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Volta a Portugal discussion
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| Smowz |
Posted on 24-01-2011 19:36
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CTour's premier stage race is here - the 11 stage Volta a Portugal.
The parcours
Opening prologue is very short - it is actually about 2.7km so hardly decisive. Many of the flat finishes involve a climb or late sprints or both which complicates things slightly. Some stages have decided to go out the finish town and up the local hill which was nice of them.
The two headline days are stages five and ten, with stage tens Alto da Torre a ridiculously long 30km climb being the absolute showdown coming after nine very tricky stages. If that was not enough we have one of the longest Time Trials in the CTour to finish things off.
The favourites
It's all in one last time for the leader Jose Serpa, who has reached the podium in two other major stage races this season at Langkawi and San Luis. No Taaramae or Ricco to spoil his party here, the Columbian is pound for pound the best climber in Portugal and is a none too shabby Time Trialler either. Seems to like taking the lead and then surrendering it to a moment of brilliance. He is backed up by a decent squad of climbers including Mayo, Nozal and Tiralongo.
1. J.Serpa
2. S.Lagana'
3. I.Mayo
4. I.Nozal
5. J.Perry
6. I.Santaromita
7. P.Tiralongo
8. F.Tizza
Tour of Langkawi winner Bernard Kohl has flattered to deceive since in the mountains - capable of a great climbing performance and is the current Austrian TT champion so should find this race to his liking. Indeed he has won this race once before in 2009, and his team in its previous guise as Wii racing won it last year with Janez Brajkovic. This year, UBS have bought some fine sprinters here (Richeze and Forster) as they usually do in stage races and invariably they manage to double up with stage wins on the flatter terrain. But they also have good climbing support in Riblon, Bogdan and Zubeldia. This is a key race in their promotion hunt.
21. B.Kohl
22. J.Becerra
23. I.Bogdan
24. R.Förster
25. C.Riblon
26. M.Richeze
27. S.Zahner
28. H.Zubeldia
Franco Pellizotti only made his CTour debut a couple of days before this race began, although we have seen him in action against protour riders at Paris-Nice and the Vuelta. This is his big chance to show his stuff at the continental level and he will look to take time on the hilly stages as well as the mountainous stuff. Compared to the usual Youtube fare this is a high class squad with Velits, Tachira winner Ochoa, Txurruka and Zaugg giving this roster a feel of a grand tour squad. One worry is that Pellizotti is an inconsistent Time Trialler he needs to get time before the last stage then.
11. F.Pellizotti
12. R.Bertogliati
13. R.Ochoa Quintero
14. M.Pozzo
15. J.Thomson
16. A.Txurruka
17. P.Velits
18. O.Zaugg
The hosts
The Benfica squad have drafted in Van den Broeck this year and he is certainly one of the best stage racers in the Continental Tour as he proved with a victory in Columbia's big tour. Throw in San Luis podium Marquez, Langkawi podium Nazaret and very useful climbers Terciado, Moreno, Ribeiro and Petrov and you have a recipe for chaos in the mountains... or a very long line of pacers for whom they choose to be leader. That is the issue really if someone else attacks who marks the move? Van Den Broeck is surely their best hope for GC, but can sometimes struggle to live with the best.
31. J.Van den Broeck
32. F.Marquez
33. D.Moreno
34. M.Nazaret
35. B.Neves
36. D.Petrov
37. N.Ribeiro
38. F.Terciado
Worth considering
Thomas Rohregger may have disappointed slightly in his home Austrian tour but represents good top 5 chances here with that last stage time trial. He must however overcome some defensive tendencies on climbs as he will see riders put too much time into him. He is backed up by his countryman Pfannberger and Danish all rounder Bochman. Telenor have also bought Sabatini here in the expectation of some medium sprint company, though he is probably a bit lightweight to score here.
71. T.Rohregger
72. L.Bøchman
73. O.Haavardsholm
74. C.Pfannberger
75. F.Sabatini
76. R.Te Brake
77. J.Veikkanen
78. F.Wilman
Santander have an embarrassment of riches in the stage racing department but with two of their best developing in the protour this year they have had to spread their talent out. Lopez Garcia winner of the Jelejah Malaysia leads their team here, he has Valls and Moreno offering support. Lopez Garcia is similar to Pellizotti in that he is very good on long mountains as well as short punchy climbs. However he is a woeful Time Trialler and so will need something pretty special to make a very high finish, but he should be good enough to make the top 5 if the mountains are decisive enough.
