Rui Costa Discussion Thread

[BigMac]

The only reason he surpassed Ronaldo last year was because of all the propaganda he made on his Facebook, like he is doing now. Fernando Pimenta has a low amount of followers in Facebook and Ronaldo never cared to post anything about it on his page.

I can't stand his facebook page because of all the ***kissers that take the time to write gigantic (yet stupid clueless and irritating) comments.

That said, yes he is going to win that poll again.

 

[BigMac]

Tiago, the baby Rui took on the podium after he won the Tour de Suisse this year, finally beat cancer! Costa auctioned his yellow jersey to raise some founds in orther to help Tiago have a better life.

https://twitter.com/RuiCostaCyclist/status/397721062793703427/photo/1

Remember Tiago? The baby that I took to the podium at the Tour of Suisse?
TIAGO WON THE CANCER. I'm so happy ))))))

 

[BigMac]

Yep, Costa won the Portuguese Athlete of the Year award again, second in a row. So did José Poeira, award for best coach, for leading the road national team.

Congratulations to José Poeira particularly.

 

[BigMac]

He finds himself amusing

 

[Parrulo]

Costa getting ready to attack the 2014 season, i heard he socred 8 w/kg for 1 hour

Now seriously, it doesn't seem like he put any significant weight during the off season so he must have taken it very seriously.

 

[BigMac]

Costa getting ready to attack the 2014 season, i heard he socred 8 w/kg for 1 hour

Now seriously, it doesn't seem like he put any significant weight during the off season so he must have taken it very seriously.

Ah! I was about to post that, but i guess we can share this thread's owenership.

Should have posted the one with Guardascione too, to see how happy the ol'man was for having Costa with him.

 

[Parrulo]

Ah! I was about to post that, but i guess we can share this thread's owenership.

Should have posted the one with Guardascione too, to see how happy the ol'man was for having Costa with him.

Well despite my initial joke the objective of my post was to show how little, if any, weight he has gained this off season.

Could Costa be going for the anorectic look that has been so successful the past few years? After all if he is now at a similar weight he was last season, he could easily be a couple kilos lighter by the start of next season. Or is this all just my vision tricking me?

 

[BigMac]

Well despite my initial joke the objective of my post was to show how little, if any, weight he has gained this off season.

Could Costa be going for the anorectic look that has been so successful the past few years? After all if he is now at a similar weight he was last season, he could easily be a couple kilos lighter by the start of next season. Or is this all just my vision tricking me?

Well, if i record correctly, he did not gain much weight last year's off season either, so it may just be him who is too responsible with his alimentation.

But that make sence. His weight was around 69kg this last season, which in comparisson to the top climbers, can be slightly too much. That can be one of the reasons for him failing in the steeper slopes, wich in my opinion, its is biggest handicap. He can handle himself quite well in regular, long, not so steep climbs.

I wouldn't blame him for trying to get lighter.

Looking at the picture, he seems to have the same weight, same musculature. But ofc, it can be my vision tricking me aswell.

 

[Parrulo]

He was at 69 in 2012, this year he was around 67 iirc.

At 183 cm he will probably try to go for the 65 kilos-

 

[Netserk]

Way too fat/strong arms. Time to slim 'em down.

 

[Parrulo]

Way too fat/strong arms. Time to slim 'em down.

Yup, i think that is his only chance of losing weight. He has a fair amount of upper body bulk.

 

[Parrulo]

It seems like Costa isn't going to Algarve this year

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=67820

Mallorca, Tour of Dubai and then Paris Nice

 

[jens_attacks]

very sad news then...malhao deserved the portuguese world champ

hopefully we'll see him riding on senhora da graca though

 

[Parrulo]

I am also disappointed

A big fail from him to sell out to the presence fees RCS is offering him.

 

[trevim]

It seems like Costa isn't going to Algarve this year

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=67820

Mallorca, Tour of Dubai and then Paris Nice

So it begins: I predict a year with lots of random riding to please the sponsors and an impossible amount of useless travels.
Just look at Contador last year...

 

[maxmartin]

Costa will target the Ardennes Classics and also the Tour de France. He won two stages last year from breakaways but is hoping to be an overall contender in 2014.

Is it likely?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/costa-to-debut-with-lampre-merida-at-the-dubai-tour

 

[Parrulo]

Very unlikely.

I think he will be somewhere between 5th and 10th.

 

[Flamin]

Very unlikely.

I think he will be somewhere between 5th and 10th.

That's pretty optimistic for someone who will give the GC a go for the first time over 3 weeks and who is more a hilly kind of rider than a real climber. I'd say 8th or 9th at best.

 

[Netserk]

That's pretty optimistic for someone who will give the GC a go for the first time over 3 weeks and who is more a hilly kind of rider than a real climber. I'd say 8th or 9th at best.

If he does well, I can't see why he shouldn't be able to get to Kreuziger's level. He should definitely be able to do better than Mollema and Fuglsang

 

[Parrulo]

That's pretty optimistic for someone who will give the GC a go for the first time over 3 weeks and who is more a hilly kind of rider than a real climber. I'd say 8th or 9th at best.

This year if he hadn't been called back to help Valverde he would probably have ended ahead of Mollema (who unfortunately was on a downward trend the entire tour) and Fuglsang.

Just look at the last week.

Stage 16, Col de Manse:
2013:9,5 km@5,2%---19:06---average speed 29.84 km/h(Porte-Froome-Contador-Kreuziger-Valverde-Quintana-Rodriguez-Mollema)
---19:16---average speed 29.58 km/h(Rui Costa)

Costa did most of the climb solo unlike the favourites who had first Katusha and then Porto/Valverde/Froome/Kreuziger/Rodriguez all pushing it at some point besides the attacks from Contador and Kreuziger.

And then stage 19 after some very aggressive racing for the breakaway over the Glandon and Madeleine:

2013:11,3 km@7,1%---29:56---average speed 22.65 km/h(Rui Costa)
---30:49---average speed 22.00 km/h(Quintana-Rodriguez-Contador-Froome-Valverde-Gadret)

Obviously the favourites were saving themselves over the climb but at the top group only had 6 guys and neither Mollema nor Fuglsang were there. Kreuziguer would have been if it hadn't been setting tempo for much of the climb.

Then the next day Costa's dropped everyone cept those top guys and he, being him the guy that loves working for others that he is, clearly didn't give it all. just look at how relaxed he looks putting his sun glasses once Valverde attacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vY0CA-vtf7Y#t=896


So i don't think the 5th to 10th range i gave is all that far fetched. If he is lucky he could get 5/6th and in normal circumstances he will be around 7/8/9 imo.

Also let's not forget that Porte, Quintana and Purito will ride the giro. WE know that under normal circumstances Froome, Nibali, Contador and Valverde will be ahead of him. Who he will have to fight for those places will be guys like VdB2, Kreuziger, Mollema, Betancurt, Uran, Pinot and Talansky (i am obviously forgetting a few but you get the point).

 

[Flamin]

This year if he hadn't been called back to help Valverde he would probably have ended ahead of Mollema (who unfortunately was on a downward trend the entire tour) and Fuglsang.

Just look at the last week.

Come on, Rui had been softpedalling big time before he won both stages. Ventoux (rest day in between) and Chorges/Alpe. Meanwhile the GC guys had to go full gas. So no, what you're saying makes little sense.

 

[Pippo_San]

Who he will have to fight for those places will be guys like VdB2, Kreuziger, Mollema, Betancurt, Uran, Pinot and Talansky (i am obviously forgetting a few but you get the point).

You can't be serious can you Are people still believing in VdB2?

 

[maltiv]

You can't be serious can you Are people still believing in VdB2?

Uh, yes? People seem have a remarkably short memory span in cycling. 1 bad year plagued by injuries and suddenly it's "ridiculous" to suggest that JVDB, who was 4th in TDF just over a year ago, will fight for a top 5-10...

 

[personal]

I think it would be great ti see World Champion mixing it with GC contenders.

 

[Parrulo]

Come on, Rui had been softpedalling big time before he won both stages. Ventoux (rest day in between) and Chorges/Alpe. Meanwhile the GC guys had to go full gas. So no, what you're saying makes little sense.

That's why i mentioned the annecy stage after LGB.

LBG was soft pedalled by the favourites while the break rode very hard over the first part of the stage and the last climb. Yet the next day Costa was still able to easily drop guys like Mollema and Fuglsang.

Besides the Tour route suites Costa next year with the cobbles and a flat itt where he can gain time on the likes of Betancurt and Uran.

Besides mathematically your argument makes like sense because i said "between 5th and 10th" and you said between "8th and 9th". Guess who is more likely to get his prediction right?