Davide Malucelli (dea) became a surprise winner of the final stage of the Volta a Portugal when he managed to hold off his own sprinter Davide Vigano on the uphill finishing straight in Lisbon. Gustavo Cesar Veloso (W52) finished safely in the bunch and so defended the title he took 12 months ago.

Earlier this year 21-year-old Davide Malucelli proved his speed when he won a stage in the An Post Ras but apart from that achievement. He has mostly gone unnoticed. Part of the Idea team, his main role has been to work for sprinter Davide Vigano in the sprints and so he has flown under the radar.

Malucelli was expected to play the same role in today’s final stage of the Volta a Portugal whose uphill finishing straight was perfectly suited to Vigano who had already won one stage in the race. However, the lead-out man proved to be stronger than his sprinter as he led his teammate across the line in a 1-2 for the Italian team.

The final stage was a traditional closer of a big national tour as it ended with 6 laps of a flat 6.6km finishing circuit in Lisbon. In the early part of the stage, the pace had been very slow but on the circuits the racing had started for real.

After a four-rider break had animated the stage, it was all back together for the start of the final lap where the W52 was setting a frantic pace. They rode on the front until De Rijke took over just after the passage of the 5km to go mark.

With 4km to go, W52 were back in control but De Rijke just needed a few moments to get organized again. With 3km to go, the Dutchmen had lined four riders out on the front while the rest of the trains scrambled for position in their slipstream.

The first De Rijke rider Taco van der Hoorn swung off just before they passed the 2km to go mark and the next rider was on the front until the flamme rouge where an LA Aluminios rider took a short turn. Then it was race leader who showed impressive strength by powering up the finishing straight to set Samuel Caldeira up for the sprint.

However, Veloso was apparently too strong for his sprinter who stopped his effort as soon as he had hit the front and instead it was the Idea pair and Manuel Cardoso (Tavira) who powered towards the finish line. The two Italians proved to be the strongest while a fading Cardoso was passed by Eduard Prades (Caja Rural) just metres from the line.

Veloso finished safely in the bunch and so secured himself a second consecutive win in the Portuguese national tour, holding a 2.21 advantage over Joni Brandao (Efapel) and 2.28 advantage of Alejandro Marque (Efapel). Having finished in the top 3 in almost every stage, Veloso also won the points competition while Bruno Silva (LA Aluminios) was the best climber. Aleksey Rybalkin (Lokosphinx) was the best young rider while W52 won the teams classification.

One for the sprinters

After yesterday’s time trial, the sprinters were expected to ge tone final chance in the tradition final stage which brought the riders over 132.5km from Vila Franca de Xira to the capital of Lisboa. There was an early category 4 climb but as the race ended with 6 laps of a 6.6km finishing circuit, the fast riders were expectd to battle it out on the uphill finishing straight.

Like always, it was a sunny and hot day when the riders gathered for the start of the final stage. All riders who finished the time trial were present as they headed out for the last neutral ride of the race.

A break is formed

As it is always the case in the final stage of the Portuguese tour, the riders rolled quietly along in the first part of the race. While celebrating their achievements, the W52 set the pace of 30kph and had riders Luis Fernandez, Rui Vinhas and Joaquim Silva lead the peloton over the line in the first intermediate sprint.

As they hit the only climb, the LA Aluminios team came to the fore in a symbolic move that saw Bruno Silva lead his teammates Hugo Sancho and Sergio Sousa over the top before W52 went back to work. The leisurely ride stopped just a few kilometres later when Ricardo Vilela (Caja Rural), Georg Loef (Stuttgart), Stef van Zummeren (Verandas Willems) and Daniel Westmattelmann (Kuota) took off and they already had an advantage of 1.05 at the 60km mark.

The chase gets organized

After 67km of racing, the gap had gone out to 1.30 but that was as much as they would get. Tavira joined forced with W52 to keep the gap between 1.00 and 1.30 for a while. Meanwhile, Westmattelmann beat Van Zummeren and Vilela in the second intermediate sprint.

Loef beat Van Zummeren and Vilela in the final intermediate sprint with 40km to go at a point when the gap was still 1.10. However, they quickly started to lose ground as Tavira and W52 upped the pace. With 25km to go, the gap was 55 seconds and as they entered the final 25km, it was just 25 seconds.

The break splits up

A crash split the peloton which didn’t slow down and so the escapees were forced to respond. The faster pace was too much for Westmattelmann who was dropped.

With 15km to go, the peloton was breathing down the necks of the escapees and so the attacking started when Loef took off. Van Zummeren sat up immediately while Vilela also had to give up after a short fight.

Evgeny Shalunov (Lokoshinkx) attacked from the peloton and made it up to Loef as they started the penultimate lap. However, they had no chance as W52 were now getting help from the Ecuador team and inside the final 10km, it was all back together. Moments later W52 led the group onto the final lap before the bunch sprint decided the race.