Gustavo Cesar Veloso (W52) confirmed his position as the strongest rider in the Volta a Portugal when he won the time trial on the penultimate day of the race. The Spaniard beat Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural) by 26 seconds and so extended his overall lead over Joni Brandao to 2.21 on the eve of the final sprint stage.

12 months ago Gustavo Cesar Veloso confirmed that his overall victory in the Volta a Portugal was fully deserved when he took a dominant victory in the time trial on the penultimate day. This year he has maube been even stronger in the Portuguese race and went into the race against the clock with a 14-second lead over his teammate Delio Fernandez while the first rider from a rival team was Joni Brandao (Efapel) who was almost one minute behind.

Everybody knew that the rivals had to gain time on Veloso in the mountains as he was likely to be the best in the TT and he fully lived up to his status as the favourite when he repeated last year’s triumph. Being the final rider down the ramp, he caught his two-minute man Brandao and stopped the clock in 40.41 to beat Jose Goncalves by 26 seconds.

"I have a feeling of mission accomplished but during the race it was 40 minutes of pain. I knew he had tough rivals and could not relax. Today is the first day that I can breathe a little sigh of relief," he said.