The Toxic Avengers Return: Volta a Portugal 2023

[Rob5091]

According to PCS this is today's finale - let the climbing begin!

 

[DNP-Old]

Camilo Ardila and Yesid Pira shining on Torre, what a day.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lol, Moreira already looks like he could eat most of the others in the group and come back for seconds, both figuratively and literally.

I thought we'd have five Glassdrive riders in line dropping everybody like flies by now, though, so we might have a more open race than feared.

 

[DNP-Old]

I've seen enough. Pelayo may stay at home during La Vuelta, Ardila will win the entire thing.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Last year's miracle worker Luís Fernandes being dropped from group 2 now. Freddie looks totally unfazed and like he could keep going at this pace for hours.

Edit: Mauri struggling?!

Edit 2: yes, he definitely is. Maybe it is a more human Volta after all. The Vorarlberg guy shredding the chasing pack and bridging the gap being Colin Stüssi means there is some serious danger of some estrangeiro teams actually being GC relevant here for the first time since... when? Maybe Sérgio Pardilla with CarmioOro and Patrik Sinkewitz with ISD back in 2010?

Looks like Carvalho's been shelled too.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stüssi/Délio Fernández/Del Pino/Juaristi now trying to escape on the false flat area between Penhas da Saúde and the Piornos plateau. Figueiredo being leant on to chase. They've opened up quite the gap! Did Glassdrive get a knock on the door or what is going on out there, they were so overpowered on paper...Helder Gonçalves was dropped at the same time as Moreira but has just flown back up to the Figueiredo group and straight over the top of it on the descent.

Del Pino struggling to keep the pace of the leaders. Somehow the home teams are happy to let Mikel Iturria and Moran Vermeulen set tempo in the GC group... and they both have teammates up the road so are obviously false tempoing it and allowing the escape to gain nearly a minute.

Juaristi and Stüssi are now significant GC threats.

Edit: it's Luís Gomes for Kelly, not Gonçalves. He must have been distanced right at the summit to have been behind the group because he was still in it when Moreira was dropped.

Gap briefly hit a minute but now is charging down to around 30 seconds, but they're not showing group 2 to know whether this is that the pace has gone up again or that the previous time gap was just inaccurate... OK now corrected - that time is to Luís Gomes, who now has a moto with him, the Figueiredo group is still at around 55".

Artëm Nych has joined the Figueiredo group and is now burying himself to bring Glassdrive back into it. Del Pino again struggling with the pace in the lead group, doing a classic Froome yo-yoing job. Moreira is back in group 3.

3km to go and the gap to Del Pino is a few seconds now, he's probably not going to get back on again this time. He seems to be dependent on Délio Fernández' turns to get back on.

Pira attempting to escape the clutches of the favourites group unsuccessfully, marked by Glassdrive and Efapel.

2km remaining and Juaristi is starting to heave a bit as he tries to respond to the others' turns. Del Pino is hanging in no-man's-land around 12 seconds back, the Almeida zone as it is sometimes called. Moreira is dropped from group 3 again, Nych and Carvalho with a couple of others at the front.

Délio Fernández escapes solo because this is the Volta and a 37yo on a domestic team is the right kind of rider to be contesting the win.

Ardila has escaped the clutches behind and now Carvalho is doing the same.

Last kilometre now.

Stüssi has now got rid of Juaristi - Juaristi is the best placed on GC so it's about camisola amarela too.

Fernández will win - 5" to Stüssi and 17" to Juaristi. Stüssi should have the lead on time bonuses I think. Then Del Pino, Casimiro best of the group behind ahead of Iturria, Carvalho and Ardila; Figueiredo the first Glassdrive over a minute back. Wow.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Camilo Ardila and Yesid Pira shining on Torre, what a day.

Talent wise it's no surprise. It's mainly the fact that Ardila's knees are shot and likes to gribd huge gears.

Free Figueiredo!

 

[Tim Cahill]

Front 3 look good for it, G3 losing time, really looks like Moreira is on the limit at the back

Something is different about this race....

 

[Rob5091]

AP Hotels and Resorts! Chapeau Fernández - 37 years young. A CT team does it again.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Jesus Glassdrive really did get a kicking there, he finished 9 minutes down at the end, Juaristi the favourite I think now given the tt and really random good prologue he did .

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Two Euskaltel riders in the top 6 Who cares about the Vuelta now?

Still early days, but the Glassdrive boys seem to be more transparent rather than glowing in the dark.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

RIP Glassdrive supremacy.
2022-2022

The Volta as we know it may be dead. Only Fernández pulling a random Torre win at age 37 is in line with business as usual.

