“I can’t ride a bike,” he explained to Lusa, on his way to the hospital
The Portuguese cyclist Frederico Figueiredo (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor), vice-champion of the Volta a Portugal, did not start today for the second stage of the 49th Volta ao Algarve following the fall he suffered in the first tirade.
Figueiredo, 31, was involved in the fall 8.5 kilometers from the finish of the 200.2-kilometer link between Portimão and Lagos, and today, despite still being present in Sagres for the signing of the time book, he decided to give up because he felt “strong back pain”.
“I can’t ride a bike,” he explained to Lusa on his way to the hospital, where the exams did not detect any fracture.
‘Fred’ was only one of the cyclists who did not line up at the start of the second stage, which started in Sagres and ends at the top of Foia, as Barry Miller (ABTF-Feirense), André Ramalho (Credibom-LA Alumínios-Marcos Car), Joel Suter (Tudor) and Marc Hirshi (UAE Emirates), all involved in the same crash, also abandoned.
The Swiss, João Almeida’s teammate, suffered a fractured radius in his right arm and will stop for at least eight weeks, UAE Emirates announced.
Today, at the start of the second stage, a collective crash led to the abandonment of Luís Mendonça (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor), who was also taken to hospital, and Norwegian Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (DSM).
The second stage of the 49th ‘Algarvia’ links Sagres to the highest point in the Algarve, for a total of 186.3 kilometers.