The 83rd edition of Volta a Portugal by bike starts this Thursday in Lisbon and ends at Vila Nova de Gaia 15. The biggest event in the national cycling comes at a time when the sport is under strong suspicion of the use of banned substances and which hosts the “Operação Prova Limpa”, which has already led to the suspension of W52-FC Porto, a team that has dominated the competition for the past decade, and searches of the homes of athletes who were scheduled to compete in the race.
Due to the absence of W52-FC Porto cyclists, an open race is expected against a team that will dominate the peloton and the winner of the general classification. Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor, despite dropping favorite status, seems to be the team with the most arguments to take on the role of peloton boss, who will be traveling around some points in the country for eleven days. It is in this team that the Uruguayan Mauricio Moreira works, who took second place in last year’s tournament, where Amaro Antunes won, and is noted as the main favorite to win the competition. Even in the same team as another candidate appears Federico Figueiredo. Efapel, led by José Azevedo, will also find the floor and take part in the race along with three Portuguese cyclists: Joaquim Silva, Thiago Antunes and Enrique Casimiro.
The race will start this Thursday at 2:30 pm with a 5.4 km prologue starting and ending at Praça do Comércio. The 1,559.7 km are then spread over ten legs of the route, which is considered to be smoother and with fewer mountain stages than previous editions (see text on the side). The last run is an 18.6 km time trial between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.
18 teams are participating: nine Portuguese, three Spanish, two from the US, one from Venezuela, one from the UK, one from Colombia and one from Angola.
Second stage in Badajoz
This is one of the great novelties of this year’s Volta a Portugal, a small invasion of Spain. The second leg starts on Saturday in the Spanish city of Badajoz. The trip connects a city in a neighboring country with the city of Castelo Branco at a distance of 181.5 km and with a parallel arrival.
Just three high runs
Volta 2022’s ride is smoother than previous releases. Racers will overcome 26 mountain peaks, which is seven less than last year. And there are only three races to the high mountains: in Serra da Estrela (Torre) on Sunday the 7th, in Miranda do Corvo on the 9th and in Señora da Graça on the 14th.
Author: Luis Oliveira
Source: CM Jornal
