The Toxic Avengers Return: Volta a Portugal 2023

[Libertine Seguros]

Eulalio is already done with 47km to go and will suffer his way the rest of the day. Chapeau, sir, you've also demonstrated humanity, you certainly deserve rescuing from the cesspool of the national scene.

Kelly-Simoldes have four riders in the escape of the day and they are driving the front hard. Camisola Amarela group 3 minutes back. Still quite a way left on Barreiro.

Two domestiques left with Stüssi. Best placed rider in the escape is James Whelan (+4'46") for Glassdrive, Helder Gonçalves is at +6'13" though and his boys are driving the front. Délio Fernández is there too, and there's a genuine possibility he could win both the Torre and Senhora da Graça MTFs and still not win the GC, which would be a real rarity in the Volta.

Kelly-Simoldes' tempo is really driving the pace up here on Barreiro too, they're gaining time. Luís Fernandes, last year's young revelation, hitting the GC mix at just 34 years of age, is now attacking solo to save his race which has gone very badly so far as he's over an hour down. Not sure which Burgos rider has just gone up and over, I'd hazard a guess at Mario Aparicio of the three that are in that group. Pelegrí is being dropped.

Edit: I'm right, it's Aparicio.

Euskaltel start to come to the front to help Vorarlberg pace now. With Glassdrive's James Whelan now having enough time that he's becoming a threat to their podium spots. In order to protect against that, they get some help at the front from... Glassdrive.

Very briefly as Casimiro attacks and Frederico Figueiredo goes with him. Stüssi takes up responsibility to chase and has Cabedo staying with him so he will still have a domestique. The camisola amarela group splits in two, and notably, all of the Glassdrive riders there save Figueiredo miss it. And it looks like Antônio Carvalho has missed it too!!! Nych, Moreira, Pira and Iturria other names behind. Joaquim Silva has been pulled back from the break to tow Casimiro.

And Silva has torn the group in two! It's now him, Casimiro, Figueiredo and Stüssi up front, and then the Euskaltel duo working behind!

Chaos is breaking out as ever.

 

[Rob5091]

Nych struggling ... 40 km to go though.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Del Pino and one of the Euskaltels - I believe Juaristi - is joining on on the descent. Chagas agrees with me that it's Juaristi. Maté is now reintegrated into the Grupo Nych so that confirms that.

The other guy in the camisola amarela group is Hugo Nunes from Radio Popular, who was dropped from the original break, so probably not to be taken as a threat.

Moreira is towing the two GC groups back together, the Uruguayan actually being of use for once in this race which has been absolutely horrible for him, reminiscent of Isidro Nozal's 2009 GC tilt where he was outshone on his own team by at least three others.

Now it's a very sizable group, with domestiques pulled back from the front group and the two GC mixes combining. Efapel have four, Glassdrive have at least four, Euskaltel have three, but crucially Vorarlberg only two including Stüssi.

Nunes with a mechanical and he's so distraught he walks away from his own team car as they come to help.

Mikel Iturria is attacking like a wildman on the descent, and decades of trauma regarding Euskaltel riders going downhill are reignited. He's at +2'42" so no real urgent threat for the riders up front, but him being up the road does give Maté and Juaristi a chance to avoid taking the front and sit on wheels.

The remains of the break have recaptured Aparicio who goes downhill like, well, most Spanish climbers, and he then crashes and attempts to shoulder charge a rock face, luckily at slow enough pace that he can remount and continue but he'll struggle to get back to the group.

Only a minute and a half as we hit the flat before Mondim de Basto. Worth noting now that the break are less of a threat to the GC is that Glassdrive have Reis and Whelan who can be staging posts for Nych or, more likely, Figueiredo to ride over to, and Euskaltel have António Soto in the break too.

Joaquim Silva with a mechanical but he's back on, and it looks like Iturria will be brought back by the Efapel train, which is quite confusing because they have very similar colours to Euskaltel and because we're used to seeing teammates chase their own teammates in the Volta, but this is perfectly reasonable tactically for the time being.

However, Silva's mechanical had meant Efapel knocked off the pace for a bit and so Kelly-Simoldes have come back to the front and pulled the break's advantage back out to two minutes.

 

[Rob5091]

The state of the road does not help trying to descend at speed - very dodgy!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Everything settling down somewhat on the rolling stretch before the final drop into Mondim de Basto where we should see the full extent of the Volta. The crowds in Mondim are truly a special moment in the race every year.

2'20 for the remains of the break as they come through Mondim. James Whelan takes over on the front. Assume that's for the stage and he hopes to drop everyone in the break from his wheel otherwise it doesn't make much sense. Common sense prevails (in the Volta! What a time to be alive!) and Kelly-Simoldes come back to the front and Glassdrive let them.

Moody skies over Monte Farinha today. Don't recall the last time we saw that.

Euskaltel join Efapel contributing to the pace up front in the CA group. Afonso Silva explodes in style in the break after a herculean turn on the front.

