Matthew Walls, who rides for Lucan CRC on the domestic scene, has added to a dream season this year with a major victory in Portugal today, just a couple of months after winning the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland.
As has been the case several times this season, when the chips were down, and the big win was there for the taking, Walls showed his tactical nouse and his sheer power by getting away on his own to claim victory on the final stage of Volta Portugal Juniores, from Beira to Trancoso.
He went from the gun today and rode solo for 100km to win; making for a spectacular finishing effort having also been in the breakaway on three of four of the other stages.
That win on the final stage was enough to secure the overall victory, with Walls now the winner of two major junior stage races this year at home and abroad; a rare achievement in Irish cycling.
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Walls rode the five-stage national level race - with 130 starters - with Portuguese team AC Jopelor. He has been riding for the club in Europe of late and also rode the Vuelta Ciclista Sevilla stage race in Spain earlier this month.
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He claimed 18th overall in the two-stage race, winning the sprint classification and the most combative rider jersey. He was away on his own on the second stage of the race for 80km and was only caught by a large chase group with 3km to go.
In July he took victory on stage 2 of the Junior Tour of Ireland, then losing the yellow jersey only to regain it and win the race overall. He made the key breakaways of the race, stepping up to drive them on.
More to come.
