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Volta a Portugal - Discussion
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 07-10-2025 23:57
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 Volta a Portugal (PTHC) Discussion
A rather large stage race in January. 2 TTs, 2 flat sprinter stages, 3 hill stages and a mountain stage to finish it all off. 8 stages of pure PTHC racing is coming up here in Portugal!
Taylor Phinney was the winner from last year with a dominant performance! He does not return to defend his title and neither does 2nd place Eastman. However, Thomas Pidcock does return to try and move up a couple of steps this season!
| 1 | Taylor Phinney | Fastned | 26h15'00 | | 2 | Ryan Eastman | Oxxo - Frisby | + 1'38 | | 3 | Thomas Pidcock | Xero Racing | + 1'47 | | 4 | Mushin Misbah | Sauber Petronas Racing | + 1'54 | | 5 | Joao Rodrigues | Everesting | + 1'56 | | 6 | Adam Yates | McCormick Pro Cycling | + 1'57 | | 7 | Joao Almeida | MOL Cycling Team | + 2'10 | | 8 | Fredrik Strand Galta | Carlsberg - Danske Bank | + 2'13 | | 9 | Giovanni Carboni | Gazelle | + 2'47 | | 10 | Warren Barguil | Specialized | + 2'49 |
Let's have a look at the stage favourites and finish with the GC favourites for the 2025 Volta a Portugal!
| Rider | FL | TT | ST | RS | RC | FT | PR |  Bjerg | 75 | 80 | 73 | 77 | 73 | 71 | 79 |  Norsgaard | 73 | 79 | 69 | 75 | 65 | 57 | 77 |  Herregodts | 73 | 79 | 74 | 78 | 71 | 74 | 80 |  Van Moer | 76 | 79 | 76 | 78 | 69 | 67 | 79 | | Knotten | 72 | 79 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 67 | 74 |  Evenepoel | 75 | 79 | 79 | 81 | 67 | 81 | 79 |  Howson | 70 | 79 | 71 | 72 | 70 | 71 | 79 |  Andersen | 81 | 70 | 77 | 78 | 72 | 72 | 83 |  Larsen | 77 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 78 | 65 | 80 | | Jiang | 72 | 65 | 69 | 73 | 72 | 65 | 79 |
This seems like quite an open field. No huge stand out TT guy but 11 guys who could potentially be on the favourites list. Bjerg is the best and would have to be the "favourite" for the long TT, although stamina could come into play and that's where we see Evenepoel shine. Along with a huge Fighter stat. Could help Remco get the win. Others in the 79 TT field would be Herregodts,  Zakarin, Razumov, Norsgaard, Knotten, Van Moer, Howson and Goldstein. All of these guys could have a case as a favourite for the long TT.
The prologue is a bit more simple. Andersen is the top favourite by quite far. Its quite hard to see how he can be beaten. 2 other prologue stand outs are Herregodts and Larsen. These are the 3 that should fight for stage honours on day 1 but there could be many others above that could fight it out for the first yellow jersey.
| Rider | FL | SP | AC | ST | RS | RC | FT | | Coquard | 72 | 83 | 81 | 69 | 72 | 82 | 59 |  Vesely | 72 | 80 | 79 | 73 | 67 | 74 | 60 | | Kalaba | 74 | 79 | 79 | 70 | 72 | 76 | 58 |  Kennett | 75 | 79 | 78 | 73 | 76 | 78 | 67 |  Adomaitis | 75 | 79 | 78 | 66 | 74 | 75 | 60 | | Rodenberg | 74 | 79 | 79 | 70 | 77 | 73 | 63 |  Lutsyshyn | 70 | 79 | 80 | 69 | 73 | 74 | 58 |  Mareczko | 74 | 78 | 77 | 71 | 73 | 79 | 61 | | Afewerki | 72 | 78 | 79 | 76 | 69 | 79 | 67 | | Van der Kooij | 73 | 78 | 77 | 75 | 74 | 83 | 62 | | Bauhaus | 74 | 78 | 75 | 71 | 65 | 77 | 59 |
Coquard is the stand out sprinter here. He should really be the favourite for the 2 flat stages at this race. He should also have the opportunity to take an early lead in the GC due to a strong prologue ability as well.
