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Volta a Portugal (2.1) 29/7 - 9/8

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Jens are the times and watts you posted on your blog right?

Because if they are, i am calling it here first. Portugal 1-2 with in the Tour in 2 years with Joni Brandão and Amaro Antunes ;)

In all seriousness, Joni, Amaro, Crlvalho, Vilela and Gonçalves are all looking pretty good. It seems like they have the talent to successfully make the jump to WT if they keep improving.

Unfortunately it seems like nothing can stop the 1-2 from W52. . .. sight
 
Re:

Zinoviev Letter said:
Why are there so few Portuguese riders at WT or PCT level as compared to the strength of their domestic scene? You would think that a domestic base of that size would produce a considerable number of riders at higher tiers.


Well i think that due to the whole Maia scandal in the last 00's the portuguese scene got a bit of a bad reputation amongst international teams and has been overlooked a bit too much ever since then. Also the lack of funds from portuguese teams and organizations means there they have little chance to show themselves against top level competition (no money to race internationally and no money to organize big enough races to have big teams) so they may fly a bit under radar.

Without going into clinic territory, after a day like today, Antunes, Brandão and Carvalho should all be riding on WT teams next year.

This is what Jens posted on tweeter:
Mihai Cazacu ‏@faustocoppi60 3 hHá 3 horas Ver tradução
Brandao, Veloso, Antunes, Fernandez, Marque and Carvalho around 6,7 w/kg for 21 min. One of the best performances of 2015! #VoltaPortugal

It should be noted that Antunes is 24 and Carvalho and Brandão are 25, while Veloso is 35, Marque 33 and Délio 29, they are around their prime while those 3 are still fairly young.

And this are the climbing times, timed by Jens as well:
Senhora da Graca
2015:8,4 km@7,4%---21:10---average speed 23.81 km/h(Brandao-Veloso)
2014:8,4 km@7,4%---21:53---average speed 23.03 km/h(Pinto-Veloso)
2013:8,4 km@7,4%---22:48---average speed 22.11 km/h(Sergio Pardilla)
2012:8,4 km@7,4%---21:53---average speed 23.03 km/h(Rui Sousa)
2011:8,4 km@7,4%---21:48---average speed 23.12 km/h(Broco-Mestre)
2010:8,4 km@7,4%---21:36---average speed 23.33 km/h(David Blanco)
2009:8,4 km@7,4%---21:52---average speed 23.05 km/h(Cabreira-N.Ribeiro)
2001:8,4 km@7,4%---22:00---average speed 22.91 km/h(Zintchenko-Jeker-Mercado)
---25:00---average speed 20.16 km/h(Jose Luis Rebollo)

with all this said, caja rural has made good use of the portuguese market over the last few years, with guys like Costa, Machado, Oliveira riding well at the WT level ( Oliveira really seems to be picking it up with some good performances this year like at the Ronde and San Sebastian, he was also climbing pretty well on the last week of the Tour) and Azevedo in a DS spot on a big team, this trend could pick up over the next few years.

Imo Brandão, Carvalho, Antunes, Frederico Figueiredo, Nuno Bico, Ruben Guerreiro(he will be riding utah this week), Ricardo Vilela and José Gonçalves all have the talent to ride at a higher level than they are currently doing, be it PCT or WT.
 
Re: Re:

trevim said:
Just saw some footage of Agostinho yesterday and it's so sad they didn't rush him to the hospital straight away, he looked so bad after the crash.

[Sorry for the off topic.]

GMiranda told me that there were no emergency helicopter and he had to be transported by roads, while there were no highways either. The surgeon who operated him in Lisbon is a famous one and said his skull was completely fractured and he had almost no chances to survive.

I really like Agostinho, his story, his character, his fighting spirit. If a rider could reconcile me with stage races, it would be a rider like him. Shame he didn't come more often to the classics.
 
Indeed there were no chances for him, perhaps only an immediate intervention, but Portugal had far fewrer infrastructures back then. And he was an amazing rider, even if he lacked completely from tactical sense. If he had cycling school and improved on that part he would be one of the best ever
 
They're approaching Viana, on the bridge now. http://www.rtp.pt/play/direto/rtp1

Yes it's fairly uphill. As Max said, Rui Sousa won here last time.
img_VC12.jpg


Joni Brandão will likely win today. He's the fastest guy on the national peloton for finishes like this.
 
Re: Re:

Libertine Seguros said:
BigMac said:
What to say, Daniel Silva even had to wait for Rui Sousa.
Alberto Gallego is awesome. He knows he's got the best climbing results this year on Boavista, but he'd rather get into a break on flat stages to tire himself out so he doesn't have to suffer the indignity of being called back for Rui.

Again on the break.

edit: Rui Costa in LA's team car. Interesting.
 
Re: Re:

BigMac said:
Libertine Seguros said:
BigMac said:
What to say, Daniel Silva even had to wait for Rui Sousa.
Alberto Gallego is awesome. He knows he's got the best climbing results this year on Boavista, but he'd rather get into a break on flat stages to tire himself out so he doesn't have to suffer the indignity of being called back for Rui.

Again on the break.

edit: Rui Costa in LA's team car. Interesting.
Gallego's race has been hilarious. The climbing specialist who was top 10 in a field with the likes of Contador and Quintana in it two months ago and podiumed the main Volta warmup race... goes in the break in three flat and/or hilly stages, and sits in the bus in the two mountain stages.

Rui Costa in the LA team car is cool. WT gig for Amaro Antunes impending :p
 
Re: Re:

Libertine Seguros said:
BigMac said:
Libertine Seguros said:
BigMac said:
What to say, Daniel Silva even had to wait for Rui Sousa.
Alberto Gallego is awesome. He knows he's got the best climbing results this year on Boavista, but he'd rather get into a break on flat stages to tire himself out so he doesn't have to suffer the indignity of being called back for Rui.

Again on the break.

edit: Rui Costa in LA's team car. Interesting.
Gallego's race has been hilarious. The climbing specialist who was top 10 in a field with the likes of Contador and Quintana in it two months ago and podiumed the main Volta warmup race... goes in the break in three flat and/or hilly stages, and sits in the bus in the two mountain stages.

Rui Costa in the LA team car is cool. WT gig for Amaro Antunes impending :p

Hopefully the gods will hear you.

Great win for Zé Gonçalves, he truly deserved it after what he has done over the past couple of years. Very exciting rider
 
Jul 16, 2011
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Big Mac that avatar is indeed great

Nice win by Gonçalves, and unexpected to me at least, but i hope that more surprises like this one can happen during the race.

About the Portuguese peloton, I can't forget the time where the foreign riders use to say that portuguese riders didn't know how to ride properly in the main bunch, riding all over the place, I hope that things have changed
 
Re: Re:

BigMac said:
lemon cheese cake said:
BigMac said:
Gonçalves got his win sacked and put out of the race?

Veloso wins.
Why? because he move across almost the whole road and almost cut up Veloso? He looked pretty tired so he can't really help it.

What do we know.

Welcome to Portugal.
I'll make myself comfortable :D so when this sort of thing happens in the Volta again, i'll be used to it
 
Aug 16, 2013
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Veloso already stopped pedalling at 10 meters from the line because he knew he had lost.

Horrible decision by the jury to DSQ Goncalves.
 

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