VDS: The Vlad Zone (NOT for the faint of heart!)

Twilight Zone intro. (via xiete)

Good evening.  I am ursula. 

via i155.photobucket.com

 I may look like Rod Serling but that's because you have stepped beyond the boundaries of ordinary perception. You are now in that part of the Twilight Zone where numbers make people laugh and cry, where goat boys freely interact with Swedes. You are in

The Vlad Zone.

Today we have for your consideration three professional bike racers:

The first is Vlad Gusev, a Russian of the Astana team.  VDS cost: 16 points.

The second, Vlad Karpets, also Russian but from the Caisse d'Epargne team.  Cost: also 16 points.

Finally I give you a third Russian, one Vlad Efimkin of the AG2R team.  His VDS cost is 14 points.

Three Russians, three of the best all-around bike racers in the world.  The get paid well for their efforts .  They also undergo drug tests over and over.  But besides being Russian and bike racers, they share a terrible secret:

None of them have earned one &^%*#*@!!^ing VDS point this year for their owners.

What would cause these three solid bike riders to be such duds?  is it bad luck or is it because they are named Vlad?  Maybe its the name that's so important depending on the year..

Consider bike riders named Andy (Schleck, Kloden, Klier) have earned 987 points and their VDS cost was a combined 40 points, 6 less than the Vlads.

Or take The Als- Ballan, Petacchi, Valverde, Botchorov, and Bertolini.  They've earned a combined 1879 points- even with Petacchi getting busted.

What is going on here?  Are the Vlads being singled out for their name and heritage? Will any of them get on track this year and save their VDS owners from abject humiliation?  How about the other riders who've taken a generous bite out of the bagel this year: Sam San and Sastre, Burghardt and Cobo? Allan Davis and Lopez Garcia? Rodgers and Hunter? Kolobnev, Mancebo Perez, and Fat Graeme Brown? Will TD ever get a point? How about Horner, Millar, Feillu, Petrov, and JJ Haedo? Time is getting short so you VDS owners make some predictions: who will escape The Vlad Zone this year and who won't?