Rui Costa surprised everyone (even himself) and won not only the last stage of Volta a Comunitat Valenciana (Stage5) but also the overall classification of the race. The Portuguese of Intermarché-Circus-Wanty had recently won Trofeo Calvia in Spain and now wins again a general classification of a stage race something that didn't happen since 2017 (when he won Abu Dhabi Tour).
"Of course I am very happy with that, but I have to thank my team especially for this. I never thought I could win both the stage, and the classification", Costa stated in the post race interview.
Costa that now will focus his training for Volta ao Algarve in his native country, revealed that the cooperation between the breakaway members wasn't perfect but still good enough for him to get the win.
"It took some effort to keep up with the best here. But luckily I was still in it. In the end, there was no perfect cooperation in the breakaway. Of course there were teams with different interests, but we still stayed in front. I hadn't thought that. That was a surprise", he concluded.