Under the Portuguese sun, the riders faced an uphill finish. The day’s early breakaway consisted of five riders who could break away soon after the start. With thirty kilometres and two climbs to go, the leading group was caught by the peloton. Four teammates accompanied Foss. The Norwegian champion remained alert at the front and seemed to be on the way to a good result. In the last few hundred metres Foss came into contact with Sergio Higuita, causing him to hit the asphalt and lose more than forty seconds on the stage winner and new leader David Gaudu.

According to sports director Maarten Wynants the damage is not too bad. “Tobias is doing okay. He has some scrapes and he hurt his elbow. He was doing everything right up until the crash. He is disappointed, mainly because he lost more than 40 seconds. His classification ambitions have suffered a severe blow.”

Apart from the crash, the stage went as planned. “We expected the uphill finish to be a group sprint. The guys had to make sure Tobias was positioned as well as possible and they managed. All the riders, especially our young riders, did their job perfectly today”, Wynants concluded.