After a long delay, the Portuguese National Championships are set to begin.
Straight from the gun it's Silvestre putting in the first move of the day, and he has a quick gap on the others.
The scramble behind ensues. The riders are well aware that breakaways have remarkable success in these NC's, and they all want a piece of the action. Quickly they are strewn into groups on the rode.
With only Silvestre and Gonçalves left away, more attacks fly ahead as they hit the hills.
Finally the peloton sits up and decides to let the breakaway go as the riders in no man's land either make it up to the leader, or slowly fall back to the pack.
In the end, the breakaway consists of four riders: Cardoso, Gonçalves, Silvestre, and Ferreira. Their gap goes out, but not too much. Instead, it lingers at around 3 minutes.
With the peloton still relaxed at 30 km to go, Rodrigues decides to take a mid stage dig in order to bridge to the leaders. Would anyone follow?
Yup, Figueiredo decides to join the fun, and the two set out working together to bridge the gap.
And so, we have six leaders as the two chasers bridge the gap. Meanwhile, with 20 km to go, it's looking more and more like a breakaway victory today. The gap is still nearly three minutes, and though the peloton had begun chasing in earnest a few kilometers ago, they've begun looking at each other again.
And so the situation stays, with each rider taking turns and the gap remaining constant all the way up to the line. They line up for the sprint as Rodrigues leads the other 5 in the final hill.
Rodrigues accerates straight from the front as the gradient kicks up. Figueiredo can't hold the wheel, and there's daylight in the gap!
They take the final turn as everyone is now up to speed and moves out for the sprint, but the Novatek rider is already two bike lengths ahead and not looking back!
Great aggressive riding all day by Vitor Rodrigues, and he becomes the 2016 Portuguese National Champion for his efforts, Well done!
Porto - Prio get 2nd and 3rd with Ferreira and Figueiredo, but in an NC, only 1st place matter. They will surely be disappointed to have left here empty handed after having such a large manpower advantage. Cardoso, Gonçalves, and Silvestre, who kicked it all off, finish 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively.
Machado pips Costa from the favorites attacking behind, who end up finishing 2'07'' behind on the day. All riders that started the race completed it.
Unlike yesterday, today the weather is dreary, with rain showers popping in over the course of the afternoon. Let's see if that has any impact on the outcome of the time trial.
After spending the day in the break yesterday, it's not a bad ride from Silvestre, who sets the provisional best time.
Unfortunately for him, Domingo Gonçalves came out on an absolute tear today, and soon sets his own best time, almost two minutes faster!
Machado, Reis, and Costa all come in well short of the lead. It's a pretty good ride for Reis, who slots into second, but the others will be very disappointed in their performance.
With only two riders left, Jose Goncalves storms through the first time check 8 seconds ahead of the man with a very similar surname. Can he hold it to the finish?
You bet! By the end, Goncalves almost caught Costa, his two minute man! That's definitely not something you would expect to see, and it's enough to pass Gonçalves by 12 seconds.
That left only reigning national ITT champion Oliveira on course. The Porto rider has shown to be the best in this discipline before, but today, he just didn't have it. In the end he slotted into fourth, over a minute behind. Perhaps the weather didn't leave him in the highest of spirits.
That means Jose Goncalves is your 2016 Portuguese National ITT Champion!
