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Volta a Portugal Discussion
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 25-05-2019 19:41
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Grand Tour Champion
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 Volta a Portugal
History
| Year | Winner | Team | | 2017 | Robert Gesink | eBuddy | | 2016 | Silvio Herklotz | Team Puma - SAP | | 2015 | Tiago Machado | Prio - Porto | | 2014 | Rigoberto Úran | Bacardi Limited | | 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 |
Volta a Portugal is the longest race on the PTHC calendar, with 11 stages to conquer. The race has attracted some big names over the years, judging by the list of former winners. Of those, local hero Machado is the only one to race this year, looking to become the first two-time winner. As PTHC race we see some of the PCT teams going up against the big boys from the PT division, with a large points haul on offer.
Profiles
Everything you could ask for is in this race. Time trials? Two: a prologue to begin and a longer one to end. Flat stages? Two, but both contain some hills to make things harder. Mountain stages? One rated as such, but some of the hilly stages are more difficult than others. What remains are a lot, and I mean a lot of hilly stages for the puncheurs. Do we even have some cobbles? Well, the end of the sixth stage towards Viana do Castelo is cobbled, but that wasn't enough for any cobble specialist to go here. It isn't even marked on the profile.
Startlist
| Puncheurs | MO | HL | TT | Climbers | MO | HL | TT |  Skujins | 70 | 83 | 59 |  Machado | 83 | 76 | 73 |  Bobridge | 69 | 83 | 77 | Reis | 81 | 73 | 76 | | Claeys | 67 | 83 | 64 |  Meintjes | 80 | 77 | 71 |  Kelderman | 71 | 82 | 70 |  Ji | 80 | 75 | 69 |  Izagirre | 74 | 80 | 77 |  Carapaz | 80 | 71 | 72 |  Costa | 71 | 80 | 76 | Vinhas | 80 | 70 | 62 |  Boswell | 71 | 80 | 67 |  Yates | 79 | 76 | 71 |  Koretzky | 71 | 80 | 62 | Brambilla | 79 | 76 | 70 |  Vogt | 62 | 80 | 66 | Arndt | 79 | 76 | 56 | | Slagter | 78 | 79 | 66 | Bongiorno | 79 | 75 | 68 |  Chaves | 76 | 79 | 68 |  Bennett | 78 | 76 | 65 |  Bilbao | 67 | 79 | 63 |  De la Cruz | 78 | 75 | 74 | | Boily | 76 | 78 | 70 | Chiarello | 78 | 75 | 73 |  Roche | 76 | 78 | 70 | Chamorro | 78 | 75 | 65 | | Paulinho | 75 | 78 | 64 |  Ndayisenga | 78 | 75 | 65 | | Moazemi | 73 | 78 | 69 | Vosekalns | 78 | 75 | 62 | | Levarlet | 73 | 78 | 65 | Aru | 78 | 74 | 64 |  Quevedo | 71 | 78 | 65 | Poljanski | 77 | 77 | 67 |  Jensen | 70 | 78 | 67 | Vasyliv | 77 | 74 | 72 | | Landa | 69 | 78 | 57 | Novak | 77 | 73 | 76 | | Watson | 65 | 78 | 68 | Jang | 76 | 76 | 62 |
Two types of riders who could win. The mountain stage is the one where the most time can be gained, but there are more hilly stages while time trial ability should play a minor but not unimportant role.
Let's start on the puncheur's side. Bobridge, Claeys, Kelderman and Skujins don't separate that much in mountains and hills, all being top-notch PT puncheurs. Bobridge however distinguishes himself with a good time trial ability. It remains to be seen whether they survive the mountain stage.
Izagirre though might be gifted with the best combination of skills. A strong puncheur, a good time trialists and better than most puncheurs on the long climbs. Same goes for a Costa, though a tad less skilled in the mountains.
Boswell and Koretzky are dangerous outsiders. They might not be the biggest favorites but you never know in cycling.
Another breed of riders are the hybrids. Riders who are good on both mountains and hills. Slagter and Chaves are good examples of that, as are Boily and Roche. Maybe this type of rider is the most fitted to this race.
Moving over to the climbers side, we have two local riders from Prio - Porto: Machado and Reis. The former is also decent enough on hills and time trials, and he has shown in the past to like this race, winning in 2015. Main favorite this year?
Looking down the rest of the grid we find riders like Meintjes, Ji, Carapaz and another Portugese riding for Prio: Vinhas.
Yates, Brambilla, Arndt and Bongiorno are on the next row, all good qualities in all terrains, except Arndt's time trial ability but that can be compensated.
For your more complete riders, look at a De la Cruz or Chiarello, Vasyliv or Novak
| Sprinters | HL | SP | ACC | Time trialists | TT | PRL | | Van Poppel | 64 | 81 | 78 |  Zmorka | 82 | 82 | | Castañeda | 59 | 80 | 79 | Vlatos | 81 | 81 | | Keough | 62 | 79 | 79 | Gonzalez Salas | 80 | 80 | | Te Brake | 64 | 79 | 76 | Howson | 80 | 80 | | Corti | 63 | 78 | 76 | Sütterlin | 80 | 80 | | Redecker | 72 | 77 | 78 | Dempster | 79 | 79 | | Perera | 64 | 77 | 78 | Haugard | 79 | 79 | | Kemboi | 62 | 77 | 78 | Robert | 79 | 79 | | McEvoy | 76 | 75 | 79 | Dennis | 78 | 81 | | Ackermann | 72 | 75 | 76 | Atkins | 78 | 77 |  Pozdnyakov | 73 | 75 | 74 |  Quaade | 78 | 76 | | Felline | 77 | 74 | 78 | Leung | 76 | 80 | | Pons | 73 | 74 | 76 | Stoltz | 66 | 80 | | Jans | 74 | 74 | 74 | Kemboi | 63 | 79 | | Juarez | 74 | 74 | 74 | Keough | 58 | 80 |
Two sprinter's stages on paper. The field is not very strong, with Van Poppel the most notable and favorite for these stages.
