76ª Volta a Portugal 30 July -10 August 2014 (2.1)

[Berlin Cyclingblog]

Schumacher in front, great

 

[BigMac]

Schumi best time! 5 seconds better than LLS.

 

[Broth3r]

OFM running two of these today. Your move, Sky.

 

[Lupetto]

Veloso totally smashing it

 

[Lupetto]

Mestre crashed and lost 5 minutes, Pinto crashed too.

1 Veloso 35:08 (49,35 km/h)
2 De La Parte 0:55
3 Schumacher 1:18
4 LL Sanchez 1:23
5 Sousa 1:32
6 Vilela 1:37
7 Antunes 1:47
8 Shilov 1:48
9 Fernandez 1:50
10 Sabido 2:00

Veloso, Sousa, Fernandez as the final podium.

 

[BigMac]

Mestre crashed and lost 5 minutes, Pinto crashed too.

1 Veloso 35:08 (49,35 km/h)
2 De La Parte 0:55
3 Schumacher 1:18
4 LL Sanchez 1:23
5 Sousa 1:32
6 Vilela 1:37
7 Antunes 1:47
8 Shilov 1:48
9 Fernandez 1:50
10 Sabido 2:00

Veloso, Sousa, Fernandez as the final podium.

Oh no, Edgar Pinto.

Monster time by Veloso.

 

[jens_attacks]

missed the fun

holy shiit veloso
well done rui, next year he will finally win it!

 

[trevim]

Just got back home from the TT and the biggest surprise has to be the size of Schumacher's head: it looks huge on TV but live it's pretty normal

Seriously though the biggest surprise was Amaro Antunes. I didn't know he was such a handy time trialist. He looked happy on the team bus celebrating with Rafael Reis. Time to go abroad again?

Other than that I was surprised how David Rodrigues managed to win back the young riders jersey even though he rode on a normal road bike and Heiner Parra had a full TT kit. Impressive Volta debut and I hope he gets a pro contract for the next season.

The biggest let down has to be José Gonçalves: I thought he would contend for the win but he wasn't even close. And he had a TT bike. Still managed a decent top20 on GC so that's nice.

António Carvalho did well jumping 4 places to 16th place. It will be interesting to see how he develops preferably on some international team with a decent calendar. And please António take Joni Brandão and Figueiredo with you

I'm sad for Edgar Pinto who had knee issues handicaping him for the whole Volta. Also Mestre: I didn't knew he had crashed but figured it out quickly because he looked terrible on the bike, all over the place.

 

[trevim]

Stage 9 ITT (Sertã)
1 VELOSO Gustavo Cesar OFM - Quinta da Lixa 35:07
2 DE LA PARTE GONZALEZ VíctorEfapel - Glassdrive 0:55
3 SCHUMACHER Stefan Christina Watches - Kuma 1:18
4 SANCHEZ Luis Leon Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 1:23
5 SOUSA BARBOSA Rui Miguel Rádio Popular 1:33
6 VILELA Ricardo OFM - Quinta da Lixa 1:37
7 AMARO Manuel Antures Banco BIC - Carmim 1:48
8 SHILOV Sergey Lokosphinx ,,,,
9 FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio OFM - Quinta da Lixa 1:51
10 SABIDO Hugo LA Aluminios - Antarte 2:00
11 CARVALHO Antonio LA Aluminios - Antarte 2:02
12 BROCO Hernani Louletano - Dunas Douradas 2:15
13 OROZ UGALDE Juan José Burgos-BH 2:20
14 MOURATO André LA Aluminios - Antarte 2:25
15 REIS Rafael Banco BIC - Carmim 2:27
16 BRANDÃO Joni Efapel - Glassdrive ,,,,
17 SHALUNOV Evgeny Lokosphinx ,,,,
18 DURAN AROCA Arkaitz OFM - Quinta da Lixa ,,,,
19 COSTA Mário OFM - Quinta da Lixa 2:32
20 GONÇALVES José Portugal 2:33

