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

[roundabout]

Not anymore

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

Yeah, they dropped Wyss.

Wait, they didn't even do that

 

[Parrulo]

Cesar Veloso looks like he is digging very deep to follow.

They need to drop him fast or they will lose the Volta to him tomorrow.

God i love this climb.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Front group consists of?

 

[Parrulo]

Front group consists of?

From the front to the back:

Virgilio Santos
Daniel Silva
Rui Sousa
Edgar Pinto
Cesar Veloso
Hernani Broco

 

[Parrulo]

IIRC this is where Blanco launched his winning attack last year

 

[Arredondo]

They really have tot get rid of Marque before the time trial.

 

[Parrulo]

For someone that is looking as easy as Daniel Silva he has ridden very disappointingly

Well it really serves them (Silva and Sousa) right to lose the Volta to the spanish tomorrow as they rode like idiots today. . .

Its as if neither of them as any intention of actually winning the race, pathetic

 

[Parrulo]

Hahahaha serves them right

 

[Arredondo]

Beautiful sprint from Veloso, painfully for Sousa

 

[Lupetto]

Marque has this in his bag.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

so tomorrow a 35km flat-ish TT:

Hirt at +4 minutes or so.

Probably the best he can do here.

 

[roundabout]

so tomorrow a 35km flat-ish TT:

More like a misleading profile. I think it's harder than the profile suggests.

 

[Parrulo]

so tomorrow a 35km flat-ish TT:

Hirt at +4 minutes or so.

Probably the best he can do here.

Look at the vertical scale of the profile. It actually will be a pretty hard time trial.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Look at the vertical scale of the profile. It actually will be a pretty hard time trial.

well, these profiles are a bit hard to read.
Anyway, the harder the better. Looking forward to it.

 

[Jux1893]

I love to watch a Volta, but it really hurts to have a rider winning in Portugal after last year being 114th in La Vuelta, 1h10min behind Broco (2h56min on Contador).

Hopefully Marque will take it.

 

[roundabout]

I love to watch a Volta, but it really hurts to have a rider winning in Portugal after last year being 114th in La Vuelta, 1h10min behind Broco (2h56min on Contador).

Hopefully Marque will take it.

Well, think of it this way, he is a PT stage race winner.

 

[Arredondo]

How good is Veloso in a tt in this kind of field? Good enough to finish on the podium i guess?

 

[roundabout]

How good is Veloso in a tt in this kind of field? Good enough to finish on the podium i guess?

He was quite good in his Xacobeo days. Should be on of the best out of GC riders

 

[Arredondo]

He was quite good in his Xacobeo days. Should be on of the best out of GC riders

Ok, perhaps two OFM's on the podium sunday

 

[Steyn78]

Gustavo Cesar Veloso is a pretty good rider, he won la Vuelta a Catalunya few years ago.
He's a good glimber and he can TT well.
Marque is the favourite, but Veloso and Broco are good bets too.

 

[jens_attacks]

missed today's stage

slim chances but i still believe in rui sousa and efapel!and nuno makes the top ten yeayy. next year he must win this
of course i'd rather see marque or veloso winning than broco. there are things that not even riding for efapel can erase them

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I like Gustavo César. Was a quality rider a few years back. He won on Xorret del Catí in the 2009 Vuelta, back when Taaramäe defined the Taaramäe. Definitely rather him than Rui Sousa.

The TT is similar but slightly easier than the 2011 one, which created huge time gaps:
http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=21189

Based on that I'd say that I still have some hopes for Hernâni, but in both 2010 and 2011 he faded big time on the final GC stage of the Volta (in 2010 the Leiria ITT and in 2011 on Torre) so the race may be just a little long for his recovery limit, so I fear he may lose a fair bit of time tomorrow.

Overall I think this Volta route has been a massive step up on the last couple, however with the finish in Gouveia yesterday and the start today, I don't know why they didn't put the Viseu stage today, allowing the traditional final weekend of Torre and the final TT. You'd have thought that the queen stage ought to be on a weekend to maximise potential TV audiences.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

missed today's stage

slim chances but i still believe in rui sousa and efapel!and nuno makes the top ten yeayy. next year he must win this
of course i'd rather see marque or veloso winning than broco. there are things that not even riding for efapel can erase them

Such as "not being one of the in crowd" at Liberty Seguros? Hernâni's the man.

Although I did like Héctor Guerra a lot.

 

[jens_attacks]

Such as "not being one of the in crowd" at Liberty Seguros? Hernâni's the man.

Although I did like Héctor Guerra a lot.

yeah you remember it too every year
he's a great rider nonetheless hernani broco plus i like his name a lot. but that gang from liberty seguros was the shiit

 

[trevim]

Such as "not being one of the in crowd" at Liberty Seguros? Hernâni's the man.

Although I did like Héctor Guerra a lot.

Everytime Broco cracks I think maybe that's a good sign regarding doping.
I liked Guerra too specially him waiting for Cândido Barbosa on the climbs