The 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, your picks via the VSP Picks form above the posts section of the VSP Event article pertaining to the race in question by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight on the day of the race start. These articles are clearly marked and are generally posted at least 72 hours in advance of each event. The current leader of the competition has the honor of posting on the site bearing the VSP Leader’s badge; winners of select races (the monuments and Grand Tours) similarly gain the honor of posting with a dedicated badge for the remainder of the year. Prizes may be given for key events; these prizes will be announced on the associated VSP Event. Points will be tallied as the season progresses and the winner will be announced after Paris-Tours. Prizes to be determined.
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings of each race by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on the day of the race. Regular Points Points will be scored in reverse order of finishing order: 7 points for first place, 5 points for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, and 2 for fifth. Readers will also earn 1 bonus point for every other rider named in the top five, regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice. Tie Breaking In the event of a tie, the first reader to submit their predictions will be named the winner.
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings on General Classification of each Grand Tour by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on the day of the first stage or prologue. Points Points will be scored as follows based on the final G.C of the race: 20 points for first place, 15 for second, 10 for third, 7 for fourth, and 5 for fifth; plus 3 points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice. Changing of the Picks* Contestants are allowed to make line up changes on one of the rest days of the Grand Tours but not both. These changes will come with a point penalty. You will be allotted one (1) rest day to make swaps in grand tours; you may pick either the first or second rest day. The penalties for swapping will be lower for the first rest day than the second. This will allow you to swap out a rider(s) who gets caught in some first week nervousness with a 5 point penalty for each swap. Or make some go for broke/doomed to fail break-away swap on the second rest day for a 10 point penalty for each swap. That’s it. You make one swap or five on either rest day for the corresponding 5 or 10 point penalty per swap. Additionally, if one of your riders crashes out, DNF’s, or DNS’s, you may swap them out on a rest day with corresponding penalties if you haven’t already used up your one rest day swap. Tie Breaking In the event of a tie, the first reader to submit their predictions will be named the winner. Minor Stages We will be posting VSP’s for minor stages as well. Scoring is similar to one-day racing, except no bonus points are in play for getting the rider in the wrong placing.
Readers who wish to enter shall enter their predictions for the top five placings on General Classification of each Minor Stage Race (less than three weeks) by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on the day of the first stage or prologue. Regular Points Points will be scored in reverse order of finishing order: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 7 for third, 5 for fourth, and 3 for fifth; plus two bonus points per rider in the top five regardless of the rider’s placing, but riders are not scored twice. Tie Breaking In the event of a tie, the first reader to submit their predictions will be named the winner.
The following badges will be worn by current leaders of the competition and sub-competitions:
| Overall Super Prestige Leader: | ||
| Milano Sanremo: | ||
| VVomen’s Ronde van Vlaanderen: | ||
| Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen: | ||
| Paris-Roubaix: | ||
| Leige-Bastogne-Liege: | ||
| Giro d’Italia Leader: | ||
| Giro Rosa Leader: | ||
| Tour de France Leader: | ||
| Vuelta a Espana Leader: | ||
| Giro di Lombardia: | ||
| Overal Super Prestige Lanterne Rouge: |
Start | End | Event | Race Website |
| 18.03.2017 | 18.03.2017 | Milano-Sanremo | www.milanosanremo.it |
| 26.03.2017 | 26.03.2017 | Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields | www.gent-wevelgem.be |
| 02.04.2017 | 02.04.2017 | Ronde van Vlaanderen – Tour des Flandres | www.flandersclassics.be |
| 09.04.2017 | 09.04.2017 | Paris-Roubaix | www.letour.fr |
| 16.04.2017 | 16.04.2017 | Amstel Gold Race | www.amstelgoldrace.nl |
| 19.04.2017 | 19.04.2017 | La Flèche Wallonne | www.letour.fr |
| 23.04.2017 | 23.04.2017 | Liège-Bastogne-Liège | www.letour.fr |
| 05.05.2017 | 28.05.2017 | Giro d’Italia | www.giroditalia.it |
| 04.06.2017 | 11.06.2017 | Critérium du Dauphiné | www.letour.fr |
| 10.06.2017 | 18.06.2017 | Tour de Suisse | www.tds.ch |
| 01.07.2017 | 23.07.2017 | Tour de France | www.letour.fr |
| 29.07.2017 | 29.07.2017 | Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian | www.klasikoa.net |
| 19.08.2017 | 10.09.2017 | La Vuelta ciclista a España | lavuelta.com |
| 08.09.2017 | 08.09.2017 | Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | www.gpcqm.ca |
| 10.09.2017 | 10.09.2017 | Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | www.gpcqm.ca |
| 20.09.2017 | 20.09.2017 | Mens World Championship Time Trial | |
| 24.09.2017 | 24.09.2017 | Mens World Championship Road Race | |