 

[trevim]

GC after stage 9
1 (1) VELOSO Gustavo Cesar OFM - Quinta da Lixa 38:31:46
2 (2) SOUSA BARBOSA Rui Miguel Rádio Popular 2:01
3 (5) FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio OFM - Quinta da Lixa 2:54
4 (4) BRANDÃO Joni Efapel - Glassdrive 3:10
5 (3) PINTO Edgar LA Aluminios - Antarte 3:26
6 (8) VILELA Ricardo OFM - Quinta da Lixa 4:31
7 (10) DE LA PARTE GONZALEZ Víctor Efapel - Glassdrive 5:31
8 (7) SILVA PINTO Sandro Filipe Louletano - Dunas Douradas 6:51
9 (9) SANTOS Virgilio Rádio Popular 6:58
10 (13) AMARO Manuel Antures Banco BIC - Carmim 7:20
11 (6) MESTRE Ricardo Efapel - Glassdrive 7:24
12 (11) RIBEIRO Nuno OFM - Quinta da Lixa 7:41
13 (12) BROCO Hernani Louletano - Dunas Douradas 7:45
14 (15) GONÇALVES José Portugal 9:05
15 (17) SABIDO Hugo LA Aluminios - Antarte 10:18
16 (20) CARVALHO Antonio LA Aluminios - Antarte 10:40
17 (14) BELDA GARCIA David Burgos-BH 11:08
18 (16) FERNANDEZ SUAREZ Higinio Team Ecuador 12:08
19 (21) SOUSA Sérgio Efapel - Glassdrive 12:31
20 (19) RODRIGUES David Miguel Costa Portugal 12:56

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Edgar Pinto breaks out in his late 20s with LA-Antarte, and comes 5th in his breakthrough Volta last year. The next year he wins on Senhora da Graça, and is placed well, but a poor performance in the final GC stage causes his bid for success to fail and him to drop down to 5th place again.

This sounds a lot like Hernâni Brôco's history repeating. And it looks like time is running out for Hernâni to get over that, sadly.

 

[trevim]

Last stage underway with Ricardo Mestre DNS: 10 stitches in the genital area, seems painful. He hopes to be back next season.

Breakaway:
César Fonte (POR) | Radio Popular
Segundo Navarrete (ECU) | Team Ecuador
Carlos Ribeiro (POR) | Seleção Portuguesa

 

[trevim]

Manuel Cardoso takes the last stage ahead of Vigano, Stirling style

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The dropping away of interest in the thread after the end of the Torre stage should be a lesson to the race organisers. Last year was such a step in the right direction, this year they've gone back to a totally wasteful final weekend. It wasn't their fault the TT was fairly unimportant as nobody thought Sousa had a realistic chance of deposing César, but practically zero posts about the final stage whereas they put Monte Assunção and Torre on weekdays... it's just a waste of the potential audience I'm afraid. Closing down part of Lisboa on a Sunday may be an achievement, but this isn't the Tour, and it was better when Torre and the TT were the final weekend stages, maximising public interest.

Oh well, it's not become a constant as I feared it would a few years ago, but I would prefer no parade stage in any race shorter than three weeks.

However, if they advised they were going to do a Monsanto Park circuit as the final stage in Lisboa, I would forgive them.

 

[Coat-O]

Veloso to work for Costa and Horner next year? He deserves better than continental level.

 

[Lupetto]

Monsanto is a disgrace to the beauty of this city.

They could do a final tt finishing on Avenida or they should start the race here with a prologue like in 2009 or with something like Subida à Glória. It will be organized this year by PODIUM in october.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Monsanto is a disgrace to the beauty of this city.

They could do a final tt finishing on Avenida or they should start the race here with a prologue like in 2009 or with something like Subida à Glória. It will be organized this year by PODIUM in october.

