28/07/2024

Luis Angel Mate takes stunning victory on stage 4 of the 2024 Volta a Portugal

The 4th stage of the 2024 Volta a Portugal took to the road today, covering 164.5 kms between Sabugal and Guarda. It was a difficult day for the peloton, with a stage in intense heat and strong wind, on an undulating course with five mountain passes and three flyovers to brighten up the race.

The race began with successive breakaway attempts, but none of them were successful. At the third category mountain pass in Sortelhe at 25.8 km, the first to pass was Tiago Antunes, followed by Xavier Canellas of Euskatel and Alexandre Montes of LA Aluminios. After the mountain prize, a group of 21 cyclists stood out at the front of the race to form the breakaway of the day.

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At 61.2km into the race at the finish line in Penamacor, the first man through was German Tivani of Louletano, with Keegan Swinbul of Efapel and Gonçalo Leaça of LA Aluminios rounding off the podium in this MV. 70 kms from the finish line, the peloton was led by ABTF Betão - Feirense and the day's breakaway had an advantage of around 6:00m, which was beginning to jeopardize Afonso Eulálio's yellow jersey, even though the hardest part of the stage was still to come. The breakaway entered Belmonte to contest another finish line, with Louletano's German Tivani beating Tyler Stytes of Project Echelons in the sprint, with Rafael Reis of Sabgal - Anicolor coming in third and picking up the last point in contention.

At the start of the second category climb to the top of Famalicão da Serra, the escapees had a lead over the peloton of 5:20m. The climb saw the abandonment of 2022 Tour winner Mauricio Moreira. Always at a fast pace, there were no attacks and Luis Angel Mate of Euskatel was the first man over the top, followed by Gonçalo Leaça and Keegan Swinbul of Efapel.

The caravan quickly approached the next finish line in Meios, with German Tivani collecting as many points as possible, followed by Tyler Stytes of Project Echelons and Edgar Cardena. On the ascent to the first finish line in Guarda, the escape group broke up completely and Luis Angel Mate of Euskadi was first, followed by German Tivani of Louletano and Keegan Swinbull of Efapel. The escape now has an advantage of 2:18m over the peloton and 1:30 over a chasing group that was in an intermediate position.

About 9 kms from the finish line Diego Camargo launched an attack from the lead group and gained a small advantage. In the leading group, attacks and counter-attacks followed one another and around 6 kms from the finish Gonçalo Leaça of LA Aluminios gained a small advantage, finding himself isolated at the front on the approach to the finish line. At 3 kms from the finish Gonçalo maintains a lead of around 200 meters over his pursuers.

In the final two kilometers, Leaça's adventure was over and at the back the yellow jersey was testing the legs of Colin Stussi, who responded immediately. German Tivani attacked at the front of the race and no one followed him, entering the last kilometer of the stage isolated. At the start of the last hundred meters, the riders came up against a wall, Luis Angel Mate caught and overtook Tivani and went to the finish line alone, winning the stage, despite Rafael Reis's huge effort to fight for the win, but finishing in second place. Further back, the yellow jersey sprinted for the finish line, gaining a few more seconds on Colin Stussi;