"Hopefully we can put it behind us from today and continue with the race" - Volta ao Algarve director looking to move on from stage 1 debacle
Cycling
After the chaos, confusion and controversy that ended stage 1 of the 2025 Volta ao Algarve, race director Sérgio Sousa will be hoping for a much calmer day today. Although the results of the 1st stage were ultimately cancelled, stage 2 continues today in Portugal with the first GC test of the race.
In case you somehow missed it, heading into the final straight for the bunch sprint, a large majority of the peloton took a wrong turning, going off route and being left helplessly on the wrong side of the barriers as INEOS Grenadiers' Filippo Ganna sprinted to the victory almost all on his own. “Unfortunately, a few details went wrong,” says race director Sousa with an understatement, in pre-stage 2 quotes collected by HLN. “It’s not one big mistake, but two or three small mistakes together. The organization and the bikes are responsible for that, but also the riders. They knew the roadbook and we had already given them the right information. Everyone is to blame to some extent.”
Now the dust has settled somewhat, both Sousa and the race itself are keen to move on from the whole debacle. "We didn't have enough signalers to keep everything on track at that specific point. But hopefully we can put it behind us from today and continue with the race," he concludes.
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"I can promise you it's one bike race!"
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 19, 2025
The moment where the peloton went the wrong way during the first stage at the Volta ao Algarve 🫣 pic.twitter.com/yGjOac8vUR
I don’t understand why they couldn’t have just given Ganna the win since he did everything right. Just give everyone the same time and don’t give time bonuses. Canceling the stage is a little extreme.
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- You are completely wrongvappaxbipmv05-04-2025
- Tadej has a little more chance. It will be an exciting race and the most important thing is that no one gets hurt.
maria2024202405-04-2025 - Whatever happens tomorrow... it'll be a hell of a raceslappers6605-04-2025
- Exactly Tadej, the cancer of modern society. Full of good-for-nothing people who gain visibility and importance on social media mocking, humiliating (and worse things) to earn money. But it's the follower's fault, no followers, no "influencers".maria2024202405-04-2025
- Great commentCaralladas05-04-2025
- i’m such a sucker for those group-hug, happy ending moments between competitors, largely because it’s so WASN’T that way in my younger, stronger days. (on that note, i have this hope that somewhere down the road, maybe fifteen or twenty years, a middle aged wout and mathieu will go for a pleasure ride together in flanders, and reminisce about the days when they were the young, strong monsters that stalked the cobbles.)OCexile05-04-2025
- Just like Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Ronde van Vlaanderen was/is NOT on MAX. Get your facts straight.Ben04-04-2025
- You might bounce more for the same power, but not the same speed. Sending 20 kgs over a jump at 20 kph will fly just as far as 10 kgs at the same speed. Again, Galileo demonstrated this.acem8204-04-2025
- So, you're saying that doing a bunch of small hops on a bike is easier if you're heavier? Why do people buy lighter bikes, then? Why do they generally feel better and faster? An appeal to "rhythm" is not helpful either, as the right "rhythm" might be on the lighter or heavier side of things, and as it varies, it's likely a wash either way. Then we are left with the physics truth that it takes less power to lift lighter things than heavier things.acem8204-04-2025
- No, weight doesn't affect the ability to go into the wind at all. It's all CdA vs power at that point. For example, it's "obvious" that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter one. But, absent wind resistance, it's not true (Galileo demonstrated this). An appeal to "obviousness" doesn't matter when the physics is clear. And yes, you have to be able to hold everything else constant, or you can't determine anything! So, imagine a 300 watt rider at 80 kgs with a CdA of 2.0, then imagine that same rider at 70 kgs with a CdA of 2.0. (Assume ideal tire pressure for both, same bike.) Which one can ride over a bumpy road fastest? The lighter one, as he doesn't have to lift as much. That's also why when they test bikes on 5 star cobbled sectors, the MTB goes faster than even a cobble-build road bike. Even though rolling resistance is higher on a flat road, and the CdA is junk, it smooths out the cobbles, allowing the person to not lift as much as they otherwise would.acem8204-04-2025