The Tower separated the wheat from the chaff in the Volta a Portugal | back to Portugal
Mauricio Moreira (Glassdrive) won the fourth day of the Volta a Portugal this Saturday, winning the climb to the Tower, in Serra da Estrela. The strongest in one that separated the wheat from the trio: Moreira, Frederico Figueiredo (Glassdrive) and Luís Fernandes (Boavista) won early on the climb alone, who are, already triumphed, the only candidates in the stage in the race victory. But they are not all the same.
In the general classification, Mauricio Moreira, runner-up in 2021, is now the owner of the yellow jersey, something that makes him even more favorite to win. This is a runner who not only accompanies Fernandes and Figueiredo on the way up, but will certainly save the two rivals a lot of time in the last day’s time trial – the two Portuguese are passable in the fight against the clock.
All of this took place on a day that could have been the “queen stage” of the Volta, but ended up being a handful of almost nothing, with Glassdrive putting on the road a pace that cooled any offensive intention of anyone.
calm step
It began, as expected, with an attempt by some adventurers to get away, it would certainly prevent them from being happy – they spoke of the main climbers of the Volta. Nine cyclists launched the attack, a collective effort always closely monitored by Glassdrive, keeping the breakout to within two minutes.
The experienced Spaniard Alejandro Marque had here that “without the W52-FC Porto in the competition, the stage could be more uncontrolled, because we are used to them putting a strong pace and reducing the group”.
The forecast of the leader of Tavira was, even so, quite beside the point. The “new W52”, playing a role similar to that of a marking made of glass2. even the yellow himself at the service.
Rafael Reis, who would have known that he wouldn’t keep the yellow one going up to the Tower, lent himself to be the water bearer, going several times to the car to get bottles to supply his colleagues – a very rare image in cycling.
The first mountainous stage of this Tour also brought the curiosity of how Glassdrive’s management would be, having, in theory, the two strongest cyclists in the race: Moreira and Frederico Figueiredo. But the Portuguese had some clues before the stage: “The leader is Mauricio and I’m here to help”. No sooner said than done.
After an initial half by António Carvalho, number 3 of Glassdrive, it was Figueire, number 2, to attack in a main group that was only made up of runners.
With Figueiredo already 35 seconds ahead of the overall standings, Glassdrive knew it could advance the climber for everyone, without this meaning abandoning over a significant period – which will always win time against the clock of the last stage.
Even so, Moreira, who was following behind with Luís Fernandes, had no qualms about chasing his colleague, who also ended up slowing down and waiting for his leader – it was time to do what he had promised: work for the Uruguayan. The three continued up the mountain, always with Luís Fernandes at the wheel of Glassdrive and without attacks until the final 100 meters, when there was more final for Mauricio Moreira, although Fernandes was the one who saved the most.
A stage is scheduled for this Monday, which should end in a compact peloton, with a Sprint in Viseu.