Volta a Portugal: Julius Johansen wins stage 5 time trial for second victory of stage race

Coming in with only one rider remaining on course, Artem Nych (Anicolor-Campicarn Cycling) posted the third-best time at the intermediate check, but slowed on the final kilometres to finish 39 seconds off the pace, and fourth best.

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Nych’s teammate and race leader Alexis Guérin completed his ride with the eighth-best time, 22:06, and kept the yellow jersey. However, he lost 14 seconds to Nych in the overall, though his margin was still a hefty 1:12 going into the rest day. Antunes moved up five places in GC to third overall, now 1:52 back.

The course began at the Sangalhos National Velodrome in Anadia with one small incline at the 9.9km to go mark for an intermediate time check at Barrô, then a long flat stretch for a 1.5km descent into Águeda, with a slight uphill and a cobbled section to disrupt tempos.

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One of the fastest times from early starters at the intermediate check was Johansen, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG) rider having won the Lisbon prologue to start the 10-day stage race, posting 12:31. He then went into the hot seat with a time of 21:13.

Van der Tuuk didn’t impress from the checkpoint, but got faster on the second half and was the next rider to challenge Johansen, finishing 35 seconds back.

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There were two crashes on the course, both coming near the finish. With the middle of the field on course, Pedro Pinto (Efapel cycling) went down hard in the final, and struggled to complete his ride. Then 33 riders later, Viacheslav Ivanov (Feirense-Beeceler) crashed, having to walk and carry his bike across the line.

From the riders in between, Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), an Olympic gold medalist for Portugal from two years ago, failed to impress, going 48 seconds slower than the Dane.

When the top 10 were on course, eyes refocused on the intermediate checkpoint. Antunes recorded the second-best time split, but it was still 25 seconds slower than Johansen. He would add five more seconds to his time at the finish to go second overall.

Three riders behind Artunes, Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) suffered a mechanical and he had to stop for a bike change. He finished 1:47 back.

Once all the top 10 completed their rides, the 26-year-old Dane could celebrate his second victory of the Portuguese stage race, and fifth victory of the year, all coming in races against the clock.