The inaugural Velominati Super Prestige makes an unscheduled stop this week at the Tour de Suisse. Originally left off the VSP roster, it was decided among the Keepers that the ‘fourth Grand Tour’ is indeed worthy of inclusion in our humble tipping competition. As one of the final hit-outs for many Tour de France contenders, the Swiss race shows who might be ready to step up in July, who’s needing to pull their finger out, and who might be targeting this race as a worthy addition to their palmares. With a couple of TT’s, stages that could go to the sprinters or a daring breakaway, and some of the most picturesque mountain passes in Europe, it has something for everyone, and anyone could win.
Can Motorcus find an ‘extra gear’ and back up his 09 victory? Will the EgoTesticle show signs of his old self on the bike, or just behave like his old self off it? And are the Brothers Grimpeur finally going to do something, anything?
Let us know your thoughts, and make your picks to pick up a sweet Obey The Rules bumper sticker, in the posts section on this page. For a full rundown on the competition scoring etc, visit our VSP Schedule, Rules and Results page.
Good luck!
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Tour de Suisse riders delay stage in Cavendish protest
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/tour-de-suisse-riders-delay-stage-in-cavendish-protest-26610?CPN=RSS&SOURCE=BRGENHOME
Surely a peloton-wide breach of Rule 5.
@Guy
Couldn't agree more. This is a Rule 5 Protest:
Great photo. Love the guy from the Sopranos there keeping things under control.
@Guy Absolutely a serious Rule 5 infraction. ""We just want to send a message to Cavendish to ask him for more respect," said AG2R directeur sportif Gilles Mas to AFP." Giles, harden the fuck up.
That's such a great photo
On the subject of Rule 5 - I'm eating Rule 5 pie as today this arrived
Boy it is really difficult for me to understand the animosity against Cavendish. In comments on blogs or news sites, lots of folks saying, "Fuck you, Cavendish", blah, blah, blah. As if he did it intentionally, which clearly he did not. He's a pretty clean sprinter. I understand the Velominati's disdain for his salutes lacking all style. (Although, I liked the telephone call salute, once, just after picking up HTC as a sponser.) It can't be the fact that he says publicly he's the fastest sprinter from 200 meters, can it? The dispute he's had with Griepel? The two-fingered salute to the media? All of these things together? I'm missing something.
Maybe refined sensibilities, or something.
@Guy
OH HOLY FUCK.
@david
He didn't do it intentionally, it was a racing accident. He was at fault, though.
It's also definitely not his "I'm the fastest man in the world" attitude because (a) he is and (b) if that was the case, I'd have to hate Cipo and I loved that dude.
I think it's his cavalier attitude and his apparent disrespect for the history and culture of the sport (Wiggo seems to border on this, too, btw). The premeditated salutes are disrespectful to the other sprinters, his sprinting in the stage of last year's Tour when he was regulated was a problem, too - not to mention the fact that he never takes responsibility for his mistakes. If he'd come out after the stage in the Tour and said, "I balled that one up, fellas. Sorry about that." it would be one thing, but instead he calls it the worst sporting decision by the judges in history. And in this case, if he apologized for jeopardizing his colleague's livelihood by potentially ruining their seasons, it might be another matter.
For me, it all kinda adds up into a pattern that makes him seem like a poor sport and that makes it hard to respect him.
Pretty much what I said Frank