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Volta a Portugal discussion
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 08-01-2015 16:19
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Team Leader
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This historic stage-race, with roots in the beginnings of the Continental divisions has grown to become an iconic event of the Pro Continental calendar. With 10 stages + a prologue, it offers plenty of chances for pretty much every speciality from sprinters to climbers and from time-trialists to puncheurs. In the end though, the MON + TT combo which characterizes the typical stage-racer usually is the ideal recipe to success, but that is necessarily true as we can appreciate from the list of previous winners:
2013: Timofey Kritskiy (Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC)
2012: Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Cerne)
2011: Franco Pellizotti (YouTube - Twitter)
2010: Janez Brajkovic (Wii Racing)
2009: Bernhard Kohl (White Bear Styr)
Let's look at the field:
Stage-racers:
| Last name | First name | Mountain | Hill | TT |  | Úran | Rigoberto | 82 | 74 | 78 |  | Popovych | Jaroslav | 79 | 75 | 74 |  | Cataldo | Dario | 78 | 75 | 69 |  | Karpets | Vladimir | 78 | 73 | 76 |  | Bibby | Ian | 77 | 76 | 77 |  | Cobo | Juan José | 76 | 77 | 70 | | De la Fuente | David | 76 | 75 | 65 | | Lloret | Manuel | 76 | 73 | 75 |  | Nieve | Mikel | 76 | 73 | 67 | | Morton | Lachlan | 76 | 72 | 69 | | Vinhas | Rui Pedro | 76 | 69 | 62 | | Cabreira | João | 76 | 67 | 59 |
Úran looks to be the man to beat here. He's not only the best climber, but also the best TTist of the GC candidates. Popovych, Cataldo, Karpets and Bibby should complete the top5. Further ahead the competition gets much more levelled, which means it won't be easy to get a top10 place for the rest.
Puncheurs:
| Last name | First name | Hill |  | Di Maggio | Cesare | 82 | | Betancourt | Carlos | 79 |  | Efimkin | Aleksandr | 79 | | Barrio | Sergio | 79 |  | Skujins | Toms | 79 | | Craven | Dan | 78 |  | Mehr-Wenige | Dietmar | 78 | | Cobo | Juan José | 77 | | Hoogerland | Johnny | 77 | | Lejman | Gracjan | 77 |
As usual there are lots of stages for the puncheurs. Di Maggio will be looking to cash in on that and perhaps get a hold of the yellow jersey at some point. Behind him Betancourt, Efimkin, Skujins, Barrio won't make his life easy though and the list doesn't stop here. There are plenty of chances here, and the rewards can be numerous.
TTists:
| Last Name | First Name | TT | Prologue |  | Rogers | Michael | 81 | 81 | | Ford | Michael | 81 | 81 | | Úran | Rigoberto | 78 | 78 | | Koren | Kristjan | 78 | 78 | | Yatsevich | Kiril | 78 | 78 | | Bibby | Ian | 77 | 77 |  | Kangert | Tanel | 77 | 76 | | Grabovski | Dmitri | 77 | 77 | | Zmorka | Marlen | 77 | 77 |  | Westra | Lieuwe | 76 | 76 | | Karpets | Vladimir | 76 | 76 | | Craven | Dan | 75 | 75 | | Lloret | Manuel | 75 | 75 | | Larsson | Gustav | 75 | 75 | | Bret | Ludovic | 75 | 75 |
Nothing new here. Oz is here to shine in the TTs. With 3 of the best 5 in that department, it's hard to see past them for both the prologue and the late TT. Bacardi's duo of Úran and Yatsevich being the closest challengers.
Sprinters:
| Last name | First name | Sprint | Acceleration | | Van Avermaet | Greg | 80 | 71 | | Richeze | Maximiliano | 80 | 79 | | Drujon | Mathieu | 78 | 78 |  | Gavazzi | Francesco | 78 | 74 |  | Rizza | Emanuele | 78 | 73 |  | Manan | Anuar | 78 | 78 | | Giacoppo | Anthony | 77 | 75 | | Dockx | Gert | 77 | 76 |
Van Avermaet and Richeze are favourites, but again the competition is plentiful. However, given the bumpy character of most stages, it's predictable to think that puncheurs will like the prospect of robbing one or two of the flat-rated stages.
PS: Stage 3 had to be switched for a similar stage, due to narrow roads.
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-01-2015 16:23
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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This could be a big race for Bacardi and Metinvest. Had expected a few more 80+ climbers but with only one mountain stage and many race days this is a small gamble I guess.
Still I think those two will be on the podium in the end.
Will be interesting if a good puncheur has a gap already and goes into the mountain stage with the yellow jersey though. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 08-01-2015 16:26
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
Joined: 19-07-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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Nice preview, Gusta!
