VIDEO | Crazy scenes at the Volta a Portugal as rider gets punched and pushed through the finish line

This week in cycling sees a packed schedule with the Tour de Pologne, Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de l'Ain and Arctic Race of Norway taking most of the spotlight. But in Portugal, the country's most important event of the year - the Volta a Portugal - has also started but it's quickly hit the headlines not for the expected reasons. Over the course of stage of stage 2, there was physical action captured on camera.

The Portuguese race began with a victory from Rafael Reis in the opening prologue in Maia; whilst Argentinian Nicolas Tivani won stage 1 atop the Sameiro climb in Braga. There weren't big gaps created into stage 2 of the race however, finishing in Fafe, where the riders had to cross the uphill cobbled climb to the finish on two occasions.

On the first of which, with a nearly compact peloton, TV broadcast showed in the middle of a peloton a Feirense rider getting punch and pushed against the barriers. Riding uphill and at a slow speed, he was able to control the bike and keep it upright. Four riders were sanctioned at the end of the day for assaults but the footage seems to indicate that it was Israel - Premier Tech's Brady Gilmore who delivered the blows on this particular incident. 

You can check the incident in the video below: