82nd Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta Santander (August 4-15)

[Mayomaniac]

Reis smashed the 5.4km long prologue, 10sec ahead of his teammate Moreira. Lluis Mas finished 3rd 11sec down, Norsgaard 5th, behind Diego Lopez, 17sec down.
The monster engine Caldeira finished 6th, only 1sec behind him, Veloso finished 10th and was the best gc rider, just ahead of Carvalho and Brandao (imo the best gc option for w52).

 

[Mayomaniac]

Very harsh. I think we might have reached the early 2000s rather than the mid-90s.

Last year the climbing times were a bit slower, but that had more to do with FF and Antunes going on an long range attack and the others playing games behind them. We also had massive headwind on the Torre stage.
After seeing what some of the riders did in their prep races this year I expect vintage 90ies watts.

 

[Mayomaniac]

If the rumours that I've heard are true the race organizers pulled the plug on Vini Zabu racing the Volta because of their clinic related problems.
Apparently Scinto has become so toxic that not even the Volta wants to have anythimg to do with him.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If the rumours that I've heard are true the race organizers pulled the plug on Vini Zabu racing the Volta because of their clinic related problems.
Apparently Scinto has become so toxic that not even the Volta wants to have anythimg to do with him.

 

[Mayomaniac]

At this moment it's just speculations and rumours, but you couldn't make something like this up.

 

[carolina]

The contract between the portuguese federation and the Volta organizer has a rule that states teams with 2 or more positive cases in the last 24 months are not allowed. This might be why Vinni-Zabu was excluded.
What I don't understand is why this rule does not apply to W52, since they have positives from Alarcon and Edgar Pinto in the last 24 months.

 

[jfazendeiro]

What about that time the race topic ended in the clinic section? Does anyone remember?

 

[Mayomaniac]

The contract between the portuguese federation and the Volta organizer has a rule that states teams with 2 or more positive cases in the last 24 months are not allowed. This might be why Vinni-Zabu was excluded.
What I don't understand is why this rule does not apply to W52, since they have positives from Alarcon and Edgar Pinto in the last 24 months.

Maybe passport violations aren't included because it's not explicitly failing a test?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Back to the race, today's stage has the same final as the one that Antonio Carvalho won on the penultimate day last year, should be a ln exciting stage to watch.

 

[PhiLiz]

Now Rafael Reis, besides competing with Asgreen, can climb too...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Carlos Oyarzún giving it the beans on the climb, a 39-year-old Chilean TT specialist with a doping ban in his history. Welcome to August.

 

[Lui98]

Now Rafael Reis, besides competing with Asgreen, can climb too...

The Volta never disappoints .
"Where amazing happens".

 

[Samu Cuenca]

No W52 riders in the top 5 in the first two stages. Someone could get sacked soon.

 

[Mayomaniac]

On Saturday we have the Torre MTF, after that one we should know if Reis is the new Balarcon...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Could be some egg on face for the domestic péloton, a good chance for an estrangeiro team to pick up a rare Volta stage win. I mean, those are almost invariably in flat stages, but not often that they're from the break.

 

[RedheadDane]

Could be some egg on face for the domestic péloton, a good chance for an estrangeiro team to pick up a rare Volta stage win. I mean, those are almost invariably in flat stages, but not often that they're from the break.

Seems like it just happened. Kyle Murphy has won the stage!

1	MURPHY Kyle	Rally Cycling	14	20	3:57:50
2	BRANDÃO Joni	W52 / FC Porto	5	12	0:12
3	MAS Lluís	Movistar Team	3	7	0:16
4	FREITAS Daniel	Radio Popular Boavista		5	,,
5	GOMES Luis	Kelly / Simoldes / UDO		4	,,
6	MESTRE Daniel	W52 / FC Porto		3	,,
7	MOLLY Kenny	Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB		2	,,
8	WIRTGEN Tom	Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB		1	0:17
9	CONTTE Tomas	Louletano - Loulé Concelho			,,
10	HOLLMANN Juri	Movistar Team			,,

 

[Libertine Seguros]

They misjudged it and Kyle Murphy took the win for Rally, Joni Brandão broke the W52 drought of podium spots by sneaking away for some seconds and time bonuses at the end. A couple of small gaps in the group that might be annulled by tomorrow, Lluís Más winning the reduced sprint for 3rd.

Edit: they have rightly annulled those time gaps, they've upped Brandão's gap by a second but it's absolutely right that the bunch all be credited with the same time as Más. Brandão has moved into 4th in GC.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So tomorrow we have the Torre stage, the first big showdown between W52 and Efapel. Brandao and Figueiredo should be their strongest riders, but you never know.

Will old man Veloso turn the clock back once again, will Roniel Campos be able to bring his Tachira legs to the Volta, will Luis Gomes go full de Mateos and turn from a stagehunter into a gc rider?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

So tomorrow we have the Torre stage, the first big showdown between W52 and Efapel. Brandao and Figueiredo should be their strongest riders, but you never know.

Will old man Veloso turn the clock back once again, will Roniel Campos be able to bring his Tachira legs to the Volta, will Luis Gomes go full de Mateos and turn from a stagehunter into a gc rider?

Or will Reis become the next Riis?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Or will Reis become the next Riis?

Reis looks skinnier than prime Riis...
Tomorrow's stage and the final climb:

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Hey, yeah, Romain, you can do it! Go get your first stage race win since 2013! (?)

I think you might have gotten your threads mixed up here. That's never happened to me...

 

[BlueRoads]

I think you might have gotten your threads mixed up here. That's never happened to me...

Thanks, you're right.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Cesar Fonte and Luis Gomes in the breakaway, they have over 5min with 50kms to go.

 

[Bullrun]

Volta's speed is always slow. Climbing speeds are just a little less slow.

The last time a middling WT espoir competed for the GC, Krists Neilands, he only missed out on a top-5, most probably the podium, due to a tactical/positioning mistake in a cat4 climb.

If Matteo Jorgenson was racing and in form, he'd be a huge headache to the Portuguese teams and a favourite. Abner is too inexperienced and raw, they'll likely have him going for stages.

Maybe passport violations aren't included because it's not explicitly failing a test?

Without knowing this exact protocol, that's very unlikely - these protocols tend to be pastiches of UCI/ADR regulations and adverse passport findings are cause for team suspensions there.

The most plausible reason is what Pinto claimed at the time his suspension was announced (that the findings refer to 2016 and 2017 before he rode for W52) - same reason why, unlike Vini Zabù, W52 wasn't suspended by UCI for a month - check the commentary to Article 11.3.1 re: cases arising from Passport findings on the UCI-ADR protocol.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Bruno Silva went solo from the breakaway, with 39km to go he has 6min on the main bunch, no idea about the gap to his former breakaway companions.