2012 Volta ao Algarve

[ferryman]

Greipel 12/1 with sky bet for Milan San Remo. Any takers?

Probably not but will keep him on my short list

 

[Poursuivant]

Probably not but will keep him on my short list

And I have just realised I posted that Greipel question in the wrong thread. I think bed beckons...

 

[Mambo95]

And I have just realised I posted that Greipel question in the wrong thread. I think bed beckons...

Your post was badly positioned, much like Greipel often is himself.

 

[Andy99]

Yeah, just seen this on the BMC twitter. Gutted for Steve.

He made out he is fine, but 'walking like Elvis'. Hopefully its not too serious a fracture - if there is such a thing..

Edit - back in 4 weeks apparently..

 

[hektoren]

27



.

Well, that means he's got 8 years on Cadel. Ample time, I'd say!

 

[skidmark]

27



.

Yeah, like he said, still young.

 

[Richeypen]

Yeah, like he said, still young.

In the same way that Löfkvist, Breschel, Roache, Terpstra etc are young. Porte is fresh in terms that he hasnt been around long, but he is certainly not 'young'

 

[hektoren]

In the same way that Löfkvist, Breschel, Roache, Terpstra etc are young. Porte is fresh in terms that he hasnt been around long, but he is certainly not 'young'

Löfkvist, Breschel, Roache, Terpstra et al haven't got half the potential of Porte between them. We're talking GC material in the GT's here. Löfkvist is definitely way past his sell-by-date. Breschel, Roache and Terpstra in the mountains??? That'll be the day!
Porte finished 7th in the Giro in 2010, and was the designated driver for Alberto last year. He's got a big-block engine and showed today that he surpasses Wiggo any day. Richie is up there among the most influential riders of the years to come.

 

[Richeypen]

Löfkvist, Breschel, Roache, Terpstra et al haven't got half the potential of Porte between them. We're talking GC material in the GT's here. Löfkvist is definitely way past his sell-by-date. Breschel, Roache and Terpstra in the mountains??? That'll be the day!
Porte finished 7th in the Giro in 2010, and was the designated driver for Alberto last year. He's got a big-block engine and showed today that he surpasses Wiggo any day. Richie is up there among the most influential riders of the years to come.

Oh im sorry. I thought you were being serious

 

[Richeypen]

Löfkvist, Breschel, Roache, Terpstra et al haven't got half the potential of Porte between them.

Whether or not that may be true or not, how does that effect their age. You wouldnt call those other riders young yet they are all 27. For the record I like Porte, he will never be the rider you think he will be but could do very well over week long races. One thing he is certainly not though is young.

 

[greatking88]

I presume you guys mean Roche...

 

[Richeypen]

I presume you guys mean Roche...

Thats the one, In my defence its 1am

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Löfkvist, Breschel, Roache, Terpstra et al haven't got half the potential of Porte between them. We're talking GC material in the GT's here. Löfkvist is definitely way past his sell-by-date. Breschel, Roache and Terpstra in the mountains??? That'll be the day!
Porte finished 7th in the Giro in 2010, and was the designated driver for Alberto last year. He's got a big-block engine and showed today that he surpasses Wiggo any day. Richie is up there among the most influential riders of the years to come.

I'm not a Roche fan, but here your partisanship starts to show a bit. Breschel and Terpstra are not mountain riders, no, and Lövkvist has really stagnated and tailed off in development. But Roche?

Nicolas Roche's best in a GT is 7th, same as Porte. The field was weaker, but he didn't get a 13 minute head start. It is also more recent than Porte's. Both had breakout years in 2010, Roche also managing the top 10 of Paris-Nice and Catalunya, Porte managing to do likewise (with a stage win) in Romandie, Eneco and Britain. Both tailed off in 2011.

Porte is the bigger talent perhaps, but let's not pretend like Roche is some journeyman rouleur. And hitting the top 5 of Eneco and Britain hardly makes Porte out as some climbing hero. We're still waiting on something that duplicates that Giro 2010 form; today was perhaps the closest we've been to that since San Sebastián 2010.

 

[Ferminal]

Last year with similar distance at Paris Nice where Martin was in perfect shape ( better than Porte anyway ) he only won by 27 seconds And now he isn't in good shape, so I think people over estimate his chances .

Paris - Nice, Stage 6 : Rognes - Aix-en-Provence I.T.T. (27 km)

1. MARTIN Tony THR 33'24"
2. WIGGINS Bradley SKY 20"
3. PORTE Richie SBS 29"

Porte never does a bad TT though, doesn't matter what shape he's in. This obviously confirms to us that he's dropped weight after being off the pace in the wind of the nationals - Martin is the only one who can beat him and it's possible and probably closer than people think.

