Mariana Líbano, cyclist of Velo Performance/JS Campinense, won today the 1st Volta a Portugal Feminina Sub-19.
The “Algarvian” athlete leaves in yellow for tomorrow's stage. Daniela Simão, also from an Algarve team (Extremosul/Hotel Alísios/Cenmais), was the best cadet in the competition.
The 1st Tour of Portugal for Women Under-19, which brings together cadets and juniors, took place in Alpiarça. The first stage consisted of a five kilometer prologue, in which 51 athletes from both categories participated.
According to the Portuguese Cycling Federation, the first runner to set a reference time was Patrícia Duarte (Maiatos/5Quinas/Municipality of Albufeira/CDASJ), concluding her individual effort with a mark of 7min 49sec.
This time was only beaten by one of the last runners to start: Daniela Simão (Extremosul/Hotel Alísios/Cenmais). The runner, who recently became national champion in her category, in the time trial specialty, was the best cadet in the competition today, having finished with a time of 7min 44sec.
However, the national time trial champion, Mariana Líbano (Velo Performance / JS Campinense), who finished the race in 7min 15sec, still needed to arrive in the women's junior category. This was the time that guaranteed him the victory in the prologue and the yellow jersey.
“I am very happy to start in yellow. The next stages will be a great challenge, so it will be a matter of seeing how everything goes day by day and trying to defend as much as possible this shirt, which is a great objective. I've been enjoying the time trial more and more and starting the lap in yellow is very exciting and gives me a lot of motivation for the next stages», said Mariana Líbano.
Daniela Simão occupies the second position in the classification, having spent 29 seconds more than Mariana Líbano. Even so, this result currently guarantees her the status of best female cadet in the competition.
Third place went to Patrícia Duarte, who closed the prologue 34 seconds from the winning time.
Tomorrow's stage will link Samora Correia to Benavente, on a route of 56,4 kilometres. This route will have three third category mountain prizes, all of them in Benavente (at kilometer 12,8, kilometer 31,2 and kilometer 49,9), when there are less than 10 kilometers to go before the end of the stage.
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