Volta a Portugal, Stage 1: Reto Hollenstein 10th

The first stage of the Tour of Portugal did not go off with a bang.  After the 5 kilometer prologue team time trial was won by the Dutch De Rijke-Shanks team on Wednesday, the peloton dawdled over the 203.3 kilometer course between Bombarral and Aveiro.

The race was animated at the finish only because the sprinters were on their favorite turf.  Their hopes were eventually punctured by the fact that the victory went to the Russian Alexander Serov (Rusvelo), who jumped the pack just after the flamme rouge and still managed to hold off the charging peloton to take the day.  German cyclocross specialist Christoph Pfingsten held onto the leader’s jersey, which he had won the day before.

For IAM Cycling, Reto Hollenstein (10^th) and Marcel Aregger (18^th) jostled with the sprinters to try and take the win, but came away with simply strong placings.

Kjell Carlström, who along with Marcello Albasini is acting as directeur sportif for the stage race, explained how the day unfolded with only an average speed of 34 km/h.

“The weather was nice with 23 and 24 degrees, but there was a lot of wind coming off the sea and the escapees were quickly put back into line.  Only in the finale did we see the experts stick their noses out.  Marcel Aregger was well placed, but only Reto Hollenstein was able to come away to talk about his experiences at the front of the mix.”