 

[buster1]

Seems to be a lot of people on this forum that dont rate Richie all that much, which probably has something to do with the ridiculous comments from so-called proffessionals in the media that say Porte will win the TDF frustrating everybody.

I think Richie has great potential to do several top 10s in GT's, win a GT stage or two along the way not to mention win plenty of week long tours with lots of TT kms. Which in my opinion makes him a very good rider and would be a fantastic career.

But lets face it to win a GT you have to be great. Richie, will be a very good rider but great? No. Unfortunately the people in the media that throw around the statement of '"future grand tour winner" around for the sake of it so they can sell a newspaper are doing Richie no service at all, just making people compare him to Cadel / Contador etc - which is obviously no competition.

 

[blaxland]

Well,well Ritcie Porte wins a mtn stage and everyone starts to bellow"next tour winner"lets not get ahead of ourselves to quickly.As other posters have pointed out Porte has a good future ahead of him,but great??Only time will tell.For now lets just applaud a great stage win with excellent team support.Well down Ritchie and Team Sky....

 

[Nearly]

Porte never does a bad TT though, doesn't matter what shape he's in. This obviously confirms to us that he's dropped weight after being off the pace in the wind of the nationals - Martin is the only one who can beat him and it's possible and probably closer than people think.

5th in the Aussie nationals was at best unexpected by his standards.

That said he could well have won the road championship 2 days earlier if he had not appeared to wait for his sprinter teammate CJ Sutton over the last climb. When CJ dropped away Porte time trialled alone back to the 2 leaders Gerrans & Lloyd in a massive push in the last 10 kms (but unsurprisingly had nothing left for the sprint) - many thought it to be the ride of the day.

Either his improved climbing or that effort took the edge of his TT 2 days later (or both). If the former he could still be vulnerable to Martin today. he did not seem to have to work too hard yesterday for the win although reports can be deceiving.

 

[BillytheKid]

I just saw the highlights. Sky wanted that bad. Well done. Porte is running well obviously with some form from the recent Nationals etc...

 

[The Hitch]

With Wiggins going for the Tour and with Froome possibly doing both the Tour and Vuelta i an just wondering is Porte doing the Giro?

Porte is for all intents and purposes Wiggins' joined twin until July. Everything he does is with Wiggins and I suspect theyll both do olympic and world tts too though obviously in different colours.

For Sky at the Giro, the next big thing is unleashed.

 

[The Hitch]

Porte is probably the best acquisition of Sky, ever.

Ryo Hazuki wants a word

 

[BillytheKid]

So it's another stage race ending in a TT. Are Martin and Wiggins capable of a GC win in 25K ITT, 50 and 54 seconds back? Is that ripple some 7K from the finish tomorrow going launch a break that can alter the GC again?

 

[xmoonx]

2011 Volta ao Algarve-- itt

These are the Stage 4 GC positions and Stage 5 itt results respectively for the 2011 Volta. TMartin had every incentive to do well and was apparently in good shape( losing 3 seconds to AC on Stage 3 ). TMachado loses 26 seconds over 17KM to TMartin.

General classification after stage 4 (heading into the ITT)
1 Stephen Cummings (Sky) 18:27:42
2 Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) + 0:06
3 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) + 0:10
4 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) + 0:12
5 Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) + 0:18
6 Andreas Kloden (RadioShack) + 0:26
7 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervélo)
8 Simon Gerrans (Sky)
9 Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil) + 0:30
10 Tiago Machado (RadioShack) + 0:31

Stage 5 results
1 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 20:53
2 Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) 20:58
3 Tiago Machado (RadioShack) 21:19
4 Jesse Sergent (RadioShack) 21:20
5 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) 21:23

 

[greenedge]

This year the route is longer ( but i think Porte is in better shape than Martin ) as Martin would have finished higher up on the stage if he felt well, so therefore i think Porte can win ( 6th in the WC ITT compared to Machados' 8th at the Vuelta ) gives him the edge in my view ( though Machado might surprise Porte and it is not set in stone ). Wiggins i think might give Martin a run for his money in the ITT ( he finished in the same time as him today,whilst working for Porte )

 

[greenedge]

Porte finished 7th in the Giro in 2010, and was the designated driver for Alberto last year. He's got a big-block engine and showed today that he surpasses Wiggo any day. Richie is up there among the most influential riders of the years to come.

He is not better than Wiggins any day but he was better today ( though Wiggins did work for him )

Much as i also think he will not be that influential in years to come hopefully he can be this year ( for my CQ team ).

@Gooner; I do not think Porte will be competing at the Giro, it's probably too mountains for him. However i would like to see him use his good early season form at some races. I also think he could win the ToC this year if Sky send him ( or even go ).

 

[greenedge]

Wonder what Riis has to say about today?

It was a big mistake to let Porte go by Riis.