It is a rather quiet field apart from him. Vesely would be the next along with Kalaba, Kennett, Adomaitis, Rodenberg and Lutsyshyn.
| Rider | FL | HI | AC | ST | RS | RC | FT | DH | | Aranburu | 69 | 80 | 71 | 70 | 79 | 74 | 62 | 67 | | Romo | 71 | 80 | 71 | 78 | 76 | 70 | 78 | 63 | | Schmid | 72 | 79 | 79 | 73 | 78 | 73 | 78 | 74 | | De Plus | 72 | 79 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 71 | 68 | 66 |  Gaudu | 73 | 78 | 70 | 78 | 75 | 71 | 69 | 69 |  Aleotti | 74 | 78 | 75 | 78 | 77 | 75 | 69 | 70 | | Yates | 71 | 78 | 69 | 77 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 69 |
A rather interesting field here for the hilly stages. Again no huge stand outs Romo and Aranburu are the best here but I would add Schmid to this group with his insane acceleration!
Other competitors should be De Plus, Aleotti, Gaudu and Yates. Although Yates is here in support of Romo which does give Romo an upperhand having a top tier team mate.
| Rider | FL | MT | MM | ST | RS | RC | AC | FT | DH |  Almeida | 69 | 83 | 77 | 76 | 78 | 78 | 71 | 67 | 71 | | Rodrigues | 66 | 81 | 77 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 72 | 70 | 68 | | Wellens | 70 | 80 | 77 | 76 | 77 | 73 | 65 | 62 | 68 |  Ranaweera | 67 | 80 | 77 | 75 | 75 | 74 | 65 | 57 | 69 | | Reis | 69 | 80 | 76 | 77 | 75 | 77 | 63 | 65 | 67 |  Pira | 63 | 80 | 76 | 68 | 71 | 73 | 69 | 68 | 63 | | Inkelaar | 64 | 80 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 79 | 74 | 69 | 69 |  Schlegel | 69 | 79 | 78 | 71 | 74 | 76 | 75 | 73 | 66 | | Carboni | 70 | 79 | 78 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 69 | 61 | 72 | | Plapp | 72 | 79 | 78 | 74 | 78 | 76 | 68 | 73 | 65 |  Yates | 70 | 79 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 74 | 75 | 70 | 70 | | Skjelmose Jensen | 73 | 79 | 77 | 73 | 77 | 75 | 66 | 70 | 66 | | Bennett | 65 | 79 | 77 | 72 | 71 | 74 | 70 | 53 | 61 | | Arensman | 73 | 79 | 76 | 72 | 77 | 74 | 68 | 73 | 70 |
It's hard to look past Almeida for the climbing stage. He is a step above the rest of the top favourites. Rodrigues is the next guy who could compete with Almeida if he can keep up with him on the mountain.
Ranaweera, Wellens, Reis, Pira and Inkelaar all could have a strong stage in the mountains however it is unsure how good they can go against the division's very best!
