Jacob Rathe seals triumph for Chipotle Development taking Volta a Portugal 2011 – Cycling Update
Chipotle Development team’s Jacob Rathe showed a magnificent effort in the ninth stage of Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta 2011 on Sunday, August 14. He also took an overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in Covilha and ended in Serta. Rathe took a lead in the eight breakaway riders and took the total of 4 hours, 24 minutes and 16 seconds to cover the distance of 182.3 kilometres.
Diego Milan Jimenez of Caja Rural was runner-up and Davide Ricci Bitti of Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli was in third place with the same timing of the sprinter.
Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre – ISD) tried his best to catch the leading cyclists but failed to hold the pace and secured tenth place with the difference of 31 seconds ahead of Sergio Miguel Vieira Ribeiro and Mikhail Antonov.
When the race entered in Alpedrinha, the three cyclists including Raul Alarcon Garcia (Barbot – Efapel), Sergey Rudaskov (Itera – Katusha) and Jacob Rathe (Chipotle Development Team) made their initial breakaway lead and took advantage of few seconds.
Raul Alarcon increased his pace and took points in the first climb. The trio was caught by the peloton after few kilometres and Ruben Martinez working well with Diego Millan Jimenez. But, Jimenez took the second climb of the day.
The new group of four cyclists formed after few kilometres, Diego Milan failed to hold his pace and Cesar Fonte launched an attack to take points but Julien Antomarchi was in good form and secured the final climb.
However, Ricardo Mestre was fastest from the other cyclists and managed to cross the final line without any difficulty. Mestre also took overall standing with the timing of 38 hours, 37 minutes and 26 seconds.
André Fernando Santos Martins Cardoso of Tavira-Prio was in second spot with 1 minute and 31 second adrift Mestre. Rui Miguel Sousa Barbosa of Barbot – Efapel finished third with the difference of 2 minute and 24 seconds.
Caja Rural team’s Fabricio Ferrari took the King of Mountain title with 57 points ahead of Santos Martins Cardoso and Broco. Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide took the title of Best Young Rider ahead of Burno Silva.
The next stage will run in Sintra and end in Lisboa. All the cyclists will cover the distance of 152.6 kilometres.
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