Ribeiro wraps up Portugal victory

Eurosport - Sun, 16 Aug 23:24:00 2009

Nuno Ribeiro wrapped up his second Tour of Portugal victory by finishing ninth in the final stage time-trial.

CYCLING 2009 Nuno Ribeiro Vuelta a Portugal / FOTO: EFE - 0

The 30.8km stage was won by Ribeiro's Liberty Seguros team-mate Hector Guerra ahead of defending champion David Blanco who moved up from fifth in General Classification to second.

Ribeiro went into the time-trial in Viseu with a 1.55 advantage and eventually won the race by 1.24.

David Bernabeu finished third overall, 1.36 back, after finishing sixth in the 10th and final stage.

STAGE NINE

Nuno Ribeiro virtually assured himself of victory in the Tour of Portugal by winning the ninth stage in Seia.

Despite many attacks by his rivals, the Liberty Seguros rider held firm during the 154.6 kilometer stage from Bairro Oliveira which featured a 30km climb to the Alto da Torre, Portugal's highest point at 1961m.

Ribeiro finished 26 seconds ahead of Spaniard David Blanco and 35 seconds in front of Ruben Plaza.

He increased his overall lead to 1:55 on David Bernabeu ahead of Sunday's final stage in the 71st Volta.

STAGE EIGHT

Ukrainian Oleg Chuzhda of Contentpolis-Ampo won the eighth stage of the Tour of Portugal in Aveiro.

Nuno Ribeiro (Liberty Seguros) retained the race leader's yellow jersey by seven seconds from Portuguese compatriot Joao Cabreira (CC Loule-Louletano) with two stages remaining.

Chuzhda escaped with 17 other riders and rode out alone on the descent 50km from the finish.

The 166.1km stage started in Gondomar; Saturday's ninth is between Oliveira do Bairro and Seia before the final run-out on Sunday.

STAGE SEVEN

Danilo Hondo took his second win of the season with a seventh-stage victory at the Tour of Portugal that saw Nuno Ribeiro hold the overall lead.

The German (pictured), riding for his new PSK Whirlpool team, triumphed in a strange sprint finish that was complicated by a series of roundabouts and curves in the final kilometre.

Ribeiro (Liberty Seguros) finished safely in the peloton to hold on to the yellow jersey.

Candido Barbosa, who has so far won two stages in Portugal, came second ahead of Lampre's Mauro Santambrogio and stage two winner Manuel Cardoso in fourth.

STAGE SIX

Loule-Louletano's Eladio Jimenez won the sixth stage of the Tour of Portugal in Santo Tirso as Nuno Ribeiro defended his yellow jersey.

With four stages remaining, home rider Ribeiro is only seven seconds clear of Jimenez's team-mate Joao Cabreira, also Portuguese.

Jimenez's Spanish compatriot Ruben Plaza, a colleague of Ribeiro at Liberty Seguros, was second on the stage, a 174.6km trek from Barcelos.

STAGE FIVE

Antonio Piedra led a Andalucia-Cajasur one-two in the fifth stage of the Tour of Portugal in Fafe.

Piedra and team-mate Jose Lopez Gil of the Pro Continental team were part of an eight-man escape group that was being reeled in by the peloton before launching a counter-attack with 10km remaining.

While their breakaway companions were swallowed up gradually as a result of the work of Lampre and Liberty Seguros, Piedra and Gil maintained a narrow advantage to the end of 184km stage from Felgueiras.

Lampre's Mauro Santambrogio led the peloton over the line as Liberty Seguros comfortably defended the yellow jersey of Nuno Ribeiro, who arrived in the pack.

STAGE FOUR

Portuguese rider Joao Cabreira won the 158km fourth stage of the Tour du Portugal from Trancoso to Mondim de Basto.

Cabreira came out on top after a gruelling final ascent at the end of the stage to edge breakaway companion Nuno Ribeiro.

The Portuguese duo were followed over the line by compatriots Andre Cardoso and Nelson Vitorino, with Germany's Patrik Sinkewitz fifth.

Ribeiro, who broke clear of the peloton with Cabreira 8km from the end, leads the general classification from the man who edged him on Sunday's stage. Spain's David Bernabeu is in third, ahead of Ukraine's Ruslan Pidgornyy.

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 9 of 9

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  1. I was amazed when I first read this when I saw David­ Blanco moved up to second in the final TT...
    Then I­ looked at the GC list and it was actually 4th he moved­ up too...
    Same writer as the 'descent to Snr. de­ Graca' I suppose :(

    From SteveH, on Mon 17 Aug 9:39AM
  2. Yes, we're all sick of doping. But why is this the­ top story when the possibility that WADA's labs­ were bribed to work with the dopers to set dosage­ thresholds is being buried below the top stories?

    From Maxx92, on Fri 14 Aug 3:36PM
  3. Another race. More success for a rider with past­ doping convictions. All rather depressing­ this..............

    From pedro118118, on Fri 14 Aug 8:47AM
  4. Is that Mario Cippolini in the photo?? hahahahaha

    From istoleyourbicycle, on Thu 13 Aug 7:13PM
  5. #4, you say that because you're only now reading­ the article. When it was first posted, right after the­ completion of Stage 4, the article read "after a­ gruelling final descent".

    From JoćoS, on Thu 13 Aug 1:04AM
  6. # 1 it says ascent , need glasses ??? ..... anyway ,­ well done tony stone winning for the andalucia team

    From Me, on Wed 12 Aug 1:21PM
  7. TOUGHER STAGE THAN MANY WE HAD SEEN IN THE TOUR DE­ FRANCE

    From Vķtor, on Mon 10 Aug 12:02AM
  8. I think the writer should be made to ride up the Snr.­ de Graca to verify that it is a climb!
    Pity Cunego did­ nothing- He started 2 mins in front in a break and just­ rode up with the also rans...
    Me thinks he has done a­ deal not to steal anybodies glory.
    Eurosport­ complainers should see the domestic RTP coverage- Its­ more pool party than a race- The action only gets shown­ when the whole cast of the party is in the pool: Better­ than Duffers going on about the local grouse though I­ suppose :)

    From SteveH, on Sun 9 Aug 8:18PM
  9. It was a gruelling final ascent, not descent.

    From JoćoS, on Sun 9 Aug 7:54PM
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