37° Volta ao Algarve 2011 (708k) Feb 16 to 20

[Ryaguas]

Seems like the same finish Greipel won on last year

Yes is the same finish... I was taking a look to the last year's pics

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Chuzda showing some colors there.

Chuzhda only knows one way, and that's get-up-the-road-on-your-own. Stage 1 of last year's Volta a Portugal - one of my favourite wins of the season. He waved the péloton goodbye after 1km, waved his breakaway companions goodbye shortly afterwards, and after nobody was willing to help Palmeiras Resort bring him back (thinking the finish was perfect for Cândido Barbosa, so they're not going to help themselves lose, plus wear out Palmeiras domestiques for later, not that it helped) he came in over a minute up (though he bonked hard and lost over 3 minutes in the last few km), then defended his jersey on a mountain finish the next day.

Gilbert sprinted for Lotto not Greipel, seriously?

Yea, also bearing in mind that as it's slightly uphill, Gilbert could have picked up some bonus seconds if he got into the top 3.

After Marek Rutkiewicz, Lech Walesa, and Karol Wojtyla?

Adam Mickiewicz is pretty class too, but why the mockery of Rutkiewicz? That guy's a class rider.

Seems like the same finish Greipel won on last year

It is.

Didnt Samu come podium then? as good a sprinter as Samu is, id be surprised 2 neo pro sprinters podiuming the same finish.

Well, last year's stage was in infernal sleet, appalling conditions. Also the solo break, I think it was David Vitória of Footon, very nearly made it to the end cos communications were difficult in the weather. In order to reel him in in the closing km the péloton had to go really hard, which dropped a lot of people including almost all the sprinters. There were far fewer guys in the front group than in today's stage.

Also, Greipel and Roelandts pulled out over 4 seconds on that finish. The pictures of Greipel at the finish tell you what kind of day it was.

Probably, for my money, the most impressive win of Greipel's career, I didn't expect him to win that.

 

[Christian]

“We had a little bit of bad luck because Linus Gerdemann became ill in the night. He tried to get through the stage, but had to pull out at sixty kilometers or thereabouts.”

- Adriano Baffi (LEOPARD TREK DS)

 

[skidmark]

why would i be joking. I didnt pay that much attention to the u23 worlds last year.

I just thought maybe you were joking because you come across as pretty knowledgable about cycling in general, more than me at least. And I have definitely heard of Degenkolb alot, so I figured you would've.

I guess I'm not aware of your race-watching habits too much

 

[taiwan]

So where did Greipel actually finish?

 

[Highlander]

So where did Greipel actually finish?

He was 86th. Like most sprinters, it looks like he gave it up when he saw that he was out of it.

25 Allan Davis (Aus) Pro Team Astana
60 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank Sungard
79 Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team
86 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
87 Brice Feillu (Fra) Leopard Trek

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/volta-ao-algarve-2-1-1/stage-2/results

 

[Libertine Seguros]

86th.

Still in the pack, but not near the front. Sprinters had a mixed day.

Roelandts was 11th, Manuel Cardoso 15th, Alby Davis 25th (at 1")
JJ Haedo was 60th, Mondory 94th (at 9")
Sergio Ribeiro was 139th, Sobrino 140th, Förster 141st (at 36")
Henderson was 149th (at 58")
Borut Božić was 150th (at 1'02")

The importants in the GC:
1º 52 GILBERT, Philippe BEL OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO 09:34:23
2º 32 DEGENKOLB, John GER HTC-HIGHROAD a 04
3º 42 FARRAR, Tyler USA TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO a 08
4º 82 CIOLEK, Gerald GER QUICKSTEP C. TEAM a 09
5º 25 MATTHEWS, Michael AUS RABOBANK C. TEAM a 10
6º 6 COOKE, Baden AUS SAXO BANK SUNGARD a 15
7º 183 CARDOSO, Filipe POR BARBOT-EFAPEL a 15
8º 114 WEGMANN, Fabian GER LEOPARD TREK a 15
9º 53 ROELANDTS, Jurgen BEL OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO a 15
10º 22 LANGEVELD, Sebastian NED RABOBANK C. TEAM a 15

14º 61 KLÖDEN, Andreas GER TEAM RADIOSHACK a 15
16º 81 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA QUICKSTEP C. TEAM a 15
17º 1 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP SAXO BANK SUNGARD a 15
18º 44 HESJEDAL, Ryder CAN TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO a 15
21º 72 GERRANS, Simon AUS SKY PROCYCLING a 15
22º 78 ROGERS, Michael AUS SKY PROCYCLING a 15
23º 35 MARTIN, Tony GER HTC-HIGHROAD a 15
24º 38 VELITS, Peter SVK HTC-HIGHROAD a 15
34º 126 TAARAMAE, Rein EST COFIDIS, CREDIT EN L a 23
35º 11 KREUZIGER, Roman CZE PRO TEAM ASTANA a 23
37º 21 SANCHEZ, Luis L. ESP RABOBANK C. TEAM a 23
39º 37 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay USA HTC-HIGHROAD a 23
43º 171 CARDOSO, Andre POR TAVIRA – PRIO a 23
51º 188 PEREZ, Santiago ESP BARBOT-EFAPEL a 23
57º 62 MACHADO, Tiago POR TEAM RADIOSHACK a 30
72º 8 LARSSON, Gustav SWE SAXO BANK SUNGARD a 30
78º 63 PAULINHO, Sergio POR TEAM RADIOSHACK a 42
82º 184 SOUSA, Rui POR BARBOT-EFAPEL a 47
84º 201 BROCO, Hernani POR LA -ANTARTE a 47
97º 163 MENDES, Jose POR CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE a 01:06
103º 7 HERNANDEZ, Jesus ESP SAXO BANK SUNGARD a 01:06
104º 5 NAVARRO, Daniel ESP SAXO BANK SUNGARD a 01:06
127º 91 ROCHE, Nicolas IRL AG2R-LA MONDIALE a 02:38
136º 65 OLIVEIRA, Nelson POR TEAM RADIOSHACK a 03:13
140º 196 SILVA, Daniel E. POR ONDA a 03:13
150º 172 MESTRE, Ricardo POR TAVIRA – PRIO a 05:23

