Steven Cozza, Volta a Portugal prologue Today’s final stage of the Volta a Portugal proved to be bittersweet for Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O. Steven Cozza (right) put in a strong time trial performance, holding the best time for most of the event, finally finishing 7th.

Dan Martin also put all he had in today’s final stage, but after nearly 40 hours and 10 days of hard, hot racing, he fell just 11″ shy of being able to keep his orange Best Young jersey. His nemesis throughout the week, Portuguese rider Tiago Machado, finished 5th in today’s race against the clock and 1′16″ faster than Dan. Finishing 10th in the overall classification, Dan still proved himself an up and coming champion.

Said Directeur Sportif Johnny Weltz: “After two weeks of racing, it all came down to a few seconds for the Best Young jersey. Even though Dan put in a very good time trial, it was not enough. But he finished 10th on GC and has become a stronger stage race rider. It was a very impressive performance.”

“The other guys improved every day and left a solid impression on a race which is absolutely among the hardest in the world,” DS Weltz said.

Look for Dan to play the hometown hero this week in the Tour of Ireland, which kicks off Wednesday in Dublin.

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O Time Trial Results
1. Hector Guerra 43′03″
7. Steven Cozza +2′25″
18. Dan Martin +3′01″
34. Pat McCarty +4′00″
55. Lucas Euser +5′25″
58. Christian Meier +5′32″
83. Tyler Farrar +6′46″
110. Chris Sutton +10′54″

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O GC
1. David Blanco 39h49′45″
10. Dan Martin +8′04″
24. Lucas Euser +28′31″
33. Pat McCarty +38′13″
78. Steven Cozza +1h25′41″
83. Christian Meier +1h27′39″
98. Tyler Farrar +1h50′53″

Best Young Rider
1. Tiago Machado 39h57′38″
2. Dan Martin +11″