The twilight zone called Portugal.

[Ricco']

Joni Brandão out of Volta a Portugal due to "clinical/medical reasons". No more info given by the athlete or his team... Makes us wonder...

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Joni Brandão out of Volta a Portugal due to "clinical/medical reasons". No more info given by the athlete or his team... Makes us wonder...

Oh Joni...
Seriously, it's a bit of a bummer, who will go toe to toe with the full genius W52 team if he's not racing.
Wouldn't surprise me at all if he took some risks durning his preparation for la Grandissima and something went wrong.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Joni Brandão out of Volta a Portugal due to "clinical/medical reasons". No more info given by the athlete or his team... Makes us wonder...

Some dutch guy on twitter says Brandao was assaulted with a bat and has a broken arm
Someone else is saying he got his news mixed up and that it was some other rider on a portuguese team but no name is mentioned

Either way, what the hell? Who assaults a rider with a bat? and why?

 

[Ricco']

Re: Re:

Joni Brandão out of Volta a Portugal due to "clinical/medical reasons". No more info given by the athlete or his team... Makes us wonder...

Some dutch guy on twitter says Brandao was assaulted with a bat and has a broken arm
Someone else is saying he got his news mixed up and that it was some other rider on a portuguese team but no name is mentioned

Either way, what the hell? Who assaults a rider with a bat? and why?

That was Luis Mendonça, from Louletano.

Apparently, the champion behind the wheel decided to run over the group where Mendonça was riding. The champion with a licence to kill decided to wait at front and the riders asked him why he done that. Then, the brilliant driver started to attack the cyclists with the bat and Mendonça's arm was broken when he tried to defend himself from the attack.

 

[classicomano]

Got to bump this with the amazing solo of 41-year old Rui Sousa managing to stay clear of the mighty W52/Ballan train. This race always delivers.

 

[BigMac]

Why does anybody still bother watching the Volta is beyond me.

It's not even funny anymore. Cancer.

 

[Parker]

Why don't World Tour teams sign these guys? Sure they may be doping but, according to most here, aren't all the top riders doping.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The prohibitive cost of subtlety.

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Why don't World Tour teams sign these guys? Sure they may be doping but, according to most here, aren't all the top riders doping.

Apparently it's not as blatant on the World Tour teams...

 

[Bronstein]

Re:

Why don't World Tour teams sign these guys? Sure they may be doping but, according to most here, aren't all the top riders doping.

They are? What makes you think that they may be doping?

 

[classicomano]

Not even Gewiss was this ridiculous. They blew the race apart 80k from the finish and with 3 guys managed to gain 5 minutes on a much bigger chasing group who went full gas.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Well, Nuno's got to do something to get heat off his own ridiculous exploits, right?

The thing I love most is that W52's own website describes Balarcón as a rouleur. Not even an all-rounder like César Veloso or António Carvalho.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

Still not as ridiculous as Paris-Tours 2004 but close

 

[thehog]

Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's a little easier to do when the field is not as strong but still ridiculous.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's every year the same thing.

People who keep watching that farse are part of the problem. *** that race and *** portuguese cycling.

Dead ass tired of this bullshit band of criminals. Arrest them all. They give you the sanctimonious crap on TV as if all this is within the realm of normal. Hypocrites, liars, thugs. Disgusting.

Please, please, let this race die. No more threads.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's every year the same thing.

People who keep watching that farse are part of the problem. **** that race and **** portuguese cycling.

Dead *** tired of this ****** band of criminals. Arrest the all. They give you the sanctimonious crap on TV as if all this is within the realm of normal. Hypocrites, liars, thugs. Disgusting.

And then there are the braindead fans who'll trash you just for suggesting riders are dirty. Jesus, this country is really dumb.

Please, please, let this race die. No more threads.

We can close this thread and that will be the end of that, if you want.

Let me know...

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's every year the same thing.

People who keep watching that farse are part of the problem. **** that race and **** portuguese cycling.

Dead *** tired of this ****** band of criminals. Arrest the all. They give you the sanctimonious crap on TV as if all this is within the realm of normal. Hypocrites, liars, thugs. Disgusting.

And then there are the braindead fans who'll trash you just for suggesting riders are dirty. Jesus, this country is really dumb.

Please, please, let this race die. No more threads.

We can close this thread and that will be the end of that, if you want.

Let me know...

Oh no, that was just rhetoric. As long as the race lives we absolutely need this thread.

Sorry for the profanity btw. This just gets on my nerves.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's every year the same thing.

