Amaro Antunes (W52/FC Porto) gave the home crowd at the Volta ao Algarve something to celebrate as he surged to victory atop the Alto do Malhão on the fifth and final stage, writes Cycling News.
The 26-year-old put in a blistering attack with just over 1km to go on the summit finish and had ample time to celebrate the biggest win of his career.
It was a coup for the Continental teams on the day, as Vicente Garcia (Louletano) claimed second on the stage ahead of Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal).
Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) easily fended off the challenge of Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski to take home the overall victory.
With the dual ascents of the Alto do Malhão looming in the second half of the stage, the flat first half was ticked off with furious speed and no breakaway could be established for some 70km.
When a group finally did get away, it was in a crosswind section, where a 21-man split containing a mix of sprinters and opportunist climbers managed to carve out a 2:30 lead on the bunch.
The group included Oscar Gatto (Astana), Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrobe), Alberto Bettiol and Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac), Arnaud Démare (FDJ), Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors), Ben King (Dimension Data), José Gonçalves and Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin), Timo Roosen (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Phil Deignan (Team Sky), John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Geoffrey Soupe (Cofidis), Aleksei Tsatevich (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Juan Arboleda (Manzana Postobon), Jesper Asselman and Andre Looij (Roompot), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Jesus Del Pino (Efapel), and Raul Alarcón (W52-FC Porto).
Lammertink was the best placed rider behind race leader Roglic, at 4:57. LottoNL-Jumbo kept the gap in check, and the Katusha rider never threatened the Slovenian's overall win.
The breakaway entered the penultimate climb, the category-3 Vermehlos, with around a minute on the Team Sky-led peloton, but soon the fatigue of a taxing early season race began to show. The leading group fell apart after the climb, with Gonçalves, King and Schwarzmann hitting out.
The Dimension Data rider found himself alone out front with 11km to go, but was soon joined by Gatto, Goncalves, Lammertink, Schwartzman, Devenyns and Alarcon. The peloton dangled 52 seconds behind on the approach to the final ascent.
Sky poured on the pressure to try and distance Roglic and put Kwiatkowski into the overall win, and their furious pace wiped out the breakaway's lead at the base of the Malhão. Lammertink was the final rider of the breakaway to be caught, after dangling in front of the Roglic group for much of the ascent.
Kwiatkowski put in a move to try and gain time, but Roglic was glued to his wheel. Antunes celebrated his first major race victory, while the LottoNL-Jumbo rider sealed the overall victory.
For the full results, click on: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/volta-ao-algarve-em-bicicleta-2017/stage-5/results/