Soto swings off having come back from the break to ride on the front for Euskaltel. Grigoriev now takes it up for Casimiro. No real inroads into the break's advantage yet and Stüssi looks pretty comfortable. He's been good in .2 races in the mountains like the Tour d'Alsace and the Tour des Pays-Savoie, so although he's almost 30 and not ridden at a higher level than this he is also no mug and shouldn't be taken lightly.

Grigoriev done, and still no inroads, 2'11 for the break with 7km remaining. Iturria now struggling at the back of the group after his earlier escapades. Figueiredo riding like a Yates brother out of the saddle. Moreira is done for the day.

I count 11 remaining in the CA group. Stüssi still has Cabedo with him but he's riding behind Stüssi who is monitoring Casimiro in second wheel. Caja Rural Stagiare Jaume Guardeño now just being dropped by the breakaway. Hélder Gonçalves attacking it. Délio Fernández and Ivo Pinheiro mark him.

Carvalho attacks in the GC group with Figueiredo in his wheel! Small gap gained but Stüssi reacts and Casimiro follows him. Nych and the Euskaltels can't follow! Both Juaristi and Mate are there with him, along with Del Pino, Cabedo (meaning Stüssi is now alone) and Pira.

James Whelan rejoins and then attacks the breakaway group and gets a gap.

Stüssi is now controlling from the front with the three Portuguese in his wheel. They stand to gain time and climb on to the podium while Stüssi stands to gain a bigger advantage ahead of the ITT with the better time trialists in Nych and Juaristi losing time here. Stüssi is happy to ride to gain time on those as he probably has little reason to fear the likes of Figueiredo against the clock starting with almost 90" advantage.

Whelan has a good gap now - Glassdrive may at least be able to go home with another stage win. It hasn't gone their way as many of us expected, especially after Torres Vedras, but they can at least rescue something.

Camisola amarela group is holding about 20" from the Euskaltel group, Maté pacing it primarily.

Stüssi getting annoyed by the lack of cooperation and gestures the others through in irritation; Casimiro obliges by upping the pace and opening a gap! Stüssi is displeased and annuls said gap quickly.

Really feels like none of these guys believe in the possibility of gaining time outside the last kilometre or so on this one. I know you can gain big late on on this climb, but realistically they need more time. The gap to the Maté/Juaristi/Nych group is actually coming down.

Burgos stagiare David Delgado is actually crossing the gap between them! Kudos to that man right there. Nych is coming with him now, and Maté struggling to hold. Juaristi is dropped.

Pain all over Maté's face as he loses Nych's wheel and Nych struggles to hold Delgado's, but the gap to the CA group is tiny now. 1km to go for Whelan and he still has 2 minutes on the heads of state.

Carvalho attacks with Figueiredo in his wheel, and that stops them coming back. Small gap to Stüssi briefly, but then he restores order. Carvalho still presses on however until Stüssi gets back into his rhythm and gets onto the front again.

Whelan rides in to solo victory in style with nobody in sight. Délio Fernández will sprint away from Hélder Gonçalves for 2nd.

Figueiredo has disappeared from the CA group. Casimiro attacks at 250m remaining but Stüssi holds him in a Mustafa Sayar gear and even outsprints him. No time gaps between Stüssi, Casimiro and Carvalho. Freddie and Nych come in together and the Euskaltel duo around 7" behind. All will have lost around 20-30 seconds, possibly a bit more for the Euskies. I didn't clock the time when Stüssi crossed the line but it was 2'18 for the Glassdrive pair and 2'25 for the Euskaltel duo.

 

[Rob5091]

Whelan has this wrapped up for the stage - 2 mins with 2 km to go.

 

[trevim]

How to waste your best climber 1.01
Don’t let him attack and have him pacing your best GC hope in the last km only

 

[Libertine Seguros]

How to waste your best climber 1.01
Don’t let him attack and have him pacing your best GC hope in the last km only

Glassdrive's DS squad's book of 'how to understand basic cycling tactics' was written by Franz Kafka.

A correction to mine above, the Glassdrive guys were at +2'10 so gain 15" on the Euskies. Stüssi, Casimiro and Carvalo at +1'38.

This means the new GC going into the final ITT is as follows:

1 Colin Stüssi
2 Henrique Casimiro +45"
3 Artëm Nych +1'00"
4 António Carvalho +1'06"
5 Luís Ángel Maté +1'15"
6 Txomin Juaristi +1'30"
7 Frederico Figueiredo +2'01"
8 James Whelan +2'58"
9 Jesús del Pino +4'04"
10 Hélder Gonçalvves +5'07"

You wouldn't say it's totally over but it should be given relatively short nature of the TT and how solid Stüssi has looked so far. Nych at a minute back possibly the biggest threat? Juaristi might fancy his chances of hitting the podium from 90" back with all of those names within 30-45 seconds, but that depends on how much he has left in the legs after the last three days where he was looking decidedly second hand late on each time.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Stüssi at least 45 seconds up on everyone now, that really should be enough to survive in a TT of this length. History in the making.

 

[Mayomaniac]

How to waste your best climber 1.01
Don’t let him attack and have him pacing your best GC hope in the last km only

Name change, but the tactics are still the same as the old Efapel team...

