73ª Volta a Portugal 2.1 04/08 - 15/08

Page 5 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
craig1985

craig1985

May 6, 2009
8,522
1
0
Libertine Seguros said:
Coen Vermeltfoort can't climb, but he can climb better than Andrea "dropped by Kenny van Hummel on the monstrous uphills of the Presidential Tour of Turkey, where Alessandro Petacchi won the queen stage" Guardini.

The Volta a Portugal is really hard. Not necessarily because of the severity of the climbs, Torre aside (that IS hard), or the blinding pace, but because of the heat and the length. It is thundering through Portugal in mid August and it is HOT. The Portuguese péloton is getting progressively weaker, so they aren't lording it over anybody who shows up from outside so much anymore, but still they build their entire season around this.

David Blanco is 36 years old and riding for a team where he's 3rd priority at best. He hasn't been stellar this year, but he's on the comedown. Rubén Plaza went from 4th in 2009 to 12 in the Tour de France in 2010, and as has already been noted Xavier Tondó did pretty well upon stepping up from Portugal. Puerto has been a killer for Portuguese cycling; the upper echelons of Portuguese races have become stuffed with Spanish riders not welcome anywhere else, and it's stifled fresh national talent from coming through. A lot of these riders have finally been allowed to let sleeping dogs lie this year - but now they're over the hill and, having more than the one race to really build for, they haven't really adapted well. Then again, Tiago Machado won the best young riders' jersey 3 times and has made a pretty good fist of the upper leagues so far too.
Click to expand...

Yeah but how he is going to get better at climbing if he only does races that are Tour of Qatar-esque flat? He's only 20 (or 21), so I think he will get better in the next few years, he better do, if he wants to win stages at the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, etc.
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
15,612
4,550
28,180
Libertine Seguros said:
Coen Vermeltfoort can't climb, but he can climb better than Andrea "dropped by Kenny van Hummel on the monstrous uphills of the Presidential Tour of Turkey, where Alessandro Petacchi won the queen stage" Guardini.
Click to expand...
Kenny isn't such a bad climber, you know. In the Tour de France he was unfortunately confronted with the best climbing field in the world, riding at the highest pace in the world. That won't happen to Andrea in Portugal. He'll suffer, of course, but he'll survive.
 
M

Mellow Velo

Mar 11, 2009
10,062
1
22,485
jens_attacks said:
man it sucks so hard to see this race vanishing little by little...it seems like thomas dekker will be the only foreign attraction and the thing is it will be damn hard for him even to finish the race
Click to expand...

Well, I was going to mention this guy, but.....................more bad news for the race.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/kashechkin-leaves-lampre-isd

Does Francesco Gavazzi count as a big name?
Although what he is doing in Portugal and so missing Italy's big one-day week in August, is beyond me.
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
33,064
15,264
28,180
theyoungest said:
Kenny isn't such a bad climber, you know. In the Tour de France he was unfortunately confronted with the best climbing field in the world, riding at the highest pace in the world. That won't happen to Andrea in Portugal. He'll suffer, of course, but he'll survive.
Click to expand...

Kenny also survived longer than Furlán and Napolitano, who were Hors Delais while he was surviving on his lonesome. But he's become the byword for "appalling climber", and he still dropped Guardini in a stage race so savage that Ale-Jet won the queen stage.
 
trevim

trevim

Oct 26, 2010
5,647
261
17,880
Interesting article about David Blanco and the Volta: http://desporto.sapo.pt/mais_modalidades/artigo/2011/08/02/david_blanco_ainda_sonha_com_a_q.html

Some quotes:
"Without the Volta I would be a regular bike rider. I was lucky things turn out so well there."
"When I decide to come to Spain I knew it would be difficult to race both the Vuelta and Volta because they're so close."
"In Portugal I had troubles motivating myself. Not for the Volta but for the rest of the calendar, racing against amateurs."
"I've two things in mind but I don't know if my age will allow me to do: be the first to win 2 Voltas ao Alentejo and 5 Voltas a Portugal."
 
auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
19,654
2
0
Ahhh, the great Volta a Portugal is here. Will The Great David Blanco be riding this year? Hopefully he does something as he has done **** all for my CQ team(that's your fault Libertine Seguros;)).

In all seriousness, I look forward to see how Lachaln Morton goes. Another massive talent coming out of Australia. Don't want to curse the kid but watch out for him in the big stage races in the coming decade.


