Who can stop Evenepoel from winning Volta ao Algarve? – Domestique Cycling Podcast

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From Tour de la Provence in France to Tour of Oman, the peloton is preparing themselves for the big targets later this season. Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) wrote history with his earliest season opener ever, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) casually demolished the opposition in Portugal. Don’t forget, we’re only February! And we haven’t even talked about the mudfest in Clásica Jáen. We can review a lot, but previewing what’s happening this week is as important. Be prepared for Volta ao Algarve thanks to this new Domestique Cycling Podcast episode!

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I’ve Got The Spar the sickness there’s be twins in my brain what a time to be a cycling fan everywhere you watch there are races on screen from France to Oman The Paton is preparing themselves for the big Targets later this season W fard wrote history with his earliest season opener ever rco

Evol casually demolished the opposition in Portugal don’t forget we’re only February and you haven’t even talked about the Mudfest in Classen we can review a lot but previewing what’s happening this week is as important a lot to talk about let’s dive right into it for today’s episode I’m joined by

Ethan hi Ethan how are you hello hello it’s a pleasure to be back again today it was very fun weekend of cycling I enjoyed it specifically Saturday domestic live was hectic very hectic and then all the other races tweeting at the same time is quite fun I I heard you had

A lot of fun watching tour of Colombia earlier this week as well how attractive was that race and more importantly how legendary was the lad on the coms uh the race in my opinion is it was World Tour level really um the passion on from the fans the racing was just nonstop but

Yeah that commentator poof I think d i what’s his I don’t know what his name is but he works for ESPN I think and he started singing during the Sprint I was like what and then I remember watching One Stage uh the one that Osio won if I recall

Correctly and that guy on the coms just went Loco it was insane he’s going 9 Man 9 Man 9 man we’re at the start of a busy racing week once again let’s dive into the vaa oara Alara a onewe stage race in Portugal the start l start list isn’t

Confirmed yet but there are some interesting names on the provisional version isn’t it yeah very interesting um but all expecting to see the superstars of wow and REM Cod there if they turn up if wow turns up but also what interests me is the young GS the

Young Guns have really shine this year uh provisionally Mardo there at his home race yeah what he’s going to be one to watch let’s dive a bit deeper into the Riders participating in the race starting off with Bora anro um the most important names are Danny Martinez and

Maybe jardi M for the one Sprint stage in there what do you expect from Donnie Martinez it’s his first race um in B colors isn’t it uh or was he already in there last year the N uh he joined them this season in 2024 so yeah I’m interested to see how

Daniel Martinez will do it with within b h I think he may was a Podium to GC in this race in my opinion the time shers well is not that bad himself at time TR is he let’s be honest as well um as well there’s 8% Punchy bit

You should like that yeah um Sita and maximan had a bit of a shocker season in 2023 is their time to bounce back um and they can start immediately in Algarve there are some Punchy stages in there do you see some opportunities for aita to get close to a stage

Win I don’t know you know because Remco is there isn’t he and renco is just going to be a menace let’s be honest uh the chances EPO said that stage five is going to be one to watch if anyone is to get it apart from Remco if R go a big

Gap yeah I have to I have to agree uh we saw um some other fast men on the start list starting off with Arnold dear herbin T is in there as well uh I don’t really know it I think all the stages are too difficult for T even the the easier one

Is still pretty difficult with quite a lot of altitude meters same story for dear um but yeah it’s top favorite W fard for two stages maybe but wow definitely for sure oh Warren sheld could be one to watch I like Warren sh but um didn’t he crash in

Alia if I remember correctly I saw his his suit was was quite uh yeah yeah so let’s hope he doesn’t oh Magnus Co how you yeah but doesn’t it have to be a little bit harder the the stages like he can get in the break in stage five and get that win

Maybe if the break gets freedom but in a reduced bench print Martin Court can’t beat vanard I suppose he wouldn’t be able to be really would or the out of the four is I think that’s the EPO said the headwind is going to be on there

Yeah so maybe he could have a shout there two stage wins last year from him as well in this race with the points classification um he said as well that he was he’s been sick since messages so yeah you want to watch I wrote them I wrote down some attackers attacking