People who keep watching that farse are part of the problem. **** that race and **** portuguese cycling.

Dead *** tired of this ****** band of criminals. Arrest the all. They give you the sanctimonious crap on TV as if all this is within the realm of normal. Hypocrites, liars, thugs. Disgusting.

And then there are the braindead fans who'll trash you just for suggesting riders are dirty. Jesus, this country is really dumb.

Please, please, let this race die. No more threads.

We can close this thread and that will be the end of that, if you want.

Let me know...

Oh no, that was just rhetoric. As long as the race lives we absolutely need this thread.

Sorry for the profanity btw. This just gets on my nerves.

No worries, that race makes me cringe so I can only imagine how infuriating it must be for the people of Portugal...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Missed this one. Antunes is obv. clean. Doesn't have contract for 18, I wonder where he will go... how about this kid from Eastern Europe tho, that was pretty crazy, wasn't it?!

 

[May0maniac]

Have you heard the Nocentini story?
Yesterday he got tested, but they didn't know where to store the B sample, so they just gave it back to him, making the whole test meaningless because of the missing B sample.
Source: http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/2017/08/13/103953/nocentini-e-il-regalo-a-sorpresa-antidoping-provetta-tuttobiciweb.it
According to La Gazzetta they acted like total amateurs, his teammate marwue also got tested and they had to sting him 3 times before they were able to get some blood.

 

[Ricco']

Re: Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's every year the same thing.

People who keep watching that farse are part of the problem. **** that race and **** portuguese cycling.

Dead *** tired of this ****** band of criminals. Arrest the all. They give you the sanctimonious crap on TV as if all this is within the realm of normal. Hypocrites, liars, thugs. Disgusting.

And then there are the braindead fans who'll trash you just for suggesting riders are dirty. Jesus, this country is really dumb.

Please, please, let this race die. No more threads.

We can close this thread and that will be the end of that, if you want.

Let me know...

Oh no, that was just rhetoric. As long as the race lives we absolutely need this thread.

Sorry for the profanity btw. This just gets on my nerves.

No worries, that race makes me cringe so I can only imagine how infuriating it must be for the people of Portugal...

I laugh a lot honestly. But then, I don't care for the portuguese scene and only watch a couple of stages of the Volta if I'm at home at the moment.

Portuguese cycling has many problems, most of them being the stupidity of the DS, the lack of media awareness of the teams, race organizations and federation and this particular question.

At least we have the Volta discussed at the national level. Sponsors must be happy. :lol:

Oh and how I'd love to see a full clash between Sky and Area 52 trains.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Absolutely hilarious. This is just taking the p1ss.

It's every year the same thing.

People who keep watching that farse are part of the problem. **** that race and **** portuguese cycling.

Dead *** tired of this ****** band of criminals. Arrest them all. They give you the sanctimonious crap on TV as if all this is within the realm of normal. Hypocrites, liars, thugs. Disgusting.

And then there are the braindead fans who'll trash you just for suggesting riders are dirty. Jesus, this country is really dumb.

Please, please, let this race die. No more threads.

Idunno, I thought this was pretty special even by Volta standards.

 

[thehog]

Re:

Have you heard the Nocentini story?
Yesterday he got tested, but they didn't know where to store the B sample, so they just gave it back to him, making the whole test meaningless because of the missing B sample.
Source: http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/2017/08/13/103953/nocentini-e-il-regalo-a-sorpresa-antidoping-provetta-tuttobiciweb.it
According to La Gazzetta they acted like total amateurs, his teammate marwue also got tested and they had to sting him 3 times before they were able to get some blood.

Saw that. Anti-doping in the Cookson era where no one at Pro-Tour tests positive anymore. Like the 1 second iPad wave at the bikes to check for motors. I don't think anyone at the UCI actually cares anymore.

 

[Ricco']

Re:

Have you heard the Nocentini story?
Yesterday he got tested, but they didn't know where to store the B sample, so they just gave it back to him, making the whole test meaningless because of the missing B sample.
Source: http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/2017/08/13/103953/nocentini-e-il-regalo-a-sorpresa-antidoping-provetta-tuttobiciweb.it
According to La Gazzetta they acted like total amateurs, his teammate marwue also got tested and they had to sting him 3 times before they were able to get some blood.

And Jesus Ezquerra's comment on Nocentini's instagram?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXua2cdj-R871Au4HhEVmkxMaU-Mv6hjE2nyrY0/

"They eliminate our leader, they don't want us to win". Speaking about Joni Brandão? :lol: