'None of us had been informed' – UAE rider hits out over Volta a Portugal time limit as organisers say teams were notified

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had been one of the standout performers of the race, winning both the opening prologue in Lisbon and the stage 5 individual time trial. 

His race nevertheless came to an abrupt end on Thursday's demanding mountain stage, when he finished just under 40 minutes behind the winner, believing he was comfortably inside the limit based on the 20% figure stated in the roadbook.

Only after reaching the finish did Johansen learn that the limit had instead been set at 15%, leaving him and two teammates outside the permitted time.

"After some really good days in Volta Portugal it’s extremely disappointing to see my race end like this," Johansen wrote on Instagram.

The Dane had started the stage aggressively, spending time alone at the front before being brought back by the peloton. His day then took a turn when he crashed on a descent.

With several stages still to come and little to gain from taking further risks on a difficult mountain day, Johansen decided to ride conservatively towards the finish. He eventually joined a small group containing teammates Luca Giaimi and Marcos Freire and several other riders.

"We calculated that the time limit would be comfortably above 45 minutes, and we finished just under 40 minutes behind," he explained. "So we thought everything was fine."

That assumption proved costly. Johansen said the riders were only informed after the stage that the permitted deficit had been reduced.

"Until we were told at the finish that the time limit had been changed to 15 percent," he wrote. "None of us riders, nor our sports directors, had been informed about this change, not even during the pre race meeting for all sport directors."

The Volta a Portugal organisers, however, dispute Johansen's account and told Domestique that the updated limits had been communicated to the teams before the stage.

According to the organisation, all teams were informed in due time about the changes to the stage time limits. The organisers also provided a communiqué from the race, which contains an amendment to article 10 of the regulations covering the finish time limit.

The document lists a 15% limit for stage 7 and, according to the organisers, was sent to all teams and sports directors ahead of the stage.

That directly contradicts Johansen's account that neither the riders nor UAE's sports directors had been informed of the change.

It produced a particularly bittersweet outcome for UAE. While Johansen, Luca Giaimi and Marcos Freire were eliminated, Adrià Pericas delivered the biggest result of his young professional career at the other end of the race.

The 20-year-old Spaniard won the uphill finish in Termas do Gerês, beating the far more experienced Alexis Guérin and Artem Nych to claim his first professional victory. It was another important step in a rapid rise for Pericas, who had already shown flashes of his potential throughout his first full season at WorldTour level.

Pericas had come close several times earlier in the year, including second overall at the Vuelta a Asturias and seventh at the Tour de Hongrie. His breakthrough in Portugal also moved him into third place overall with three stages remaining, leaving him in contention for a significant general classification result on top of his maiden professional win.

For Johansen, however, the celebrations were mixed with the disappointment of leaving a race in which he had already enjoyed two victories and still felt capable of adding more.

"It’s incredibly frustrating and disappointing to leave a race this way, especially when I felt I had so much more to give in the coming days," he stated. "Volta Portugal is a race I was really looking forward to, and I wanted to fight for more."

"I’m extremely disappointed, but that’s cycling," Johansen concluded. "I’ll take the lessons from this and come back stronger."