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Volta a Portugal Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 06:44
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 13-10-2023 08:08
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 Volta a Portugal 1 Mountain (1MTF) | 3 Hilly (1HTF) | 2 Flat | 2 ITT (30.3km)
Welcome to the Volta a Portugal, now a fixture on the PTHC stage racing calendar. Usually it attracts some of the biggest names in the cycling world, but this season we have a slightly weaker - but very deep - startlist.
| MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | AC |  Rodrigues | 81 | 73 | 74 | 73 | 75 | 72 |  Galta | 81 | 73 | 73 | 78 | 79 | 66 |  Aular | 81 | 72 | 70 | 76 | 75 | 69 |  Madrazo | 81 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 74 | 66 |  Meintjes | 80 | 78 | 71 | 77 | 76 | 69 |  Almeida | 80 | 71 | 73 | 76 | 78 | 71 |  Novak | 80 | 77 | 66 | 74 | 76 | 76 |
Rodrigues and Galta with a real chance at a rare GC victory for them as possibly the best TTers of this group - Madrazo (who is no stranger to GC wins!) and Almeida can match them in the time trials but may lack the punch on the climbing stages. Almeida the weakest climber (in terms of both mountains and hills) of the quartet but all of these riders could be the strongest in the race if they bring their top form.
Meintjes meanwhile is by far the best puncheur here and is barely a step off the pace in the high mountains or on a time trial bike, so should be targeting Stages 3, 5 and 6 to see if he can eek out an advantage he can maintain through the final two days. Novak is a similarly great all-around climber but will find himself lacking on the time trial bike compared to the other six.
Aular is perhaps the odd man out of the top names with no clear point of difference - however he is no stranger to performing at the pointy end of things as shown by 2022 Tour of Chile victory and he certainly has the climbing strength to be the best rider here and a good enough time trial to back it up
| MO | HI | TT | ST | RS | AC |  Carapaz | 80 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 76 | 65 |  Guldhammer | 79 | 75 | 69 | 71 | 72 | 73 |  Inkelaar | 80 | 70 | 64 | 75 | 76 | 74 | | Giannoutsos | 79 | 72 | 72 | 76 | 78 | 68 |  Monsalve | 79 | 74 | 70 | 76 | 77 | 70 |  Schelling | 79 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 74 | 68 |  Amezawa | 79 | 77 | 64 | 76 | 78 | 75 |  Cras | 78 | 72 | 73 | 78 | 77 | 67 |  Sosa | 78 | 78 | 67 | 75 | 79 | 74 | | Kämna | 77 | 71 | 78 | 76 | 73 | 67 |
A lot of other names (some co-leading or superdomestique-ing for others already named) who can harbour hopes of a good result here but none seem to have a distinct advantage over the top favourites. Kämna is really the only great time triallist of the GC riders (in fact he could have hope of stage success here too) so will be hoping for a very non-selective final stage.
| HI | MO | ST | RS | AC | | TT | | Mohoric | 83 | 71 | 78 | 72 | 77 | Sütterlin | 80 |  Skujins | 83 | 70 | 80 | 77 | 76 | Dillier | 79 | | Sagan | 82 | 73 | 77 | 73 | 75 | Beniusis | 79 |  McCarthy | 82 | 67 | 80 | 75 | 74 | Kämna | 78 | | SP | AC | | | | Sütterlin | 78 | | Kennaugh | 80 | 78 | | | | Dillier | 78 |  Lutsyshyn | 79 | 80 | | | | Beniusis | 78 | | Banaszek | 79 | 81 | | | | Kämna | 78 | | Keough | 79 | 79 | | | | Campenaerts | 78 | | Coutinho | 79 | 80 | | | | | PL | | Hayakawa | 79 | 79 | | | | Andersen | 83 | | Vingerling | 78 | 78 | | | | Leung | 82 | | Matthews | 78 | 77 | | | | Chavanne | 82 | | Losch | 78 | 79 | | | | Kopfauf | 81 |  Van der Kooij | 78 | 77 | | | | Sütterlin | 80 | | Mareczko | 78 | 77 | | | | Keough | 80 |
Four of the world's best puncheurs bring Monument-winning pedigree to the race as they search for stage success - Mohoric, Skujins, and Sagan look very evenly matched, but the experienced McCarthy is definitely also a threat! The hills leaders really outclassing what is otherwise a pretty weak startlist in every other terrain.
Meanwhile Sütterlin looks like the favourite for Stage 7 and Andersen for the opening day's prologue, but there are a whole host of names who could take one or two stages and even a day in yellow if they find the right legs. With the clash with the Copenhagen-Malmo TTT event many PT teams not bringing their top time-triallists here understandably.
And finally, a very open sprinting field spearheaded by the veteran Kennaugh, who might be looking for some of the final wins of his storied career. Keough, meanwhile, will be after a day or two in the yellow jersey given his skills in both a prologue and a bunch finish.
Reports will be brought to you by the inimitable Ulrich Ulriksen. |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 13-10-2023 08:13
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Not expecting much from this race.