 

[zlev11]

it's so weird to see the front group not be exclusively Portuguese conti team riders on this climb.

 

[DNP-Old]

This was 5,2 w/kg at best. I can no longer support this Volta. It is over, dead and buried. La Grandisima is nothing but a dream.

 

[Tim Cahill]

That might be one of the least dodgy looking races I've seen all season

What has happened between Torres Vedras and now...

 

[Mayomaniac]

This was 5,2 w/kg at best. I can no longer support this Volta. It is over, dead and buried. La Grandisima is nothing but a dream.

This
Worst
Volta
Ever

 

[Mayomaniac]

That might be one of the least dodgy looking races I've seen all season

What has happened between Torres Vedras and now...

When the rest of the world reaches Volta speed but the Volta is the problem...

 

[Mayomaniac]

The song title says it all

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I didn't watch the stage. Did it look like something had gone wrong in preparation for glassdrive, or was everybody going slow??

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I didn't watch the stage. Did it look like something had gone wrong in preparation for glassdrive, or was everybody going slow??

A bit of both, but especially the former. They were so overpowered at Torres Vedras that it feels like they must have either flown too close to the sun or completely screwed it up.

It feels like... well, we had August in July so now we're getting July in August. But Délio is a throwback to the true Volta at least.

We'll see what happens with the rest day and if the domestic teams come out after it swinging and this is a two-phase fight like a Metal Gear game and they're going to suddenly level up, or if the Volta is actually putting its house in order.

Tim - Juaristi is actually a pretty reasonable time trialist in these smaller races, although he tanked at the nationals. He was 4th in the TT at the end of last year's Volta too, was top 20 in the Tour de Luxembourg TT last year, and also one at Poitou-Charentes.

 

[Mayomaniac]

389W for 54:07 by 68k KG Colling Stüssi on Torre today. Still a good perfomance, but 1:30 slower than Figueiredo last year.

 

[Mayomaniac]

A bit of both, but especially the former. They were so overpowered at Torres Vedras that it feels like they must have either flown too close to the sun or completely screwed it up.

It feels like... well, we had August in July so now we're getting July in August. But Délio is a throwback to the true Volta at least.

We'll see what happens with the rest day and if the domestic teams come out after it swinging and this is a two-phase fight like a Metal Gear game and they're going to suddenly level up, or if the Volta is actually putting its house in order.

Tim - Juaristi is actually a pretty reasonable time trialist in these smaller races, although he tanked at the nationals. He was 4th in the TT at the end of last year's Volta too, was top 20 in the Tour de Luxembourg TT last year, and also one at Poitou-Charentes.

No love for Henrique Casimiro?

 

[perico]

To misquote Michael Rasmussen, “Dammit, I want Balarcon back.”

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Artëm Nych trying to save Glassdrive's dignity today, in an escape with Iván Cobo, César Fonte and Luís Ángel Mate with over a minute and only a few kilometres with some gradual climbing left.

Mate is the right Euskaltel rider to succeed here in Portugal - he's almost 40 and has some dubious history behind him.

Nicolas Sessler riding across to them now. Heads of state group is shredded but Délio is happily in there. Stüssi not there, though, which is the key development (edit: ignore me, I forgot he's looking after the GPM jersey, he's there)

Sessler tries to sneak away using the other side of the road but it doesn't work. Nych ups the pace as soon as they get onto the final uphill drag, and he and Mate quickly open a gap up. Óscar Pelegrí with a rather pointless attack from behind, or so it seems. They've dropped back to a minute and a half down on Nych and Mate. Rafa Reis tapping out tempo for the GC men on the lower slopes, probably a battle for the small seconds nearer the summit for them.

And no sooner have I said that than Stüssi ups the pace, with Figueiredo, Fernández and Juaristi in his wheel.

Nych is only +1'31" on GC so this becomes very interesting now as the group is almost 2 minutes behind on this last ramp and Délio Fernández is pacing the group. Glassdrive recovering after a simple jour sans? Mate will not cooperate with Juaristi behind. Stüssi now ups the tempo, and Juaristi will not cooperate with Mate ahead. Interesting.

Casimiro attacks!

They get onto the cobbles and Mate just races away from the exhausted Nych for the stage win. Nych crosses at +13" and the countdown begins! +1'38" is the magic number what with the 6" of bonuses. He should have it pretty easily. Yep, he does. Antônio Carvalho best of the GC group, ahead of Stüssi and they're at +2'01. Fernández loses a few seconds at the line, and the camisola amarela is back with Glassdrive.

 

[steffr222]

Aupa Euskaltel!