 

[Rob5091]

Delio Fernández coming in 2nd - 37 year old again shines.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Glassdrive's DS squad's book of 'how to understand basic cycling tactics' was written by Franz Kafka.

A correction to mine above, the Glassdrive guys were at +2'10 so gain 15" on the Euskies. Stüssi, Casimiro and Carvalo at +1'38.

You beat me to it!
Seriously, has Figueiredo even improved when he left Taviria? I don't get the impression that he got a lot out of going to Glassdrive-Q8/the former Efapel team...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Delio Fernández coming in 2nd - 37 year old again shines.

The future is now, let those young lions roar.
Meh Volta, not enough watts, not enough forest fires and not enough pimba music...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You beat me to it!
Seriously, has Figueiredo even improved when he left Taviria? I don't get the impression that he got a lot out of going to Glassdrive-Q8/the former Efapel team...

Well, he had the legs to threaten last year had he been let off the leash, but they wanted to do a Gewiss '94 at the top of Senhora da Graça and Mauri is by all accounts a nice guy that the team was happy to fall in line behind, and the year before that he would have had the legs to win if W52 weren't just a ludicrous force and his own team hadn't chased him and Amaro down in the Torre stage. Obviously now Mauri has inherited the GC win so the team got it in the end, but only because of Amaro being declassified.

 

[yaco]

James Whelan is an interesting rider - Won the under 23 Flanders in his first ever race in Europe and then got a contract with EF Education Post - He was very raw and didn't even know how to collect bottles in his first few races - He was injury afflicted in his last 2 seasons at EF and was not offered a contract - Has ridden well in the last 2 Elite Australian RR - He sold up everything in march and based himself in Europe hoping to find a team - I was surprised that he was able to perform in such a hilly parcours - He's definitely worth another try in the WT peleton - Maybe Jayco who has 2 spots available will look at him.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Well, he had the legs to threaten last year had he been let off the leash, but they wanted to do a Gewiss '94 at the top of Senhora da Graça and Mauri is by all accounts a nice guy that the team was happy to fall in line behind, and the year before that he would have had the legs to win if W52 weren't just a ludicrous force and his own team hadn't chased him and Amaro down in the Torre stage.

Not to mention that he paced half of the Torre climb last year.
I get that he was feeling bad for Mauri because he lost the 2021 Volta because of a crash in the final TT, but last year was the best route that a guy like him will probably ever get. Oh well, some people also call him a wheelsucker, despite attacking on the Barreiro climb with over 40kms to go on the SdG stage 3 years in a row...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Looks like it won't be an Euskaltel GC win then. Juaristi will have to do a great time trial just to reach the podium now.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Casimiro on the gc podium at the age of 37 is still a full blown Volta result.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ok, Stüssi did 430W for 22:22 on SdG, so still just over 6.3w/kg, but they did the Barreiro climb 2:30 slower than the Glassdrive trio last year...

The lack of a hail mary attack on the Barreiro climb by Figueiredo (and lack of any proper attack by him today) makes me a bit salty...

 

[Rob5091]

The UCI must have put the fear of God into the Volta peloton this year. 6.3w/kg? What is this, the kiddies race?!

 

[Mayomaniac]

The UCI must have put the fear of God into the Volta peloton this year. 6.3w/kg? What is this, the kiddies race?!

That's the UCI for you, showing it's strength against CT teams.

 

[Ricco']

I don't think it's the UCI as much as the portuguese authorities wanting a more credible affair.

W52's chaos was not due to UCI but after investigation by the Public Prosecutor's office and the Judiciary police after some complaints received.

At least, since we've seen that foreign teams can now compete for GC win the locals, maybe that can attract a more diverse range of competitive teams instead of the Universe's 6, Bike Aid's, etc. (I didn't follow much of the race, but I can't remember them being of notice).

 

[Rob5091]

I don't think it's the UCI as much as the portuguese authorities wanting a more credible affair.

W52's chaos was not due to UCI but after investigation by the Public Prosecutor's office and the Judiciary police after some complaints received.

At least, since we've seen that foreign teams can now compete for GC win the locals, maybe that can attract a more diverse range of competitive teams instead of the Universe's 6, Bike Aid's, etc. (I didn't follow much of the race, but I can't remember them being of notice).

Who the heck complained? (ok, doctors and health officials maybe)

 

[Ricco']

Who the heck complained? (ok, doctors and health officials maybe)

Maybe other teams who can't invest as much. I don't believe is a coincidence that after years of nothing happening, this abrupt change came when new Efapel team came into the sport (with a more modest approach to it, let's put it like that) and that the focus of it was put only on W52 and not on Efapel's old team.

But this is just conspiracy theory from someone who hasn't any particular source and maybe better talked about on another subsection.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Maybe other teams who can't invest as much. I don't believe is a coincidence that after years of nothing happening, this abrupt change came when new Efapel team came into the sport (with a more modest approach to it, let's put it like that) and that the focus of it was put only on W52 and not on Efapel's old team.

But this is just conspiracy theory from someone who hasn't any particular source and maybe better talked about on another subsection.

I also guess that Glassdrive-Q8 might have gotten a concerned letter after the GP Torres Vedras, 2004 Dauphine style...