Spanish OFM/Quinta da Lixa rider Delio Fernandez won the third stage of the Tour of Portugal Liberty Seguros into Fafe today.

Providing a rather bizarre ending to the stage, Fernandez made a late kick in the uphill sprint and just managed to catch teammate Alejandro Marque who had made a late attack inside the final kilometre. No one managed to overtake Marque and so it was a 1-2 for OFM in their big home race

The victory celebrations, therefore, were rather mute as the team seemed to ponder whether to take pride in Fernandez’ victory or bemoan Marque’s loss.

"It is the goal of the team to get wins,” Fernandez said after the award ceremony according to the race website. “This was the first victory in this Tour and we are very pleased with this situation. We have several strong men, this victory was mine, but it might as well have been Veloso or Marque who were also very close to achieving this at the end of the stage. The most important work was done by Marque whose attack in the last kilometre enabled me to counteract. Our goal is to strive for the yellow jersey and three men are in a position to achieve this objective so we will study our options," explained Delio Fernandez.