Eduard Prades, 36 years old, confirmed today his triumph in Évora, at the end of the 187.9 kilometers from Nisa, after having risen to the leadership of ‘Alentejana’ on Saturday, with victory in the fourth stage, between Monforte and Castelo de Vide .
The Spaniard secured his third consecutive victory in the race for Caja Rural, which dominated the 2024 edition with victories in four of the five stages, with sixth place in the final race, with the same time as Iuri Leitão, who completed the route in 04 :15.27 hours.
Leitão, who lost the lead on Saturday to Prades, prevailed in the sprint over the North American Scott McGill (Echelon Racing) and Luís Mendonça (Sabgal-Anicolor), second and third classified, with the same time as the winner.
Prades defended the four second difference in the general classification over his Venezuelan Francisco Peñuela (Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista), whose fifth place in the race was insufficient to recover from the disadvantage.
Peñuela finished ‘Alentejana’ in second place, four seconds behind Prades, while Puerto Rican Abner González (Efapel) finished in third place, six seconds behind. Afonso Silva (AP Hotels&Resorts-Tavira-Farense) was the first Portuguese, with fourth place, 13 seconds behind the winner.
The fifth and final stage of the race was marked by several attacks in the first 40 kilometers, quickly nullified by the peloton.
Edgar Curto (Illes Balears Arabay), Mathias Bregnhøj (Sabgal-Anicolor) and Venceslau Fernandes (AP Hotels&Resorts-Tavira-Farense) managed to escape, which came to hold more than a five-minute lead, at 73 kilometers, which they joined Diogo Pinto and Mark Kryuchkov, both from the Óbidos team.
However, the advantage diminished until the peloton canceled these attacks and arrived in Évora together, followed by the sprint battle, in which Iuri Leitão was the strongest.
