Etapa 5. Oliveira do Hospital-Viseu 150.3km, 1.97 k accent

Todays stage was much easier than any of the previous. Our rivals Barbot were knackered after the tit tat (mainly driven by them) of the previous stage. Today I felt good. It was hot (38ºC) but I like the heat. The only challenge is drinking about 1.5-2L of water per hours. If you can manage that you, you can perform well even in extremely hot conditions. I didn't have much to do, just occasionally get water and a brief stint pulling on the front. At the end I felt good, but I punctured about 10km from the end when the peloton was flying along at high speed. I got back on and thought job done, but then there was a series of splits in the bunch on the final decent and I got stuck there... At 90kph and trying to conserve as much energy I wasn't going to bridge that gap! I must have lost a minute or two today.

The race was a sprint finish. Our sprinter Samuel Caldeira came 8th. He was spared from our earlier work which was to mark Barbot which annoyed me, because usually who picks up the tab is I. The race was won by Andrea Guardini

Volta às Terras de Santa Maria (Team Time Trial)

Day One, Stage One:
141km RR

This stage was awful. Some people here felt inconvenienced by the cyclists. I do not like racing when it isn’t appreciated. At the Volta Algarve, in appalling weather we were greeted with heartwarming support. Support is extremely motivating! 


Then there was the hotel. I’ve stayed in this hotel over a period of 6 years and was never treated badly, but now, it seemed snobby. The restaurant was also terrible. The restaurant is a place that is always full, with a car park gleaming with new Porche Panemera’s and BMW X6. The irony was that here too we were well treated in the past. This time they presented us a days old almond cake, while saying they had nothing better… except we checked it out, they had at least twenty other deserts.

In terms of the race, the course was interesting we had 60 k’s that were flat, followed by some interesting climbs. Oh and the roads were shit, full of holes, rocks etc. We had to control the last 40k’s of the race and we did this well. At 20 k’s from the end I punctured in one of the many potholes. I never got back to the front and lost a bit of time. 

Samuel Caldeira did well to get to the end in the bunch, but had an epic crash:

It wasn’t a good stage and our rivals Barbot took another win. Filipe Cardoso won it.

Day Two, Stage One: 
16.8km TTT

We had an early start and a light breakfast before the team time trial. Now people had gone on and on about the hilly, somewhat technical course was. But as it happens the course was straight forward, despite the three round abouts and three hills. The road was wide which proved interesting. As the time trial was out and back, do you cut the corners and how much? There is a lot to gain in cutting corner. Check out a 400m world record and see the "discount" the people in the outer lane are given vs the inside lane.

As it happens, we didn't cut the corners at all.

The team time trial happened to be our first victory of the 2011 season! I was really happy with this, it was a relief after so many second places. It also proved our worth as a team. Not only did we finish in the fastest time (19:00.00) we also finished with all eight riders. We didn't ride perfectly, but we rode extremely well.

Our problem comes in translating work ethic and determination into victories in road races. I wont yet fault our leader, but rather the tactics we use.

We limiting ourselves to riding for one rider. Such a tactic works:

• When others employ the same tactic.
• When you have the strongest rider in the field.
• When you have a pinch of luck to add.

The thing is, this grossly underestimate the opposition and has a huge physical cost. You can ask a rider to do one or two tasks in a race, but not more. 

Day Two, Stage Three:

65km circuit

We had the lead and five cyclists in the top five going into the last stage of this race. But our method to defend this lead was to control the race utterly. And that is what we did.

This race was 10 laps of a 6.5km circuit. The circuit had a hard cobbled climb, a very rough decent, followed by a rough road full of dangerous holes and then more cobbles. The finish line was atop the cobbled climb.

Well, I having lost time on the first stage due to a puncture was put to work, together with Diogo Nunes and Luis Silva to control the first 7.5 laps of the race. Even so I hung on to the second group, just missing the split for the first. The last 2.5 last were in the hands of my team mates. 

They managed the situation so that André Cardoso could keep the yellow jersey that (we) earned in the team time trail.

André won his first pro race and we won the first race of the season. All in all a good weekend.

This weekend the adventures continue with the first round of the Portuguese cup in Albergaria.

Ciao and till next week!

Grande Prémio Costa Azul

Today we raced the first stage of the G.P. Costa Azul. We won the race last year through intermediate of  Samuel Caldeira.

The race was motly flat, with a hill at the end. The hill wasn't a big problem, but the approach was hectic and extremelly dangerous. A massive fight broke out in the bunch, with the usually calm Cabreira of Onda absolutly furious at a rider from Katusha who shouldered his Onda team mate of the road! I escaped the danger, but it was mad, something I have rarelly seen.

I knew the Russians were kamikazi and just avoided them. I don't care if I have to invest a greater effort to stay safe. In fact, that's why I lost time. On the descent into Setubal (the finish) I was in the lead group after bringing my sprinter up to it, but the 80kph descent, the many curves coated with dust from the nearby quarry and finally watching a basque of the Orbea squad.

At the end there was another fight, again the Katusha quad was involved, but this time their opponents were the Spaniards of the Murcia squad. Needless to say the commisars broke it up and gave them time penalties.

On a personal note I felt well, I did a huge amount of good work and everything would have been perfect had it not been for Samuel Caldeira, our sprinter falling 500m from a line... due to a Katusha.

I don't mind the Katusha's I should add! The race was won by an Orbea rider, Jon Aberasturi who benefited from the faster men getting caught up it the crash.

A tough weekend.

I woke late on Friday after a good long sleep in preparation for the stressful weekend ahead. I rained all day and I didn't train. But when I hoped for rain -during a late night track race on an open air track, the weather eased of and of I was sent for a 20k race round the track under floodlights. Because it was dangerous, the track being moist and uneven, I resented doing this at first. But then the adrenaline kicked in and I really enjoyed it. We came away from the race pumping -this would be the best "warm up" party ever before a night out! Alas being the middle of the season such things are out of the question.

The next day after a late night and a lack of dinner we were up at 07:00 for short 86k stage. I felt good to start, but unfortunately for me these feeling were fleeting and I really had to knuckle down to do a half decent job for our sprinter, Samuel Caldeira.

Later that day we had a short hill climb, 3k's long and again I didn't quite deliver. I have a long list of excuses for this, but I imagine that my having the flu last week is the main one. I came in 34th, far bellow my expectations. Sergio Sousa was the winner of the stage in 5:15 m and was 11 seconds faster than my team mate Ricardo Mestre who finished second.

Today we controlled the race for Caldeira, who lay second in GC at 9 seconds as he could potentially win the race if he collected a lot of bonifications by winning the stage and two metas volantes. But we made some errors and it didn't happened. We won the Metas Volantes classification and came in second through intermediate of Caldeira.

I hope to get back tot he form I had before the Volta ao Algarve again rapidly. I though I was well, but I wasn't. But I am motivated to improve.