34th Vuelta a Murcia, 1 March 2014 (1.1)

[Dazed and Confused]

Caja Rural tweeted at the very beginning that he was racing, but had a fever.

ah right, thanks.

 

[Hugo87]

Tiago Machado is alive.

 

[CraZyCaLL]

Good start of a season for Tour de L'Alvenir 2013 winner Ruben Fernandez

 

[Arredondo]

Good start of a season for Tour de L'Alvenir 2013 winner Ruben Fernandez

Yes, Ruben Fernandez is riding really well. Great to see, partly because some people had doubts after his win in L'Avenir, if he was capable to do it on the highest level.

 

[Rui Quinta]

Machado allways was alive.

In 2010 he did a great year. 3rd Algarve, 3rd Crit International, 2nd La Sarthe, 7th Castilla y Leon, 6th Romandia, 4th Austria and 9th Poland it's real impresive!

Next year Machado performed well again: 5th Algarve, 7th Tirreno, 5th Crit International and 2nd Trentino. Impresive again! These were his best years.

I can understand you created big expectations. A new kid in World Tour, performing well... you thought he will keep improving. But Tiago isn't a common case. Before Radioshack, he rode 5 years on Portugal. With 19 years old, Machado was riding all the portuguese calendar. With 20 years old, Machado was team leader from february to august. He had to develop himself too early.

In 2011, with 26 years old, he was at his maximum potential.

In 2012 he still performed well: 3rd Down Under, 6th Algarve, 5th Castilla y Leon, 9th California and 8th Poland. 2013 was his worse year.

I think the problem isn't Machado level but the problem is your expectations.

And remember: since 2010, Machado just has one victory, but he has 9 second places and 6 third places. He could like more 2 or 3 victories instead these second and thirds places.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I genuinely think that Net App had a great late transfer period, bringing in Bennett and Machado. A big but unproven talent and an underachiever with untapped ability. Neither guaranteed to do well, but both reasonable bets to do so, and both for different reasons going to think they have something to prove. Neither have won yet, but it's those two new guys bringing in the podiums and top tens thus far, which is nice from new signings.

 

[Hugo87]

Machado allways was alive.

I know his palmares of underachiever and 0 killer instint, don't need to copy paste it.

2013 was a horrible year for him, failed everywhere when he was designated team leader and consequently was downgraded from a WT Team do a Pro Continental team.

So he was "dead" last year and almost became a joke in this forum.

 

[Rui Quinta]

I know his palmares of underachiever and 0 killer instint, don't need to copy paste it.

2013 was a horrible year for him, failed everywhere when he was designated team leader and consequently was downgraded from a WT Team do a Pro Continental team.

So he was "dead" last year and almost became a joke in this forum.

I know you know his palmares, but I'm talking for everyone, not just the portuguese people

Anyway, If you see the CQ Ranking, he still was 129th. CQ Ranking isn't the perfect tool and teams don't think just about it, but If we consider WT has about 450 riders and Machado was 3 times on the top-100 and another one was close, of course He has quality to be between World Tour teams.

I see pleople talking "Machado deserves come back to Portugal..." and I can't agree with that. This year he was some offers to continue on WT, but he prefered downgrade cause NetApp did a good offer and he won't need workout for others like last year.

 

[Hugo87]

I know you know his palmares, but I'm talking for everyone, not just the portuguese people

Anyway, If you see the CQ Ranking, he still was 129th. CQ Ranking isn't the perfect tool and teams don't think just about it, but If we consider WT has about 450 riders and Machado was 3 times on the top-100 and another one was close, of course He has quality to be between World Tour teams.

I see pleople talking "Machado deserves come back to Portugal..." and I can't agree with that. This year he was some offers to continue on WT, but he prefered downgrade cause NetApp did a good offer and he won't need workout for others like last year.

Yes off course, my bad.

I admit my exceptions on Machado after that amazing 2010 year (50th on CQ) were high, but I always had the feeling that he couldn't read the race in a proper way, because almost everywhere he would launch some pointless attack and then got dropped in the end.

On GT's most of the times, he was a "free rider" and he couldn't get any stage, fight for some jersey (mountain points) or challenge for a honorable GC spot(19th on Giro not enough).

But i will give him another "chance" this year, otherwise i think in 1 or 2 years he's going back riding in a Portuguese team.

 

[Rui Quinta]

Yes off course, my bad.

I admit my exceptions on Machado after that amazing 2010 year (50th on CQ) were high, but I always had the feeling that he couldn't read the race in a proper way, because almost everywhere he would launch some pointless attack and then got dropped in the end.

On GT's most of the times, he was a "free rider" and he couldn't get any stage, fight for some jersey (mountain points) or challenge for a honorable GC spot(19th on Giro not enough).

But i will give him another "chance" this year, otherwise i think in 1 or 2 years he's going back riding in a Portuguese team.

Yes, he doesn't read the race. If he has the condition, he just attack. It isn't the perfect way to ride but I still prefer a guy that attacks to much over a guy that never attacks.

About, GT's... he never was a mountain guy. Even in Portugal he allways performed better on Senhora da Graça (8 km climb) than on Torre (28 km). His problem is not the 3rd week but the high mountain. If you build a GT without high mountain, maybe he can fight for top-10 Of course, not in the 2013 level

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Video highlights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuHHN6gFioo

for the valverde fan club, mostly