McGill outsprints rival Matias to win stage 6 at Volta a Portugal

Scott McGill (Wildlife Generation) won stage 6 of the Volta a Portugal from a bunch sprint on Thursday in Maia. He held off the sprint classification leader João Matias (Tavfer-Mortágua-Ovos Matinados), who finished second in the uphill dash, while  Antonio Carvalho (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor) trailed in third.

The 159.9km route from Águeda was filled with more than 2,200 metres of climbing, but just two ascents were classified. Replicating each of the previous days of racing, a small breakaway group charged ahead early in the day and was reeled back in the closing kilometres, on Thursday it was eight riders and seven had been caught with under 8km to race. 

In the final 5km, Robin Carpenter (Human Powered Health) joined the lone breakaway rider remaining, Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and attacked on the streets of Maia, their efforts extinguished with 400 metres to go.

“I couldn’t ask for a better team, honestly. I was confident I could win, I just had to do the right things and put it all  together,” the North American said at the finish. 

Going into stage 6, Matias had a slim two-point lead over McGill in the green jersey battle, with Moreira well back at 34 points behind.

“It’s definitely a good battle between the two of us. Tomorrow’s stage is a little tougher, so we’ll see what happens. And then maybe another chance on stage 8. It’s been pretty good so far,” added McGill.

GC leader Frederico Figueiredo (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor), who took over the race lead with the stage 5 victory on Wednesday, finished in the bunch, along with teammate Mauricio Moreira, who remained second overall. Luís Fernandes (Rádio Popular - Paredes - Boavista) continued in third. 

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