Last stage in Portugal and finally the profile looks like a good stage for the pure sprinters Lo Cicero or Kupfernagel.
But how much energy did they spent on the last stages? So also Ventoso or Gavazzi should be expected to do well here.
7 riders in todays breakaway and some well known faces here. Beatse Villella Smirnovs Antunes Gauer Paulus Altur
In especially Antunes is very interesting as he is just 4 points down in the KoM and the actual leader Ciccarese is not there. So with 6 points to get today, we might see a last stage change. The rider obviously listened what his manager did expect of him for this stage.
Tinkoff rides for race leader Kritskiy here. Promotion should be more or less secured for the Russians. What a season they have.
Also PFG Armavia once again in the first rows. Will their work finally end in a good result?
The first of three sprints and Altur takes it ahead of Beatse and Gauer. But while no one really cared here, we expect some action soon in the fight for the KoM lead.
4 riders have KoM points in the group but only Antunes has the chance to win it. 6 points and he is the winner of the 2013 Volta a Portugal KoM competition. 4 points and lead will be shared in between him and Ciccarese. 2 or 0 points and Ciccarese wins it.
Antunes wants to be sure and attacks early. Will anybody follow him?
One rider does. Villella can`t climb very much and still he is surely annoying Antunes right now. Instead of an easy win, he has to fight for it now.
We almost reached the top and Villella is in the lead with Antunes in 2nd. Can he come back to take the lead?
Unfortunately for him not. You can almost hear his manager screaming right now. At least he will move into the shared lead with his 2nd here.
Antunes surely wasn`t happy there neither and is having a small argument with the Italian.
Next sprint and the situation calmed down again. Paulus as first ahead of Beatse and Gauer.
Villella has bad experiences with crashes in the breakaway. Just like a few days ago he is on the ground even though riding in the group should be easier than in the peloton.
Rumours are saying, that Antunes have pushed him but no TV videos can prove these.
Tinkoff slowed down a bit as the sprinter teams want to secure a sprint finish today.
So PFG Armavia got support by Amex and Prio Porto.
80km and a 5min gap for the group.
Villella found his way back to the group and is taking the last sprint.
We have reached the final circuit now with 30km and a 2min gap.
2 laps to go and the peloton is coming closer. Right now it`s quite unlikely that they will make it to the finish.
Final lap and the last breakaway riders are caught.
Amex in full control now coming around the last corners.
Selig-Farrar-Kupfernagel is their train. Right behind in a very good position Andriato, Ventoso and Priamo.
The PFG Armavia train with Wang-Girdlestone and Lo Cicero is a bit behind and still trying to found a good pace.
Damn. Nasty crash behind and it`s Rohregger on the ground and his team mate Schrangl crashes over him. Terrible news for Magna.
Horrible place to crash as the corner was not good to see for all those later riders. Lots of riders followed the Austrian onto the ground and many more were blocked....
This might ruin some GC men`s plans to ride into the finish without any problems as there are supposted to be more top20 and even some top10 on the asphalt.
Names have to follow later when the situation is clearer.
Right now we have only live coverage of the sprint as we hit the last 4km.
We see Costa being brought to the front by Barrio. So good news for CSC as their leader wasn`t involved. The point jersey he is wearing at the moment is not his yet as Kritskiy is the actual leader. But with a good finish today the Portuguese might be able to win it. Next to him we see Gavazzi, who missed in the sprinter trains the last time.
The PFG Armavia have finally found a good rythm and are coming closer now with Farrar opening the sprint for Kupfernagel.
Ventoso in a great position now as he won the fight against Andriato and Priamo for the best position behind the German sprinter.
In the background you can see the leader jersey of Kritskiy, so also good news for Team Tinkoff. And if the newest info is correct, all top5 riders seem to be safe inside the peloton and were not involved.
Flamme Rouge and Kupfernagel comes past Farrar with Andriato behind him. Ventoso has lost a bit and is coming on the other side with Priamo behind.
Lo Cicero seems to be exhausted and lost contact a bit.
Andriato vs. Kupfernagel and last mentioned looks to struggle.
On the right side Ventoso also comes fast now.
Kupfernagel fades and now it looks like Andriato vs. Ventoso. Will Prio Porto take yet another stage win today?
Yes. Ventoso in the end with quite a gap to celebrate another win. What a tour for the home team.
Andriato takes the 2nd ahead of Priamo with Kupfernagel in 4th.
Kritskiy as 7th wins the GC as also the point ranking as Costa finishes just behind him.
Lo Cicero at least comes in as 10th ahead of Belletti and Gavazzi who had a weaker day here.
But now to other important news. There is a clear gap behind the peloton and many riders lose time. Most of those here were only blocked and didn`t hit the ground.
GC wise we see Cabreira, Richardson, Vrecer, Suaza and Reus. So those riders will lose 1'29 and hurts their GC position a lot.
Even worse for Rohregger as he comes in with 3'33.
So how will the GC look like now? The top6 stays like it is but then the new 7th is Costa, who made a huge jump here. Vrecer will keep his 8th luckily even though the time loss. The 9th goes to Ivars, who also makes a big jump today. Rohregger drops to 10th and at least keeps a top10.
Richardson drops one place to 11th and is ahead of the climbing Silva now. Suaza 13., Izagirre 14., Reus 15. and Cabreira down to 17..
So quite a few changes in the end unfortunately.
