The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige continues the with Tour de France edition, on Saturday July 3rd in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, just kilometers from the start of the Giro d’Italia in Amsterdam (Dutchland is a small country). This will be the second Grand Tour of the series, and at this stage the Grand Tour rules and regulations are fairly well-defined, so take a moment to review them on the VSP Page.
The Tour is, of course, a major event. My personal preference lies with the Giro, but there is no denying the magnitude of the Tour and the appeal it holds. For three weeks, the world pays attention to our sport, and – provided the Tour doesn’t coincide with the World Cup football matches – this is the biggest sporting event during this time of the year. (An interesting observation: the last time these events coincided, the winner was eventually stripped of his title.)
Having run the VSP Giro edition where we tested the ruleset for Grand Tours, we’ve managed to set up a scoring system that seems fair and helps to close down the competition to afford newcomers the ability to catch up with some good picks; the Giro proved that lineup switches and the associated penalties kept the point gains pretty small while allowing strategy to play an interesting role. There is a full overview of the rules and standing at the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page, but here is the ten-second overview:
Every contestant is to choose their top five General Classification picks of the race. The final podium of le Grande Boucle is worth 15 points to the winner, 10 points for second, 5 points for third, 3 points for fourth, and 2 point for fifth. Given the effect crashes can have on a tour, we’ve set up some guidelines around making changes to your lineup during the race: you’re allowed to change your lineup if any rider in your pick list drops out for any reason without any penalty; rest days will allow contestants to make changes to their lineup, however those changes will come at a point penalty. (Visit the VSP Schedule, Rules, & Results page for a complete breakdown of these points.)
Every day, the leader in the points standings will have the honor of wearing the Yellow Jersey when posting on the site; the overall winner will wear the Yellow Jersey for the remainder of the season and will also earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker. All reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free Velominati Shop Apron. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings.
New to the Tour de France edition is the addition of naming the winner of the Green and Polka-dot jerseys for the Tour. There will be no points awarded towards these two jerseys, but the leader of the competition of these jerseys will have the honor of commenting with a Green or Polka-dot jersey badge throughout the competition and the winner will earn the right to comment with that badge until next year’s Tour. The contestant who picks both the final Green and Polka jersey winners correctly will win a Velominati Logo bumper sticker. Tie-breakers will go to the first contestant who posts their entire lineup (all 5 GC picks plus Green and Polka-dot jersey winners). Given that this sub-competition has no points, pick substitutions will only be granted under the DNF regulations of the VSP; no rest-day substitutions are allowed.
Sub-competitions will be conducted while the Tour is underway for specific stages. These stages will be chosen a few days prior to the stage being held and will be selected based on the current race conditions with the aim of choosing the most decisive and exciting stages of the race, so check back often to make sure you don’t miss out. Sub-competitions will be held in separate editions.
Good luck!
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View Comments
@ben
I haven't read the reports because I've been too busy tallying up the VSP results on my stone tablet and abacus, but I think easing off on the race made sense given the carnage and number of riders who went down, as well as knowing that every team had riders involved, so every team had a reason to wait. The in-race neutralization was just sensible teamwork; Faboo or Radioshack, Astana, etc are not going to ride hard on the front when their GC riders are off the back.
By the time the battered bunch rolled into town, though, I suppose I can understand that they wanted to take it easy and not have another massacre like yesterday. That said, I bet a bunch of the guys are wondering if they don't need to study Rule 5 again after the finish. Often, what makes sense at the time just feels like a proper dose of sissy after it's all over and you're back in the hotel.
The big looser, I'm afraid, was Matt White telling his team Banged and Felled was too banged and felled far back to wait for him. That a DS wouldn't tell his team to wait for their GC rider no matter how far back they were is something I simply can't understand. Poor Christian, another GT gone.
@all
Well, no stage neutralization here at the VSP, folks. We had a bit of a reshuffling, with Steampunk (aka Kermitpunk) taking both the Yellow and Green jerseys. Since he can't wear both, Green falls to Rob, who trades his VSP Leader badge for the borrowed Maillot Verde. The Dotted Jumper goes to Geof.
It doesn't look like any of the GC riders fell more than 10 minutes behind, so everyone stays in place with the picks until tomorrow when we see if we have any DNS's.
Well done, gents.
Some photos of the stage 2 carnage over at universal sports. Not flattering for Tyler Ferrar. Banged and felled has a bit of rule 5 dripping down the side of his face. Too bad for him today.
http://www.universalsports.com/photos/galleryid=481226.html#stage+carnage
If riders de facto neutralize the cobbles, I'm protesting the tour. Doing this on a stage like today's when it's raining and there are snipers in the woods is one thing; doing it on what will be a marquee ride of the 2010 tour that you've known is coming for so long would make a mockery of the race, The Rules, and the sport.
@ben I don't know. Who am I to tell them how to ride the Tour. And, it will be interesting to see what they all have to say. I suspect the decision to neutralize the race was not just Cancellara's. It is though a very convenient coincidence for the Schlecks that the yellow jersey was also a teammate with a great deal of power in peloton. Cervelo, and others, who targeted the stage should have started chasing Chavanel at about the time the Schlecks were around 1:00 to 2:00 minutes behind the Armstrong/Contador group. It seems pretty clear Cancellara on his own shut that chase down, but I'll wait for more info.
I think Frank may be right. The teams that targeted the stage may have been saying to themselves, "And, why did we stop racing exactly? Can you explain that to me again?" "We gave up a stage win so the Schlecks wouldn't lose time on the GC?? Did we really just do that?"
@Joshua
Absolutely agree. Tomorrow, we need to see these guys take the race by the horns and wrestle it down. If we get a race-radio protest douchey stage, I will be hellapissed.
I'm with Joshua. I'll be pissed if they neutralize the cobbles, whether it's raining or not. Why, I'll do my ride tomorrow at half speed!!
@david
That's not the point I was trying to make. The in-race neutralization wasn't for the Schlecks alone. There were a lot of favorites down and behind. That's the point; even Cervelo had reason to wait (Sastre is their GC guy and was behind) and were waiting before Cancellara, who had been dropped just prior, he only rejoined the front group because all the teams were already waiting for their fallen leaders. Once he got there, he certainly went with it and played a pretty big role for the waiting. The racers glass pedaling to the finish was just common sense in terms of team tactics.
I was really only talking about the sprint into Spa; that neutralization of the sprint was a little on the soft side. I think Hushovd and company may regret not going for those points later. But, like you say, who are we to judge.
I feel awful for Vande Velde. His luck just stays bad, and the fact that his team left him behind just breaks my heart, especially in light of those pictures Joshua just sent.
If I remember rightly I have till the first rest day to put in my picks... Sorry, I've been in the dark places of this world where TV and Internet don't exist (ie. moved into new student digs).
1. Grimpeur the Younger
2. Cuntador
3. Roman K (Maybe we should call him the centurion or legionnaire or something)
4. Pharmstrong
5. Twiggo
Farrar with broken elbow? Gesink with fractured ulna?
Fucking bunch of pussies... what ever happened to 'racing'? All this waiting bullshit, I thought it was first to the line in the shortest time. If you can't stay upright, you shouldn't be riding a bike. Motorcus just dropped further in my estimations, hanging out with Mr 60 has certainly rubbed off on that cheating, whining softcock. Hardman my arse.
If they neutralise the cobbles tonight, then bike racing is officially dead.