Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung left the Volta a Portugal on the last day making its presence felt. Gerald Ciolek sprinted to fourth on the stage after Ferekalsi Debesay spent a considerable amount of time off the front attacking the race.
Sergio Pardilla wins stage four (Photo: Volta a Portugal)
Debesay recovered from illness earlier in the week to be included in the day’s escape. The break was made of up Hugo Sancho (LA Alumínios – Antarte), Arkaitz Duran (Efapel – Glassdrive), David Gutierrez (Rádio Popular – Onda), Paul Poux (Sojasun) and Sébastien Duret (Bretagne – Séché Environnment).
With the stage only 130 kilometres long taking place on a circuit in Viseu, the break was never allowed to get ahead by more than 2 minutes. As time went on, riders dropped back to the peloton until Poux and Sancho were the last left in front. However, Caja Rural and OFM Quinta da Lixa left nothing to chance and once it was all together with 20 kilometres to go, they set a fierce pace to discourage anyone from attacking.
Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung moved into position with 10 kilometres to go in a bid to set up Ciolek for the sprint. The German was led out by compatriot Martin Reimer in the last kilometre and narrowly missed out on a podium place to finish fourth.
The end of the race marked a highly successful week by the team after Sergio Pardilla won the first mountain stage and held the race lead for four days. Ciolek finished in the top ten on two stages with Jaco Venter and Ignatas Konovalvas finishing in the top 20 of the individual time trial stage.
“I think it was a super week for us,” sports director Jens Zemke said. “This is one of the hardest races on the calendar and we won one of the hardest stages and kept the yellow jersey for four days. The team spirit was great and the guys were really professional. This race is always well organised and everyone could see the support we bring to our riders too, with our sports nutritionist and high performance coaches present to support the riders. The guys can be proud of what we achieved this week,” Zemke concluded.
Alejandro Marque (OFM – Quinta da Lixa) won the general classification after taking over the lead on the penultimate day in the time trial.
Race information: www.volta-portugal.com
Volta a Portugal (Portugal) – (August 7-18 / UCI 2.1): Dennis van Niekerk (RSA), Ferekalsi Debesay (ERI), Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU), Gerald Ciolek (GER), Jaco Venter (RSA), Jay Thomson (RSA) Johann van Zyl (RSA), Martin Reimer (GER), Sergio Pardilla (ESP)
Staff: Jens Zemke (Directeur Sportif), Dr Jarrad Van Zuydam (Doctor), Dr Rob Child (Nutrition), Trevor Court (Performance Coach), Basti Büffel (Soigneur), Hagen Bernutz (Soigneur), Casper Bester (Mechanic), Daniele Nieri (Mechanic), Francesco Bonnini (Bus Driver)