Minet Riders as well uh start over ruie Costa and then we have Ben Healey as well who had a Stell season last year and is yeah has to show it’s not a onee Wonder but probably not then Sheffield is back as well um I’m pretty excited to

See him um why um if I remember correctly Josh um mentioned he would make a shift towards um being a GC Rider it’s a Pity in my opinion because the guy um has a lot of is promising in the classics he he has so much power two

Years ago in braon spell or was it one year ago he was so strong but yeah like EPO said attackers attackers don’t really get chances in Algarve um but a lot will depend on eveno and his advantage in the general classification yeah it’s basically if Remco Wants to Be a Menace that’s what

I’m saying he could will be a menace and what about seus he performed very strong in hen today does he get a GC chance in algar it depends on W I think in my opinion um it depends on the time trout as well that’s why I’d

Say Kus or Vader because Vader was the leader in two down end but they will surely play V wasn’t in V wasn’t in particularly good form in to down under yeah he wasn’t but still they they tried to use him as a leader there so the team believes believe it yeah

Definitely then inas we already talked about Sheffield but they are putting in a Stella team with arensman Pitcock jine Thomas and then Ghana that team is except exceptionally strong but who is their main leader is the question hcock I’d say it’s difficult I don’t know it’s not like hard know Thomas is

It no and arisman is is more of a a guy who needs a lot of kilometers to to get his engine a bit warmer and he maybe need some longer climbs yeah it could be pit Pitcock won a a mountain bike race on Sunday so the guy is so talented in

Everything he does but I’m curious to see how he will develop as a GC Rider because it’s his big big ambition so I wonder what he’s going to show us in Al then even a pool let’s not talk about him um right now but then T hegen har his first race within tack

Little track colus what do you expect from the Brit I’m expecting big things really I reckon in this race a Podium for him is on the cards time Trav will be very nice for him as well if he’s able to produce the efforts after that long

Layoff as well which is going to be interesting yeah I’m curious to see how he he recovered from that nasty injury it’s his first it’s first racing com competition kilometers so I think it’s most importantly import yeah important that he gets the right feeling back the good

Feeling back and just get used to riding in a peltin again um his big Target is the tour to France um is he able to get on that podium in Paris or at the end of the tour uh top five I’d say is the threshold I dep Little’s team is quite

Good isn’t it now as well so he has a bit he has a lot of domestic help as well there oh yeah top five I’d say I’m I’m curious to see how it will develop um last but not least we have UAE team Emirates um isak deloro is added on the

Professional list I just noticed it’s only one hour ago he was added so that’s very interesting besides besides deloro there is bonini who I expect a lot from this season uh within UAE and then Mark Hy it’s a a team with a lot of quality a lot of youngsters again deloro SL

Morgado but not their main leaders being AO Almeida and Pacha it’s yeah they give a lot of chances to their to their Young Guns early season UA yeah that’s what I’m noticing as well n madoo there provisionally Yang Christ and is I think this is his first R of the Year another

One kid out of about 20 f t yeah it’s I love is deu and I also love Morgado and I hope Morgado gets his win pretty soon because the guy is so Punchy so good he was I remember that Sprint in the world the junior against h

That was insane that Sprint with that Cadence that’s something that will stay in my mind for a long time yeah it was nice to see the figur a classic as well he was doing attacking attacking attacking the same in toan under as well he just never gives up and I like that

From a rider and maybe one more guy Andreas Le is back within the Norwegian Squad Inox what do you expect from him from from Andreas I’m not really sure to be honest here but a top 10 I’d say for him yeah for me for me

He’s quite a an enigma I don’t know if it’s a word in English yeah that’s yeah that’s he he started his season in lari finished um anonymously 4th then went to it B and his best result is 40 43rd in the second stage the first stage was

Cancelled so it’s not like he has a a stellar opening few races but yeah I don’t know what to expect from it was a very nice transfer though for unox um Leon showed he’s pretty promising um he’s pretty good guy so yeah looking C curious to

