Volta a Portugal: Artem Nych uses solo attack from breakaway to win mountainous stage 6

Artem Nych (Sabgal-Anicolor) soloed to victory on stage 6 at Volta a Portugal, striking on the final climb of the mountainous day in northern Portugal. 

He finished a full minute ahead of 14 chasers, who were led by race leader Afonso Eulálio (ABTF Betão-Feirense) across the line in Boticas. Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing) secured third place, disrupting the battle for the GC contenders.

Colin Stüssi (Team Vorarlberg) finished behind the US rider and lost bonus time to Eulálio, now trailing in second overall by 21 seconds. Jon Aguirre (Kern Pharma), third overall, finished fifth on the stage and is now 32 seconds back of the race leader.

With his solo victory, Nych moved up six places to 14th overall, but the gap is 2:49. The 29-year-old came into the 10-day stage race with two GC wins already this season, both on home soil for his Portuguese Continental team, Grande Prêmio Internacional Beiras e Serra da Estrela and Grande Prémio Abimota.

Mountains loomed large on the mid-week stage of the Volta a Portugal, with five categorised climbs across the 169.1km route. Just 7km from the start in Bragança, Luis Ángel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi) claimed the first KOM points on offer, on the category 3 Serra da Nogueira, and the peloton remained together across the crest. 

A 40km stretch of descending led to the main course of climbing that included a trio of category 3 ascents and the first-category Torneiros (4.8km at 8.1%) with just under 18km to the finish. 

Nych was part of a group of 10 riders who went clear with 69km to go, along with Maté, Alex Molenaar (Illes Balears Arabay Cycling), Alejandro Franco (Burgos BH), Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing), Joaquim Silva (Efapel Cycling), German Nicolás Tivani (Avilud-Louletano-Loulé Concelho), Cristian David Rico (Petrolike) and Sabgal-Anicolor teammate Frederico Figueiredo.

The lead group worked together to build an advantage of 2:20, but once through an intermediate sprint line in Vidago and on the ascent of Pinho (7.6km at 4.1%) with 49km to go, the time began to reverse. 

A final intermediate sprint on the first pass through Boticas saw Nych setting the pace at the front. The leaders began the climb of Torneiros with just 45 seconds ahead of the chasers, which included GC leader Eulálio, Stüssi and Aguirre. Across the climb, Nych got away and sailed to the finish for the win.

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