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Calçada Portuguesa - The story of Nenad Silva | Caja Rural
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 02-09-2013 20:01
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Hello, my name is Nenad Silva and this is my story.
I was born in Sarajevo in April 2, 1990. I almost don’t remember anything about Sarajevo because in 1993 i lost my parents and became an orphan. I was between orphans houses and the streets until in 1996 when i met the man I consider my father, a Portuguese Major that created me and made me what I am today.
I was legally adopted and took the name Silva from my father. Stojakovic is the name from my real family and without any connection or anyone alive I assumed the Portuguese nationality despite I still remember the names of some of my child friends, both serbs, croats and muslims.
I had a though infancy and I most times prefer not to speak about it. I was born a Yugoslavian but I am now Portuguese.
In the year 2000 I had my first bike. It was my favorite toy and on the village of Palmela we had to climb a lot because it’s an historical place with a medieval castle.
My father gave me a very military education despite he’s a very nice person and my 2 brothers always loved me as I was equal to them. We all went to East Timor in 2001 and for two years we lived on that small island near to Australia.
In 2003 we returned to Palmela and I started to try some sports like football, basketball and volleyball. Cycling was the sport I liked the most but only in 2005 I went to a team to try to compete. Cyclo cross was my first experience and I immediately enjoyed and had good results on an amateur team. A friend of my father eared of me and took me to a track competition and surprisingly I was 3rd among 100 kids despite I never road on tracks before.
My father always told me to follow my heart and I tried some downhill and mountain experiences before I saw the Tour de France in 2005 and got in love with road race. I knew I could be there someday and I decided that this is what I wanted.
In September my father went to Mozambique on another mission and I had to go with him. For six months I lived in Africa leaving school behind for a year. I had the time to do what I wanted: train a lot. I started to do 150 to 200 km per day with just 15 years old.
So when we returned to Portugal I knew I had to find a team that would help to realize my dream. I didn’t had many options so I started on a small team that had the trainings near to Palmela.
In 2009 I went to the Military Academy much because of my father so I’ve never started to compete. I had a lot of training together with school but cycling was on it. On an internship I only had the weekends to ride.
After two years on the Academy I took the decision to quit. It was really hard and I had to convince my father on the summer of 2010 that I wanted a different live then the one he wanted for me. I went to the University to study Sports and I joined a youth cycling team: Clube Ciclismo José Maria Nicolau. The name of the team came from a rider who won two Volta a Portugal on the 30’s.
I had decided that I was going to be a road cyclist!
On my first year and after a lot of physical tests they wanted me to be a sprinter. I was fast comparing to the rest of the Under-23 team and I got some wins on minor races.
On my second year I started to be a different kind of rider. I started to make great results on time trials and on stages with short climbs. I was 6th on the Under-23 National Championships and that got me conversations with senior teams.
From the proposals i received back in 2012 the one i immediately had to accept was the one of LA AlumÃnios Antarte. They had a good team but they lacked a guy with my abilities. I had the chance to start riding on a pro level.
At first i only wanted to have race days. With not many races before Volta ao Algarve i had to train well. With two guys younger than me on the team roaster i was not surprised to see my name on the list to the most reputable race in Portugal.
I was really working hard on the time trials and on flat roads and the 24th place on the time trial in Algarve was a great result on my first professional competition. I was 49th and the best rider from my team and that gave me motivation to continue working hard.
But my thoughts were also on other kind of races. With my sprinter days behind and my clear inability to climb big mountains i kept training in Palmela on the narrow streets called "calçada portuguesa".
I had my first opportunities on two races with cobbles and i managed a 7th place on Gran Prix Pino Cerami and a 5th place on Nokere Koerse. I felt very happy and i knew i could improve a lot on this kind of races.
But when the national championships came i was ready to challenge the time trial and only Nélson Oliveira stopped me from winning it! It was the great result of the season, 2nd place on National ITT!!
I was really feeling my legs heavy when Volta a Portugal came and i tried to get to some breaks, the 17th place on the time trial was my best result there.
My season was done and i had invitations from several teams. I really enjoyed this season at LA Aluminios but i needed a new challenge, a team where i could race at another level.
Edited by kimiopn on 07-09-2013 18:35
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 02-09-2013 20:01
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1020
Joined: 07-04-2010
PCM$: 300.00
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2013
LA AlumÃnios Antarte
- 2nd ITT National Championships
- 5th Nokere Koerse
- 7th GP Pino Cerami
Edited by kimiopn on 07-09-2013 16:35
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-12-2024 06:57
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| baia |
Posted on 02-09-2013 20:48
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Posts: 5398
Joined: 04-10-2007
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I liked alot to read it, sounds really interesting.. 
