Volta a Portugal 2022 – Stage 04 [FULL STAGE] (portuguese)

August 8, 2022

Volta a Portugal 2022 – Stage 4 – Guarda – Viseu : 169,1 km

The Volta a Portugal (English: Tour of Portugal), also known as Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta (English: Tour of Portugal on Bicycle), is an annual multi-stage road bicycle racing competition held in Portugal. The competition takes place during a two-week span.

Two days after scoring his first career victory at the Volta a Portugal in Castelo Branco, João Matias took another on stage 4 following a stellar lead out in Viseu from his Tavfer-Mortágua-Ovos Matinados team.

The 31-year-old had to wait through four editions of the race before opening his account at the race on Saturday but will now take over the green points jersey from Scott McGill (Wildlife Generation), who finished second.

With 104 points apiece, the pair lie level at the top of the standings, though Matias edges into the jersey ahead of Tuesday’s rest day thanks to his two stage wins.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA stagiaire Andoni López de Abetxuko took third place in the final sprint, his effort fading as McGill, who started his sprint much further back, charged through to second place.

The fourth stage was a tough day out despite being one for the sprinters as the peloton raced across the hot interior of Portugal from Guarda. An up-and-down parcours brought three mid-stage climbs, including the third-category Broca (4.4km at 4.8%) for the breakaway to fight over.

It was a sizeable group out front, with prologue winner Rafael Reis (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor) in the break along with Robin Carpenter (Human Powered Health), Joaquim Silva (Efapel), Bruno Silva (Tavfer-Mortágua-Ovos Matinados), Afonso Silva (Kelly-Simoldes-UDO), Alvaro Trueba (Atum General-Tavira-Maria Nova Hotel), Joseba López (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Óscar Pelegrí (Burgos-BH), José Mendes (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé Concelho) and Peio Goikoetxea (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The 10 men would at one point build a gap of over six minutes, though back in the peloton Wildlife Generation had ambitions for another stage for McGill following his win in Elvas. The American took the lead on the pacemaking and the time gap ebbed away as the kilometres ticked down.

At 50km to go it was down to three minutes and it would hit the one-minute mark at 15km from the line, by which point Mendes, Pelegrí and Goikoetxea had given up the ghost out front. An attack from the peloton Mikel Mujika (BAI-Sicasal-Petro de Luanda) soon afterwards only hastened the chase, and, despite a last-gasp effort from Carpenter, the break was caught 3km from the line.

On the fast run to the finish in Viseu it was Tavfer who took to the front to set up the sprint for Matias. A late effort from Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé Concelho couldn’t disrupt the dash for the finish, with Matias bursting free to take a clear stage victory.

Away from Matias vs McGill and the green jersey battle, the remainder of the major standings remained the same. Overall favourite Mauricio Moreira (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor) remains in the yellow jersey of the race lead following his triumph on Torre, with third-placed Luís Fernandes (Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista) the only non Glassdrive man within two minutes of the lead.

Moreira also holds the mountain classification lead, while Caja Rural youngster Jokin Murguialday leads the best young rider classification in ninth overall.

Results :