Barloworld wins in Portugal
17 August 2005
South African-based Team Barloworld-Valsir scored a major coup when Vladimir Efimkin became one of the youngest winners of the Volta a Portugal (Tour of Portugal), putting in a solid time trial on the tenth and final stage of the race to clinch the win by 34 seconds.
Aged just 23, Efimkin was ecstatic about his first major victory and Barlworld-Valsir's twenty-fourth win of the year.
'It was a great victory'
"I am very happy to have won the Volta a Portugal. It was a great victory. I gave everything to try and win everything, and I succeeded," said Efimkin.
The young Russian's main challenger for the overall victory, Portugal's Candido Barbosa (LA Liberty), took second place in the 36.8-kilometre time trial in Viseu, just two seconds behind Dane Claus Moller (Barbot-Pascoal).
Efimkin was third on the stage, 30 seconds down on Moller, while his Barlworld-Valsir teammate Peiro Arreitunandia was ninth,
55 seconds behind.
There were also impressive performances from Félix Rafael Cardenas (14th, 1:28 behind), and Giampaolo Cheula (23rd, 2:10 behind). The team took second in the team competition on the stage and sixth overall.
All-round excellence
Efimkin, who grabbed the yellow jersey after a long, solo break to win the third stage, was also the best of the under-25 riders on show and took the blue jersey for that category as well. He finished third in the points' competition and fourth in the King of the Mountains' category.
"We first spotted Vladimir at the World Championships in Verona last year,"said John Robertson of Barlworld-Valsir.
"He was part of an early attack that stayed away for longer than the main bunch would have liked and showed the sort of talent and character that we just knew we had to have on our team. He is a very talented young man, a great prospect, and he also has a brother, Alexander, who we have been
keeping our eye on.
"Vladimir is a great all-rounder. He can ride hard on the flats, can climb and he's a good time-trialist as well. If you think that he's only 23 and has already won a major stage race against some concerted attacks from the local Portuguese riders, well, he's got a great future ahead of him.
Strong team performance
"The whole team rode very well in Portugal. They went into the race a rider down when Ryan Cox had to miss the Volta because he had visa problems, so instead of eight riders they had seven. To perform the way they did was impressive."
There were some standout performances along the way. Arreitunandia, in particular, provided solid support for Efimkin and ended fifth overall.
The team was also consistent throughout the 10-stage race. On the second stage, Giulio Tomi finished fifth, Arreitunandia claimed tenth on stage three, eighth on stage five, and eighth again on stage six. He took fourth on stage
eight. Giampaolo Cheula finished third on stage four, while Efimkin was third on the eighth stage.
Barloworld-Valsir have now won major stage races in Asia (Tour de Langkawi), Africa (Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Giro Del Capo), and Europe (Volta a Portgual).
SouthAfrica.info reporter
| 
