Colin Stüssi (Voralberg) notched up another win at the Volta a Portugal, soloing to the summit of the Observatory Vila Nova on stage 1 to take the lead of the 2024 edition.
The 31-year-old is the defending Volta a Portugal champion having taken the race lead in 2023 on a smiliarly tough ascent at Montalegre.
Stüssi held off the chase from Antonio Carvalho (ABTF Betão), who finished 28 seconds down, and Luïs Fernandes (Credibom-LA Aluminios-Marcos Car) who came across the line 40 seconds down.
“I rode at kilometer four and got away and rode my kick. The final was so hard that I thought it would never end,” Stüssi said. “But everyone suffered today and I'm happy about this important victory for me and my colleagues.”
Stüssi takes the GC lead with 32 seconds ahead of Carvalho and 58 seconds ahead of Fernandes. He also took the mountains and points classification leads.
The Volta a Portugal heads into much flatter terrain leaving Santarém on stage 2 and covering 164.5 kilometres before a slightly uphill finish in Lisboa.
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