| Rider | FL | MT | MM | HI | TT | ST | RS | RC | AC | FT | DH | PR | | Ranaweera | 67 | 80 | 77 | 73 | 76 | 75 | 75 | 74 | 65 | 57 | 69 | 73 | | Skjelmose Jensen | 73 | 79 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 73 | 77 | 75 | 66 | 70 | 66 | 76 | | Darbellay | 69 | 79 | 75 | 71 | 76 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 65 | 70 | 67 | 76 | | Reis | 69 | 80 | 76 | 72 | 75 | 77 | 75 | 77 | 63 | 65 | 67 | 75 |  Misbah | 68 | 79 | 75 | 70 | 75 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 68 | 70 | 70 | 74 | | Rodrigues | 66 | 81 | 77 | 73 | 74 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 72 | 70 | 68 | 74 | | Arensman | 73 | 79 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 72 | 77 | 74 | 68 | 73 | 70 | 74 | | Almeida | 69 | 83 | 77 | 71 | 73 | 76 | 78 | 78 | 71 | 67 | 71 | 73 | | Rodriguez | 69 | 78 | 75 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 71 | 67 | 71 | 70 | | Wellens | 70 | 80 | 77 | 73 | 70 | 76 | 77 | 73 | 65 | 62 | 68 | 70 |
In no particular order are the guys who should be able to compete for the General Classification. It is a very interesting race considering the amount of different disciplines needed to succeed. Almeida seems like the race favourite on paper, but will his hill stat cause some grief for him early on.
All the guys on this list are riders who could cause an upset to Almeida. In terms of team support it does look likely that MOL will be able to support him throughout the stages but this is cycling, anything can haappen!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 08-10-2025 00:36
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This is the real start of the season for us. Very keen to see what Pidcock can do here, if his stage race form is at the level of last season then I'll be very happy 
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 08-10-2025 01:39
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Thanks for the preview!
It's just a PTHC race, but we ended up kind of bringing our A+ squad here with a leader one very terrain. No idea what that's gonna look like given the team dynamics, but it seemed tough to pass up. Both Rodenberg and Norsgaard had a good amount success here last year, it seemed like a chance for Aranburu to do well with low stamina, and Skjelmose was the obvious GC fit with the TT. Excited to see how ti all plays out!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 08-10-2025 02:33
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Hmm, think Yates and Zhao are probably just good enough to be the first riders ignored. But if the hills are a little selective could help Yates. First big race for us. Thanks for the preview.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 11:55
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| ember |
Posted on 08-10-2025 05:07
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Happy with the startlist regarding the prologue! Hopefully Kragh gets the season going in the best possible way. It is also Romo’s first chance to shine. Giving him a stage race isn’t particularly kind, and we saw Valter struggle here last season, so any stage result(s) will be good.
Looking forward to the GC battle! The last couple of seasons the TT has played a big, big part, and if it does again, we will have an interesting list compared to if the mountain stage and maybe even a couple of the hilly stages creates good gaps. |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 08-10-2025 06:57
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Our only hope here are breakaways, so I'm hoping one of Munyaneza and Mugisha goes for it in the early stages, and ideally Ndayisenga in the final one. If not that, he should be able to finish somewhere in the Top 35 range in the GC, I guess. Maybe Willems can fight for a Top 10 in the sprints, too, even if he's just outside the favorites list.
For the GC fight, this looks very interesting. Lots of riders with credible hopes to win this, depending on what Almeida can do in the mountains and how selective the hills will be. Looking forward to the reports!
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| Heine |
Posted on 08-10-2025 07:54
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To be honest I didn't expect Almeida here, but have really no idea where he could've been sent. He will most likely win after winning the last stage as he is the clear nr 1 climber, but with the climb being the last stage there are a lot of points on offer for other riders.
Reis is an interesting wildcard here with his climbing, TT and energy stats. I expect him to at least top 3.
Other than that, Andersen to win the first stage? Then Coquard takes stage two before the stage wins and GC wins go haywire on the puncheur fight on stage 3
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 08-10-2025 07:56
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Thanks for the extensive preview, Jakstar!
We're obviously only here for the GC and as others say the race there is wider open. A top 5 for Ranaweera should be the minimum, but realistically everything from even a win to a lower top 10 is possible, depending on how the different terrains play out. I'm really looking forward to this race and hopefully we'll add some breakaway appearances in the easier stages to bridge the waiting time until the GC stages.
