Nathalie Eklund wins prologue of the women’s Volta a Portugal
The experienced cyclist, used to running WorldTour competitions, was known to have not been happy Thursday “like the sensations known by Portuguesa de Cidadão, but still very happy with the victory”.
The Swedish time trial champion, cyclist Nathalie Eklund (Massi Tactic), won this Thursday the 2,900-meter prologue that started the women’s Tour of Portugal in Loures, turned yellow.
The 3-year-old quick chrono specialist did not give the competition a chance1 and completed the distance in 4.16 minutes, six seconds more than a teammate, the Spanish Mireia, with the Portuguese Vera Vilaça (Velo Performance) in third place, a seven.
The experienced cyclist, used to running WorldTour competitions, was known to have not been happy Thursday “like the sensations known by Portuguesa de Cidadão, but still very happy with the victory”.
“I will do my best to keep the yellow jersey, but the most important thing is that the leadership remains with our team, which is very strong”, explains Eklund, teammate of Portuguese Sofia Gomes, second in the 2021 final overall.
Aside from the 2021 time trial title, no other previous champions have been Sweden’s long-distance champions.
Vera Vilaça, who ended up in fourth place in the inaugural edition, tried to “always go to the maximum”, in a “very short and very technical” prologue, and reached third place, the best among the Portuguese cyclists in the race.
If Eklund wears the first yellow jersey of the second edition, the white jersey, from youth, belongs to the French Margaux Martinez (Abadie le Boulou), with the ninth best time in the prologue, while the Spanish Massi Tactic leads by teams.
On Friday, the first of three stages in a line linking Vila Franca de Xira to Torres Vedras after 87.6 kilometres, ending next to the evocative statue of Joaquim Agostinho.
Before the arrival, scheduled for 15:00, the peloton will face a third category mountain count, in Vilar, and two steering wheels, with the wind the influence or the noise of the race.