See what’s the how it will go for him yeah especially as well unox like to attack always on the front of the Paton so we’re going to be seeing a lot of him I think that are the most important names that I um took out of the provisional

Starting list do you have some other names that we have to watch out for uh young Kristen and Magnus c those are my two picks I’m picking them too I remember you said in the groups chat and on Discord uh Lar Boven as well Lo Boven

As well me and de have been impressed by him he’s in some very nice form he’s um in the figuro as well he was in that Bunch behind R yeah very crazy and then on lofy he was again just displaying stuff that he shouldn’t be doing really yeah

He had a a very good start of the Season he finished sixth in the second stage in Down Under third in the fourth stage and then 10th on lofty and then fourth in in the figuera Champions classic so the guy is only 22 years old I think Alon has a

Gem in their squads um and it’s a he’s so strong but in that team we have the zwift master Luca ver galito that guy I adore him I adore zift Riders those guys are monsters they can produce so much uh what per what per kilo that ratio is so ratio is so

High I think algar is not um difficult enough for vergal I see him more as a yeah a really tough long climb but I don’t know him that good so it’s a bit like the T Down Under when he was there that’s what I’d say yeah so yeah he in

The dudan under he started quite slowly but then on Mount lofty he finished 15th so but he already has quite a lot of racing days he started in it best as well so he just uh wants to raise a lot early season I supposed that’s what you want though really pick up the

Kilometers on the bike hit your Fitness and then go from there besides the start list the parkour has a healthy mix of everything sprinters most likely will get their chance on one occasion maybe two but I doubt it and time time Tri try list God

Damn it uh K the chance as well how tough will this be how how tough will this one week stay J be um for everyone else apart from Remco let’s be honest it’s going to be very tough to beat him I’m I keep repeating myself but yeah it’s impossible to beat

Him I think generally yeah he’s yeah he’s the main favorite by a mile certainly after his 55k Solo in figuera but still he still has he has to do it there were a couple of nasty stages um in Alara um but I have to agree he’s the main favorite and others

Have to come up with something to beat him I don’t know what what or how but they have to try something the second stage consists of an uphill finish with the alto deoya as earlier mentioned a 7.5 km climb with an average gradient of 5.9% um there is um headwind predicted

So it will be difficult for the attackers it doesn’t look too hard neither 5.9% average isn’t Skyhigh but note that the last 35 km go up and down with several classified climbs and a bonification Sprint do we expect firework in that stage and will we see some GC action for

The B bonification Sprint close to the Finish or do you think uh most of the teams will write quite defensively um in the second stage I’d say defensive they’re just going to be waiting for the time TR aren’t they let’s be honest all the teams who are

Not competing for the GC let’s say they may try something but the juice Bunch up the hill if you want to beat rol in you have to use the stage I think anyos will try something on this stage that’s I think oh yeah they have pitock who’s quite fast at the

Line as well yeah yeah I hope teams try to do something because if they wait till the time trial then even the pool is just yeah going to cruise towards the general classification win so the penultimate stage is one for the strong time TR list it’s only 22k but it’s

Quite lumpy with uphill section of 8% the big question is who’s going to win even poool Ghana or maybe B no it’s rco territory person especially after his effort on Saturday that’s um his TT XY effort there was but Gana inos have a lot of guys there

Arensman if it was a bit longer for him then it would be good for him Stefan Kung is provisionally there yeah V he needs to do something this season I think w f yeah think about that one you didn’t think about that one w against rco o I still think what would finish

Buying Ghana so then it’s rco GNA vote for you yeah and then Kung Bas behind interesting because like the start list is pretty nice for the time tril a lot of interesting names and curious to see how it turn out will this time Tri be deciding for the general

Classification considering the L of it it’s going to be enough to create big enough time gaps I think yeah and that there like there’s no particularly long climb that will create like a two minutes three minutes like you know man where there’s the Green Mountain coming up yeah

Wednesday I have to agree um the race organizer in Portugal decided to end um alar on a high a Mountaintop finish on alto the Mal how a 2.5 km climb with the average gradient of 9.8 that’s hella steep mate is hella steep this could be for step step CO as

