Second win of the week for Oliveira, who takes UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s third victory of the race
Friday 18 April, 2025
Ending an excellent week at the Giro d’Abruzzo in style, Ivo Oliveira picked up his second win of the week to take stage 4, making it three wins from four days of racing for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. In claiming his fourth career victory, Oliveira secured the Emirati squad’s 30th win of the campaign.
It has been a career-best week for the Portuguese, who spent the final day of racing in the breakaway, ostensibly as a satellite rider for his third-placed teammate, Pablo Torres. Despite a daring attack from Torres and Julius Johansen at the 40km to go marker, there were to be no splits made between the general classification contenders, offering Oliveira the opportunity to go in pursuit of the stage honours.
Ensuring that UAE Team Emirates-XRG would be represented up front, the 28-year-old tracked a series of moves after 47km of racing. Up to that point, the first hour of racing had seen the Emirati squad control the peloton, until Israel-Premier Tech’s George Bennett managed to snap the elastic. The former UAE Team Emirates-XRG man was joined in the day’s breakaway by Oliveira, their former UAE teammates Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Joel Suter (Tudor Pro Cycling), Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Alessandro Tonelli (Team Polti VisitMalta) and Federico Guzzo (S.C. Padovani Polo Cherry Bank).
In the peloton behind, it was Intermarché-Wanty, Petrolike and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè who engaged in the pursuit, but it was UAE Team Emirates-XRG who caught many by surprise with 40km to go. Sensing a lull in the pace, Johansen burst from the pack with Torres in the wheel, with the young Spaniard beginning the day just 18 seconds from the race lead.
As one of the most powerful riders in the race, Johansen soon dragged a small group away from the peloton and for a kilometre or so, it seemed as though a move might stick. However, with a bit of coordination, the peloton snapped into action and nullified the attack, which would prove the last battle of the race between the GC rivals. In their absence at the head of the race, Oliveira knew that he had another brilliant opportunity and he was determined to make good on this chance.
Up the final categorised climb of the Sparazzano (6.2km at 4.3%), the breakaway began to shatter and a group of eight soon became a group of five, with a little over 30km to go at its peak. Oliveira always positioned himself towards the forefront and after a quick descent, the Portuguese rider tracked a strong move from Q36.5 Pro Cycling’s Bax. As his former UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate, Oliveira knew the strength of the Dutchman and refused to let him out of his sight. The pair began to work together and it quickly became apparent that the rest of the break would not see the front of the race again.
Through the final 15km, it was a battle between Oliveira, Bax and the peloton, with the gap dropping from one minute to a little under 30 seconds with 5km to ride. However, the former teammates out front worked well together and were able to hold off the chasing bunch, leaving the stage victory to be decided in a two-up sprint to the line.
Bax forced the Portuguese into the front within the final kilometre, but this was not enough to deter the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man. With a burst of speed, Oliveira took the lead and would not give it up before the finish, giving himself enough of an advantage to celebrate before the line. After his victory on stage 2, adding a second stage win of the week is more than he could have dreamed of at the beginning of the race.
As the peloton came over the line as one behind, Torres remained safe to secure his third-place finish in the general classification, marking his best result to date in a UAE Team Emirates-XRG jersey.
Speaking after the finish, Oliveira was a man full of emotion at another brilliant result.
Oliveira: “I have no words. If two days ago I was in the clouds, I cannot say what I am feeling right now. It was not supposed to be like this.
“We were supposed to go in the breakaway with me, Rune [Herregodts] or Julius [Johansen], but I ended up being in a strong breakaway and I have to give kudos to the guys in the breakaway with me, because they mostly collaborated until the end.
In the end, I had three ex-teammates with me in Joel, George and Bax. I know them pretty well and when Bax went on the descent, I knew I had to close it immediately because Bax, if you give him some metres, he goes away and he never comes back. I knew I had to close on him right away and once I closed on him, we agreed to collaborate until the end and it was about the sprint. I know I have a good kick.
“I am speechless, I am speechless. Thank you for the team to give me this opportunity.
“Obviously, we knew Pablo was third and it would be really difficult to move up on GC because everybody would be controlling. I was in the breakaway at the front and obviously, if something happened behind and we were in a situation where we could win GC, I would immediately help Pablo, but in the end, nobody could drop anybody behind, as I heard in the radio. Then my director told me to go for the victory, he said I was looking the strongest and in these days it is so hard to win a bike race.
“For six or seven years, I was saying, “I wish I could win one day,” seeing all the other guys with their hands in the air. In four days, I have done it twice. It is amazing.”
Il Giro d’Abruzzo stage 4 results:
- Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:58:49
- Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) s.t
- Giovanni Bortoluzzi (General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia) +12″
Il Giro d’Abruzzo final general classification after stage 4:
- Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) 15:06:08
- David de la Cruz (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +11″
- Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +18″
