Trans Portugal Race

José Silva Again

Press 'Release / 16.05.2014

As expected, stage 6 of TransPortugal Race 2014 took place under an intense heat with an annoying windy twist. The connection between Castelo de Vide and Évora was a first timer in the competition and its debutant winner was the portuguese José Silva. He covered the distance in 5h48m23s. In second place, the roller from Belgium, Peter Roelands, made his best performance in the race with a time of 5h50m40s.

Closing the podium, the Norwich Kate Aardal was bronze, with 5h59m04s. After riding 167 kilometers under high temperatures, the athletes arrived to the finish line exhausted, hungry and thirsty.

However, these sensations were all forgotten as they realized the luxury lodging where they were going to stay in. The Ecorkhotel Évora, Suites & SPA amazed everybody, staff, athletes and their companions. The hotel offers excellent facilities, with landscaped outside pool and indoor pool, beautiful lounge spots inside and outside. Not to mention the high quality of the suites!

Exhausted

Back to the harshness of the stage, the route was ideal for the rollers, being characterized by long stretches of straight road along the rolling hills of Alentejo.

The tendency verified on previous stages continued in this one, with José Silva chasing the duo Kate Aardal and Peter Roelands. He made it and won for the sixth time. Along with the winner, the highlight of this stage goes also to Peter Roelands that achieved second place, his best since the beginning. But he did it at a high cost, physically speaking, which could be witnessed at his arrival. He was completely exhausted!

Because the stage was more level, with the exception of the two harsh climbs of medieval road in the beginning, the athletes adopted an attitude not seen before this stage. In other words, they rode in little packs which makes things easier when the job is to conquer long roads. This is a strategy usually seen on road races. At the end, this first timer stage was fast, despite its long length.

Thank You!

After six long and hard stages, the athletes are naturally tired but at the same time more motivated as Sagres is coming closer and closer. Besides, there is another thing helping all these riders face the harshness and all the difficulties of the stages. It's the Transportugal Race staff that awaits them with food, drinks and a cheerful mood, that supports them during the race on the check-points, the 4x4's, the motorbikes and all the staff cars.

It is surely a great team, always working above and beyond their duties. They carry luggage, they assemble all the supporting structures and they feed everybody in the race. All this has the recognition of the competitors.

A special word for the premium services provided by Transportugal Race - the massages at the end of each stage and the mechanics that do all the tinkering on the bikes so these ‘mean machines’ are fit to face the hard trails.

Thank you to Agnelo, Alfredo Azevedo, Ana, André, Fael, Armindo, Bruno, Carlos Borrego, João, Lina, Maria, Marta, Mila, Sofia, Nuno, Pedro Cardoso, Pedro Ribeiro, Raúl, Ricardo, Rui Queixada, Rui Sousa, Tiago Lages and Vanessa.

Rollers Stage

Stage 7 of Transportugal Race will take the pack from Évora to Albernoa covering a distance of 102 kilometers with an overall accumulated climbing of 812m+. It’s going to be the easiest route in the competition, again best suited for the rollers. Predictably, a fast stage towards West, bringing the pack closer to the portuguese coast. We can expect great times at the finish line, given the characteristics of the route.

­