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Calling him a donkey is harsh, the guy was a strong TTer in the junior and u23 ranks. 6th at the WC in 2010 (as a junior) and 4th in 2014 (in the u23 ranks).
No idea, but less than 1 year to go for Najar's suspension to end. I want to see Najar at the Volta, that would be nice.
He's a donkey now. You're mentioning a result eight years ago and another one eleven years ago. Yeah, he was a good promise, but never evolved past that.
Najar is only 27 though, he will have to serve his apprenticeship before he's allowed to think about the Volta GC. Belda is 38, peak Volta age.
I quite like seeing these w52 minions best the top world tour teams at their own game. Given the things they've done in the Volta, Rodrigues, Brandao and Antunes on paper should be bossing Algarve. More so at least than sprinter Hayter and 83 kg Asgreen
They had 3 guys in the top5 today. Yet everytime they leave Portugal they either get popped or dropped. Ofc Hayter and Asgreen climbing so well is a joke too, but this was some serious Grandíssima vibes today by Porco.
Is this because, even with all the dope in the world, they are just not as fast as the super talent+program folks? I mean, they won and were all over everything. But Asgreen was 3rd in a stage race with a considerable climb in it. And Hayter. That says something, no?
It's too close to the Tour and the Vuelta team will largely be in Burgos which is overlapping. I'd expect Oliveira, the trackies and them testing the recovery on some of the young guns they don't want to send to a GT yet, like Abner González and Íñigo Elosegui. Maybe somebody like Pedrero or Cataldo as leader. I think the rouleur corps like Jacobs, Hollmann and García Cortina will be in Poland.
Valverde will Rebellin it at Grandíssima in his late 40's. We just need to wait a few more years.
The volta is a world apart, even pogi and roglic have afraid of come to portugal, they know that they have no chance!
Figueiredo already did at least 7.5 w/kg for almost 6min on the final climb of the first mountain stage of the Gp Torres, so I expect him to go thermonuclear.
All jokes aside, there's clearly an arms race going on right now. Porco would've been left with 3 in a group of 6 in previous years when their last domestique (Vilela) hit the front. Yesterday was a very different picture. It's surprising to see this arms race being won by Vidal Fita's team instead of Efapel, but it looks like yout theory about "Volta age" still stands correct.
I always think that the thing with "Volta age" is more that riders who are the kind of age of, say, Moreira, still harbour some optimism that they have a chance of getting out to a wider scene. Moreira did OK in his two years with Caja Rural, but not great, but he had a year on the Spanish amateur scene and was clearly good enough to get a new pro deal. He's clearly stepped up a gear (pun intended) this year, but he's still young enough (only just turned 26 a couple of weeks ago) that somebody might see something in him to promote back to the higher ranks. This ties with the age at which Amaro Antunes hit thermonuclear with W52 after years of being not-quite-living-up-to-the-promise. But the way the Volta runs, you get a lot of the more promising people who can get into the mix at peak cycling ages - Brandão hitting the GC battle at 25, Figueiredo likewise, João Rodrigues - and the occasional rider who can get out just about young enough to make a decent niche for themselves at a higher level - Délio Fernández for example - but the real "spirit of the Volta" seems to come from those riders who have given up the hope of promotion and go ballistic at this level into their 30s.
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