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

[Broth3r]

I'd be surprised if they hit 100k. That's my main worry here: that most of the Volta's audience could care less about the sport itself, just that it's our event on our land with our riders and it's an August tradition by now.

 

[Jux1893]

TV coverage went down on the last 3km's.

I'm amazed. This never happens in Portugal....

 

[Jux1893]

1st - Maxime Daniel
2nd - Andrea Piechele
3rd - Fabio Silvestre

 

[Ruudz0r]

Its good to see Piechele back on the bike, he has only been back for a short period of time after an injury that made him quit cycling. Hopefully het gets a few more good results this season, and maybe get a contract with a PCT for 2014.

 

[Parrulo]

Today's stage could be very interesting. This is the perfect opportunity for the portuguese teams to trap Pardilla who seems to be the strongest rider in the race.

 

[Parrulo]

50k to go and attacks all over the place!!!!!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wish I'd been in for this, but gutted at Durán going backwards. All in for Hernâni now!

 

[trevim]

Very good stage today with lots of attacks and eventually everyone but two top10 riders (Cesar Fonte (Efapel-Glassdrive) and Delio Fernandez (OFM- Quinta da Lixa) out of the front group behind the breakaway Alarcon (Louletano - Dunas Douradas) who rode an impressive race being almost the strongest rider (even compared with the favourites).

Stage
1 Raul ALARCON Elite LOULETANO/DUNAS DOURADAS 4:45:45
2 Edgar PINTO Elite LA ALUMÍNÍOS/ANTARTE a 1:30
3 Celio SOUSA Elite RÁDIO POPULAR/ONDA m.t.
4 Marcel WYSS Elite IAM CYCLING m.t.
5 Gustavo VELOSO Elite OFM/QUINTA DA LIXA m.t.
6 Rui SOUSA Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE m.t.
7 Sergio PARDILLA Elite MTN/QHUBEKA m.t.
8 Hernani BROCO Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE m.t.
9 Vladislav GORBUNOV – J Sub-23 CONTINENTAL TEAM ASTANA m.t.
10 Daniel SILVA Elite RÁDIO POPULAR/ONDA m.t.
11 Alejandro MARQUE Elite OFM/QUINTA DA LIXA m.t.
12 Rui VINHAS Elite LOULETANO/DUNAS DOURADAS m.t.
13 Nuno RIBEIRO Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE m.t.
14 Virgilio SANTOS Elite RÁDIO POPULAR/ONDA m.t.
15 Marcio BARBOSA Elite LA ALUMÍNÍOS/ANTARTE m.t.
16 Patrick SCHELLING – J Sub-23 IAM CYCLING m.t.
17 Ricardo VILELA Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE m.t.
18 Alfredo BALLONI Elite CERAMICA FLAMINIA/FONDRIEST a 1:41
19 Raul De Mateos Elite LOULETANO/DUNAS DOURADAS a 1:48
20 Huub DUIJN Elite CYCLINGTEAM DE RIJKE/SHANKS a 2:17

GC
1 Sergio PARDILLA Elite MTN/QHUBEKA 34:08:31
2 Rui SOUSA Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE m.t.
3 Gustavo VELOSO Elite OFM/QUINTA DA LIXA a 7
4 Hernani BROCO Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE a 17
5 Vladislav GORBUNOV – J Sub-23 CONTINENTAL TEAM ASTANA a 20
6 Alejandro MARQUE Elite OFM/QUINTA DA LIXA a 24
7 Daniel SILVA Elite RÁDIO POPULAR/ONDA a 46
8 Edgar PINTO Elite LA ALUMÍNÍOS/ANTARTE a 47
9 Marcel WYSS Elite IAM CYCLING a 50
10 Rui VINHAS Elite LOULETANO/DUNAS DOURADAS a 59
11 Virgilio SANTOS Elite RÁDIO POPULAR/ONDA a 1:08
12 Nuno RIBEIRO Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE a 1:31
13 Ricardo VILELA Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE a 1:42
14 Delio FERNANDEZ Elite OFM/QUINTA DA LIXA a 3:04
15 César FONTE Elite EFAPEL/GLASSDRIVE a 3:13
16 Celio SOUSA Elite RÁDIO POPULAR/ONDA a 3:34
17 Rafael SILVA – J Sub-23 LA ALUMÍNÍOS/ANTARTE a 4:51
18 Jan HIRT – J Sub-23 LEOPARD/TREK a 4:55
19 Hugo SANCHO Elite LA ALUMÍNÍOS/ANTARTE a 5:03
20 Micael ISIDORO Elite LOULETANO/DUNAS DOURADAS a 6:16

Tomorrow the queen stage to Alto da Torre. The final climb isn't as hard as the hype (the easiest side of Serra da Estrela) but the two previous climbs will see attacks all over the place from Efapel.