81. D.López Garcia
82. D.Allonca
83. A.Galdos
84. J.Gallego Martin
85. D.Galparsoro
86. O.Guerao
87. J.Moreno
88. R.Valls
Red Bull would have faded to the background if not for the self promotion of the outspoken team boss heard commentating on the recent Tour de France. The early season surprise package are finding their fairly meagre resources stretched, Siutsou had a poor Langkawi race but has done better in Iberian stage races. The Belerussian has no key weaknesses, though could begin to look leggy by the time of the Time Trial on stage 11. Sutton, winner of a stage in the Castille y Leon stage race looks to take another somewhere here.
41. K.Siutsou
42. A.Haidar Anuawar
43. A.Jelloul
44. L.Laverde Jimenez
45. E.Parra Bustamante
46. A.Semple
47. C.Sutton
48. K.Wu
One of the more expensive signings in this year's transfer season Yeison Delgado found himself upstaged in his home race by Ochoa (Youtube) who is a mere domestique here. This does not bode well for the Quiksilver mans podium chances but his excellent mountain climbing ability does suggest he could step up onto the top five. Unlike Lopez Garcia, Delgado can Time Trial pretty well but is suspect on tough hilly stages where he came unstuck in Venezuala. Mercado and future star Betencourt will help Delgado try to justify his price tag (I will stop going on about this somewhen Itt honest )
61. Y.Delgado
62. C.Betancourt
63. A.Flickinger
64. J.Hicks
65. P.Mach
66. J.Mercado
67. G.Nizzolo
68. B.Selander
It may surprise some to see Camano as team leader, but he showed some x factor at the Austrian tour recently. It is Samwel's aversion to Time Trialling that may see him asked to play domestique here as we have seen with the Taaramae/Alarcon combination. Both riders have chances of a top five but at some point a decision will have to be made. Bimbo Nutella also have put Van Avermart on the roster who tore it up in the Tour de Langkawi and in his home tour. The Belgian is powerful enough perhaps to make it on the hilly flat stages, as is Bernie Eisal who will by Gregs wing man.
51. I.Camaño
52. J.Berard
53. G.Dockx
54. B.Eisel
55. M.Hofland
56. M.Olman
57. M.Samwel
58. G.Van Avermaet
Vespa will be disappointed in the main with Bososio's performances but there were signs of improvement in the Ringerinke GP and he comes here with some expectation. Bosisio should find a mixture of hilly and mountainous terrian to his liking, though two things works against him he is not a good time trialler and he is Bosisio! Gatto looks to bring his positive Giro experience to the longest CTour HC stage race and Tour of Turkey winner Bettini continues his impressive swansong.
111. G.Bosisio
112. P.Bettini
113. C.Cassidy
114. D.Cimolai
115. W.Connolly
116. D.Garbelli
117. O.Gatto
118. E.Luzi
Other decent shouts
Chilean stage racer Ortega and Valjavec stand out as Unicredits main men here. Both have their weaknesses though, Ortega will not like the long hilly stages and Valjavec has never been able to Time Trial particularly well. Borrajo has been bought along in the hope of chipping in with a sprint victory and watch out for Columbia stage winner Grau and Eritean Teklehaimont.
101. S.Ortega
102. A.Borrajo
103. M.Brändle
104. J.Grau
105. J.Mazet
106. R.Quaade
107. D.Teklehaimanot
108. T.Valjavec
Limited GC potential, Intesa will certainly be absent in the mountains. However with the likes of decent punchaers like Delage, Kozontchuk and Capecchi it would be careless to put a line straight through this Italian squad.
121. R.Mandri
122. V.Agnoli
123. E.Capecchi
124. M.Delage
125. D.Kozontchuk
126. A.Kunitski
127. B.Monterastelli
128. C.Salerno
Theo Eltink is this one miracle too far? No reason why the plucky Dutchman cannot live with the rest on all but the toughest of climbs, may find stage 10 a bit tricky then. Also Eltinks relatively weak Time Trialling will see him drop on the final day a top 10 would be celebrated here. Simon Clarke will hope to be able to sprint for one finish and for Maggi Backstedt it would be a victory just to get to the end!
91. T.Eltink
92. N.Alonso Castillo
93. G.Briggs
94. M.Bäckstedt
95. S.Clarke
96. G.Rajala
97. G.Tzortzakis
98. C.Wegelius
The outsiders
Purple Monkey dishwasher.
