Volta a Portugal: Rui Oliveira sprints to biggest road win of his career on stage 10 as Alexis Guérin secures the overall victory
Rui Oliveira timed his sprint perfectly on the cobbled climb to win on home soil on stage 10 of the Volta a Portugal. It was the biggest road victory for the 29-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, best known for his prowess on the track, as he won the gold medal in the Madison at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
Launching the sprint first, Daniel Cavia (Burgos Burpellet BH) finished second and Francisco Campos (Tavira-Crédito Agrícola) was third on Avenida dos Aliados in Porto.
Alexis Guérin (Anicolor-Campicarn) crossed the line safely in eighth and secured the overall victory, The Frenchman took the lead after winning stage 4, and not only successfully defended his position but climbed to victory on stage 9. His teammate Artem Nych finished second overall and Pedro Silva (Feira dos Sofás-Boavista) rounds out the podium.
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Oliveira dedicated his victory to 19-year-old Findlay Tarling who tragically died on stage 8.
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“I just want to give my condolences to Fin’s family, brother, friends, team, everyone. It’s been a rough couple days. I can imagine what they’re suffering, and I said yesterday that I wanted to win for everyone that supported me, but most of all, to Fin’s family and the teammates, this one is for them.”
“I’m so so so happy to to win in my home. I live here from Porto, my club,” added Oliveira as he pointed to his club flag on his shoulders. “And I passed near my home four times. They gave me extra motivation.”
The riders lined up for the final stage in Maia for 136.6 kilometres to Porto. After nearly 100km on open roads, the peloton entered the second-largest city in Portugal to tackle three laps of the finishing circuit.
The break of the day was initiated after some 20 kilometres of racing and included Adam Lewis (APS), Eduardo Perez-Landaluce (Obidos), Viacheslav Ivanov (Feirense-Beeceler), Gaspar Gonçalves (Gi Group Holding-Simoldes-UDO) and César Martingil (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua)
The five riders worked well together, but were only able to get a maximum gap of 1:45 with 81 kilometres to go. With their lead dwindling to 41 seconds, Lewis, Martingil and Ivanov sat up another 40 kilometres later.
Diogo Narciso (Credibom-LA Alumínios-Marcos Car) bridged across to the two riders still up the road at the end of the first lap of the finishing circuit, and then continued on solo, but the Anicolor-led peloton reeled him back in with 13 kilometres to go.
Attacks flew at the front, shelling riders off the back as a big pack sped on the technical final kilometres. In a chaotic finish, the riders spread across the cobbled uphill finish, with Cavia launching first. Oliveira used his slipstream to overtake him and take the victory.
Results
Top 10
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time Gap
1
Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
03:06:35
2
Daniel Cavia Sanz (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH
Row 1 - Cell 2
3
Francisco Campos (Por) Team Tavira /Crédito Agricola
0:00:02
4
Axel Van Der Tuuk (Ned) Euskaltel-Euskadi
0:00:02
5
Jordi Lopez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
0:00:02
6
Artem Nych (Rus) Anicolor/Campicarn
0:00:02
7
Tiago Antunes (Por) Efapel Cycling
0:00:02
8
Alexis Guerin (Fra) Anicolor/Campicarn
0:00:02
9
David Dominguez Vilchez (Spa) Feira Dos Sofás- Boavista
0:00:02
10
Tomas Contte (Arg) Aviludo- Louletano- Loulé
0:00:06
SOURCE: CyclingNews(go to source) AUTHOR: All copyrights for this article, including images, are reserved to the original source and/or creator(s).
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