Portuguese cyclist Rafael Reis (Sabgal-Anicolor) won the prologue in Agueda yesterday to take the first yellow jersey of the 85th stage of the Volta a Portugal. The Setubal cyclist won the Tour prologue for the sixth time: he won in 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The victory for 32-year-old Rafael Reis was a solid one. He covered the 5.6km streets of Agueda in 6.48.046 minutes, 40 hundredths of a second slower than the Dane and his teammate Julius Johansen. Third, six seconds behind, was Tyler Stites of North America (Echelon Racing).
The prologue saw no significant differences in times between the cyclists in contention for the overall victory. Mauricio Moreira was ten seconds slower, while 2023 winner Colin Stussy (Team Vorarlberg) was 22 seconds slower. The unlucky candidate of the day was Abner González (Efapel Cycling). The Puerto Rican broke his bike early in the prologue and lost more than a minute when he restarted the race.
Rafael Reis wears the yellow jersey of the leader on the first consecutive stage of the 85th Tour of Portugal, which today connects Sangalhos with Miranda do Corvo. The cyclists set off at 13:30 from the Sangalhos High Performance Centre and after 158.2 km reach the finish at the Vila Nova Observatory, a first-class climb: 9.9 km with an average gradient of 8.3%. Before that, they have to overcome three moving stages (Cantanhede, Montemor-o-Velho and Condeixa-a-Nova) and a second-category climb.
Author: Luis Oliveira
Source: CM Jornal
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