Castañeda, Keough and Te Brake could score some nice points for their PCT teams, provided they get over the hills.
Given the undulation it might be worth it to look at the more punchy sprinters. McEvoy stands out, but don't count out riders like Redecker, Ackermann, Pozdnyakov and Felline.
Zmorka comes here as favorite for both time trials. Vlatos his nearest rival.
Gonzalez Salas, Howson and Sütterlin are outsiders for these stages, they might very well surprise.
Some pure prologue specialists looking to take the yellow jersey on the opening stage: Dennis, Keough, Leung and Stoltz. Keough might sprint himself to the leader's jersey on stage two or three with the bonus seconds.
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 25-05-2019 19:43
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Grand Tour Champion
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Well, this is new to me, reporting a race I'm also racing in. Nothing to expect here, hoping Quevedo could get away with a top 25 or so. Maybe a breakaway.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 25-05-2019 21:52
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Here we go. I've been waiting for the Volta all year. It's going to be crucial for us. A good race could give us a final shot at avoiding relegation. Otherwise we're pretty much done in the PT.
Those damned hills are awfully numerous though.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 25-05-2019 21:59
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Bad decision to send Velits to Maroc and not here it seems. Hope Bennett can surprise with a top 10 or if he loses time some breakaways.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 25-05-2019 22:21
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We sent the B squad here, or maybe even the C or D squad. Breakaways are the only shot we got, so we better attack.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 26-05-2019 08:53
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Hoping somehow the MO/HI combo of Chaves is good enough for something here. And maybe some bonus point from Keough
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 26-05-2019 10:24
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Looks like an easy one for Yates. Slagter with Great chances too though
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 26-05-2019 14:14
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Costa leading the last Volta at his peak, surely a fairy tale ending awaits? 
Top 10 goal race for us and while the hills and TTs are favourable, the mountain stage is where it can all go downhill! Hopefully Rui can be a little more aggressive on the hills than he usually is and recapture his Pais Vasco form from the early season.
Thanks for the preview 
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 26-05-2019 20:17
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So close for Howson to get a win here, 2nd is still very good.
I guess I have a rider for every terrain, but only Van Poppel seems to be amongst the very best in his discipline. Let's hope he can snatch a stage win.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 07:50
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 26-05-2019 20:49
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I like this race; shame we're not in it. Good luck to all contestants.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 27-05-2019 05:46
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Great start for the team, with three riders being competitive in the Prologue. Can Te Brake get the jersey on stage 2 I wonder? 
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| SotD |
Posted on 27-05-2019 09:59
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It will be very interesting to see what will be possible here. We have ridden it once, but that was before the PTHC was "free" for good PT riders.
Koretzky could potentially do OK here, but he performs very irregular. A bunch of decent, but not top riders are brought here and then Vlatos in the hope for a good prologue. I know he won't do well in the final TT after that tought stage.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 27-05-2019 11:12
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Good start for us with the young jersey for Leung, but that was pretty much given.
Zmorka showing how worthless he can be at times.
Liked that Olá de Lisboa. Thanks for the report Marco!
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| ryant |
Posted on 27-05-2019 14:46
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Don't know if this is a make or break race for us, I think we are safe from relegation and we cant earn that much more. But, I think I took a risk with Meintjes here, considering the sheer number of puncheurs here, seems I may have overvalued the mountain stage a little
Even so, we've had a good start with Robert and Meintjes did well out of some of the GC contenders, so lets hope he will be in and around the top in the first few hill stages, I don't think they look too selective...
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| SotD |
Posted on 27-05-2019 15:08
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4th isn't good enough. Wasted racedays for Vlatos unfortunately...
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| knockout |
Posted on 27-05-2019 16:20
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Was looking forward to this race for quite some time. Skujins might have some glaring weaknesses on a profile like this but he will benefit from the order of the stages and has a strong group of helpers around him. Big expectations lets see how we deliver...
Prologue was badly by Stoltz but it doesnt matter as much. He can still be a solid support guy as the pace setter in the first half of stages...
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 27-05-2019 22:54
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Schleck! Great ride from him today to move into his first ever KOM lead, and his first real solo ride as a pro which is very cool  Bobridge with a huge ride, wow! Congrats tsmoha
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-05-2019 02:30
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Tour de France Champion
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A top 10 from pons is about the best we could possibly hope for, so no complaints here.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-05-2019 05:36
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Weird ending to that stage but it was always on the cards with the late hill. Costa safe and sound is mostly what we care about.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 28-05-2019 07:40
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Wow 2 min in a 'flat' stage for JB! What a move. Could be a major advantage for later in the race. Kinda weird how it happened though. Anyway, congrats TS!
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