Profile
http://www.volta-portugal.com/imagens/etapas/mapas/etapa7/altimetria.jpg

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Tomorrow the queen stage to Alto da Torre. The final climb isn't as hard as the hype (the easiest side of Serra da Estrela) but the two previous climbs will see attacks all over the place from Efapel.

Nonsense. The Manteigas side is FAR easier than the Seia side. Maybe the statistics say Manteigas is harder than Seia, but the statistics lie. It's virtually all consistent all the way from Manteigas, plus it's mostly through a valley and sheltered from wind, whereas from Seia you have a stretch of 5km at around 9%, a descent, gradients getting up to around 17%, flat and getting into good rhythm can prove exceptionally difficult at race pace. The Covilhã side via Piornos has its moments, but the hardest route is via Vide. They're climbing this toughest side as far as Lagoa Comprida tomorrow (dividing it by giving cat.1 points for Carrazedo too), then descending back into Seia by an odd route to climb back to Torre by the conventional side.

 

[trevim]

Nonsense. The Manteigas side is FAR easier than the Seia side. Maybe the statistics say Manteigas is harder than Seia, but the statistics lie. It's virtually all consistent all the way from Manteigas, plus it's mostly through a valley and sheltered from wind, whereas from Seia you have a stretch of 5km at around 9%, a descent, gradients getting up to around 17%, flat and getting into good rhythm can prove exceptionally difficult at race pace. The Covilhã side via Piornos has its moments, but the hardest route is via Vide. They're climbing this toughest side as far as Lagoa Comprida tomorrow (dividing it by giving cat.1 points for Carrazedo too), then descending back into Seia by an odd route to climb back to Torre by the conventional side.

I'm not talking about statistics: I've ridden the three traditional climbs (Covilhã, Seia, Manteigas) and the easiest one for me was Seia. That's all I meant.

 

[Broth3r]

I was under the impression they'd climb through Vide this year. Well, that's a damn shame, both from a sport and personal stance - my father is a native of Vide. Lovely village.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

ok, stage 8 profile below:

Race will start at 13:20 (CEST) or 12:20 local.

Hopefully Hirt can hang in there.

 

[birthmark]

The Vide climb looked brutal.
But seeing efapel chasing efapel is so so weird..

 

[Jux1893]

Hirt dropping from Yellow Jersey group with 80km's to go.

Efapel are crushing the field, with 5 guys in a group of less than 20. Bringing a lot of memories of USPostal.

Great new climb....

 

[Parrulo]

The climb is about to start!!!

 

[Parrulo]

Efapel hammering it and Pardilla is cracking!!!!!

He either recovers very fast or he will lose minutes and minutes today!!!! There are still 25k to go.

 

[Kannonball]

Pardilla about to be dropped

 

[Parrulo]

Rafael Silva is doing a very good volta.

Same for Nuno Bico who only turned 19 a month ago.

Now all we need to hope for is for Rui Sousa to crack big time

Wow Pardilla dropped by 2 Rafael Silva and Hirt . . . .

 

[The 50x12]

Now all we need to hope for is for Rui Sousa to crack big time

Let's all hope so.

 

[Parrulo]

Let's all hope so.

We should also add the spanish from OFM to that list

 

[Parrulo]

Trademark Broco cracking on the torre stage

Same for the OFM's thank god.

Finally Rui Sousa has been isolated, hopefully Daniel Silva is feeling great today!!!

p.s. OFM's slowly got back to the front group.

 

[Broth3r]

Man, you guys are relentless with the blacklisting.

 

[roundabout]

3x3x3x3

And Wyss.

lol

 

[Parrulo]

3x3x3x3

And Wyss.

lol

Not anymore

They better send that moto up the road where the action is. . .

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Spectacular, but brutal landscape.