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| knockout |
Posted on 08-10-2025 08:08
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Extremely excited for this race and very happy to see the startlist. Not a single rider i clearly rate above Plapp. No Phinney, no Oomen, no Sivakov so im absolutely hoping for a podium now. In the case of Phinney thats especially surprising to me as he really benefits from the prologue and the tt before only one mountain stage which makes this one of the better races all season long while i expect Wellens to struggle a bit more.
Evenepoel will be super annoying once again (i see a pattern there  ) and i also think that Leknessund will be a very tough rider to face here despite not being mentioned in the preview. Dont think Almeida will win this, he just doesnt seem versatile enough.
Very curious to see what Herregodts can do here. Feels like the kind of guy who could carry a good gc position into the mountain stage and potentially surprise there due to good ai treatment. But also a contender for both prologue and tt.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 08-10-2025 08:37
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Always a tricky race to predict with so many transitional stages and only one real mountain stage at the very end. It's pretty cool to see the startlist packed with portuguese climbers at the top. Hopefully one of them can take the win. And by one of them I mean Rodrigues
Thanks for the preview and good luck everyone!
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-10-2025 10:49
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Was a big questionmark for me to consider my team.
Phinney could have been an option but the TT kilometers weren`t even that long to make this key and other races suited more.
Wellens was 2nd option apparently and seems he as well could reach a top10 here, which is the goal.
Vesely in addition needs to deliver here for some decent scoring.
Guerreiro always a nice home rider bet for decent performances and Vliegen as well adding depth for the tougher stages whereas Hessmann again could become a 2nd GC option for minor points.
So while my team should be far from the top scoring spots, a stage win and top10 with decent performances would be great. |
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| sammyt93 |
Posted on 08-10-2025 11:12
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This is the race where Misbah made a name for himself last year so had to bring him back to see if he could get another good result this season.
He's not mentioned on the favourites list but we are seeing the debut of Zijlaard, no expectations on him other than to see him compete in the sprints.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 08-10-2025 11:53
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Considering how our season has started this can only be a better race for us. Thanks for the preview!
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| knockout |
Posted on 08-10-2025 16:34
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Good prologue by Herregodts. Not extremely great but also not bad and the first points on the board in this race. Plapp could have done slightly better but also really not bad
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| ember |
Posted on 08-10-2025 17:39
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Very happy with the win for Kragh! There is not that many riders inside 20 seconds, especially looking at Coquard, so maybe he can hold yellow for a bonus day, which could potentially be huge on the first «easy» hilly stage, as it might make him competitive there. One stage at the time, though, and we really got what we hoped for here on the opening stage
Also thank you for the report. Imladrik  |
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 08-10-2025 17:48
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ember wrote:
Very happy with the win for Kragh! There is not that many riders inside 20 seconds, especially looking at Coquard, so maybe he can hold yellow for a bonus day, which could potentially be huge on the first «easy» hilly stage, as it might make him competitive there. One stage at the time, though, and we really got what we hoped for here on the opening stage
Also thank you for the report. Imladrik
Grats on the stage win ember! My man Dylan coming for that yellow with a leadout in white, don't worry about it.
Probably the most points I have ever scored in a prologue with Milan in second and Kennett in fifth! This was the ideal scenario that I was hoping for going into the next stages. A little more time lost for Inkelaar than I'd hoped for but hopefully he will still get a decent GC result to get on the board!
Thanks for the great report!
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 08-10-2025 19:06
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Again a tough startlist and we already really need the points after the Tasmania AI fail.
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 08-10-2025 20:38
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Grand Tour Champion
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Not bad from Howson. 7th. Although I am expecting more in the long timetrial.
Carlos did fairly well. Only 10 or so seconds behind Almeida so thats pretty good. Keen for stage 2!
Thanks for the report!
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 08-10-2025 21:54
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Home race for Reis and got off to a good start in the prologue. The entire team did with 6 riders in the top 36. Keep it up guys!
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 08-10-2025 21:57
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Sprinter
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Congrats ember, will you ever get bored by SKA winning prologues?
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