After the rest day, the 87th Volta a Portugal Jogos Santa Casa resumed with the sixth stage, 132.6 kilometers between Santa Maria da Feira and Peso da Régua. Although it was the shortest road stage of this edition, it was anything but easy.

Contested from the start, the peloton had to work hard throughout the afternoon: a numerous breakaway, but with dangerous names and... always under control. After an initial failed attempt by four riders to form the breakaway of the day, a large group of 22 riders, then reduced to 21 when Hugo de la Calle (Burgos-Burpellet-BH) suffered a mechanical issue and fell behind, managed to break away and take the lead of the race.

The problem for those 21 riders was that the group contained several dangerous names in terms of the general classification. In the general classification, Rui Carvalho (GI Group Holding - Simoldes - UDO) and Lucas Lopes (Efapel Cycling) represented a threat due to their proximity to yellow jersey wearer Alexis Guérin. In the fight for the points classification, orange jersey Galp wearer Daniel Cavia (Burgos-Burpellet BH) and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates XRG) also joined the breakaway, unlike Tomas Contte.

For this reason, Anicolor/Campicarn and Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé worked constantly in pursuit and never allowed the breakaway riders to gain much time. The advantage never exceeded just over one minute.

Rui Oliveira, again and again
Among the 21 riders up front, two stood out from the rest. Rúben Rodrigues (Feira dos Sofás - Boavista) claimed maximum points in both mountain classifications of the day, then winning the EBRO award for combativeness. Rui Oliveira, chasing the orange Galp jersey, failed to win even the first intermediate sprint of the day. At Castelo de Paiva, André Carvalho of Aviludo Louletano-Loulé proved to be the fastest.

At Cifães and Mesão Frio, at two very different moments in the race, it was the UAE Team Emirates XRG rider who claimed maximum points. While at Cifães he was still part of the initial breakaway, at Mesão Frio Rui Oliveira was pedaling alone alongside Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), with whom he would then battle for the stage victory in the final sprint.

Artem Nych, Tiago Antunes and Adrià Pericas: three dangers for the Yellow Jersey

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, important developments were taking place, with the Yellow Jersey very much at stake. A group of nine riders managed to break away from the main peloton, adding further excitement to the race. Why? Because in that group were Artem Nych (Anicolor/Campicarn), Tiago Antunes (Efapel Cycling), once again, and Adrià Pericas (UAE Team Emirates XRG), who occupied the second, third and fourth positions in the general classification at that moment respectively.

Facing the prospect of losing part of his advantage, Guérin was even forced to personally contribute to the chase before other Anicolor/Campicarn teammates came to his aid. Despite this, it was not enough. The Frenchman ended the day losing 23 of the 72 seconds of advantage he had over teammate Nych at the start of the stage.

In the final showdown in the Douro region, Xabier Isasa got the better of Rui Oliveira and claimed his first-ever victory at the Volta a Portugal, while Oliveira remained disappointed once again, so close yet so far from the much-desired stage victory.

FINISHING ORDER

1st 35 10042287738 ISASA Xabier Elite EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (ESP) 3:01:23
2nd 13 10009191136 OLIVEIRA Rui Elite UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG (UAE) 3:01:23 s.t.
3rd 83 10010714238 CAMPOS Francisco Elite TEAM TAVIRA - CRÉDITO AGRÍCOLA (POR) 3:01:23 s.t.
4th 61 10009640265 ANTUNES Tiago Elite EFAPEL CYCLING (POR) 3:01:23 s.t.
5th 1 10008687847 NYCH Artem Elite ANICOLOR/CAMPICARN (POR) 3:01:23 s.t.
6th 112 10008197894 DEL PINO Jesus Elite AVILUDO - LOULETANO - LOULÉ (POR) 3:01:23 s.t.
7th 143 10010197512 BUSTAMANTE Adrian Elite GI GROUP HOLDING - SIMOLDES - UDO (POR) 3:01:23 s.t.
8th 14 10043133961 PERICAS Adria* Sub23 UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG (UAE) 3:01:23 s.t.
9th 31 10015300419 JUARISTI Txomin Elite EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (ESP) 3:01:23 s.t.
10th 82 10044346057 BARBOSA Diogo Elite TEAM TAVIRA - CRÉDITO AGRÍCOLA (POR) 3:01:23 s.t.