Hugo Scala Jr overcomes Fábio Costa to win stage 5 of the Volta a Portugal on a chaotic day

After the rest day, the 2024 Volta a Portugal returned to the road for a bumpy stage between Panedono and Bragança. It was a medium-mountain day in which you could guess that there would be a sprint finish or a breakaway, which didn't have much trouble forming. It was first made up of 12 cyclists, but only 11 managed to break away from the peloton. Two riders from Sabgal - Anicolor Cycling Team stood out.

Efapel also had Aleksandr Grygorev at the front, but that wasn't the reason why José Azevedo's team was discreet in the peloton, taking the opportunity to launch three attacks in the Serra de Bornes (a 2nd category stage about 70 km from the finish), namely with Abner González and Henrique Casimiro. No one was distanced, but the peloton was visibly reduced. However, this was the last major difficulty of the day and the peloton was once again well formed.

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In the peloton, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA and Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé Concelho controlled the escape. In the last 15 kilometers, Burgos-BH joined the party, even cutting the peloton with 11 km to go, at a moment when Tomas Contte lost contact due to a mechanical problem, making it very difficult to dispute the victory;

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At the front, Aleksandr Grygorev attacked with Fábio Costa and Hugo Scala Jr responding, but the front of the race wouldn't budge. Even so, the peloton struggled to break the initiative. With 7.2 km to go, Nicolás Tivani attacked and broke away from the bunch, with António Carvalho going ahead without Afonso Eulálio, in an initiative that came to nothing, before the yellow jersey himself went to the front with an immediate response from Colin Stüssi, bringing order to the peloton.

Less than 4 km from the finish line, Scala Jr attacked with Fábio Costa and Julius Johansen on his wheel. Within the last 2 kilometers, Costa attacked and only the American followed, with Johansen giving way. Hugo Scala Jr. didn't let go of the wheel before the two-man sprint with Fábio Costa, despite several exchanges of glances between the two cyclists.

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