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| Selwink |
Posted on 02-09-2013 20:50
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Grand Tour Champion
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Joined: 17-05-2012
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Really liked your CSC story. I hope this will be just as good
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 02-09-2013 20:59
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Sounds cool, good luck! |
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 04-09-2013 20:31
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Thank you baia, Selwink and Ian. I hope i don't defraud your expectatives. Your words mean a lot to me |
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 04-09-2013 20:36
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Posts: 6690
Joined: 11-10-2010
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Ex - Yugoslovenian rider story!!!
Expect me following and commenting every post! 
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 07-09-2013 16:35
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Posts: 1020
Joined: 07-04-2010
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When the Fall of 2013 came i had on my hands several options and i opted to go to a spanish team where i could find some portuguese.
My choice was:
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| Selwink |
Posted on 07-09-2013 16:38
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
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Nice choice for a team, with some other Portuguese riders there, you will surely do well
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-09-2013 17:10
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Nice write up and Good Luck with this |
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| baia |
Posted on 07-09-2013 18:07
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Posts: 5398
Joined: 04-10-2007
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Great choice, i love the team..
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 07-09-2013 18:34
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 CAJA RURAL - SEGUROS RGA
My new team got a revolution with a lot of riders going out and coming in. The two portuguese who were there (André Cardoso and Manuel Cardoso) got out but one of my best friends got in. He was my team mate on CCJM Nicolau and has been the last months training with the team. Bidinha is going to be very important to me.
Riders out:
| - R. Fernandez | Movistar | | - I. Velasco | Movistar | | - A. Txurruka | Movistar | | - O. Fraile | Movistar | | - J. Moyano | Saxo-Tinkoff | | - J. Gomez | Plussbank | | - A. Cardoso | Radio Popular Onda | | - M. Cardoso | Vorarlberg |
Riders in
| - P. Torres Muiño | Burgos BH | | - J. Del Pino | Burgos BH | | - J. Azanza | Euskaltel | | - J. Hernandez | Saxo-Tinkoff | | - A. Domont | AG2R | | - J. Moreno | Movistar | | - R. Valls | Vacansoleil | | - D. Lozano Riba | Team Novo Nordisk | | - A. Bagues | Euskadi |
And off course me!
We have a mist of experienced riders and young talents. A lot of good climbers and some guys for the classics. Our sprinter Francesco Lasca is really good and he has won 5 stages in 2013.
Having Marcelo Bidinha with me is really important and i think he will surprise a lot of people. Can't wait for the season to start. In January we'll decide the races we're going to participate and i'm really excited to get some results this year and to help this ambitious project. |
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 07-09-2013 19:26
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As the season gets started we got together in Spain and we had a lot of meetings with the team directors. They were all very nice, we discussed the calendar and i now know i will start the season in France in late January on Etoile de Besseges.
This is my calendar for the first 3 months of the season:
-  Etoile de Besseges | -  Volta ao Algarve | -  Driedaagse Van West Vlaanderen | | - Nokere-Koerse | | - Dwaars door Vlaanderen | | - Driedaagse De Panne | -  Limburg Classic |
I'm really happy with the role i will have. Dwaars door Vlaanderen is a great opportunity to show myself. The team doesn't have any other rider for this kind of race, but that just makes me fell with more freedom and no pressure at all.
We will now start a training camp to shape up in Catalunya, then some of our guys will go to Australia. |
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 07-09-2013 19:50
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On the first race of the season in Australia the team got a 5th place with Lasca on Down Under classic. Despite last year he was third it is still a good result.
We really feel like a team and when Azanza told us that this was going to be his last year as a pro everybody was sad but helped him. After some years on Euskaltel he decided to come to Caja Rural and he will give his best to have a great last year. With 5 guys older than him on the team this decision is unexpected and for me i just want to learn the most i can with this wonderful guy.
My best friends on the team for now are of course Bidinha, Raul Alarcon who has raced in Portugal and the french Axel Domont. He is the only french rider on the team and we are helping each other, since i have a large experience in facing new places and dealing with new people.