Well I like it look at that se for this that’s sexy like I just the name pops up in my uh on my screen Andrea Bui for little track the guy had a stellar Autumn classic season um at the end of 2023 was very strong and the stages in

Alara suit him when he’s lucky yeah I think so as well it’s all about if you if he follows the wheel he’ll be perfectly fine or if he wants to go on attack yeah the buildup towards that final climb um the Mal how is Lumpy again from

Start to finish EPO said it’s might be the most interesting stage um of the week um some teams will try to go Rogue and take the lady leader Jersey away from sudal quickstep problem is sudal quickstep is bringing provisionally a pretty strong Squad it’s pretty strong let’s say very strong with katano nox

Landa SII vanu and verva this is almost their grand tour Squad verva gets in the grand Tours l katano so all those guys are just yeah there to protect eveno at all costs he literally is like practice for the to of friends let’s be honest yeah besides alar rut Soul kicks off as

Well this week um I watched the provisional start lists and it’s going to be mainly bahin victories against UAE team members buo PS kuso hake versus AO Wellens Micah and Soler do you expect a USU to be ready right from the gun he started today in high as well um dropped

Was dropped from the bunch in the the law in in the finale do you think he’s ready to fight for the rut GC gcn right away it’s going to be very difficult with the Riders out there but personally if I was to choose anyone out of there

Buto yeah he was very strong in what was the race again Val valenciana yes yeah he was up the what was it called that really really deep clim by and vov he was very impressive there if he didn’t get caught out on his radio he probably could have done something yeah

In Lorenzo for tonato makes his debut for aana Kazakhstan it’s um his first alting um in World Tour cus what do you expect expect from Fortunato this season it’s not a guy we talked a lot about um in earlier podcasts he won um a mighty stage in the

Jro for aolo coma um two years ago do you expect him to break through within aana and get a stage hunter in the high mountains or because his time trial is sorry for the uh stage hter in my opinion that’s what I’d go with so like going for the

Km jerse in a to the front or something yes something along those lines or just going to breakway WIS all right uh sorry I I lost it as if two onewe stage races Aren’t Enough two Des marimar is on the menu as well one thing I’m interesting to see there how will

Padun perform in the colge of katech Vin fantini why did I pick out padun because that guy might be the weirdest cyclist I know in the current pettin he has uh once in a year a crazy exploit that you say that guy is insane but besides that one performance

He performs literally nothing so that’s what I was going to say you know as well because ever since the what 2020 on to of France that guy was in poof I don’t know how many breakaways maybe 10 minimum you just always you could you would always see him

There and um but you not really heard of him since no uh I heard he I I’ve read an article last year saying he has trouble with keeping his weight um low enough um that is difficult for him to keep that weight as low so yeah maybe it’s a mental thing of

Course he’s um Ukrainian so it’s probably not um easy to be Ukrainian um at this moment and for the last couple of years but like last year he was strong in copy bartali um where hey won or Schmid won um apologies but was very strong as well and then I remember which

Year was it again from padun that he went crazy in a time trial uh Grand Camino 2022 um that time trial was 15.8 kilomet long and 208 alude met and just yeah the guy won that time TR that was so weird I don’t know what his odd

Was um on the batting sides but probably quite High yeah as the word you were saying earlier is an enigma yeah it’s uh let’s hope he finds his form back in the colors of kchf fantini anything you want to add Ethan for today’s domestic cycling podcast uh Luke lamberty and tour of a

Man that’s I have to say is he has produced some crazy efforts and I’m now seeing people tip him for Manan Rog yeah I what about Paul man that guy as well he is crazy ever since daa told me about him I was like I’m investing in him now he look

Like doesn’t he six weeks ago let’s be honest who was Paul man I didn’t know him you you really had to be a yeah a strong fan and really had to look into the junior ranks to know who he was but that guy and the whats he

Produced and did posted the thread again or a post on on our domestic account those wats to get that win um earlier today on the the 12th of February that was insane that guy it’s crazy and it’s it’s a compliment to all of quick step’s recruitment really they’ve got it spot on

