Gustavo Cesar Veloso underlined his status as the strongest rider in the Volta a Portugal by taking a dominant victory in the time trial. The race leader was pleased to see his teammate Delio Fernandez move into third and thinks the three strongest riders will end on the podium.

A few days ago, Gustavo Cesar Veloso expressed slight concern that he would be unable to hold off Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural) in the final time trial if he didn’t increase his lead in the queen stage. He managed to do so but based on his performance in today’s TT he had no reason to be worried.

Veloso used a great performance in the time trial to underline his status as the strongest rider in the race as he beat his nearest rival Victor De La Parte by a massive 55 seconds to take the stage win and increase his overall lead significantly. Stefan Schumacher (Christina Watches) was a distant third, 1.18 off the mark.

Veloso's teammate Delio Fernandez used the time trial to move into third in the overall stanings and the race leader seemed to be more pleased with Fernandez' performance than with his own.

"I am very pleased because he deserves it," Veloso said. "Basically, I think the three strongest men of the Tour are those who will occupy the first three places.

"I won the time trial, but the Tour will be won tomorrow. I don't like to anticipate events. I won't stand on the podium today. What is clear is that the whole team effort paid off."

Veloso just has to survive one flat stage to be crowned overall winner of the race.