 

[Faserr]

According to Greipel they all rode for Gilbert today, because they thought the final 3km were uphill, but they were in fact downhill until the last kick. Mistake of the Roadbook.

 

[theyoungest]

According to Greipel they all rode for Gilbert today, because they thought the final 3km were uphill, but they were in fact downhill until the last kick. Mistake of the Roadbook.

Didn't it once occur to him that he won here last year?

 

[Faserr]

Don't know. Perhaps the last kilometers were different until the last meters.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Didn't it once occur to him that he won here last year?

Different approach to same finish this year.

2010:

2011:

Notice how the parcours is somewhat sharper in the 2010 parcours. (Map is slightly untrustworthy since the arrows are pointing in different directions yet the finish line is the same...)

 

[roundabout]

According to Greipel they all rode for Gilbert today, because they thought the final 3km were uphill, but they were in fact downhill until the last kick. Mistake of the Roadbook.

He should ride for Garmin.

 

[Anonymous]

Highlights of Stage 2 are now up
http://www.digitalmaistv.com/

Stage 3
Friday, February 18 - 179 km - Tavira → Malhão

 

[taiwan]

WTF was Matthews doing at the line there, just swerving out of fatigue?

 

[canyonball]

Indeed. If there's anyone messing with others' sprint would be Mathews. Not quite understood why they considered DQ of Degenkolb (?) Maybe something not capped on the highlights.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

wout poels will do well on this stage.

 

[Tuarts]

I think like most people, I know about the youngsters coming through the ranks of my home country, but dont know much about the youngsters in other countries bar the obvious ones like Phinney, Bobridge etc.

Unless you specifically follow u23 racing, I guess its the same for most people.

As for why i dont follow it as much as I would like. There simply arent enough hours in the day.

1. World Champs
2. Tour de l'Avenir

***

Matthews continuing his form too. What do they say is the duration you can hold peak form at? His must be close to dipping soon surely.

 

[joy118118]

1. World Champs
2. Tour de l'Avenir

***

Matthews continuing his form too. What do they say is the duration you can hold peak form at? His must be close to dipping soon surely.

Dim only cares about British riders and team Sky.

last year Peter Sagan keep his good form from TdU to PN. So i dont think Matthews will dip so soon.

I watched the video of yestday's stage. Matthews was second on the last uphill but crossed line with Farrar.

 

[Tuarts]

Yeaeh, mid-March would be my guesstimate as well. Then another peak timed from later in the year.

 

[Ney the Viking]

todays flash ticker: http://jornalciclismo.com/volta-ao-algarve-directo-da-3-ª-etapa
And my portugese-fu isnt good enough to find the text only version.

Looks like todays break is Martin Maaskant (Garmin), Jesse Sargent (Radioshack), Antony Ravard (Ag2r), William Clarke (United health care), Jarl Salomein (Topsport) e Ruben Martinez (Caja rural). Afaict they got 4 mins.

This will probably last until the last summit, no?

hah, just took some tweaking, no need to understand any foreing langueage http://www.coveritlive.com/index2.p...sk=viewaltcast&altcast_code=6f4b057707&ipod=y
it does however say stand-by and like the flash hasnt been updated in a while. Lets see how it goes. (lol and then 2 seconds later an update ticks in, just seems that nothing is happening)

 

[joy118118]

Yeaeh, mid-March would be my guesstimate as well. Then another peak timed from later in the year.

Sagan did well untill Tour de Romandie last year.

dont have Matthews' race schedule. but i think he will have some cobbles classics? he did them well in U23.

 

[Christian]

Martin Maaskant (Garmin), Jesse Sargent (Radioshack), Antony Ravard (Ag2r), William Clarke (United health care), Jarl Salomein (Topsport) e Ruben Martinez (Caja rural).

He is LEOPARD TREK not United Health Care ... or else it's a different rider?

Just looked through the feed, he keeps switching teams apparently lol

 

[Barrus]

wout poels will do well on this stage.

Is it just me or is Wout Poels starting to become the new Mollema?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Is it just me or is Wout Poels starting to become the new Mollema?

I really like poels, said a while ago this year could be a break out season for him. Very talented youngster.

He is my DYOTY (dutch youngster of the year) whom I shall follow
But in all seriousness showed some nice early form at Mediterranean and should be amongst it.

 

[jens_attacks]

this stage has tiago machado written all over it.only alberto will follow him but will lose the sprint.