2009 Tour of Portugal

[craig1985]

Candido Barbosa (Palmeiras Resort/Tavira) wins the prolouge of the 71st Volta a Portugal. Filipe Cardoso (Liberty Seguros) finished second. The race is quite unusual, that despite having 10 stages, it includes a rest day after stage 4. IIRC this race used to be 3 weeks long and was seen a steeping stone for riders before moving on to the GT's to see if they can handle 3 weeks of racing.

 

[issoisso]

Cunego lost a bundle of time for such a short prologue.

 

[TRDean]

Cunego lost a bundle of time for such a short prologue.

8 seconds is not too bad...2.4km course is not really his style.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

8 seconds isn't a lot. It was a short course, hard to get into any type of rythm.

 

[Team Ferrari/Fuentes]

Cunego is just training. I'm not even sure if he'll finish the race, because the portuguese tour has tough mountain stages and every stage is contested at a furious pace. I'm portuguese and this is the race where all the portuguese teams want to shine, so expect attacking racing and some spanish guy linked with the Operacion Puerto to win it...

 

[issoisso]

Petacchi and the other sprinters got dropped in today's very hilly stage.

The only pure sprinter left at the end was portuguese champion Manuel Cardoso who, being an excellent climber (for a specialized sprinter) won the stage and took the yellow jersey.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Cunego is just training. I'm not even sure if he'll finish the race, because the portuguese tour has tough mountain stages and every stage is contested at a furious pace. I'm portuguese and this is the race where all the portuguese teams want to shine, so expect attacking racing and some spanish guy linked with the Operacion Puerto to win it...

Hello mate, I live in Portugal nowadays and did the climb from Seia upto Torre the other day - I see that one of stages (9 I think) finishes in Seia - will they be going upto the top of Serra De Estrella before it this year do you know? I never knew Portugal had such high mountains...

 

[Team Ferrari/Fuentes]

Hello mate, I live in Portugal nowadays and did the climb from Seia upto Torre the other day - I see that one of stages (9 I think) finishes in Seia - will they be going upto the top of Serra De Estrella before it this year do you know? I never knew Portugal had such high mountains...

Hi there!

They will climb the Serra da Estrela twice in this Tour: on stage 3 (halfway through the stage on Saturday) and then on the penultimate day (stage 9) we'll have a moutaintop finish there(here we call the summit of the climb "Torre" like you mentioned). Well, we don't have many high moutains here, actually this is THE only real mountain we have, that's why we always use it...
On stage 4 we have the "Senhora da Graça" climb. It's our second most difficult climb, it's relatively short (8km) but it's steep (around 7,5%) and comes at the end of a very hilly stage, so it's traditionally a very important stage of the Tour. This year this stage comes early so it's not so decisive...

The organizers are trying to find other challenging climbs to include in the race and there are many steep climbs but nothing more than 3 ou 4 kms...

I recommend that you try the Senhora da Graça climb. Hope you enjoy your stay in our country.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Hi there!

They will climb the Serra da Estrela twice in this Tour: on stage 3 (halfway through the stage on Saturday) and then on the penultimate day (stage 9) we'll have a moutaintop finish there(here we call the summit of the climb "Torre" like you mentioned). Well, we don't have many high moutains here, actually this is THE only real mountain we have, that's why we always use it...
On stage 4 we have the "Senhora da Graça" climb. It's our second most difficult climb, it's relatively short (8km) but it's steep (around 7,5%) and comes at the end of a very hilly stage, so it's traditionally a very important stage of the Tour. This year this stage comes early so it's not so decisive...

The organizers are trying to find other challenging climbs to include in the race and there are many steep climbs but nothing more than 3 ou 4 kms...

I recommend that you try the Senhora da Graça climb. Hope you enjoy your stay in our country.

Thanks for that - we're looking for a few more challenges, the Senhora da Graca climb sounds interesting. Incidentally, do you know the Serra da Montejunto? I use it as the halfway point on my sunday ride, I'm keen to know what a good time might be to climb it..

 

[craig1985]

Sinkewitz wins stage 3. Good on him after he broke Omarta and all that.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I have a feeling Ruben Plaza might win this overall.

 

[Bala Verde]

Is this the feed of today?

http://www.justin.tv/tv_desporto1

 

[issoisso]

I have a feeling Ruben Plaza might win this overall.

No chance. He's no match for the others in climbing. And Guerra beats him most times in the TT.

However, Guerra had a hunger knock the other day and lost a lot of time, so who knows.

Is this the feed of today?

http://www.justin.tv/tv_desporto1

Try the portuguese TV's website. they stream online

http://tv1.rtp.pt/multimedia/index.php?emissoes=1

(If it doesn't load the race stream, click "RTP1" on the panel to the left)

 

[Bala Verde]

Try the portuguese TV's website. they stream online

http://tv1.rtp.pt/multimedia/index.php?emissoes=1

(If it doesn't load the race stream, click "RTP1" on the panel to the left)

Yeah I checked those, but couldn't get them to work. Perhaps because I am in the US...

Anyway, great final!

 

[Mellow Velo]

Damn!
Another race I can get on RTP International and I've almost missed.
Great final stage, last year.(Cobo)
Will try and catch it tomorrow.....

 

[Bala Verde]

Damn!
Another race I can get on RTP International and I've almost missed.
Great final stage, last year.(Cobo)
Will try and catch it tomorrow.....

Well don't miss the 9th stage on Aug 15; Oliveira do Bairro - Seia (Torre)

 

[satelite]

Double win for Continental Pro. Andalucía-Caja Sur in Portugal. Antonio Piedra (24 years) and José Antonio López Gil arrived first and second between Felgueiras and Fafe. 184.6 Km.

Stage 5:
1. Antonio Piedra (Andalucía Cajasur) 4:34:33
2. J. Antonio López Gil (Andalucía Cajasur) m.t.
3. Mauro Santambrogio (Lampre) a 3
4. Hugo Sabido (LA-Paredes) m.t.
5. Manuel Cardoso (Liberty) m.t.
6. Danilo Hondo (PSK) m.t.
7. David Blanco (Palmeiras) m.t.
8. Rubén Plaza (Liberty) m.t.
9. Cándido Barbosa (Palmeiras) m.t.
10. Eladio Jiménez (Loule) m.t.

Overall:
1. Nuno Ribeiro (Liberty)
2. Joao Cabreira (Loule) a 2
3. David Bernabeu (Barbot) a 46
4. Ruslan Pidgornyy (ISD) a 59
5. Hugo Sabido (LA-Paredes) a 1:02
6. André Cardoso (Palmeiras) a 1:11
7. Patrik Sinkewitz (PSK) a 1:22
8. Nelson Vitorino (Palmeiras) a 1:34
9. David Blanco (Palmeiras) a 1:49
10. Rubén Plaza (Liberty) a 2:00

 

[laurentiu46]

Well don't miss the 9th stage on Aug 15; Oliveira do Bairro - Seia (Torre)

Indeed,today was the queen stage,and the final climb was a monster,ending atop the highest mountain in mainland Portugal.
Didn't expect Ribeiro to win and increase his lead,but the 2min+ advantage he has on strong TT-ers like David Blanco and Ruben Plaza should be enough for tomorrow.
Cunego 10th on the stage,btw.
Speaking of time trial...who's gonna take it tomorrow?
My pick,Hector Guerra. Even if he was the top favourite going into the race and cracked badly,is still capable of winning a TT.