74ª Volta a Portugal 15/08 to 26/08

[trevim]

Ricardo is OK with no fractures. Only Edgar Pinto broke his collarbone.

 

[trevim]

Queen stage today with a true mountain stage ending on a never-ending climb 30km@6.5% (more difficult than it looks).

Let's see for how much I would be outclimbed be these guys on the first climb (1st category - Penhas da Saúde, 16.5km@8.3%)
For those who are seeing on TV, this sector now from the "pave" and the next 8km are absolutely relentless with no rest at all. Then a flatter section with some rest and another big kick close to the hotel and then it eases 5-6% until the end of this first climb.

EDIT: I think the official numbers for the climbs are a bit overestimated.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

atapuma's chance today. is there a ticker?

 

[trevim]

There's a ticker here: http://www.volta-portugal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143

They're are now descending towards the final climb. Atapuma was maybe 8th or so in the peloton with 2 team-mates behind LA-Antarte (leader's team) guys before the start of that descent.

At the front of the race:
4-Alexandro Marque (Carmim - Prio)
9-Amaro Antunes (Carmim - Prio)
14-Sérgio Sousa (Efapel - Glassdrive)
19-Filipe Cardoso (Efapel - Glassdrive)
33-José Gonçalves (Onda)
35-Delio Fernandez (Onda)
41-António Carvalho (Selecção Nacional Portuguesa)
42-Rafael Silva (Selecção Nacional Portuguesa)
91-Joni Brandão (Burgos - BH - Castilla e Leon)
108-Juan Pablo Suarez (Colombia - Coldeportes)
109-Duber Armando Quintero (Colombia - Coldeportes)
116-Maxime Mederel (Saur Sojasun)
141-Mikhail Antonov (Lokosphinx)
167-Jason Bakke (Team Bonitas)

3:19 minutes ahead with 65km to go (the final 30km are uphill)

Joni and Bakke were the most active in the first climbs. The peloton has been lead since the start by Bruno Silva (LA Antarte), the pace didn't seem very high on the first 2 climbs; it seems everyone is banking on the final one which is hard enough on its own.

 

[trevim]

Bakke 04:26 ahead with 17km to go. Efapel now at the front pushing the pace with Ricardo Vilela. Atapuma on the wheel of Hugo Sabido

Nelson Vitorino attacks with Rui Sousa on the wheel.
De la Cruz tries to bridge.
Blanco, Sabido and Ribeiro bridging too.
Blanco counters, Sabido on the wheel.
Atapuma is not far from the front.
Duenas and Cabreira dropped.

16km to go.

Rui Sousa attacks, going alone now.
Livramento (Carmin) tries to close the gap for Vitorino.
2nd place César Fonte dropped.
Sousa has a gap now.
Sabido still has 3 teammates (Vergilio Santos, Marcio Barbosa, Jose Mendes)
Filipe Cardoso pulling a Voigt-Madeleine 2010 for Rui Sousa (45 seconds down on GC)

14km to go
Bakke 2:04 ahead of Rui Sousa.
Marcio Barbosa (LA) dropped, only Mendes and Santos with Sabido now.
Nuno Ribeiro attacks from the yellow jersey group. Blanco joins.
Atapuma and De La Cruz in troubles now.
Sabido looking good. Everything together.

13km to go
Only one LA-Antarte rider with Sabido. Mendes I guess.
Atapuma back in the main group.

12km to go
Rui Sousa (Efapel) 1:47 down on Bakke, catches Sérgio Sousa who tries and pace him for a while. Rui drops him.
It's Vergilio Santos the only teamate with Sabido.

11km to go.
Rui Sousa 15seconds ahead of the favourites. Bakke has about 1:33, he's cooked but he rode a great race after crashing on the last descent.
Feillu back too on a easy section now. Bizkarra too.
Daniel Silva and David Livramento in the main group too.

10km to go
Sousa group about 20 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group.
David Blanco attacks now with no answer from Sabido; still Vergilio Santos (LA Antarte) pacing.
Rui Sousa with Blanco now. Pulling for Blanco.

9km to go
Blanco drops Rui Sousa; goes alone 27 seconds down on Bakke. About 25 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group.
Rui tries to keep up.

8km to go
Blanco 30 seconds ahead of Sabido now, almost catching Bakke.
Blanco waits for Rui Sousa.
Wind: 12 km/h seconds ahead.
Blanco, Sousa and Bakke on the lead now.

7km to go
Atapuma, Bizkarra, Ribeiro, Silva, Feillu, Santos, Sabido all in the yellow jersey group.
Bakke now dropped.
Sérgio Ribeiro (Efapel) pulling a Cândido Barbosa attacking the main group, trying to bridge to the 2 teamates ahead. Feillu and Atapuma trying to catch up too.

6km to go
All regrouped. Only Blanco and Sousa (Efapel) 16 seconds ahead of Sabido. Blanco is 51 seconds down on GC.

5km to go
21 seconds advantage for the pair ahead.

2km to go
Blanco drops Rui Sousa now. Blanco 23 seconds ahead.
Vergilio Santos still pacing Sabido.
For those not familiar with the riders: Sabido is Wiggins, Vergilio Santos is playing Froome more or less.

1km to go
Final pull from LA Antarte to close the gap.
Feillu, Atapuma attacking now. Sergio Ribeiro too. Hugo Sabido alone now without teamates.

1. David Blanco (Efapel)
2. Rui Sousa (Efapel) +0.25
3. Darwin Atapuma (Coldeportes) +0.26
4. Sérgio Ribeiro (Efapel) +0.29
5. Brice Feillu (Saur) +0.32
6. Daniel Silva (Boavista) +0.33
7. Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel) +0.34
8. De La Cruz (Caja Rural) +0.37
9. Vergílio Santos (LA Antarte) +0.46
10. Hugo Sabido (LA Antarte) +0.46

Sabido looses the jersey to Blanco. Rui Sousa wins mountain jersey. Bakke wins combativity award.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

they are showing this race is human again. short gaps and all are dieing. man are there fires around torre??

 

[Parrulo]

they are showing this race is human again. short gaps and all are dieing. man are there fires around torre??

nope just massive fog

sabido is riding this volta much better then i expected mountain wise, can he gain time on blanco, who imo is worse then on previous years, tomorrow?

also looking at the level blanco is showing if mestre wasn't unlucky he would pretty much have his victory sealed by now

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

mestre last year wasn't one of the best climbers either(unlike blanco now) and blanco is a better itt

 

[Kwibus]

Blanco before Geox always great in Portugal.
@ Geox... we haven't seen him in any race. Yeh when he got dropped.
Back to continental level and he's going to win the Volta again. Right

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Blanco before Geox always great in Portugal.
@ Geox... we haven't seen him in any race. Yeh when he got dropped.
Back to continental level and he's going to win the Volta again. Right

 

[trevim]

GC before yesterday's TT:

1. David Blanco, Esp (Efapel-Glassdrive), 36:54.34 horas.
2. Hugo Sabido, Por (LA-Antarte), a 08 segundos.
3. Rui Sousa, Por (Efapel-Glassdrive), a 24.
4. Sérgio Ribeiro, Por (Efapel-Glassdrive), a 27.
5. David de la Cruz, Esp (Caja Rural), a 54.
6. Brice Feillu, Fra (Saur Sojasun) a 56.
7. Nuno Ribeiro, Por (Efapel-Glassdrive), a 01.08 minutos.
8. Darwin Atapuma, Col (Colombia-Coldeportes), m.t.
9. Daniel Silva, Por (Onda), a 01.10.
10. Vergílio Santos, Por (LA-Antarte) a 01.30.
11 David LIVRAMENTO Carmim/Prio a 2:56
12 Nelson VITORINO Carmim/Prio a 3:06
13 Sérgio SOUSA Efapel/Glassdrive a 3:17
14 Maxime MEDEREL Saur/Sojasun a 3:55
15 César FONTE Efapel/Glassdrive a 4:18
16 Márcio BARBOSA LA Alumínios/Antarte a 4:35
17 Omar FRAILE – J Orbea Continental a 5:42
18 Moises DUEÑAS Burgos BH/Castilla e Leon a 6:06
19 José MENDES LA Alumínios/Antarte a 6:29
20 Alejandro MARQUE Carmim/Prio a 6:42

 

[FujiAnton]

Hugo Sabido is a time trialist by default, and this year he is in beast mode. In other years he had lost 5 min or more on Alto da Torre, he's not a climber and defended himself very well on the two mountain stages, was the big surprise of this year's Volta in the mountains, no doubts.

I would rather see a win from David Blanco, but he's not the Blanco from previous Voltas, mostly on time trial, and Sabido is in form of his life, tomorrow i think he will win the Volta.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

F David Blanco. Marco Chagas for life.