I'd prefer a TT or prologue if they have to go to Lisboa. But if they insist on finishing with a circuit in Lisboa, then Monsanto is somewhere they could realistically set up an interesting parcours whilst not having the problems of the roads being too narrow or spiralling costs (closing down part of the capital on a Sunday can't be cheap).

There could be some amazing cobbled hills and difficult circuits all over Lisboa, I just don't see many of them being feasible for Joaquim Gomes' team for the time being, unfortunately.

Edit: in absolute dreams, a final TT starting from Praça dos Restauradores and leaving Lisboa to finish in Sintra with the climb up to the Palácio Pena would be incredible, but also incredibly unlikely. In the other direction, a 30-35km TT beginning outside the Palácio Nacional de Sintra and ending on the Avenida would be a great way to finish the race.

 

[jens_attacks]

veloso to movistar?

anyway, if not, alonso should pick him

 

[Libertine Seguros]

As long as it goes better for him than Marque's transfer went.

 

[Broth3r]

I won't be satisfied until I see them climbing Calçada do Moinho de Vento from Avenida da Liberdade to Campo dos Mártires da Pátria. And I'm being kind because that one's actually paved.

Monsanto would be logistically much easier, but the old city, and particularly the castle hill, have some absolutely devilish hills that I would love to see being climbed. Logistical nightmare, sure, but you can't buy character like those streets have. And one-offs like Subida à Gloria, while enjoyable, are just not the same.

 

[BigMac]

The main problem with Lisbon are the tramways. It's nearly impossible to make a connection from one side of the city to the other (at least including some decent climbs) without going over at least one street with those lines on the floor. For instance, in Alto de Santo Amaro, where I live, there are at least 3 short slopes with incredible gradients (Calçada de Stº Amaro which I recon is above 30% in it's entire @150m stretch (you have to see it for yourself in order to realize it (streetview doesn't make it justice (I'll post a photograph one of these days)))), but it's logistically impossible to make a connection between them and then on to another point of the town. A circuit in Monsanto would be good with, say, the inclusion of the scenic, somewhat uphill Rua dos Jerónimos in it's start, but the tram passes at the bottom.

I plan to do the subida à Glória come October, do you know if they removed or covered the tram line last year?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Rua Marques da Silva is one I've always thought of in Lisboa for use, with the stunning views from the top.

As to removal/covering the tramline, no they didn't.

Video of the climb uploaded by the commentary monstrosity that is Paulo Martins

 

[Broth3r]

I think they left it there.

And also, recall that the tram 18 is disabled during August.

 

[trevim]

]Rua Marques da Silva[/B] is one I've always thought of in Lisboa for use, with the stunning views from the top.[/URL]

Now that's a pure evil climb. It's so agonisingly steep, specially on the bends... I've only climbed like 2 times (because there are cars only going down it, so it's a bit dangerous) on a heavy mountain bike and I got to Penha de Franca looking dead and with all the tourists there looking at me with that "WTF?!" look
But yeah there are lots of sharp short hills, with or without cobbles, that could make a pretty fantastic route. It can make a small Tour of Flanders better than the actual Tour of Flanders.

 

[trevim]

Stage 10 (Lisboa)
1. Manuel CARDOSO. BANCO BIC - CARMIM 4:08:21
2. Davide VIGANO. CAJA RURAL - SEGUROS RGA ,,
3. Sergey SHILOV. LOKOSPHINX ,,
4. Stefan SCHUMACHER. CHRISTINA WATCHES - KUMA ,,
5. Filipe CARDOSO. EFAPEL - GLASSDRIVE ,,
6. Alexander KRIEGER. TEAM STUTTGART ,,
7. José GONÇALVES. TEAM LA POMME MARSEILLE 13 ,,
8. Maximilian WERDA. TEAM STÖLTING ,,
9. Jorge Martín MONTENEGRO. LOULETANO - DUNAS DOURADAS ,,
10. Christian MAGER. TEAM STÖLTING ,,