Rui Sousa (Radio Popular) bounced back from a poor start to the Volta a Portugal when he won today's queen stage of the race. The veteran was overjoyed to have conquered the race's landmark climb in dominant fashion.
Going into the Volta a Portugal, Rui Sousa was one of the big favourites but in the first mountain stages, the Portuguese has been slightly off the pace. Today he finally found his best legs when he completely dominated the queen stage in the biggest race of his season.
Knowing that he had to make up a lot of time to win the race overall, Sousa attacked from afar on the final climb and constantly gained time on race leader Gustavo Veloso who found himself isolated in the chase group. Only Veloso’s teammate Delio Fernandez could keep up with Sousa and first when he dropped back to assist his leader, Veloso started to stabilize the situation.
Sousa held on to take a big solo win while Veloso finished fourth, having responded to the attacks inside the final kilometre. He limited his losses sufficiently to retain his leader’s jersey with just three stages to go.
"This is undoubtedly the most beautiful stage of the Volta a Portugal," Sousa said. "To win again is a dream come true because it is the reward for all the work I did this year.
"After 17 years as a professional, it is wonderful still to be able to win the most spectacular stage of the Volta."
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