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

Velominatus: Roberto Marques

Order: Level 4 Velominatus

Social: Website

Started on mountain bike then road bikes...now is difficult to say which on I love most...maybe the road bike.

@Roberto Marques's activity:

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Hesjedal 2. Nibali 3. Wiggo 4. Cadel 5. Henao »

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 &#...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

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

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. Man! Those new aero helmets are so f*&#@ UGLY! VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Gilbert 3. Purito 4. J Rod 5. Gerrans »

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Phinney 3. Chavanel 4. Flecha 5. Vansummeren »

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. And Fischer 6th VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Sagan 3. Thomas 4. Boonen 5. Paolini »

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. 6. Murilo Fischer »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Valverde 3. Pozzato 4. Sagan 5. Phinney »

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. 6. Murilo Fischer VSP PICKS: 1. Thor 2. Pozzato 3. Vanmarcke 4. Gerald Thomas 5. Boasson Hagen »

Frank vs. The Volcano, Part Trois

At some point, I reckon the idea may dawn on me that I’m not a climber. Eighty kilos and standing something just shy of two meters, I’m not clear on why climbing is what speaks to me most about Cycling; I’m certainly not built like a grimpeur. But there is no question about it; I love riding in the mountains. I only have to catch...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. Frank, congrats! Really! Or as we say down here in Brazil…DU CARALHO!!!! »

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...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Wiggo 2. Cadel 3. Hesjedal 4. Gesink 5. Nibali »

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2012

After a winter of long training rides that offered more in the way of numb extremities than it did in acute enjoyment, I have to say that the warming of the air and brightening of the skies have served to remind me that while I love riding in bad weather, I certainly don’t have anything against riding when its nice out.But dont think for...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Basso 2. Schleck Sr. 3. Hesjedal 4. Scarponi 5. Kreuziger »

Velominati Super Prestige: Amstel Gold Race 2012

When people think of the The Netherlands, they generally think of flat lands, windmills, and a topography where people claim to “live at elevation” when their home on the third floor of a building. Never the less, this is not entirely true as The Motherland does, in its most southern reaches, boast quite hilly terrain; the province of...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sanchez 2. Valverde 3. Cadel 4. Nibali 5. J-Rod »

  2. VSP PICKS: 1. J-Rod 2. Valverde 3. Cadel 4. Nibali 5. Sagan »

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2012

We rode the Pavé of Roubaix in the dry, and any comforting feelings we might have been carrying about with us that suggested we had somehow prepared for them were summarily vaporized as we hit the first secteur. Riding together in a group, unable to reach for the brakes or the shifters, we all were hit with the same realization: these aren’...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Boonen 2. Flecha 3. Vansummeren 4. Pozzato 5. Hagen »

Velominati Super Prestige: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2012

The Keepers and Rigid rolled into a region in France called Flandres which, without doing any further research into the matter, we assume is the coloquial French term for this region of the world. If its anything like the other regions in Europe, these places have roots that extend way past any modern country’s border and situate themselves i...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. This is one of the best cycling video I know! 2010 – Kapelmurr http://youtu.be/6T7TOTu3MyU »

  2. 6. Gilbert VSP PICKS: 1. Cancellara 2. Boonen 3. Pozzato 4. Sep Vanmarcke 5. Devolder »

Velominati Super Prestige: Milano San-Remo 2012

The Poggio. It’s probably one of the most famous easy climbs in the world; going through old cycling photographs, I rarely come across one where the leaders haven’t moved Sur La Plaque. It has a reputation, however, for being a real leg breaker, mostly because any climb is a big climb once you cross its summit after a paltry 291 kilomet...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. Go Murilo!!!! VSP PICKS: 1. Murilo Fischer 2. Boonen 3. Cavendish 4. Sagan 5. Freire »

Velominati Super Prestige: Strade Bianche 2012

The Monte Paschi Strade Bianchi is happening this Saturday and it is such an interesting race we are putting it into the VSP.  The route is a mix of pavement and white marble sectors that roam through the hilly Tuscan country and finishes in the middle of beautiful Sienna. It seems early to me but that is because the Giro had an epic stage on the...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Sagan 2. Cancellara 3. Visconti 4. Nibali 5. Hesjedal »

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

We kick off the first races of the 2012 VSP with a double-header as we open the picks for the VVomen’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Aside from an early hiccup, the new software has been running as expected, though I should have known better than to declare something as “tested”; as the first few picks went in sideways, there was more co...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Hoore 2. Vocht 3. Jong 4. Goede 5. Vyust »

Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

The 2012 Velominati Super Prestige kicks off in proper form this season with the debut of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as part of the series. I’m tempted to stubbornly refer to this race as Het Volk, but I’ll toe the line and refer to the race by its bewildering new(ish) name.This is a tricky race to predict because the big races in April ar...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Boonen 2. Boom 3. Gilbert 4. Navardauskas 5. Boasson Hagen »

Darkness

Yesterday, Seattle was dark for 15 hours 34 minutes and 37 seconds. Let us not count how much it was light– it is of no use to us. I rode to work in the black, and in the black I rode home.The darkness is good to me. It shields my filthy chain from those who would judge it. It casts anonymity over the creaking of my bottom bracket. It erases...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. It’s allowed to say that there is not exactly a border between Brazil and other countries in S. America…but you also know that in Campo Grande 36°C is “winter time”! »

  2. Just a piece of information…today here in São Paulo, Brazil we had around 36°C (around 97F) and now we have a nice storm with small ice rocks…kind of typical weather for this partof the year (summer). This means road bike only at maximum 9am, and no m… »

Velominati Super Prestige: Giro di Lombardia

No event of the year is more likely to provide piles of Rule #9 in the Five and Dime than il Giro di Lombardia. A hilly circuit around Lake Como ensures lots of climbing and that the bunch is blown to bits before the finish. Add to that its position as the last classic of the season, nestled in amongst the falling leaves of mid-October, and you...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Cunego 3. Nibali 4. Voeckler 5. Samuel Sanchez »

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

A clatter of the metal grate rolling up signals another opening of the Velominati Bookmaker’s Office. The gaggle of skinny (and not so skinny, you know who you are) jabbering cycling addicts rush the door, each with their dream of a bumper sticker dancing in their heads. Before the office opened the bookies have consulted the oracle; a garble...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS: 1. Gilbert 2. Goss 3. Benatti 4. Sagan 5. Cancellara »

Velominati Super Prestige: 2011 La Vuelta a España

Spain is an awesome country. It has amazing scenery, culture, cities and chicas… oh, the chicas. Its football competition features the world’s best players, their national team are the reigning World Cup holders, and they boast world champions in tennis, Moto GP, Superbikes and Formula 1. They regularly kick the collective asses of Fran...

@Roberto Marques's posts:

  1. VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps): 1. Nibali 2. Froomen 3. Wiggo 4. Anton 5. Van Den Broeck »