After failing to help Grosu in anyway in Qatar, maybe Van der Kooij can help himself to some good placings in the sprint stages here.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 13-10-2023 08:47
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Looks like Meintjes has a real shot at GC glory. Madrazo didn't manage to win a single stage race last year, maybe Louis has it in him. He has strong support, too, with Ndayisenga, Uwizeyimana and Tesfatsion. But it's a very close field at the top. Would be happy with anything in the Top 5, I think. Perhaps one or two Top 3s on stages. Politt has an outside chance to do that in the TTs, too. Lots to look forward to. Thanks for the very nice preview, jandal!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 13-10-2023 08:56
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Directeur Sportif
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Loving the col Stage Hunter preview table! Hoping to see Novak and Mohoric to perform well.
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| roturn |
Posted on 13-10-2023 08:57
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I wasn`t really aware that Vansevenant would have such an "un-suited" filler races packed schedule that early. TdU, Hkg and now Portugal as pure stage hunter.
Let`s hope this race here will be better.
Ideally though Cras is given leadership and Vanhoucke and Vansevenant are still not ignored.
A top10 is possible and a stage win would be nice as well.
Matthews/Vingerling, one of them surely should be in for some decent stage positions, the other likely being ignored by the game, which is fair enough. |
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| ember |
Posted on 13-10-2023 10:12
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This is one of the races I'm definitely the most excited about this season. We're bringing a great, great team, I think, with the mentioned stage hunters Mohoric and Kragh, but we got GC ambitions as well with Amezawa. This should be a very good race for him, as long as the AI gives him freedom and not makes him race passively due to the TT, thus considering this a race for the pure mountain/TT guys. If so, we still got proper mountain stage hunters in Johannessen, Roman and Conti...
I really can't see how we're going to miss out completely here, which probably means we will flop. Just because it's the way PCM works  
Very, very excited for the reports, and thank you for the nice preview, jandal! |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 13-10-2023 12:10
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Damn, a lot weaker start list than I thought! Really hope that we get some good results, could be one of the biggest bargain races of the season! Thanks for a great preview!
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| quadsas |
Posted on 13-10-2023 12:21
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First Guldhammer/Dion race and looks like PCM has assigned Guldhammer as a leader. Brought a fairly strong team here, might be able to get at least some decent GC depth points
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 13-10-2023 12:38
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Startlist not super strong indeed, maybe Aular might even get a top-5. I'll be happy with a top-10 though, as Hong Kong has showed us he has quite some trouble on the hilly stages. He did win the final stage last year for Binance, but that was another peloton and different situation, so we'll see where he ends up this year. Doesn't help that he only has five domestiques, including three useless ones Sütterlin for some stage results on the first/seventh stage would be nice.
Thank you for the great preview, jandal!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 13-10-2023 13:58
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Tour de France Champion
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Ok ok, we've gotten quit lucky with this startlist. now we have to execute. This is a rare moment for Galta to really make an impact on the division against a weaker field. A win is possible, but a top 5 is necessary. There will be plenty of races where he's the 10-20th best climber. So when he's not, he has to capitalize. Plus, I really want to see Kamna staying close and finishing well in the TT. With the bumpiness of it, he could even be in line for a stage result on a good day.
This race is really gonna set the tone for our entire season. We went all in on Galta and didn't bring Aranburu because of the TT. Now we'll see how well that works out.
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 13-10-2023 16:29
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Very low expectations here. Hopefully we can show our jersey a bit.
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 13-10-2023 17:38
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Did I forget about the TT's or was Oomen out of racedays? I'm assuming the second. Novak should be on the podium without those, but around 5th place should still be possible. Hoping for a few good stage results as well. Thanks for the preview!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 13-10-2023 23:09
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Had a long debate with myself whether to send McNulty here or Suisse. We will see what the Suisse start list looks like but I think the wrong side won that debate. Feels like McNulty would have been clear #1 favorite in this field.
Good luck to all of those who did have the good sense to come to Portugal. Thanks fot Jandal for covering the preview.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 13-10-2023 23:38
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Interested to see what we can do here. Inkelaar and Arndt duo could be good but could also be irrelevant.
The sprint field looks open though should be interesting.
Thanks for the preview!
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 14-10-2023 05:37
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I’m hoping Madrazo can do well here. He is our sole leader. We do have Kopfauf for the prologue and Erdenebat for the TT but we really want a high GC finish and that all comes down to how Madrazo performs. We will see and fingers crossed he can race well!
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| SotD |
Posted on 14-10-2023 07:33
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I wonder if Bouglas can do better than Coquard. Would be somewhat suiting.
After a horrible start to the season we need to start turning our fortune. Let’s hope our greeks Can do what our leaders can’t.
Kämna and Beniusis so good they are mentioned twice in the same rank ;-)
Edited by SotD on 14-10-2023 07:38
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 14-10-2023 12:33
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Just here for stage hunting. Kennaugh, baby
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 14-10-2023 14:04
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Expected result for us and an expected win for SKA. Thanks for the report!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 14-10-2023 14:42
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Not great, not terrible.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 14-10-2023 15:09
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Tour de France Champion
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Got mildly excited about Kamna scoring on this stage, but not the best day. Gaps are all small, so it doesn't really matter. Nice to see a favorite win in SKA.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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