Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia, Stage 20

Col de Finestre

The fact that the Giro’s penultimate stage finishes atop the storied climb to Sestrieres is secondary to the fact that it goes over the Col de Finestre just previous to it. The Finestre is one of those fantastic climbs that seems to walk the line between “road” and “goat path” that all the best rides in the world seem to do.

Steep? Check. Hairpins? Check. Technical descent? Check. Gravel? You bet your sweet ass. Nibali is about as likely to win this Giro as the Spanish Cycling Federation is to levy a sanction against one of their star athletes, but that won’t keep me from hoping he will. The Finestre represents his best opportunity to pull the cat out of the bag as the trip down the gravel descent will play into his strengths. The bad news is that even with a masterful descent, only mechanical or some other such hardship befalling the riders ahead of him in the Classification will see him gain enough time to take a step or two up the podium, and even I don’t want to see something like that happening to Bertie.

So with that, we’re firing up the last intermediate VSP for this year’s Giro. Get your picks in by 5am Pacific tomorrow morning for the chance to win 3, 2, or 1 points for the podium spots, and 1 point for 4th and 5th places. Good luck.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Erik says:

May 27 2011 at 10:46 am

All my picks except Contador are falling apart. But Gadret is coming up strong. I'm tempted to say Rujano. I don't know.

I'd like to see someone put the fight to Contador. The race for second is less exciting.

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Garzelli
3. Nibali
4. Scarponi
5. Gadret
ramenvelo says:

May 27 2011 at 10:52 am

I'm glad the Giro is almost over. The top result has been in the bag for loooong time now. I hope that Nibali can leapfrog Scarponi on GC though, he's a classy rider and as a random aside, looks a lot like Vinny from Jersey Shore.

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. J Rodriguez
4. Scarponi
5. Menchov
Souleur says:

May 27 2011 at 11:04 am

VSP PICKS:

1. garzelli
2. nibali
3. rujano
4. cuntodor
5. sella
Steampunk says:

May 27 2011 at 11:14 am

I'm trying to decide whether Nibali tries to close on Scarponi on Saturday or whether he just waits for the TT. Or maybe both. Regardless of how this finishes, I hope he lets it all go on the way down le Finestre. There are few things more beautiful in this sport than watching Nibali open it up on a descent.

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Nibali
3. Rodriguez
4. Scarponi
5. Gadret
Velotoday says:

May 27 2011 at 11:16 am

VSP PICKS:

1. Garzelli
2. Contador
3. Scarponi
4. Nibali
5. Gadret
pello says:

May 27 2011 at 11:51 am

VSP PICKS:

1. nibali
2. contador
3. anton
4. scarponi
5. rodriguez
Mikeweb says:

May 27 2011 at 11:59 am

I need Nibs to leapfrog Scarponi and for J-Rod and SPQR to get into the top 5. I've lost hope for Kreuzinger, but I think Rodriguez can still do it. So I should be using this stage to hedge my overall picks... but, not gonna do it.

VSP PICKS:

1. Clentador
2. Garzelli
3. Nibali
4. J-Rod
5. Scarponi
mcsqueak says:

May 27 2011 at 12:56 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. Contador
2. Scarponi
3. Nibali
4. J. Rodriguez
5. Gadret
heath says:

May 27 2011 at 12:57 pm

VSP PICKS:

1. garzelli
2. contador
3. denis the menace
4. purito
5. scarponi
Andrew says:

May 27 2011 at 1:21 pm

Ah, a chance to make up some points after screwing the pooch on my 2nd rest day picks. I think I have the strategy figured out for rest day changes now based on points on offer vs penalties. Rujano showed some weakness today, but I think he'll be back tomorrow, but no more favours from Steak-boy in these final stages.

VSP PICKS:

1. El Steakelero
2. Rujano
3. Nibbles
4. Gadret
5. Nieve