Sabido powers to prologue victory

Hugo Sabido (LA - Antarte) mastered the technical though short opening prologue of the Volta a Portugal to take victory on day one, and with it the yellow leader's jersey.

"It's indescribable!" Sabido said after the race. "It's a feeling of euphoria which I hope to share with all my colleagues. I know they are already super happy. It's really too bad that the whole family isn't here. I am very, very happy."

"I was hoping to beat two riders, Filipe Cardoso (Barbot -Epafel), who has always been good here. The second was Thomas Dekker (Chipotle) - he's another expert of this kind of effort - and so I'm very pleased to win a prologue like this against some of the best in the business."

Sabido's time of 3:04 was six seconds faster than next best Cardoso. Teammate Bruno Silva came in third as Portuguese riders dominated the top 10. Dekker who is making his comeback in the race finished 16th, only 10 seconds off the pace.

Sergio Sousa nabbed the blue mountain jersey courtesy of being fastest at the intermediate time check. LA - Antarte also took the lead in the young rider's classification with Bruno Silva.

Tomorrow's opening road stage is 187.7km between Trofa and Oliveira do Bairro and has all the elements of a one-day classic with two categorised climbs and an uphill finish.