 

[trevim]

F David Blanco. Marco Chagas for life.

Care to explain? Or just a personal preference?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Care to explain? Or just a personal preference?

I am a Chagas fan, and I really don't want Blanco to hold the record for most Volta wins. I don't like the guy, and he really represents the bad days of Portuguese cycling for me, when it was little more than a repository for Puerto guys because the salaries were better than Spanish continental teams, and they were more likely to actually receive their money than they were at Rock Racing, and I'd prefer that we move on and those guys no longer be hogging the front of the race.

 

[trevim]

I am a Chagas fan, and I really don't want Blanco to hold the record for most Volta wins. I don't like the guy, and he really represents the bad days of Portuguese cycling for me, when it was little more than a repository for Puerto guys because the salaries were better than Spanish continental teams, and they were more likely to actually receive their money than they were at Rock Racing, and I'd prefer that we move on and those guys no longer be hogging the front of the race.

That's actually a very good point although I never really thought of Blanco as a Puerto guy because if I remember correctly he won his first one riding for Communitat Valenciana. Anyway, you may have to wait another year to get a different winner and let's face it, Chagas wasn't the most ethical rider around
My own preferences were: Mestre, Atapuma, Vitorino and Rui Sousa.

 

[canyonball]

Results of the Pedrogão-Leiria TT in 2010 Link.

Unfortunately, I can't find a map for that one anymore. But I'm sure at least the second half is the same (at the point they get on N109 in direction to Leiria). That area is rather flat and techical-less either way.

Haven't checked the conditions for tomorrow, but the wind is usually weak to moderate and blows from the North/Northwest. So hitting the riders from the side and then from the back.

Sabido sounds calm, motivated and in great form. I expect him to do much better than 2010, but still not good enough to take the overall from David Blanco. I would be happy with any one of the outcomes, mind. Support moving more and more to Sabido, because It may be a unique chance for him.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

That's actually a very good point although I never really thought of Blanco as a Puerto guy because if I remember correctly he won his first one riding for Communitat Valenciana. Anyway, you may have to wait another year to get a different winner and let's face it, Chagas wasn't the most ethical rider around
My own preferences were: Mestre, Atapuma, Vitorino and Rui Sousa.

this is a joke right? I can't even facepalm enough this comment

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Results of the Pedrogão-Leiria TT in 2010 Link.

Unfortunately, I can't find a map for that one anymore. But I'm sure at least the second half is the same (at the point they get on N109 in direction to Leiria). That area is rather flat and techical-less either way.

Haven't checked the conditions for tomorrow, but the wind is usually weak to moderate and blows from the North/Northwest. So hitting the riders from the side and then from the back.

Sabido sounds calm, motivated and in great form. I expect him to do much better than 2010, but still not good enough to take the overall from David Blanco. I would be happy with any one of the outcomes, mind. Support moving more and more to Sabido, because It may be a unique chance for him.

if the itt is very technical sabido has a chance

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I am a Chagas fan, and I really don't want Blanco to hold the record for most Volta wins. I don't like the guy, and he really represents the bad days of Portuguese cycling for me, when it was little more than a repository for Puerto guys because the salaries were better than Spanish continental teams, and they were more likely to actually receive their money than they were at Rock Racing, and I'd prefer that we move on and those guys no longer be hogging the front of the race.

chagas was worse of a doping joke than blanco

 

[canyonball]

if the itt is very technical sabido has a chance

Like I said in the post, it is not at all. Although it rained during the night and the roads are wet (for now at least)

 

[greenedge]

Back to continental level and he's going to win the Volta again. Right

He did ride the Giro and Vuelta for GC contenders, so of course we saw him get dropped.

 

[trevim]

this is a joke right? I can't even facepalm enough this comment

I learned about Blanco and the portuguese scene listening to Marco Chagas at the RTP transmissions of the Volta. It's not like they would mention the dark past of the riders. What am I missing regarding David Blanco? Or Comunitat Valenciana?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

comunidand valenciana was kelme, which was the team fuentes was doctor at...


btw, is there a ticker today for the itt?

 

[trevim]

comunidand valenciana was kelme, which was the team fuentes was doctor at...


btw, is there a ticker today for the itt?

Ah now I see what you meant, didn't now about Kelme... There'll be a ticker on the site of the Volta like in all the stages.