75ª Volta a Portugal 7-18 August 2013 (2.1)

[oliveira]

75ª Volta a Portugal 7-18 August 2013 (2.1)

Pro Conti Teams:

Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
CCC Polsat Polkowice
MTN - Qhubeka
Bretagne - Seche Environnment
IAM Cycling
Rusvelo
Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team
Sojasun

Continental Teams:

Banco BIC-Carmim
Efapel-Glassdrive
LA Alumínios-Antarte
Louletano-Dunas Douradas
OFM-Quinta da Lixa
Rádio Popular-Onda
Continental Team Astana
Leopard – Trek Continental Team
Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest
Cyclingteam de Rijke - Shanks

Stages:

Prol - Lisbon (TTT)
Stage 1 - Bombarral - Aveiro
Stage 2 - Oliveira de Azeméis - Viana do Castelo (Sta. Luzia)
Stage 3 - Trofa - Fafe
Stage 4 - Arouca - Mondim de Basto (Sra. da Graça)
Stage 5 - Lousada - Oliveira do Bairro
Stage 6 - Sertã - Castelo Branco
Stage 7 - Monfortinho - Gouveia
Stage 8 - Oliveira do Hospital - Torre
Stage 9 - Sabugal - Guarda (ITT)
Stage 10 - Viseu- Viseu

http://www.pad.pt/2013/Volta/

 

[oliveira]

1) Lot of KOM's;

2) No Montemuro/Arada again;

3) Better teams, in a 2012 comparative;

4) Rebellin expected?

5) All towns in Portugal called "Oliveira d'..." are in Volta!

 

[BigMac]

Nice route in my opinion, and nice teams also. I also think is is nice to start in Lisbon, with a TTT, cool. The majority of the stages won't bring us anything new but i am quite intrested in that ITT from Sabugal to Guarda, since to route will definetly be hilly unless they do it completly from the outside.

- Rui Sousa to take yellow
- Sérgio Ribeiro to take points
- Some dude from Leopard Trek to take the white jersey.

 

[manafana]

how is it that the struggle with the volta but this race can be over a week long?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Because the race has always been more than a week long, and it damn well should stay that well.

Can't be bothered to retype my route analysis from the General thread, so just linking to it instead.

I have much optimism for this Volta. It looks to have a better potential lineup than the last couple and also have a better route. More Portuguese teams and some interesting outside teams too. And great to see Tavira are safeguarded and the Banco BIC rumours were correct. Should be new jerseys and hopefully investing for the future. For the moment I still think Efapel are the strongest team, with Sousa, Sousa, Brôco, Ribeiro and Durán all capable of leading the team.

 

[BigMac]

This is BIC - Tavira new jersey. It seems nice, altough i prefered last year's one.

About that analys. i read it before you mentioned it here and my toughts were you should copy paste it here, it is very well done and could not agree more.

Last year Efapel Dominated and IMO they will do well this year too.

 

[Broth3r]

Because the race has always been more than a week long, and it damn well should stay that well.

I understand the appeal of being unique in a sea of week-long races, but I can't help but to think the length is part of the reason of the Volta's decline.

Nontheless, seems like it'll be avast improvent over the previous years. Stage 8 looks particularly spectacular.

It'll... also be emotive on a personal level. My father's from Vide, and right now, he's on a hospital fighting for his life. And he loves the Volta. If he can come back to watch the stage... it'll be incredible.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The length IS part of the reason for the Volta's decline, but it's not the Volta's fault. As recently as 2008 it was a genuine GT proving grounds, with teams like Saunier Duval, Lampre and Slipstream rocking into town with good teams. A big part of the decline has been fiscal - the lessening of the quality of the Spanish ProContinental teams that often made up much of the lineup has been a key factor as a few years ago you'd have Relax-GAM, Fuerteventura-Canarias, Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme, Contentpolis-Ampo, Karpin/Xacobeo etc all showing up with some solid teams. But the main factor has been the combination of the necessity to drop to 2.1 from 2.HC when the number of Portuguese teams declined due to financial issues and due to doping issues (LA-MSS, Liberty Seguros) along with the UCI points system - after all, why would you do the Volta a Portugal, a 2.1 race over eleven days of hard racing in the baking sun where the national teams are likely to win out in the end, when you could do Paris-Corrèze, a two day race that draws a decent field, but is short enough that one lucky break or well-timed move can win the whole thing, and gain you just as many points?

 

[Parrulo]

Hopefully some young portuguese guy steps up instead of the same old guard guys.

Brandão, Vilela or Antunes would be cool.

 

[Netserk]

Starts today

 

[Parrulo]

Was about to bump it myself.

I don't really care about the pre race favourites, if any of them wins i hope its Daniel Silva, what i am really interested about this volta is the young portuguese riders here.

Particularly Silvestre who could win a stage now that Candido Barbosa 2.0 has been caught and banned for 12 years by the portuguese federation. Talking about Sergio Ribeiro obviously.

 

[Parrulo]

Oh you can follow the race with good quality and no annoying pop up adds here:

http://www.rtp.pt/play/

Up to 16pm CET the race is covered by RTPinformação, after that it changes to the main channel RTP1.

 

[BigMac]

Finally fórum is back up. Right in the beggining of A Grande

 

[Hugo87]

Finally fórum is back up. Right in the beggining of A Grande

The field is weak, money problems are destroying the race, but the course seems good and it will be a fun race.

 

[Fundertaker]

5) All towns in Portugal called "Oliveira d'..." are in Volta!

Lies. I live in one and the Volta won't pass here. Nor will it pass in the one right after

 

[BigMac]

*** performance from portuguese teams.

 

[jens_attacks]

one of my favs races of the year right here

efapel 4 life!

 

[Hautacam2000]

Hernani Broco will finally win his homerace
unfortunately,Sergio Ribeiro isn't here,but with Sousa,Sabido&others,the show must go on

 

[Parrulo]

Hernani Broco will finally win his homerace
unfortunately,Sergio Ribeiro isn't here,but with Sousa,Sabido&others,the show must go on

Unfortunately?

Anyway i really hope some young guys wins this, i know it is almost impossible but seeing guys like Rui Sousa, Nuno Ribeiro or any of the puerto blacklisted riders on OFM win would make me sick.

 

[Parrulo]

Today's stage is flat so it will end up in a mass sprint.

No bonus seconds this year so the leader will keep his jersey without even have to work for it

Most likely Ciolek will win but it would be awesome if Fabio Silvestre managed to pull an upset

 

[Netserk]

Profile of today's stage:

 

[Jux1893]

I'm hoping for a balanced race, since not having too many favorites might be a good thing.

I will see them tomorrow, and probably either this Sunday or on the 15th. Still have to decide.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

what happened to sergio ribeiro? good chance for oyarzun then

 

[Netserk]

what happened to sergio ribeiro? good chance for oyarzun then

Clinic happened.

 

[Parrulo]

what happened to sergio ribeiro? good chance for oyarzun then

BP happened.

Banned for 12 years which is a good thing considering the joke he was. . .