Nelso Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) confirmed his status as the leading Portuguese time triallist when he defended his title after a close battle with Tiago Machado (Katusha). The defending champion was 4 seconds faster than his rival while José Mendes (Bora-Argon 18) was 47 seconds behind in third.

Oliveira rose to fame when he won silver at the 2009 U23 World Championships but has had a hard time at the pro level. He made massive progress last year when he seemed to have rediscovered his time trialling form, finishing 7th at the Worlds and winning both his national TT and road race title.

However, he was up against an in-fom Machado who has also returned to his former level in the TTs and it all came down to matter of seconds on the 36km course in Braga. In the end, Oliveira's time of 44.05 was 4 seconds faster than Machado's, allowing him to take the jersey for the second year in a row.

While Oliveira shone, his teammate Rui Costa delivered a poor performance as he could only manage 8th, 2.24 off the pace.

Oliveira won't defend his road race title on Sunday and it will be left to Costa to defend the Lampre-Merida colours in that race.