In less then 2 weeks i'll make my first race. I'm training hard despite my legs are far from what they can be. Marseillaise will be the next race for the team. I'll be pushing for our guys, specially Bidinha!! |
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 08-09-2013 10:46
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Etoile de Bésseges
We arrived to the south of France with a great morale, everybody was talking about Bidinha's performance in Marseille. I told everybody that was i expecting a good result from him, but a third place only behind the names of Iglinkyi and Voeckler was fantastic!
This is our line up for Etoile de Besseges:
| - F. Lasca | | - D. De la Fuente | | - J. Aramendia | | - A. Piedra | | - P. T. Muiño | | - D. Arroyo | | - K. Domagalski | | - N. Silva |
A spanish reporter interviewed me before the race asking me what were my goals for the season and what i thought of Bidinha. I answered that i wanted to contribute with good results on flatter and cobble classics and time trials, while Bidinha is a guy for short climbs who can improve a lot.
On this stage race i wanted to support our sprinter and make a good time trial on the last day, upgrading my shape to the next races.
Stage 1
The first stage had some small climbs but with no big difficulty. I'm the best roulleur on the team but i am also the second faster rider so i might be needed to stay with Lasca until the final meters of the race.
The World Tour teams were favorites with Vacansoleil bringing Van Poppel and Feillu, Qatar Airways (who got the licence of IAM) with Goddaert and Pelucchi and Origa GreendEdge with Kruopis.
There i was at the start of a rainy day in the middle of the pros!
With Vacansoleil and Qatar Airways doing the work on the peloton, we placed Piedra on the break and he got the first mountain points.
Our team was really aggressive and as soon as Piedra's group was caught, De La Fuente went on the attack alone. This time the chasers let him go and he got almost 6 minutes as well as the other mountain points.
But when they got him back, our team formed our train with Lasca on my wheel.
When we got to the final km Qatar Airways and Vacansoleil seemed unreachable. I gave everything to get Lasca to the front...
But Goddaert took the win, while Lasca was 4th. I got a 9th place to myself what is really good.
Stage Results
| 1 | Kristof Goddaert | Qatar Airways | 3h18'05 | | 2 | Danny Van Poppel | Vacansoleil - DCM | s.t. | | 3 | Matteo Pelucchi | Qatar Airways | s.t. | | 4 | Francesco Lasca | Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | s.t. | | 5 | Romain Feillu | Vacansoleil - DCM | s.t. | | 6 | Mathieu Drujon | BigMat - Auber93 | s.t. | | 7 | Adrien Petit | Qatar Airways | s.t. | | 8 | Anthony Roux | FDJ.fr | s.t. | | 9 | Nenad Silva | Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | s.t. | | 10 | Bob Jungels | RadioShack - Leopard | s.t. | | 11 | Pim Ligthart | Vacansoleil - DCM | s.t. | | 12 | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil - DCM | s.t. | | 13 | Simone Ponzi | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 14 | Armindo Fonseca | BigMat - Auber93 | s.t. | | 15 | Mark Renshaw | Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela | s.t. |
I was satisfied with my work today. A 4th place is a good result against this sharks from World Tour. I know Lasca wants better and i think he will do better. The team was very active and the director is happy. |
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| kimiopn |
Posted on 08-09-2013 22:26
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Etoile de Besseges Stage 2
On the second day in France the stage was harder but still a sprint was expected. Our strategy would be put again someone on the break to fight for the KOM. Lasca needed be protected and then try to make it hard for the pure sprinters on the final climbs.
Piedra jumped off the peloton to get the first place on the 2nd category climb.
Remy Cousin who joined an almost dead Piedra won the second mountain sprint. Still my team mate secured the mountain jersey by 4 points.
And with a much harder finale than yesterday Astana joined the party. Again i had Lasca on my wheel for now. Arroyo and De La Fuente were pushing us to the front.
When Gavazzi started to sprint i got blocked by Taborre!
Poux almost got Gavazzi but the italian got the win. Lasca was 5th and i was 10th.
Stage Results
We are getting near to the front but still the win escaped us. Piedra will try to hold the KOM jersey and we're keep trying to give our sprinter a win. Two top ten places for me give me motivation despite my personal result is not what matters. |
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| MrTeamSky |
Posted on 08-09-2013 23:25
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Stagiare
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Just missed out on a podium. KOM Well done
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| baia |
Posted on 09-09-2013 08:29
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Win will come... nice result for Nenad...
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 09-09-2013 17:08
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Tour de France Champion
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A couple of good performances from Francesco |
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