Libertine Seguros said:
Kenny also survived longer than Furlán and Napolitano, who were Hors Delais while he was surviving on his lonesome. But he's become the byword for "appalling climber", and he still dropped Guardini in a stage race so savage that Ale-Jet won the queen stage.
Click to expand...

Napolitano and Furlan are shocking climbers. No surprise Kenny outclimbed them.:rolleyes:
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
29,413
3,482
28,180
The point is Kenny survived a lot more mountain stages then you would think. And that by himself. There are plenty of worse climbers than Van Hummel in the pro peloton. But most of them don't even get to ride the Tour (probably because their teams know it's mission impossible to finish)
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
33,064
15,264
28,180
auscyclefan94 said:
Ahhh, the great Volta a Portugal is here. Will The Great David Blanco be riding this year? Hopefully he does something as he has done **** all for my CQ team(that's your fault Libertine Seguros;)).
Click to expand...

Still a better race than the TDU.

Though this year's Volta looks pretty poor tbh. A very disappointing startlist and a very disappointing route.

Blanco is a better rider than his results this year would suggest. But he's 3rd in line at best at Geox, and he's over the hill. He was good in Portugal, and he would have been good outside it too (he was 10th in the 2005 Vuelta, for example), but like Bernabéu, the sleeping dog of Puerto has finally been allowed to lie, too late for them to have any peak left. And yes, that may have been disguised a bit by the dwindling Volta startlists.

Compare the 2007 Volta startlist:

Duja-Tavira: Blanco, Garrido, Victorino
Madeinox-Bric-Loulé: Marque, Sérgio Sousa
Barbot-Halcon: Möller, Pacheco
Fercase-Rota dos Móveis: Andrade, André Cardoso
LA-MSS: Tondó, Cabreira, Pedro Cardoso, Bruno Pires, Neves
Benfica: José Azevedo, Lavarinhas, Petrov, Pecharromán
Riberalves-Boavista: Machado, Manuel Cardoso, Morajko
Liberty Seguros: Barbosa, Ribeiro, Broco, Héctor Guerra, Rui Sousa, Urtasun
Vitoria-ASC: José Sousa

Already a pretty strong startlist of Portuguese talent...

Then the outsiders:
Lampre-Fondital: Szmyd, Gavazzi, Santambrogio, Loosli
Saunier Duval-Prodir: Del Nero, Serrano, Pagliarini
Barloworld: Sabido, Guidi, Augustyn
Relax-GAM: Mancebo, Sevilla, Vicioso
Ceramica Panaria-Navigare: Laverde, Pozzovivo
Slipstream Sports: Pate, McCarty
Ceramica Flaminia: Marczynski
Karpin-Galicia: Mosquera, Jiménez, Isidro Nozal
Fuerteventura-Canarias: Bernabéu, Chuzhda, Ramírez

That's a strong lineup. That's the only recent one Blanco didn't win (Tondó did); but the 2006 and 2008 lineups were similarly strong. The last couple of Voltas saw decreasing startlists and fewer big names, but the hard racing kind of drew attention away from that. I think this year it really comes to a head - the Volta at its strength that I always talk about - that's based on this time. 2009 and 2010 had a reasonable field but not a great deal of depth to it. With a few of the top names from it moving on, either to retirement, to outsider teams, up to the ProTour or suspended, we're being shown what the Volta is when you strip that top level away.
 
canyonball

canyonball

Oct 17, 2010
697
0
0
Today is only the volta presentation. Which means a little bit of cycling talk and a lot of bad portuguese music.
 
Sem Travões

Sem Travões

Jul 16, 2011
95
0
0
Well they could put:
Zeca Afonso
Trovante
Xutos & pontapés
Sergio godinho
Jorge plama
GNR
Radio Macau
Setima Legião
Rodrigo Leão
or even Amalia in the speakers, but that wouldn't be right that music I can hear at home, cycling is a popular sport not a elite one, so PIMBA music is what the people want in a cycling event not JAZZ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sHn0wKjjFU

See what I mean
 
trevim

trevim

Oct 26, 2010
5,647
261
17,880
Sem Travões said:
Well they could put:
Zeca Afonso
Trovante
Xutos & pontapés
Sergio godinho
Jorge plama
GNR
Radio Macau
Setima Legião
Rodrigo Leão
or even Amalia in the speakers, but that wouldn't be right that music I can hear at home, cycling is a popular sport not a elite one, so PIMBA music is what the people want in a cycling event not JAZZ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sHn0wKjjFU

See what I mean
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. It's August, it's Minho so there's a certain musical background by default :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom