Velominati Super Prestige

Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2016

Every time I’ve ridden the Roubaix pavé, I’ve peed the next few days like I got VD from some dirty cobble. That might not really sell the non-believer on the pleasure of riding the sacred stones, but there truly is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Here in Seattle, we have cobbled climbs and they are by all rights legitimately rough. But they pale in comparison to the brutality of the Flemish kasseien, and the Flemish kasseien pale in comparison to the French pavé.

When riding the cobbles, I sometimes find myself almost having an out of body experience, amazed at the fact that bicycle and rider are carrying on in a generally forward progression. On one occasion, I even found myself staring at a bidon that had ejected from my Arundel Mandible bidon cage, which itself says something about how rough the ride was. The bottle seemed to hang in the air for a moment as time slowed and I wondered firstly how the bidon had found its way past my top tube, and secondly whether I should fight the strangely strong urge to try and catch it.

Several of our V-Community brethren are over in Lille as we speak, riding the cobbles with our friends William and Alex from Pavé Cycling Classics and swilling Malteni like fools. They are over there because the thrilling sensation of savage shaking when you hit a secteur at speed from the smooth tarmac followed by the sense of overwhelming relief when the shaking stops as you return once again to the smooth pavement is an itch you have to keep scratching.

Sunday is Paris-Roubaix, the Queen of the Classics. And this time, it really does look like it’s going to be muddy and raining. Thank Merckx. Recall that Tom Boonen is the only favorite in the Peloton who has raced Paris-Roubaix in the wet, in 2002. Fourteen years since a muddy edition. Fourteen.

Will Boonen make it an unprecedented V wins? Or will Faboo come good and tie the record to join Boonen and de Vlaeminck? Or will Pinchy do the double and take his second monument? My money is on rain and an upset winner.

Don’t forget that the VSP Series winner takes home a custom Don Walker and that the runner-up gets a set of handbuilt Café Roubaix CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheels. Third place get a V-Kit. So start your prognostications on the start list, pray to whatever deity that melts your butter, and get your picks in by the time the timer goes to zero.
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385 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2016”

  2. @wiscot

    @hudson

    I’m not sure Lefevre could afford Tommeke AND Pinchy and if he was to sign the latter, the former might leave, unless he’s willing to end his illustrious career as a full-time domestique.

    Yeah, i have no clue when it comes to the financials of a team and what type of budget they are working with. I could probably google it but i like to pretend these guys race purely because they love it.  But if i HAD to make the choice as the boss, I’d slip Tom his pink slip under a big bottle of something expensive, and take the guy who’s got 10+ years of phenomenal racing coming his way.

  3. VSP PICKS:

    1. Fabian Cancellara
    2. Sep Vanmarcke
    3. Peter Sagan
    4. Jens Keukelaire
    5. Zdenek Stybar

  4. Tommeke will do it

    Cancellara can do it

    Vanmarcke deserves to do it

    Stybar should have been Van Avermaet

    Sagan… well… there is no getting around the guy…

     

    And now you’ll see benoot will win. That would be great!!

     

     

    VSP PICKS:

    1. boonen
    2. cancellara
    3. vanmarcke
    4. stybar
    5. sagan

  5. @paolo

    @chuckp

    My new dark horse pick … Phil Gaimon. 6’1″ and 148 pounds. The perfect build for L’enfer du Nord.

    http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/04/news/surprise-phil-gaimons-racing-paris-roubaix_401781

    Just read this and I am moved to note that he’s also an exceptionally nice young man to boot. Last September on a very hot Saturday afternoon my friend Julian and I were climbing Latigo. An Iconic climb in the Santa Monicas. Both of us have 50 well in the rear view mirror now. I was well ahead and Phil passed me. I forget which domestic team he rode for last year but the bikes were Diamondbacks. As he sailed passed me I recognized him and said hi. Later Julian told me that half way up the climb he was out of water and stopped for some shade under a tree. Phil stopped to check on him and gave him some water from his bidon. You just wont ever see anything like that in any other sport I think.

    This is really great!  Thanks for sharing.  I love hearing first hand accounts of such encounters with “famous” people.  Gives me faith in the present and hope for the future.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Sparty
    3. Tommeke
    4. Luke Rowe
    5. Stybar

  8. VSP PICKS:

    1. Alexander Kristoff
    2. Zdenek Stybar
    3. Fabian Cancelarra
    4. Tom Boonen
    5. Sep Vanmarcke

  10. After watching the video Brett posted I just can’t not pick Boonen. It may be a long shot, but since my odds of winning the VSP overall are low, I might as well go with my heart.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Boonen
    2. Vanmarcke
    3. Cancellara
    4. Sagan
    5. Stybar

  13. VSP PICKS:

    1. BOOM Lars
    2. ROELANDTS Jurgen
    3. STYBAR Zdenek
    4. OSS Daniel
    5. WESTRA Lieuwe

  18. VSP PICKS:

    1. Cancellara, Fabian
    2. Sagan, Peter
    3. Vanmarcke, Sep
    4. Stybar, Zdenek
    5. Boom, Lars

  19. VSP PICKS:

    1. Cancellara, Fabian
    2. Sagan, Peter
    3. Boonen, Tom
    4. Vanmarcke, Sep
    5. Stybar, Zdenek

  21. VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan, Peter
    2. Cancellara, Fabien
    3. Vanmarcke, Sep
    4. Stybar, Zdenek
    5. Kristoff, Alexander

  23. @Teocalli

    @KogaLover

    With my track record I’m starting to think a better strategy would be to choose really obscure names and then dispute post event to get the top 5 in the correct order.

    This is pure evil genius.

    Something like:

    1. Batfink

    2. The Saw Disciple

    3. Steves Brother

    4. Snake son in the garden

    5. Really ugly Belgian

     

    Just to be clear; these are hypothetical. I aint changing my picks!

  24. 6. Tom Boonen

    7. Luke Rowe

    8

    .Taylor Phinney

    9. Dylan Van Baarle

    10. Phil Gaimon

     

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Sep Vanmarcke
    3. A. Kristoff
    4. Z. Stybar
    5. F. Cancellara

  31. Picked through the fog of a migraine.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cancellara
    2. Stybar
    3. Stannard
    4. Sagan
    5. Benoot

  33. Stybar in, Boom….out!

    Dry weather has me a bit disappointed but it’s still PR,

    FFS!

     

    VSP PICKS:

    1. CANCELLARA, Fabian
    2. SAGAN, Peter
    3. STYBAR, Zdenek
    4. VANMARCKE, Sep
    5. BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald

  38. So many good options in such an unpredictable race makes my brain feel cobbled.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Cancellara
    3. Kristoff
    4. Stybar
    5. Vanmarcke

  39. @paolo

    @chuckp

    My new dark horse pick … Phil Gaimon. 6’1″ and 148 pounds. The perfect build for L’enfer du Nord.

    http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/04/news/surprise-phil-gaimons-racing-paris-roubaix_401781

    Just read this and I am moved to note that he’s also an exceptionally nice young man to boot. Last September on a very hot Saturday afternoon my friend Julian and I were climbing Latigo. An Iconic climb in the Santa Monicas. Both of us have 50 well in the rear view mirror now. I was well ahead and Phil passed me. I forget which domestic team he rode for last year but the bikes were Diamondbacks. As he sailed passed me I recognized him and said hi. Later Julian told me that half way up the climb he was out of water and stopped for some shade under a tree. Phil stopped to check on him and gave him some water from his bidon. You just wont ever see anything like that in any other sport I think.

    Great story!  Phil rode for Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies last year.  US-based Continental squad. They rode the Diamondback Podium.

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pro-bike-phil-gaimons-diamondback-podium-equipe/

  41. @chuckp

    Tommeke is not one of my picks, but I love this.

    http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/04/news/boonen-all-in-for-bid-for-history-at-roubaix_401904

    “You don’t need a plan to win Paris-Roubaix,” Boonen said Friday at a press conference. “You need balls.”

    Fuck!  What an awesome quote!

    Frahnk:  We need an Awesome Cyclist Quote page around here.  Not quotes from punters like us, but from the hard men and women of the true pro ranks.

    That quote would definitely fit the bill!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Sparty
    3. Tommeke
    4. Luke Rowe
    5. Stybar

  43. Buck – that has kinda been my approach to life. However, with the first velominipper on the way next month…I’ve started planning!

    And yes, I wish I had been in that room to hear him utter that. Holy cannoli, great quote!

  44. Faboo has said in the past that he doesn’t do well on wet cobbles because his high cadence makes him lose grip. But I can’t bring myself to bet against him…

    And a word for Mr. Degencobble still recovering. I wish he were racing.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Cancellara
    2. Sagan
    3. Stybar
    4. Boom
    5. Stannard

  46. Looking forward to a great Sunday in Hell. Cheers

    VSP PICKS:

    1. CANCELLARA
    2. VANMARCKE
    3. SAGAN
    4. KRISTOFF
    5. STANNARD

  48. Paris f’ing Roubaix 2016

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Stybar
    3. VanMarke
    4. Rowe
    5. Cancellara

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