Not yellow, but a jet-black jersey for leader Guerin, who wins the Tour of Portugal with a tribute to Tarling

Since yesterday, the Tour of Portugal has been overshadowed by the death of Finlay Tarling. The British rider from NSN was killed by a car driver during the race. However, the Portuguese stage race had to continue as scheduled, and the ninth stage was won by overall leader Alexis Guerin. He was not wearing a yellow jersey, but a black one, in tribute to the young Brit.

On Friday, Tarling was struck by a van that had pulled onto the road and was traveling in the opposite direction. The Team NSN rider was unable to avoid the vehicle and died at the scene; he was only nineteen years old. Understandably, the race was neutralised, and no winner was declared for the eighth stage.

The question was what would happen next with the Tour of Portugal. The organisers issued a statement on Saturday morning. “The Tour of Portugal will resume on Saturday, in an atmosphere of deep mourning. Before the start, there will be a moment of tribute to Finlay Tarling, attended by the entire peloton and his family. There will still be a race, but no celebration.”

Before the start of the ninth stage, NSN decided to withdraw from the race. The race continued “as usual” with an extremely grueling mountain stage. Over 142 kilometers, the riders had to conquer 3,100 meters of elevation gain, including sections of gravel. And just as it had been throughout the entire race, Anicolor / Campicarn was the team setting the pace. The continental team did a great job of positioning its leaders.

Alexis Guerin had been wearing the leader’s jersey for a long time, but this Saturday it had changed from yellow to black. Teammate Artem Nych was wearing the mountains jersey, and together they were once again incredibly strong. Only José Neves (GI Group Holding - Simoldes - UDO) was able to keep up with the pair. The Portuguese rider had returned from a four-year suspension but proved he was back at the top of his game.

He did give it a shot on the final climb, but he couldn’t break away from race leader Guerin. The Frenchman then managed to break away from the Portuguese rider in the final kilometer. The 34-year-old climber won his second stage of the Tour of Portugal and extended his lead in the general classification, crossing the finish line with a thumbs-up for Tarling.