After winning the opening prologue, Julius Johansen (UAE Team Emirates XRG) demonstrated his time trial prowess once again, posting the best time in the individual time trial held between Anadia and Águeda. The 17.4-kilometer course started at the National Velodrome in Sangalhos, one of the most important cycling venues in Portuguese cycling, on a particularly significant day: exactly two years have passed since Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão won gold in the Madison at the Paris Olympic Games.

For this reason, Iúri made a special visit to his friend Rui. The two spent time together before the stage, and Leitão followed the time trial of the UAE Team Emirates XRG rider wearing the yellow jersey until Sunday from the car of the president of the Portuguese Cycling Federation, Câncido Barbosa, alongside two illustrious guests: the national track coach Gabriel Mendes and Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.

"Today we remember the absolutely fantastic achievement of Iúri Leitão and Rui Oliveira, and I wanted, in some way, to pay tribute to what is perhaps the greatest result in the history of Portuguese cycling," Montenegro declared, making his second appearance at the 2026 Volta after also attending the opening prologue in Lisbon.

Johansen left no room for doubt.

From the velodrome, the 113 remaining riders headed towards Águeda, where a technical uphill finish on Avenida 25 de Abril awaited them. The provisional leadership changed hands several times, but once Julius Johansen came down the starting ramp at 15:46, it became immediately clear that the Dane would remain at the top until the end of the afternoon.

"I feel fantastic, I'm very happy. Winning the time trial was one of my objectives for this Volta a Portugal. I wanted to win after taking the prologue and today I proved I can win even when the effort is longer. It was a beautiful victory," said the UAE Team Emirates XRG rider after securing his second win of the week.

Johansen completed the course in 21 minutes and 13 seconds, at an average speed exceeding 49 km/h, a time that no one else managed to match. Tiago Antunes, one of the riders who benefited most from the day in terms of general classification, was his closest pursuer, but still crossed the finish line 30 seconds behind.

Guerin held on to the yellow jersey.

Axel Van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi) completed the podium, narrowly ahead of Artem Nych. The two-time Volta winner remains second in the general classification for Anicolor/Campicarn, after managing to recover some time on his teammate and race leader Alexis Guerin. The Frenchman finished the stage in eighth place, 53 seconds behind the winner. He lost 14 seconds to Nych, but managed to defend the yellow jersey and maintains a comfortable advantage of 1 minute and 12 seconds in the general classification.

"The Volta is never easy, whether you wear the yellow jersey or not. A race is always hard and everyone wants to win. Now I'll rest, spend some time with my family and get some good rest. I'm not afraid. We have a very strong team, a great collective, and everyone knows that the objective is to win the Volta, whether it's with me or with Nych," he stated.

The main challenger outside of Anicolor/Campicarn is now Tiago Antunes, who gained five positions in the general classification and finished the day as the best Portuguese rider. The afternoon essentially reshaped the general classification. In the secondary classifications, Daniel Cavia (Burgos-Burpellet-BH) maintained the Galp orange jersey as points classification leader, Oscar Rota (Feira dos Sofás-Boavista) retained the Continente blue jersey as mountain classification leader, and Adrià Pericas (UAE Team Emirates XRG) maintained the Paredes Rota dos Móveis white jersey as best young rider in the race.

With the first half of the Volta a Portugal Jogos Santa Casa now concluded, the peloton heads towards the rest day. Racing resumes on Wednesday with Stage 6, a 132.6-kilometer route from Santa Maria da Feira to Peso da Régua.

STAGE RESULTS

1st 12 10015221102 JOHANSEN Julius Elite UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG (UAE) 0:21:13 54
2nd 61 10009640265 ANTUNES Tiago Elite EFAPEL CYCLING (POR) 0:21:43 67 +30
3rd 36 10022698687 VAN DER TUUK Axel Elite EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (ESP) 0:21:49 10 +36
4th 1 10008687847 NYCH Artem Elite ANICOLOR/CAMPICARN (POR) 0:21:52 61 +39
5th 11 10031534579 GIAIMI Luca* Sub23 UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG (UAE) 0:21:56 70 +43
6th 4 10022706468 LEIJNSE Enzo Elite ANICOLOR/CAMPICARN (POR) 0:21:58 77 +45
7th 6 10006878900 REIS Rafael Elite ANICOLOR/CAMPICARN (POR) 0:22:01 35 +48
8th 7 10008853353 GUERIN Alexis Elite ANICOLOR/CAMPICARN (POR) 0:22:06 87 +53
9th 144 10014517143 FERNANDES José Elite GI GROUP HOLDING - SIMOLDES - UDO (POR) 0:22:12 21 +59
10th 14 10043133961 PERICAS Adria* Sub23 UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG (UAE) 0:22:13 76 +1:00