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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View Comments
@Cyclops Heh. You're right. I don't doubt I might have a different attitude were it so. Then, again, I might be married and still believe what I said is true. ;-)
@Steampunk Last year Boonen said he didn't do any sprint training. That's pretty remarkable.
@Guy
Helmets off to you! Thats a seriously competative, poular score! There was a great write up about it recently - think in one of the UK mags... or maybe Ride...?
Need to change my tips! - not sure that is Kosher at this time... but here goes anyway!
Cancellara
Schleck (A) OUT Schleck (F) IN
Rogers OUT Martin IN
Kloden
Kreuziger
@crossy
Mate, you might want to reconsider the Schleck change, because that will cost you 4 points. Whereas Martin for Rogers is free because Rogers pulled out, so no penalty.
@brett, @crossy
Actually, changing of picks is only allowed on rest days, and we don't have any in this race, so only DNF-substitutions go. Technically, you have to do those within 24 hours, but we'll give you a passer on this one. Kind of like with Geof and his socks.
Jeebus. I go on a road trip for a few days and look what happens. This place is so full of comments I'll never catch up, the whole peloton protests Cav (has that ever happened), and we find out Geof wears ankle socks (which I've been known to do). I've been doing some fun riding, ride report on Beartooth Pass to come and tour de blast on Saturday. Keep up the solid work all.
Alright! Now we come to it! The climb up the Albulapass! Will young Tony Martin hang on? Will Faboo turn on the motor? Will Armstrong show us he's taking the TdF seriously. Will Frank attack? <-- That seems very likely. Too exciting!
C.F. Pelkey, commenting on the TdS on Velonews: "Indeed, he has. [Cavendish] is reportedly off riding some high mountain roads today. So we're going to gamble and say that he opted to just keep a low profile after that tumble on Tuesday. Seriously, even if he did act like a jerk - if the spitting rumor is true - after the crash, anyone with a conscience has to feel pretty bad for causing that crash. While I've seen several folks try to apply some of the blame to Haussler - he did have his head down - I have to agree with the race jury and place responsibility for that one squarely on the shoulders of "the Manx Missile."
There are two sorts of blame or guilt that many are confusing. In a way, the jury is not blaming Cavendish. They are only determining whether or not he violated UCI Rule 2.3.036.
Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others.
And he did. But now aside from that, is he blameworthy? Did he sprint poorly? Was he negligent or reckless? That's hardly clear. The race jury has not the competence to make that assessment. The rules and conventions governing the common practice of sprinters determines that. And, according to those unofficial rules, moving into the lanes of others is not itself negligent or reckless. It happens all the time. And, as Jarvis has pointed out, it's not like C Diddy drove Haussler into the barricades. C Diddy's lane change is fairly smooth and nothing radical. (I would add here that the course finish is highly irregular. The barricades are not parallel at points, and the lines on the street were all whacky. C Diddy may well have thought he was in the right lane) But now let's look at Haussler. Even though the UCI Rule says everyone is to maintain their lane, common practice says you do not get to bury your head in your lap for 100 meters and then cry foul when someone comes into your lane unseen. Lane shifts occur all the time in final 300 meters of a sprint, and you have to be ready for them. That's competent sprinting. Further, you do not get to lose control of your bike, excessively leaning it back and forth, so that your front wheel is wildly swinging left and right, and then complain that someone got too close to you and drove into your wheel. It's expected, common practice, that sprinters will be so close as to touch. That's why young Mark is saying he's not totally to blame. He's saying he's to blame for violating UCI Rules, but that he's not to blame for violating the rules and conventions of competent sprinting. Haussler is not to blame for violating UCI rules, but he is to blame for violating the unofficial rules of competent sprinting. If McEwen, despite what he's recently said, were in Haussler's position, they just would have bumped each other with no harm done. Or, McEwen would have head butted Cavendish--which would have been too fucking cool.
So the TdS is over right now, right? We can cancel the final stages and just leave Gesink in yellow? Because that would be good for me. Before he tumbles tomorrow. Not a good salute by any stretch of the imagination"”and a nasty wobble to boot. He looked very good on the climb, though. Hint of what he could do if he wasn't so busy breaking wrists, etc.