But it's always been mostly about the Portuguese teams? Take some strong lineups from a few years ago. In 2008 the only riders outside Portuguese teams in the top 10 were Cobo (4th, Scott-American Beef) and Dan Martin (10th, Garmin-Chipotle). In 2007 there were 3 - Jiménez (4th, Karpin-Galicia), Bernabéu (7th, Fuerteventura-Canarias) and Sevilla (9th, Relax-GAM) but then, that was in the era of strong Spanish ProContinental teams, which padded out the entry list at the Volta on top of the higher number of native squads, so that's more an issue with Spanish cycling than Portuguese. 2006 only had two, although one won it - Blanco (1st, Comunidad Valenciana) and Gomis (5th, Comunidad Valenciana) - although their team had been barred from the Vuelta in the wake of Puerto, which probably strengthened the lineup they sent to Portugal. Heck, 2003, which was quite an otherwise strong edition of the Volta, with Torre from two different sides in two different stages (one a MTF, one partway through a stage finishing on the smaller cobbled climb of Gouveia), and the very last stage with a 2nd category finish in Favaios, saw absolutely zero riders from outside Portuguese teams in the top 10.
I think the problem is more that there are fewer Portuguese teams than there were a few years ago, and much of the strongest talent is concentrated into a couple of these, which increases the provincial feel when those strong Spanish squads of years gone by are no longer turning up to the race because they are all disbanding or going amateur. Also, drugs scandals have actually helped the Volta in one respect - Saunier Duval and Comunidad Valenciana being barred from the Vuelta has meant them sending strong teams to the Volta in the past. Another problem is the UCI's points system; the race had to go 2.1 to get a full roster together mainly because the number of Portuguese teams dwindled massively from 2008-2009 with Benfica disbanding, LA-MSS being caught in controversy in 2008 and Liberty Seguros similarly a year later, and persuading teams like Landbouwkrediet or PSK Whirlpool, who the race clearly does not suit, to turn up just to suffer in the sun while the Portuguese teams grind them to dust, grows ever harder, whereas Continental teams can use it as a development race to test young riders' recovery skills, and as a result we've seen Itera-Katyusha, Chipotle-Slipstream, Rabobank Continental, Orbea, Ceramica Flaminia and Astana Continental at the race in the last few years. However, for many stronger Continental and Pro-Continental teams who already know their riders' recovery, are not working as feeder teams for World Tour squads developing riders, and/or are not focused on developing GC riders, the question then has to come up, with the UCI's points system, why would you do the Volta? As a 2.1 race it offers as many points for the GC as a race like Paris-Corrèze or the Tour des Fjords, and you could feasibly do two or even three other, shorter 2.1 races in the time taken to do the Volta, for less suffering and more chance of success.
We should note, and it is a key note, that the 2013 Volta a Portugal was a big step forward for the race. The start list was as big as last year's even despite clashing with the Vuelta a Burgos again (last year Orbea and Burgos BH rode, who normally can't due to Burgos), with more star power. 7 ProContinental teams as opposed to 5 last year, and two extra national teams so no need to pad the numbers out with a cannon fodder team of young national riders who typically contributed by getting in an occasional break and just seeing how much they could survive. There were no absolute cannon fodder teams like the underprepared Funvic-Pindamonhangaba team last year or the awful Törku Seker Spor lineup in 2011 where Danail Petrov was the only rider left after 5 days, with Banco BIC being the weakest team and even the least likely invites such as De Rijke contributing well (victory in the TTT of course). The route was a huge, huge improvement, with a new puncheur finish (Santa Luzia), the best designed Mondim de Basto stage since 2009, one of the best designed Torre stages ever, which is hopefully a precursor to one day including the climb from Vide as the final MTF, and the excellently designed stage into Gouveia that Raúl Alarcón won and saw attacking riding from 50km out.
The Volta may not be reaching its former glories, but this was a very good first step at redemption. And if the Portuguese péloton can continue to improve - and I have some hope that it can, as obviously Louletano have some money left from Sérgio Ribeiro's salary and Banco BIC will look to improve their standing for next season, while some of the riders at Efapel and OFM will surely want a chance to lead themselves at some point, plus of course with a few more teams and some cash injections we could see some former WT riders going there, especially bearing in mind how cash-strapped the Spanish scene is right now (although another Spanish invasion, even if driven by the bottom line rather than bans, is not what the race needs right now).
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