The final stage

Today the riders set off for the final stage from Monchique to Sagres under a blue sky. The rain of the past couple of days had cleared, but it wasn't as hot as the beginning of the week.

The stage starts with a short steep climb out of the valley of Monchique. Many of the riders had been worried about this last night. It then follows dirt tracks and narrow roads towards the coast. The course leaves the mountains and reaches the ocean in Bordeira. No one remains indifferent to the sudden change in scenery and air after so many days of riding across the country. From here the course follows the coast, including several sections on narrow single tracks on the cliffs. Nuno Luz suffers from vertigo and said it was one of the hardest moments of the race for him.

Leon set off this morning in his “lucky” (?) jersey – the one he had worn on the seventh stage last year when he fell, and that still bore the signs of the accident. Luckily he finished the stage with no new holes or marks.

Frans had a puncture right at the beginning of the stage which took a long time to fix, meaning he lost a lot of time. David had mechanical problems once again, he didn't puncture today, but did manage to rip his tyre.

The stage ends on the beach in Sagres, there was a good turn out of family and friends to cheer everyone over the finishing line. Like every year many of the riders rode straight on to the beach. João Marinho was first over the finishing line, followed by Dries Leys and Thomas Vandendaele. Tom Letsinger had another good day and came in fourth, he said he was tempted to ride straight into the water, but then remembered the damage it would do to his bike. Ricardo Melo and Frans came over the finishing line together in 7th and 8th place.

This evening there was the final dinner followed by the closing ceremony and prize giving at the hotel, with the presence of Garmin Portugal. Everyone was rewarded for participating in the race with trophies from Garmin. There were monetary prizes for the first five places and GPS for the first three places. Today Thomas and Dries rode hard and knocked Luis Gomes out of third place down to fifth. Thomas came in fourth and Dries third. Ricardo Melo added another second place to his collection. Out of seven editions he has been second three times and first once. Frans Claes came in first place.

The TransPortugal Garmin will be back in 2010. Dates have not yet been announced, but we will start working on it in the coming months.

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he TransPortugal Garmin team

Photo gallery

Classification stage 8

General classification after stage 8