Random like the make up of this team and their reasons for entering this race. Now watch as they take breakaway win after win, separated by a sprint win by Manan.
131. P.Pancake
132. J.Claes
133. V.Hacecký
134. A.Manan
135. E.Reekers
136. D.Shatskikh
137. Y.Stoltz
138. M.Ulanowski
The Schedule
All evening unless stated
[i]Wed 26th: Stage 1 (am) and stage 2
Thurs 27th: Stage 3 (am) and stage 4
Fri 28th: Stage 5
Sat 29th: Stage 6 (am) and stage 7 (pm) Stage 8 and 9 brough forward
Sun 30th: Stage 10 (am) and Stage 11 (pm) and wrap
/i]
Edited by Smowz on 29-01-2011 13:17
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 24-01-2011 19:44
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I'm optimistic Bosisio can do something decent here.
I hope that final TT is all about the hill stat and not the TT stat as can sometimes be the case with hilly TT's. |
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 24-01-2011 19:44
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Lopez Garcia, I need a top 5 from you here.
Anything less and there will be trouble.
 [url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 24-01-2011 19:51
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Nice preview there Smowz!
Hope Eltink can surprise and make a good result in the GC here it´s going to be hard.
Maybe take a stage from breakaway or in a sprint. |
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| Heine |
Posted on 24-01-2011 21:36
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Rohregger, make him eat the words about you being defensive and win both mountain stages!
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| ltt |
Posted on 24-01-2011 22:54
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Neo-Pro
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I feel its fair to comment on Delgado's price 
But he's not raced a lot so far so maybe he'll start to to pick up some much needed results for me from now on, not like he can do much worse than the rest of my over-priced rubbish  |
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| pangare |
Posted on 24-01-2011 23:37
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Domestique
Posts: 443
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Great preview ! A stage win is a team goal but my personal goal is to get 2 plus a top5 ! |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 25-01-2011 14:17
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By far the most important race the team still needs to participate in.. I hope Serpa will manage to limit his screwups and end on the podium without the possibility to say "What if?"
Good preview Smowz, quality stuff.
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| Thrige |
Posted on 25-01-2011 15:07
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I've absolutey no expectations for this race, hopefully I'll be surprised with a decent result. |
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| jack888 |
Posted on 25-01-2011 15:10
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Awesome preview.
I'll have to do this race next year. I'm spewing i didn't this time around, there is a few fun stages in there. I'll be watching
Edited by jack888 on 25-01-2011 15:11
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| Smowz |
Posted on 25-01-2011 16:54
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Team Leader
Posts: 6479
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I am going to accelerate the schedule a bit, making the big mountains stages on Friday and Sunday evening.
Thanks for the positive feedback - I felt it would be nice that at least one CTour HCer was given the full preview treatment (as Red Bull were in it too).
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 22:55
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| Heine |
Posted on 26-01-2011 07:49
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If this for some reason makes Veikannen team leader I will kill someone!
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| Thrige |
Posted on 26-01-2011 08:32
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I was so close 
Great management by me setting to start early ! |
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| Heine |
Posted on 26-01-2011 08:52
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A more serious post
First stage really not makeing any difference at all, I have not checked how the different sprinters did, but I belive a sprinter/puncheur (uphill finishes might give interesting results) will take the lead before we go into the mountain (I think it does not deserve a plural ending :-p)
Happy by a 3rd place, I see it as a good sign for the rest of the race 
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 26-01-2011 09:02
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So, at that rate I lose 2'46" in the final time trial, I can deal with , although that still takes me out of a chance at a podium probably
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
Please assume I am joking unless otherwise stated |
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| pangare |
Posted on 26-01-2011 14:20
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Domestique
Posts: 443
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pangare wrote:
Great preview ! A stage win is a team goal but my personal goal is to get 2 plus a top5 !
Team goal reached already ! |
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| rycadinho |
Posted on 26-01-2011 14:55
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Decent start, especially from good old Nozal.. Now to survive those two flat stages before the first real test for Serpa!
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 26-01-2011 19:22
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Nothing wrong with that first stage at all. Time gaps pleasing for Vespa. |
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| fenian_1234 |
Posted on 26-01-2011 19:54
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I have a feeling that second stage was exactly what Vespa didn't need. I guess Bosisio has just been replaced as leader by two guys with little chance on GC.
I'm worried now. |
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| Thrige |
Posted on 26-01-2011 19:57
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Stage win and leader's jersey. Can't complain, really. |
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