jens_attacks said:at least he has the stage win.
grande rui!
jens_attacks said:what time do you have for rui sousa, Parrulo?
Libertine Seguros said:A massacre out there today. And a horrible result, why can't Sousa just go away?
And what the hell kind of tactical move was that with Délio Fernández? Weird to see Caja Rural's main names all just explode so early in the stage, and when Brôco formed a group on Penhas Douradas it made me think of the Ribeiro/Cabreira/Bernabéu/Cardoso/Victorino group from the 2009 Volta on O Barragem do Alvão. Sadly it wasn't to be, and Hernâni will be hard pushed to make the top 10 now. And yet Rui freaking Sousa is on the podium. Christ almighty.
And from a guy who's only ever been there-or-thereabouts on it until his mid 30s (yea, I know he won it in 2008, but that was from the break when almost all the strongest climbers other than Blanco were his teammates). At least Nuno Ribeiro had the good grace to have been a great climber to begin with. Rui Sousa is just about the last remaining vestige of the bad old days of Portuguese cycling, having been a central figure in 2003's Milaneza chargers. And back in 2009 he was where in the Liberty hierarchy exactly? Guerra, Plaza and Ribeiro were all ahead of him to begin with, and he was dropped before Vitor Rodrigues in the key stages too. He's Portugal's Andreas Klöden in terms of his ability to somehow still be riding. He's like a stain you just can't get rid of. In his peak career he had good years and bad years at A Volta...jens_attacks said:how much did hernani train for this volta with his physio job?
sooner or later, you will arrive at the logical conclusion: rui sousa is a great rider.
i agree that it was a very very selfish move from veloso to get back delio. it's not like rui sousa will win the overall lol
about the time ascent, i think it's correct what i got from the live stream(it never blocked) by the way, chapeau RTP for their common sense, not like those other national tv stations geo-blocking boooooo
from the start of the climb:
rui sousa: 1:07:32, thanks oliveira and Parrulo. very fast for such a hard ridden stage i'd say and alone in the wind for many kms
Come on there are lots of questionable characters riding in Portugal, not just Sousa.Libertine Seguros said:And from a guy who's only ever been there-or-thereabouts on it until his mid 30s (yea, I know he won it in 2008, but that was from the break when almost all the strongest climbers other than Blanco were his teammates). At least Nuno Ribeiro had the good grace to have been a great climber to begin with. Rui Sousa is just about the last remaining vestige of the bad old days of Portuguese cycling, having been a central figure in 2003's Milaneza chargers. And back in 2009 he was where in the Liberty hierarchy exactly? Guerra, Plaza and Ribeiro were all ahead of him to begin with, and he was dropped before Vitor Rodrigues in the key stages too. He's Portugal's Andreas Klöden in terms of his ability to somehow still be riding. He's like a stain you just can't get rid of. In his peak career he had good years and bad years at A Volta...
And it seems OFM are run by idiots and call back an almost certain stage win which helps him, of course.
SM8000 said:whats up with the downhill tt?