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

Velominatus: G\'phant

Order: Winner of the Velominati Super Prestige Giro di Lombardia

@G'phant's activity:

Anatomy of a Photo: Rule #47

André Leducq was a complete French Badass, with a capital B. He was third, below Merckx and Hinault for Tour de France stage wins. Nicolas Frantz was an equally Badass Luxembourger. He rode to more victories than Frandy Schleck shall ever attain in a few lifetimes. He did win the Tour de France.The crowd is obviously pleased to have these thin, he...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Great photo. Would love to know the background to it. The crowd seem to be watching avidly. They glasses are about equally full. The drinkers are well away from the bar and standing. All this suggests some local ritual or ceremony that is a featured part … »

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 &#...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Belated burst of querelousness now posted as a result of none of my picks posting (despite them showing).  But let that not detract from a brilliant finish. He’s been threatening to do something fully awesome like that for a while, now.  Listening to Sean… »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Another excellent contribution to the site. Thanks, Wiscot. 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 &#...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Bianchi Denti On the basis that all but five abandon, but Andy is the last to do so… VSP PICKS: 1. Piti 2. Purity 3. G-G-G-Gerro 4. Uran 5. Kwiatkowski »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Spanish treble. JRod’s arm permitting. VSP PICKS: 1. Piti 2. Purito 3. Contodor 4. Phil Gil 5. Porte »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. An upset on the Muur de Huy is In store. Or I don’t know shit. It’s one or the other. My money’s on the second. VSP PICKS: 1. Johansson 2. Van Dijk 3. Vos Boss 4. Lizzie A 5. De Vries »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. This time … VSP PICKS: 1. Purity 2. Gibbles 3. Bumpinch 4. Terpstra 5. Gerro »

  2. No idea but do not want to Delgado … VSP PICKS: 1. Van Avermaet 2. Gibbles 3. Bumpinch 4. Terpstra 5. Gerro »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Crap shoot – but at least I did not Delgado this time. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabacus 2. Rollin Rollin Roelandts 3. Chavs 4. MinPhin 5. Boom Boom »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Aaaaaaaggghh! Delgadoooooeedddd..,, Damn, damn, damn. Spartacus will win. Not that that will do me any good. Sigh… »

Sur la Plaque: Rule #9

As many of you know, there’s been a lot of synergy between BIGRINGRIDING and Velominati for several years now. Though BRR and Velominati have very different flavors, we work on a similar principle: foster passion for the sport through a mix of knowledge, history, and humor tempered with a healthy dose of irreverence, all while obviously makin...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @JohnB Commiserations.  That sucks.  Heal well. »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Dinan  He ain’t a douche. A least least, not on account of his wheelies and running men. Because those are funny – or, at least, obviously done with humorous intent.  Cav’s various line-crossing antics are never funny.  More often they are some tiresome … »

  2. Dice rolled, chicken entrails inspected, tea leaves consulted, magic 8-ball shaken, coin tossed, wet finger aired, eeny-meeny-miney-mo played, prayers offered, Cyclingnews read, others’ picks reviewed and self introspected at length. Still, remarkably, no… »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Vos 2. Armitstead 3. Borghini 4. Johansson 5. Collins »

Cold Fact

Wellington isn’t renown for its great summers; a mate is always quick to remind me that if the weather was perfect all the time, everyone would want to live here and we’d be overrun by Aucklanders (just like Aussies but not quite dumb enough to live in Canberra). As our summer goes into its last death throes of amazingly calm, sunny, cl...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Brett et al, have a blast. »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @Nate Yup. »

  2. @Pedale.Forchetta  Just the one battery? Are you not taking many photos? Disappointing … »

  3. Sags too good in a two-up with Nibbles after the most terrifying descent of the Poggio ever witnessed. Fabs drags Haydn Roulston just enough to hold off the hard-charging select bunch which does not include Cav but does include Gossy. Or not. VSP PICKS:… »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. As we say around these parts, ‘O for orsome’.  Great looking bike, Cy, and an inspiring story. Well done. »

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...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Had to swap out Can’tGo for minifini, on the basis that this is the year the new breed of youth take over. @brett Is ‘Velocurmudgeon’ a word? It should be. (Points for consistency, though. Eyeore wouldn’t be Eyeore if he occasionally lightened up.) VS… »

  2. Bel Mezzo, Marko. (Pedale, did I get that right?) Love this race. Brings back happy memories of the Strade Bianche. Probably because I have never been on them in the rain. VSP PICKS: 1. Fabs 2. Sags 3. Cuddles 4. Booms 5. Canhegoes »

Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2013

Outside my window, its pouring rain. My bike is leaning agains the wall in my office, covered in grim and grit from the ride in, which was characterized by equal parts cold, wind, and rain. The spot in the locker room where I changed before my shower was marked by sand and mud, and when I walked to the shower, I left a trail of dirty footprints.It...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Degenkolb outsprintis God of Thunder after The Prodigy (with GoT’s permission) rides both of them off his wheel. Sep and Jurgen battel it out for Belgian Bragging Rights. Or not … VSP PICKS: 1. T Phinney 2. J Degenkolb 3. T Hushovd 4. S Vanmarcke 5. … »

Velominati Super Prestige: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Women 2013

Finally, some cold nasty Belgian one day racing. Oman, Qatar, does anyone brag about winning those stage races? Yes, they might but really, it’s a tune up for the real season which finally begins this Saturday. Will racing in China or Oman grow the sport? Will there be a new wave of inspired young racers from these countries. Does professiona...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. Thanks, Eightzero, for the inspiraiton. VSP PICKS: 1. Evie Stevie 2. Armitstead 3. De Vries 4. Gilmore 5. Trixxi W »

Portrait of a Hardwoman: Nicole Cooke

Cycling is hard; I’m not leaking any trade secrets with that statement, but it feels good to say it anyway. No Cyclist avoids suffering, but of those who venture into our world, there are some who seek to limit it while others choose to embrace it. Then we have a handful of characters who consider playing Whack-a-Mole with the Man with the Ha...

@G'phant's posts:

  1. @G’phant  oops – iPad and/or fat finger malfunction. For the record, I do not think eightzero is a poor, fat, unmotivated muppet. »

  2. @eightzero poor, fat, unmotivated muppet who wins the Tour ‘Not a fan of rich people that achieve because they have every advantage money can buy. That’s not sport. That’s just…business.I get that all day long, and I get paid to put up with it. Not how I… »

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