The new life of the Volta a Portugal begins today | back to Portugal
The W5 Edições 2 clear years of FC Portugal – the last nine even clearer since the partnership with Porto. For 2022, there is no W52. There is no FC Porto. There are also no cyclists who have been the chronic candidates for triumph, including the current two-time champion, Amaro Antunes.
the case of doping the place the northern team is still with the activity to investigate, so, for now, by order of the International Union, there is no certain – not even with suspension-free cyclistsas was the case with Amaro Antunes.
And the extent of this web of dopingsince the Judiciary Police made new searches in the last few hours, this time to other relevant teams in the Volta: Efapel, Boavista and Glassdrive.
There is, therefore, a new Volta a Portugal. Is Return with less individual valuethat W52-FC Porto presented luxurious squads for the national reality, but also, in theory, with more competitiveness.
On the road, it will be a Lap without a “boogeyman” capable of controlling the race step by step. But it will be, on the other hand, a Return without the permanent posture of those who can “burn” several good-level cyclists in attacks – that too step yes, step yes.
In short, this will be a different Tour – and this Thursday until the 15th will look for the better.
Glassdrive and others
This tour will have, as usual, a modest foreign contingent. There is no World Tour team and there are only four continental ones, as well as the second tier of world cycling. Unlike the Volta ao Algarve, the national competition will therefore have to settle for Portuguese cream. – and even this one is, as is well known.
Glassdrive brings, in theory, the most prepared block to succeed the W52-FC Porto, not least because it has the two main candidates for triumph: Frederico Figueiredo and Maurício Moreira.
One of the great curiosities is to understand how the team will manage the status of the two cyclists, until they propose different valences for the race: Figueiredo, who arrives at Volta in good shape, will have to buy time on the mountain, although he defends himself better and better in the time trial, while Moreira, strong in the “chrono”, may be less daring in mountainous terrain. And the Uruguayan arrives at this race after some health problems.
On a second level of favoritism, there are two classics called Alejandro Marque, from Tavira, and Vicente Garcia de Mateos, from Louletano (it was the best of national teams in the Volta ao Algarve, at the beginning of the year), and a trio of Portuguese who, if they fulfill the intentions of sports director José Azevedo, they will be able to do anything for Efapel: Joaquim Silva, Henrique Casimiro and Tiago Antunes.
At this level there are still two foreigners. Kyle Murphy, an important American from Human Powered Health, who in 2022 added two important places in the top-35 at important moments (GP Industria and GP Miguel Industriain) and another without first-rate results in races, but who is adding some of importance in secondary races, such as the Volta a Portugal. We are talking about Serghei Țvetcov, a Romanian from Wildlife Generation who has already won five championship titles. And the fight against the clock could be relevant in this Lap.
Innovative path
The race begins and ends with “chronos”: a first, short (5.4 kilometers), in Lisbon, which will give the yellow best time trialer the shirt (Rafael Reis is the most obvious candidate), and one to close, more long obvious (18.6), in Porto.
Between one “chrono” and another we will have nine stages for all tastes, but with a clear concern of the organization to reduce the weight of hard terrains – there are seven fewer mountain counts than in 2021 and only three high arrivals.
In addition to the usual climbs to the Tower (step 3) and Senhora da Graça (step 9), there will be an unprecedented climb to the Vila Nova Wind Farm Observatory, in the municipality of Miranda do Corvo. We are talking about a day with the potential to be fun, as it is a climb with almost ten kilometers at 9% slope and with a final zone of 1.7 to 12%.
Also contrary in 2021, to the existence, in theory, of four days to sprinters (steps 1, 2, 6) and a diahybrid” (step 8), with a rocky ending that will surely seduce perforators or versatile sprinters.