Guess we will just challenge for the prologue, where we simply have to go for 1-2 at least. Had hoped for Koren to fight for something in the GC, not sure if that's possible with so many better puncheurs here. Maybe minor points thanks to his TT skills?! Would be cool to see Giacoppo contesting on the flat stages.
CSC with a strong lineup. Let's win the prologue then, Ozzies! 
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| Kami |
Posted on 08-01-2015 16:28
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3485
Joined: 19-06-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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It's Urans last race of the season, and he is yet to win a GC. THis race should be his to lose. The mountain stage looks though enough to create good gaps. If it won't, i'm actually quite worried about Ian Bibby who looks one of the best all rounders here.
Looking forward to the race!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:32
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| fintas |
Posted on 08-01-2015 17:04
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
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The final goal of the season, the biggest and most important race of the year for our team. Karpets has strong possibilities to conquer the top 5 in his last race of the season can even get something more, the GC is the only goal in this competition so even the sprinters were left out, leaving only to Fabio the remote possibility to fight for this type of stages. I also hope that the rest of the team take advantage of nationality bonus for achieving good results.
Uran is undoubtedly the strongest candidate to win but the podium seems fully open, the recovery may be an important factor in this race
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 08-01-2015 18:12
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
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Looks like everyone had the same idea as me. Bring a puncheur and hope they dont lose much time on the mountain to contend the GC and most of the stages.
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 08-01-2015 18:15
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Classics Specialist
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Hmm we will see how this goes with a really weak squad here basically hoping for the breaks and Durasek to do something half good overall |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 08-01-2015 18:27
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Team Manager
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Goal race for the team and Bibby so hoping for a very good result.
Unfortunate that Uran is here, but he is still beatable.
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| Mhaley45 |
Posted on 08-01-2015 18:59
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1036
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No idea what to expect. The Mountain and ITT stages will most likely crush any GC chances we have maybe we can steal a stage win along the way.
=========================================
Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 08-01-2015 19:19
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
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Hopefully I can get at least 1 stage win from the breakaway, although 2 or more would be great. Also hoping that my team is competitive in the KOM classification.
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| Kami |
Posted on 08-01-2015 19:43
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3485
Joined: 19-06-2009
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Goal race for the team and Bibby so hoping for a very good result.
Unfortunate that Uran is here, but he is still beatable.
Seeing as he has only won 1 classic & 2 stages, i'd say he's pretty beatable  .
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 09-01-2015 06:15
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World Champion
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Great preview Gustavovskiy! I am looking forward to this race, as i like the parcours made from broad variety of stages, which makes it pretty much unique in PCT calendar.
I gambled a bit with race days to send Popovych here, but i hope it will pay off. Top5 is absolute must and after all those disappointments that Popo served us, it is about time to see him deliver and continue our "movig summer".
Hopefully punchers will not cause bigger trouble and stay with climbers in mountain stage or whatever.
Zmorka can do well in two chrono stages and Grosu can maybe snatch top10s even when missing the preview.
Good luck to all!
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 09-01-2015 06:17
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 09-01-2015 11:09
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
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I don't expect much from this tour. With some luck Westra might do decent, but other than that we should mainly go for breakaways. Worked pretty well for us last time.
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 09-01-2015 11:45
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 897
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I thought to find less strong puncheurs in the race. Well, hoping for a strong firsts stages from Betancourt and see if Nieve can place himself high in the GC.
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 09-01-2015 12:10
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Grand Tour Champion
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tsmoha wrote:
CSC with a strong lineup. Let's win the prologue then, Ozzies!
Could be stronger but 11 race days is a lot to use up for a race that is difficult to predict with the mix of hills, mountain, and TTs. Hope to pill a few guys within the top 15 and keep up with the point haul Uran is going to bring in.
Should be very interesting to see how this race shapes out.
Edited by Mresuperstar on 09-01-2015 12:11
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 09-01-2015 18:58
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World Champion
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It's always nice seeing a Portuguese reporting Portugal's biggest race.
Anyway, not expecting much from here. |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 09-01-2015 20:09
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11819
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Ford is a beast! But now for the complaining: didn't expect Koren to finish higher than Rogers, but given this small margin, it's a pity he missed yellow today. Could have brought us some more points, as he could have survived the hilly stages. I fear he will now sit somewhere in the peloton as a "free rider" for Oz.
Anyway, 1-2-3 is great with less hopes to score big through the GC here.
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 09-01-2015 20:14
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Team Leader
Posts: 5533
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Nice for young loanee Carlos Verona to ride off the ramp first and get a mention for our team.
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| fintas |
Posted on 09-01-2015 20:18
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2602
Joined: 21-03-2008
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Great Start for OZ, and to see that Karpets only lost 5sec. to Ford. Also Silvestre with a strong start
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 09-01-2015 20:21
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World Champion
Posts: 10497
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OZ OP |
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Volta a Portugal
