And on the ninth day, António Carvalho breathed a sigh of relief in the Tour of Portugal. The ABTF Betão-Feirense cyclist was third at the finish at Serra do Larouco and the best Portuguese rider in this eighth stage, having only lost the final sprint to Colin Stüssi, who wore the yellow jersey, and Luis Angel Mate.
“It’s a very important stage for me,” he said. TSF, remembering that he has already won it twice. Accustomed to “always going from less to more in the Volta a Portugal”, he confessed that he was “very, very afraid” of this eighth stage “because it is the next day”.
Only “the legs helped” and António Carvalho ended up managing to gain time on the Russian Artem Nych, who had gone to Larouco in the lead of the general classification. “I’m not going to lie, I started the stage saying that a minute and a half is too much to win the Tour, because I couldn’t go to the final time trial in this time,” he acknowledged.
After all, the balance is positive: he is now 38 seconds behind the Russian. For now, this Friday the arrival in Fafe continues and then, on Saturday, the mythical Senhora da Graça, in Mondim de Basto. But it is in the last stage, in Viana do Castelo, that António Carvalho believes it is possible to hit the race and beat the competition.
That’s what you’ve been preparing for. “I also decided to go train on the ‘goat’ because I have something in mind for the time trial and because I believe a lot”.
In other words, it is in the last 18.2 kilometers of the Tour, run on Sunday, where the key to success may lie: “I’m not saying I’m going to win the Tour, but I think I can get a place on the podium, which was already very well for all the circumstances I’ve been through this month. Let’s see what my legs leave me, I hope they take me to a good place”.
For now, the so-called ‘goat’ – the bicycle for the time trial with which António Carvalho trained on the rest day – is saved for Sunday. Before that, you have to overcome a stage between Boticas and Fafe starting at 3:30 p.m. and a passage by land: there are 146.7 kilometers with a third category mountain with only 15.7 kilometers, in Alturas do Barroso.
The peloton then found two flying targets, in Salamonde (56) and Póvoa de Lanhoso (83.9). After the fourth category of Golães (110.7), the cyclists cross the finish line in Fafe for the first time, this step being after the intermediate sprint installed in that city (114.1).
The famous stearate, where there is a third category mountain count (more specifically in Casa do Penedo, at kilometer 128.2), is 4.5 kilometers long. Before reaching Praça 25 de Abril, scheduled for 5:35 p.m., there are sloping cobblestones.
The current leader of the general classification, Colin Stüssi, 30, starts with 28 seconds ahead of Artem Nych (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor) and 34 of the Spanish Luis Ángel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
Source: TSF
