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.

View Comments

  • Woo hoo! Finally top honors in a VSP. Sadly, the only thing on the line this time was points and bragging rights, no swag! Still I think every point is gonna count come the end of the season, so I'll take the extras. :)

  • Gutted. Nibali seems either to have given up taking the fight to Scarponi, let alone the Beefeater... Or else he hasn't got it this year.

  • @ all,

    Hello from OTB. Busy and missing everyone and the fun. Been screwing my tan lines up at the beach. Not on purpose.
    That is all.

  • I know this is post is for the Giro, but have a look at what Wiggo has been UP to.
    He's climbed to outer space. Will this help him in the TdF?
    Article here

    Thanks BRR for reading The Telegraph!

  • @sthilzy
    Can't hurt, can it? If the pressure of the Olympics doesn't get to him, he could be the big favourite come July, no? No GC contender will come close to him on the TT and if he can climb even better than in the past, he'll be in fine fettle. There was a cyclingnews story about this the other day, too. Why are we on last year's VSP page?

1 5 6 7
Share
Published by
frank

Recent Posts

Anatomy of a Photo: Sock & Shoe Game

I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…

7 years ago

Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s World Championship Road Race 2017

Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…

7 years ago

Velominati Super Prestige: Women’s World Championship Road Race 2017

The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…

7 years ago

Velominati Super Prestige: Vuelta a España 2017

Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…

7 years ago

Velominati Super Prestige: Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian 2017

This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…

7 years ago

Route Finding

I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…

7 years ago