Volta a Portugal (st. 6) / Pologne (st. 3)

Young Colombian gets into 11-man move allowed by the peloton, finishes in second echelon behind winner Ben King (RLY). Abner González now 5th overall.

As the 2021 Volta a Portugal is sadly overshadowed by the ongoing health crisis, with race leader Daniel Freitas (RPB) forced to abandon after an adverse result within his team in the tests carried out this morning, the Movistar Team continues to fight for a good result with its youngsters, again into the breakaway on stage six in the north of the country, from Viana do Castelo to Fafe.

Juan Diego Alba was this time the man trying his luck for the Blues into an 11-man group, soon allowed by new leader Alex Marque’s Atum / Tavira squad. The decisive attacks in the last 25km saw experienced American Ben King (RLY) taking victory ahead of Mackellar (ICA, 2nd), Wirtgen (BIG, 3rd) and Alba, who obtained here a bittersweet, yet notable, fourth place, his best pro result.

The GC did not experience any major changes other than Freitas, with Abner González now in fifth, 1’04” down on Marque and 39″ away from a podium he’ll fight for in the next few days. Thursday’s stage seven should be another one for the break, an open one as the gentle climb of Serra da Nogueira (Cat-3) is tackled on the way to Bragança.

Poland: Einer Rubio enters overall top-ten

There weren’t any big chances, either, at the Tour de Pologne, with Almeida (DQT) still on top of the standings after the inevitable sprint -despite the long 226km from Sanok to Rzeszów- on stage three, won by Gaviria (UAD) as Iván García Cortina wasn’t able to get himself into contention. By position countback, Einer Rubio ranks now 10th overall, the race set to see more changes on Thursday’s mid-mountain stage four -less tough than in previous years- to Bukovina.

RESULTS > Stage 3

Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport