By Kerry Purget
Day 2
Team Unibet were the big winners on Day 2 of the Volta ao Porto, with their riders coming in top place on both stages for the day.
Felix Holm and Jos Valkenaers were the worthy winners in Stage 2 and 3 respectively. The latter win was made even sweeter as Filip Orzechowski followed his teammate home to make it a 1-2 podium finish for the Swedish cycling outfit.
Victory in the mountains of Stage 3 left Valkenaers as the new race leader, holding a 10 second advantage over minion of static's Vincent Aerssen.
The crowds were in full force on this second day of racing as the skies cleared after some miserable weather on the opening day. More rain had been forecasted | | by the local meteorological service, but the rain clouds were certainly nowhere to be seen on a bright and breezy day.
The perfect weather did not do some unlucky souls any good though, with the Trinity cycling team suffering some extraordinary bad luck. While riding into the feeding stations, Gabrio Pretel and Griswald Harvick somehow contrived to go for the same feedbag and collided with each other. The Australian came off worse in the crash, losing consciousness after his head hit the tarmac. Harvick was airlifted to the nearest hospital, and is reported to be in stable condition. Pretel meanwhile sought treatment on the scene for nasty gashes along the length of his legs and sore ribs, but eventually abandoned the race.
The Volta moves on to Aveiro today, with a relatively flat ride from Porto and then an individual time trial around the city.
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| | | | General Classification:
1. Joos Valkenaers, Team Unibet
2. Vincent Aerssen, minions of static
3. Faustino Proença, De Coppis
4. Filip Orzechowski, Team Unibet
5. Damin Iacob, trackstah07
Porto - Viana do Castelo
Volta ao Porto - Stage 2
1. Felix Holm, Team Unibet
2. Egan Moseley, Poker21
3. Borislav Rumiantseva, Trinity
Viana do Castelo - Portelinha
Volta ao Porto - Stage 3
1. Joos Valkenaers, Team Unibet
2. Filip Orzechowski, Team Unibet
3. Vincent Aerssen, minions of static
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