Merkcx? Well, he was towing the lorry.Its an old joke, but like any good joke, it stays funny no matter how many times you hear it. I bet it’s even funnier if you know what a lorry is. I knew a girl named Lori...

@sprider's posts:

  1. Hmm, couldn’t comment when I posted picks, not that I have much to say. Climber’s day, should be a good one. Hopeyo see a newface one the podium. What about Jens today? F-ing hard man, I love that guy! »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Rui Costa 2. Janez Brajkovic 3. Jurgen Van Den Broeck 4. Vincenzo Nibali 5. Denis Menchov »

  3. VSP PICKS: 1. Rui Costa 2. Janes Brajkovic 3. Jurgen Van Den Broeck 4. Vincenzo Nibali 5. Denis Menchov »

Velominati Super Prestige: Tour de France 2012

We are proud to announce a change to the Velominati Super Prestige moving forward: sponsorship. We are delighted (if a little surprised) at the interest our partners showed in this endeavor, despite the short notice we gave them. Four sponsors will be gracing the sides of our team bus for this year’s race: fi’zi:k is our Super Domesti...

@sprider's posts:

  1. Yeah, got to play the numbers…Or just got to dump some erstwhile hopefuls… Either way there’s no apron in it for me. VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps): 1. Bradly Wiggens 2. Vincenzo Nibali 3. Cadel Evans 4. Denis Menchov 5. TJ Vangarderen »

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