Three UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders were eliminated from the Volta a Portugal after stage 7, in a dispute that turned on a changed time-limit calculation and left the team with fewer riders in the race.
Julius Johansen, Luca Giaimi and Marcos Freire all exited after finishing outside the enforced limit on Thursday. The confusion came because the roadbook had listed a 20% time limit for the stage, while the official calculation used after the stage was 15% of the winner's time.
For Johansen, the situation was especially frustrating. The prologue and stage 5 winner crashed on a descent during the mountain stage, then eased off and rode safely to the finish with Giaimi, Freire and three other riders. He said he believed the day would still leave enough margin.
“Today started well. I spent the first 40 minutes out alone before being caught by the peloton. Unfortunately, I then crashed on a descent after taking one corner too fast, completely my own mistake,” Johansen said.
“After the crash, I decided to save myself for the days ahead and ride safely to the finish. It was a very hard mountain stage, and with a 20% time limit stated in the roadbook, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks.”
Why the calculation caused confusion
The key issue was not simply that the riders were off the pace. It was that the information they were using did not match the official figure applied by race organisers. Johansen said the group expected the time limit to be comfortably above 45 minutes, and that they finished just under 40 minutes behind.
“We calculated that the time limit would be comfortably above 45 minutes, and we finished just under 40 minutes behind. So we thought everything was fine. Until we were told at the finish that the time limit had been changed to 15%,” he said.
That left three UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders out of the race on one stage, a significant hit to the team's presence in the Volta a Portugal. The official stage 7 time limit was calculated on Thursday as 34:17, based on 15% of the stage winner's time.
A race rules issue with real consequences
The incident also underlines how quickly a time-limit decision can alter a stage race. A change in calculation may seem technical, but for riders already managing crashes, fatigue and mountain terrain, it can decide whether their race continues or ends immediately.
The article also notes that Charlotte Kool left the Tour de France Femmes after finishing outside the time limit on a stage to Mont Ventoux, another reminder that these decisions can be decisive in major races. For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the immediate consequence is clear: three riders are gone, and the stage 7 confusion has become one of the defining moments of their Volta a Portugal campaign.
