Velominati Super Prestige
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.
Scoring (One-Day Races)
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.
Scoring (Grand Tours)
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.
Scoring (Minor Stage Races)
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.
Posting Badges
The following badges will be worn by current leaders of the competition and sub-competitions:
| Overall Super Prestige Leader: |  |
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| Milano Sanremo: |  |
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| VVomen’s Ronde van Vlaanderen: |  |
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| Men’s Ronde van Vlaanderen: |  |
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| Paris-Roubaix: |  |
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| Leige-Bastogne-Liege: |  |
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| Giro d’Italia Leader: |  |
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| Giro Rosa Leader: |  |
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| Tour de France Leader: |  |
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| Vuelta a Espana Leader: |  |
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| Giro di Lombardia: |  |
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| Overal Super Prestige Lanterne Rouge: |  |
2016 Velominati Super Prestige Schedule
Les Hommes
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 |
La Femmes
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 | [email protected] |
| 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 |
Standings
[vsp_gc year=”2017″/]
Past Results
[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.
My Giro picks:
1 – Tommy Poomoulin
2 – Where’s my inhaler Froome
3 – Miguel Angel I’m Superman not Batman dammit Lopez
4 – Michael Woods, eh?
5 – Fabio but not THE Fabio Aru
@chuckp
I read somewhere that he had found out what causes his bowel issues so maybe he will become Dunpooin….
@MangoDave
Ha! Good luck! In all my career in the Scottish 80s TT scene, I never missed my start time. I may have been late to the line a couple of times, but was always within my allocated minute!
@Teocalli
Maybe he needs more fibre. Needs to put more Du-muesli-in.
Anyone? No?
@RobSandy
As long as he beats Froomie. I am ABF.
Okay, let’s give this a go:
Giro D’Italia VSP Picks:
Froome
Dumoulin
Chaves
Bentancur
Lopez
Current Giro picks. @Cary you need a fix for Porte……..
I can’t seem to upload the post with my Giro pics.
I’m trying, but the names don’t want to stick
now its saying duplicate post….etc, etc
ok, how about I do it in code:
french guy with a name like a french wine
dutch guy that likes windmills
Italian dude with a three letter last name
UK rider with a name that rhymes with Bates
Columbian that climbs like an angel
I guess “the system” doesn’t like that I purposely left Froome off my list?
@freddy
Are you trying to cut and paste a table from a file? It does not seem to like that……
@freddy
So is that
Pinot
Dumoulin
Aru
S Yates
Lopez
weird…it doesn’t even like my straight typing, but yeah, you are correct with the list of pics
that sentence worked after 4 other tries with different wording…
@Teocalli
please substitute Chaves for Porte. thanks for catching this.
Just a bit of time left for the late callers………
@freddy
Are you using Explorer? The site never did like Explorer………
Giro
Dumoulin
Froome *
Pinot
Aru
Chaves
* Froome finishes on the podium in Rome but his result will be stripped
Viviani wins several stages
Great to see the peloton racing their spaceship bikes on Star Wars day! About as appropriate as it gets. May the Fourth be with you all!
Great result for Dumoulin – shakes up the race from the 1st day.
Did Froome do himself a bit of damage coming off while he was warming up?
@RobSandy
Froome certainly had a bunch of road rash and a cut knee. Lost the front wheel going into a bend and went down hard. Not great in a preview/rece.
Sunweb going to have to own the pace for a while which might not be so great for their 3 week workload.
@Teocalli
It looked an innocuous crash but they can hurt. I’m not surprised Dumoulin and Dennis beat Froome – surprised at the amount of time lost.
Also surprised by some of the results – Pozzivivo and Yates rode superb TTs. Woods – 1 minute down already. Damn.
@RobSandy
Even though these guys are tough, I’m sure Sky are seriously downplaying any injuries. I’m sure the crash caused Froome to be a bit more cautious on the actual ride which is understandable.
I can see Sunweb letting the jersey go for a week or so to a sprinter, but they’ll keep their eyes on Froome et al.
The good news is that there are now a bunch of riders who have no option but to attack if they don’t want to gift 3 weeks to Dumoulin. They know from last year that they are going to have to work hard for longer (ie multiple days) to drop him.
Problem solved for Sunweb–BMC will gut themselves to keep the jersey.
@Teocalli
Safari……..
I’ll try Google Chrome. The ‘V’ might like it better.
@freddy
Hmmm – I use Safari and it mostly works OK, though now and again it gets its knickers in a twist and I have to restart it.
Standings going into the first rest day. 2 Bunches cruising along…….
@Teocalli
Please remind me how you’re scoring. I can’t figure out how the points are being awarded. Thanx!
@chuckp
7 first, 5 second, 4,3,2, and 1 for a NITRP placing in the top 5 – if you spot any mistakes it will be my mistyping. So corrections/queries gratefully accepted!
@Teocalli
I think I figured out how it works, but just to be sure …
You look at GC at the end of each stage and based on that if the race ended that day you determine the standings. So each day/stage it changes (and isn’t cumulative) based on who’s where on GC. So at the end of today (stage 3), those who had Dumoulin in second place all got 5 points for that. Those of us who had someone in the top 5 but not in the right order (in my case, Dumoulin in first) all got one point.
At the end of stage 4, the standing will change (or not) based on GC.
Correct?
@chuckp
Correct. The VSP always did a virtual standing on the rest days of the GTs in the same manner. Just that you had to look for it in the standings so you would not have spotted it if you did not know to look (if I remember correctly). So as this is all manual now I have to push the same to the core of the thread so it is more visible.
Spot prizes for the GT winners
OK so Vuelta gets a Polka Dot but at least it is red………..
@Teocalli
Wierd – there was a photo there yesterday……….
….or even weird…….
@Teocalli
Yep, that is weird. I could see a photo of 3 mugs yesterday.
@Teocalli
Yes there was! Where’d it go? Maybe it’s in the V bunker with the Keepers?
@Teocalli
I’m still keeping track of all picks and scores. I don’t plan on doing virtual standings on the road each day, though.
@MangoDave
I’m just going to do the Virtual Standings on the rest days of the GTs.
Today should be a good indication of the form of the main contenders.
@Teocalli
Its unusual for Sky to have so much time to make up in a GT.
Froome doesn’t really have an option but to be aggressive every chance he gets.
Should make for some interesting racing.
What was the time cut on st 6 to Etna, something like 14% ??
I’m guessing Sky aren’t having much fun on this Giro – so far. Contrast that to Mitchelton-Scott. If you want a good way to spend 5-6 minutes, watch the wee video they do each day. It’s always fun to see. Whomever does their PR and marketing is doing a great job.
Yesterday’s finish reminded me of another Giro – in 80 or 81 when Hinault gifted the Stelvio stage to his trusty domestique Jean-Rene Bernaudeau. Except in that case, it basically secured the overall win for the Badger.Yates has a long way to go. Yates was obviously flying and could have passed Chaves, but he didn’t. Class move.
@wiscot
They must have been over the moon yesterday – what a win and how awesome to get Yates in pink. I thought he looked superb on the climb too – like he could have ridden away from everyone at any time.
I think it cost him 4 seconds to give the stage win to Chaves…wonder if he might regret that if it becomes a tight race. But it was a classy move, good on him.
@RobSandy
Agreed. Yates was flying and Chaves was cooked. But that’s how, as a team leader, you get the others to go deep for you for three weeks. Share the spoils.
How is Yates in a TT? Ok? It’s 34 kms (not long enough IMHO) and he’s no Dumoulin. He might need a bit more of a cushion for that one. Froome is no TT slouch either.
Lots to look forward to!
That’s how you wear a cap, guys.
Yeah I noted that too – Chapeau to Yates and Chaves. Some of those efforts with dinner tables as peaks look silly in any context including the ones that some of the guys in Formula 1 sprout. It’s like a competition as to who can wear the biggest billboard. Just gross.
Froome hits the tarmac again. From the replay he seemed to come off on the hairpin on the white line. It also struck me that riding a low gear/high tempo he is putting more torque into the contact point so he is more likely to spin out the back wheel accelerating out of an uphill hairpin in the wet than those using a slightly higher gear.