| 07.10.2017 | 07.10.2017 | Il Lombardia | www.illombardia.it |
Start | End | Event | Race Website |
| 26.03.2017 | 26.03.2017 | Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields | www.gent-wevelgem.be |
| 02.04.2017 | 02.04.2017 | Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres | www.flandersclassics.be |
| 16.04.2017 | 16.04.2017 | Amstel Gold Race | info@amstelgoldrace.nl |
| 19.04.2017 | 19.04.2017 | La Flèche Wallonne Féminine | www.letour.fr |
| 23.04.2017 | 23.04.2017 | Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes | www.letour.fr et www.pesantliege.be |
| 30.06.2017 | 09.07.2017 | Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile | |
| 20.07.2017 | 20.07.2017 | La Course by Le Tour de France | www.letour.fr |
| 29.07.2017 | 29.07.2017 | Prudential RideLondon Classique | www.ridelondon.co.uk/events/classique |
| 17.08.2017 | 20.08.2017 | Ladies Tour of Norway | www.ladiestour.no |
| 26.08.2017 | 26.08.2017 | GP de Plouay – Lorient Agglomération | www.grandprix-plouay.com |
| 29.08.2017 | 03.09.2017 | Boels Rental Ladies Tour | www.hollandladiestour.nl |
| 10.09.2017 | 10.09.2017 | Madrid Challenge by la Vuelta | lavuelta.com/Madridchallenge |
| 19.09.2017 | 19.09.2017 | Womens World Championship Time Trial | |
| 23.09.2017 | 23.09.2017 | Womens World Championship Road Race |
[vsp_gc year=”2017″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2016″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2015″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2014″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2013″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2012″/]
[vsp_gc year=”2011″/]
2010 VSP G.C.
*The Changing of the Picks rules are designed to promote fair play and keep the competition fun and open throughout the three-week race. Abuse of these rules will be managed through the “Piti Principle”: if we we feel you are attempting to exploit loopholes or otherwise take advantage of the Changing of the Picks rules, we will penalize you by deducting points from your total score. Much like the UCI doping suspensions, the amount of points deducted will be based on how egregious the abuse was.
View Comments
@RobSandy
I've heard an interview on Slovak yesterday, they asked who is his main opponent now. Sagan said without hesitation: "Limits on mountain stages."
Tightly packed bunch on the second rest day with @mulebeatsdrums trying to break away......
@Teocalli
If I could keep or extend that gap over Rick, that'd be nice...
@RobSandy
I have given you every chance to do so considering my picks! I should have known that Porte would crash out but Nibali's withdrawal has really hurt me.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but if Sky want to improve their public image (if that's possible), I'd suggest they give GT free rein in the last week. I know Froome is close to joining the Famous 5 club, but if GT is seen to defer to Froome when he is obviously going very well, will not look good. Either way, Sky stand a good chance of winning. GT has been a loyal soldier and would be (at this point at least) a deserving winner.
And who's to say if Dumoulin and Bardet don't have something left. It's a real shame that Nibali is out as the last week is often his strongest. The problem is for the non-Sky riders is that GT and Froome can take turns attacking and that puts the rest in an awkward spot.
Should be an interesting last week!
The Times reported it was a spectators camera strap that caught Nibali's bike.
Words fail me.
@Teocalli
Seeing as Nibali, Porte, and Uran were three of my picks, I'll be happy if I can keep my current standing.
If Sky has to win this TdF, I want it to be G. He deserves to win (at least they way he's riding right now) and I've always liked him. Yeah, would've been nice to see Nibs (my pick to win) in the mix during the last week of racing to see if he could shake things up. But you can only race against who's in the race (as when Nibs won in 2014 and both Bertie and Froomie crashed out).
Well, well, well, seems like Moscon is a bit of a ned: http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/twitter/?title=Gianni+Moscon+expelled+after+modest+Stage+15+incident&dashboard=tour-de-france&id=toutlesport/status/1021097869292470272&yr=2018
Good riddance!
This seems as good a place as any for you to appreciate my Johnny Hoogerland homage.
Club run on Saturday, going down a short sharp hill I've done a hundred times. There's often gravel at the bottom on a corner and the it's a narrow lane so I'm always looking out for it. I cleared the gravel and kept decent speed for the other side...
What I hadn't seen because of the summer hedgerows was the van coming down and taking up the whole lane. I tried to make it between the van and the side but on the curve there was no chance of holding the line and it was a choice between hitting the van at 60km/h or going off into the barbed wire.
I even took out a fence post on the way through - hit it with my shoulder.
Incredibly not only was the bike OK but I didn't rip my club kit and the only limb which escaped unscathed was the one with my big tattoo.
I did get a bit worried when I'd sat up and did a quick check to see if I was alive and one of the guys I was with started saying No No Don't Move, Don't Move. I started thinking "Can he see something horrible sticking out (or through) that I can't feel?"
Anyway, lots of blood, a bit of stinging in the shower but otherwise OK. Lucky I had my cycling cap on !