2013 Volta ao Algarve (14th-17th February), 2.1

[Bavarianrider]

Tony says his performance today was supported by a new position on the bike. He says they worked in the wind tunnel and found a few watts.

 

[LaFlorecita]

There's several guys who certainly wouldn't be crushed for a 1 min+ in 35km. Wiggins, Froome, Contador, Cancellara, Phinney, Evans, hell even Tejay.

Hmm don't know about Alberto in a flat 35 km tt. I would say he'd lose 1'30"-2'00"

 

[Netserk]

Hmm don't know about Alberto in a flat 35 km tt. I would say he'd lose 1'30"-2'00"

More like <1 min

 

[LaFlorecita]

It's a perfect ITT for Contador though.

Yes, yes it is.

I'm almost certain (as certain as you can be even though that Contador hasn't won an ITT in ages...) that Contador will win the ITT.

No shhh! Don't jinx him

He will beat Froome. He will beat everyone.

What if Froome shows up in alien mode though

 

[LaFlorecita]

More like <1 min

Berto hasn't done many great tts lately though so I wouldn't be so sure.

 

[Froome19]

will anybody be able to beat Martin this year (longish TT)?

Martin was in pretty good form at the World ITT champs as shown by the way he stormed Beijing and CDS after that and yet young Taylor Phinney gave him more than just a race for his money. Phinney is still young but he is an incredibly talent

Bradley Wiggins beat Martin in Algarve, PN, Olympics and Tour last year.
Albeit in every one of those situations Martin was either injured or handicapped in some way yet Wiggins did earmark himself as the best ITT rider of 2012 and I wouldn't automatically give that title back to Martin considering Wiggins's improvement over the past couple of years.

Fabian Cancellara is still racing and is still a beast I wouldn't discount a rider who has won 4 WC ITT.

 

[Froome19]

Berto hasn't done many great tts lately though so I wouldn't be so sure.

Well he came 7th in the Eneco Tour ITT which considering it was his first race after his comeback is pretty good. He came 2nd in the Vuelta ITT, though that was pretty hilly, yet still a good result. He may have come 9th in the Worlds ITT but he may have been having an off day and still 9th in the worlds isn't half bad. This year his 13th in Sans Luis was obviously down to the fact he wasn't in top form. He has a good enough base to climb competitively even when not trimmed down but his ITT does seem to slide a bit, just see last year's Sans Luis ITT where similar occured I think.

 

[Netserk]

Berto hasn't done many great tts lately though so I wouldn't be so sure.

Remember this thread: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=18314

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Martin was in pretty good form at the World ITT champs as shown by the way he stormed Beijing and CDS after that and yet young Taylor Phinney gave him more than just a race for his money. Phinney is still young but he is an incredibly talent

Bradley Wiggins beat Martin in Algarve, PN, Olympics and Tour last year.
Albeit in every one of those situations Martin was either injured or handicapped in some way yet Wiggins did earmark himself as the best ITT rider of 2012 and I wouldn't automatically give that title back to Martin considering Wiggins's improvement over the past couple of years.

Fabian Cancellara is still racing and is still a beast I wouldn't discount a rider who has won 4 WC ITT.

The question I have about Wiggo is his focus. Last year he had a unique opportunity with the London TT. Once in a lifetime and he delivered. I think he would need to train for TT'ing in a similar way this year to reach '12 level. Why would he do that? Giro GC? Worlds TT? Maybe. For Martin its business as usual on the TT front. He wants to be the best at that. Anyway we shall see.

 

[postmanhat]

JTL on twitter. Looks like he was TOLD to be bottle carrier...sounded a bit miffed that he,s being held in the blocks.

Thanks Cycle Chic. All a bit odd

 

[postmanhat]

The question I have about Wiggo is his focus. Last year he had a unique opportunity with the London TT. Once in a lifetime and he delivered. I think he would need to train for TT'ing in a similar way this year to reach '12 level. Why would he do that? Giro GC? Worlds TT? Maybe. For Martin its business as usual on the TT front. He wants to be the best at that. Anyway we shall see.

Completely agree. Wiggins will be strong, but probably top 5 at most in the TTs this year. Looking forward to the Phinney/Martin showdowns

 

[The Hitch]

Hmm don't know about Alberto in a flat 35 km tt. I would say he'd lose 1'30"-2'00"

If he turns up a minute late to the start ramp.

 

[The Hitch]

Martin was in pretty good form at the World ITT champs as shown by the way he stormed Beijing and CDS after that and yet young Taylor Phinney gave him more than just a race for his money. Phinney is still young but he is an incredibly talent

Bradley Wiggins beat Martin in Algarve, PN, Olympics and Tour last year.
Albeit in every one of those situations Martin was either injured or handicapped in some way yet Wiggins did earmark himself as the best ITT rider of 2012 and I wouldn't automatically give that title back to Martin considering Wiggins's improvement over the past couple of years.

