The good streak continues for Caja Rural - Seguros RGA. After Eduard Prades won the opening stage of GP Internacional Beiras e Serra da Estrela, José Gonçalves made it two in a row for the team as he outsprinted Redi Halilaj (Amore & Vita - Selle SMP) to win stage 2 of the race. This is the 27-year-old Portuguese’s second win of the season after he won Tour of Turkey overall earlier this month.

Towards the end of the stage, the organizers had to neutralize the race for a while, as the peloton was led off the course. After the pause, the race was restarted with 15 km to go and the pack all together. Despite a few attempts to distance the peloton, it all came down to a bunch sprint in Fundão. Halilaj opened the sprint but on the final.

50 meters, Gonçalves passed him and won the stage by a bike length.

Luca Wackermann (Nasr Dubai) finished third and he's now the new leader of the race before the last stage. Caja Rural - Seguros RGA’s Ángel Madrazo is second overall and leads the intermediate sprint competition.

“The team worked very well today. We controlled the stage and we attacked a bit to test the strength of the others. At the end, it was up to me to go for the stage. It was a crazy finish but I managed to pay back my teammates for all the hard work they had done during the day. Now, we have to think about tomorrow’s stage and how to win the race overall," Goncalves said.

The third and final stage of GP Internacional Beiras e Serra da Estrela takes place on Sunday. This is also the queen stage of the race as the riders finish on the 10 km long category 1 climb Penhas da Saúde. With an average gradient of 8 %, only the best climbers will be able to fight for the stage win and the overall victory.