Costa wins Portuguese C’ship; Podium finish for Pogacar

The UAE Team Emirates rider Rui Costa has been crowned national road champion for the second time in his career, beating Daniel Mestre (W52 / Fc Porto) after a long and hard-fought sprint.

Costa was able to count on the support of teammates Rui and Ivo Oliveira who finished 16th and 17th respectively.

Costa said: “It was a very special victory. Rui and Ivo Oliveira rode out of their skin for me today. They both worked hard on the front when it was necessary and got in the right moves.

“To win here in Portugal is complicated when you have teams with big numbers against us but we worked it out perfectly between in the end. I put in a really hard attack in the final kick and I was happy to finish it off in the sprint.

This weekend has been a huge success for the team, with Ivo winning the TT and me the road race, it couldn’t have gone any better.”

This victory is the second of the season for Costa, after winning the first stage of the Saudi Tour in February.

Meanwhile, in France, it was UAE Team Emirates starlet Tadej Pogacar, who animated the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné from Megève-Megève (153.5 km) with 8 climbs and an uphill finish.

The Slovenian went on the attack 27 km from the finish, in a select group of 4 riders including Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Pavel Sivakov (Ineos) and Daniel Martinez (EF).

The UAE Team Emirates rider crossed the line in 3rd position 30” behind the winner Kuss, managing to climb up to 4th place in the general classification, 56” behind Martinez.

Pogačar: “The race had a very high pace from the first climb to the finish. Today I was doing well and I managed to put in a good performance, also thanks to the support of my teammates, who helped me throughout the Dauphiné. In the final I was fine, but the other riders were also pushing hard with me leading the race. I followed Martinez and I got a good result”.

Teammate Davide De La Cruz, the best climber of the race won the mountains classification with 68 points, beating Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) by 16 points.

Earlier, Martinez emerged as a surprise winner of the five-day Criterium du Dauphine on Sunday, having been in fifth place overnight.

The stage itself was won by American Jumbo-Visma rider Sepp Kuss, a 25-year-old from Colorado who crossed the finish line 27 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.

Several favourites including Ineos’ Egan Bernal and his key rival Primoz Roglic pulled out injured during the race seen as a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France, and marred by a mass fall Saturday.

France’s emotional climber Thibaut Pinot started Sunday’s fifth and final stage in the lead but was seen smashing a water bidon into the ground when he realised he could not follow a final attack.

No Frenchman has won the Dauphine since Christophe Moreau in 2007.

Colombian national time-trial champion Martinez of the American Education First team said he had gone up the final climb unsure of where Pinot was.

“We are in the mountains and the earphone doesn’t always work,” he said at the finish line.

Martinez won the best young rider’s white jersey and the overall winner’s yellow one, and said he had pushed himself to the limit.

“It’s one of the biggest races in the world and to be able to win this, coming from Colombia, makes me very happy,” said the 24-year-old from Bogota, who was second on this season’s Tour of Colombia

With a staggering view of Mont Blanc on the final ascent there were plenty of cow bells but few face masks on the verdant slopes as Kuss attacked for a popular stage win.

Kuss had worked relentlessly for the Jumbo team, leading their uphill train courageously all week, but with two of his three team leaders gone the Dutch outfit let him off the leash for the team’s 13th stage win of the season.

“I’m having so much fun on the bike right now. Now we can focus on the Tour de France with a confidence boost,” said Kuss who will likely play a prominent role in Jumbo’s bid to unseat Grande Boucle behemoth Ineos when the race starts on Aug. 29.

The remaining Ineos hope here Russian champion Pavel Sivakov leapt up from the tarmac back onto his bike after a nasty fall to finish fourth on the day but outside the top 10 in the overall.