Fabian Cancellara is still racing and is still a beast I wouldn't discount a rider who has won 4 WC ITT.

Martin 2011.Wiggins 2012. He won a tt in February, March, April, June, July, August, September and October and at least some of those would have been off form. Wiggins

he beat Wiggins in several tts that year including crucially the worlds, and Wiggins was on form for at least some of them.

 

[Afrank]

Well he came 7th in the Eneco Tour ITT which considering it was his first race after his comeback is pretty good. He came 2nd in the Vuelta ITT, though that was pretty hilly, yet still a good result. He may have come 9th in the Worlds ITT but he may have been having an off day and still 9th in the worlds isn't half bad. This year his 13th in Sans Luis was obviously down to the fact he wasn't in top form. He has a good enough base to climb competitively even when not trimmed down but his ITT does seem to slide a bit, just see last year's Sans Luis ITT where similar occured I think.

The worlds course also didn't really suit him. The profile looked hilly, which was why he decided to target it, but riding it he found it was not as hilly as it appeared on the profile.

 

[Escarabajo]

I think Ryo means it is a good TT by Uran's standards. Which it is.

I think Uran's is a decent TT. The Youngest is just trying to diminish his results. For whatever reason he always like to **** Ryo off. I think The Youngest is off a little here.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Tony says his performance today was supported by a new position on the bike. He says they worked in the wind tunnel and found a few watts.

where do you get that kinda of info?

 

[Bavarianrider]

where do you get that kinda of info?

Tonys Homepage or his facebook page

 

[theyoungest]

I think Uran's is a decent TT. The Youngest is just trying to diminish his results. For whatever reason he always like to **** Ryo off. I think The Youngest is off a little here.

No, I'm not trying to p.ss him off, I'm just pointing out his double standards. If this TT were done by a Belgian he'd think it was nothing special.

It was an okay TT, indeed. But losing 3 minutes in a 30 k TT is hardly earth shattering.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

No, I'm not trying to p.ss him off, I'm just pointing out his double standards. If this TT were done by a Belgian he'd think it was nothing special.

It was an okay TT, indeed. But losing 3 minutes in a 30 k TT is hardly earth shattering.

if it was a belgian who usually sucks in itt's then no

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

How bulky is he? Impressive.
Can't wait to see him kick Wiggo's *** in the Giro.

170x62, he's build like a sprinter, you should se ehis legs

 

[Netserk]

if it was a belgian who usually sucks in itt's then no

In 2011 Uran got 18th in the Dauphine ITT, so I wouldn't say he sucks.

 

[Christian]

I went to see the ITT yesterday in Tavira, and it was a nice experience. I was positively surprised by the amount of people who turned out. First it wasn't that many but by the end there was quite a crowd. Granted, it was Sunday, but I had been to the ITT of Paris-Nice two years ago and there were very few people, so I wasn't expecting much at all.

We stood at the finish and the nice thing was that they had put the barriers really close together so you were very close to the riders. I had also been to the prologue of the Tour 2006 in Strasbourg, and there it had been large boulevards so if you were on the wrong side you were screwed.

Overall the organization seemed really good, except for the fact that they didn't have an announcer like in the French races. Also there was nothing that showed the time of the riders, so you were left guessing. In this particular case the suspense wasn't too high of course, but it would have still been nice to get some updates.

The ambiance was pretty good, especially when the local riders from the Tavira team came by. A lot of you will probably know this but I was surprised to see that basically none of the continental teams had TT bikes. Some of them had TT handlebars, a lot of them didn't even have those. I just thought I'd mention it so you consider that when you look at the results. The demographics of the spectators were quite mixed, a lot of old men but also children, both were making a lot of noice and having fun. Also some Dutch, Germans and mostly Brits, there seem to be a lot of Brits living in Tavira.

After the race, the ambiance at the winner's ceremony was quite good too, even though no Portuguese had won. Rui Costa was up there though and he had his fanclub along who made noise. I was very pleasantly surprised by Tony Martin. I had never seen him this up close and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, joking on the podium with Kwiatkowski, and very friendly while talking to fans. Definitely seems like a top bloke.

Since this was such a small event, everything was very accessible too. A lot of riders walked right past us, such as Boaro for example and Nizzolo. Oliveira was driving the Radioshack team car afterwards, I think him and Zubeldia went and got it while they waited for Nizzolo and Azevedo.

Overall I had a great time and I am happy I went! People in this town were also very friendly, I had a good bifana sandwich but unfortunately no Super Bock Next time!

I will now post some pictures. I have a lot of them, unfortunately I rarely know which rider it was because I didn't have a startlist and most of them I don't recognize I have a normal digital camera, nothing professional.

 

[Christian]

Tavira

 

[Christian]

 

[Christian]