António Carvalho (Efapel) won today the seventh stage of the Volta a Portugal Special Edition, a 161 km link between Loures and Setúbal, in which the Algarve's Amaro Antunes (W52-FC Porto) kept first place overall.
The Efapel man attacked in the Arrábida mountains, whose second category mountain prize was placed less than 14 kilometers from the finish.
When the men closest to Amaro Antunes in general were expected to try to mess with the race, António Carvalho and Luís Fernandes (Rádio Popular-Boavista) were the only ones to take the risk.
The two riders made all the way up Arrábida at the front, went down at the front and resisted the pursuit by W52-FC Porto in the group of favorites.
The fight for triumph was between them. Luís Fernandes started first, but António Carvalho left at the right moment to win the second stage victory for Efapel, with Fernandes taking the immediate position.
Another of the protagonists of the day, Luís Gomes (Kelly-Simoldes-UDO) closed the podium of the journey.
Gomes participated in the main breakout of the day, winning two flying goals and ten points for the regularity classification. With the third place, the Gaiense guaranteed the conquest of the Red Jersey Cofidis, of regularity.
In the overall ranking, everything is the same.
Amaro Antunes continues to wear the Yellow Jersey, 13 seconds shorter than Frederico Figueiredo (General-Tavira-Maria Nova Hotel Tuna) and 1m13s shorter than Gustavo César Veloso (W52-FC Porto), who occupy the immediate posts.
In the top-10 is also the Algarve´s João Rodrigues (W52-FC Porto), in 6th place, 2m00s behind the yellow jersey, and Alejandro Marque (Tuna General-Tavira-Maria Nova Hotel), in 7th, 2m15s off the leader.
The Volta a Portugal ends this Monday, with the individual time trial, in Lisbon, which will decide the winner of the competition.
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