Yeah there were a lot of doubts about the the suda quickstep Squad that they lost um a lot of quality but like we only the 12th of February and sud quickstep surprised me massively surprised everyone I there yeah yeah yeah it’s very nice to see it’s nice to

See as well the classics are going to be interesting to watch for them with those rers up there one last thing I want to add is lot keki is a climber she yeah how can I compare that Lotto kopeeki is known as someone who’s very strong in the Flemish Classics in the

Theond v vandon Etc and she said um at the start of the season I want to discover myself as a climber so a climb 10 15 K long and see how far I get in the UAE T woman the penultimate stage there there was a an uphill finish um

And I think the the main favorite that day was gini she weighs less than 50 kilos I assume and yeah Kopi with her yeah composition of her body that’s completely different than a climber just out climbed everyone it gave me a little bit of V fard Vibes on

Vtu it’s like can compare it with that um performance was it on head her feet yeah that’s it’s that’s insane and that’s she she says she wants to try and do something and the France F she did pretty well uh let’s say in 2023 um only

Voling um got in front of her for the yellow Jersey so I’m really curious to see uh what she will do um climbing wise this season it’s an important year for her as well with the Olympics um on the track so yeah a lot of interesting things already um in this

Early season in those first weeks so yeah let’s dive right into it keeps on coming doesn’t it yeah next Sunday uh as yeah not this one next one so yeah I can’t wait Kun bruss Kun is in that weekend as well blant and then only a few more

Until the Ronda I’ll be uh roadside at the Ronda and a Finish Line I can’t wait for that oh that’s going to be insane that’s going to be insane mate it will be a crazy atmosphere Pon win we will be there all right so we know who’s I have

Talk who your pick is about Matt Pon what this week that’s one more thing yeah go ahead what did Matt Peterson do just Annihilation that win he did on the his third win Marco Faro was alone I think the 10 kilomet and then Matt pennison was in

The chasing group behind and just claing claing claing it back with no help no one was helping him it got to like 1 km to go Marco Freo looked like he was going to win but mat pson was on the front it was like a fishing reeling him

In reeling him in and then he just goes Bo and beats Axel zingle and spring as well it was one of the crazy to be honest it gave me some uh mat vpol Vibes I believe that as well I was instantly flashback today yeah doing all

The work crawling the the front guy in and then and do such a Sprint after such a hard day yeah the guy is in a crazy form but he’s always very strong in those French opening races the guy I think his his base level he’s very good whole season long like

Last year we saw him from the French opening class races in Bes to the worlds he was there he was so good so let’s hope he can Peak at the right moment and be in the mix for the win in the Rand or rub I think he will be happy with one of

The two if he was to choose one I’d say You’ choose R wouldn’t it I think yeah I think so yeah and he could definitely win that easily yeah if he has the luck on his side then he’s a a strong Contender for to be in you need a lot of

Look in RUP yeah as I know playing pro cycling manager as always I can never win that race par R is horrible maybe one last thing I think it’s her third last thing or fourth last thing o loano Cen what did the guy do he went in the

Went in attack mode pretty early and then yeah just didn’t want the the peltin to come back and solo towards the win it’s his third professional win if I recall correctly and it’s it’s third time he finishes solo what about him and the penaton was a bit stupid today

Let’s be honest wasn’t it giving him all of that space you see you see him up the road and then you’re like they’re like what but his paru Bay Chan now have gone down like a off a cliff they’re not going to let him go are they but the

Movie star has been somehow getting everything spot on I don’t understand what’s going on well I don’t think they’re making a Netflix series this season so probably that’s why they doing it right this time yeah is they’re actually doing things is what you like to see if only Quintana can do it but

Yeah they had a pretty strong season with Will Barta taking that um breakway win as well Ando showing some good form early season as well Ivan Romeo as well for movie star 20 years old he’s been a guy to watch yeah I have to agree all right see you next time for another

Domestic cycling podcast a big thank you to our audience for tuning in if you enjoyed the episode consider supporting us on Kofi link is in the description and if you’re on YouTube hit subscribe and turn on notifications we appreciate your support and look forward to seeing

You next next time adios thank you I’ve got the spck twins in my brain