Emma Siegers claims first professional victory in Portugal

Emma Siegers celebrated the biggest victory of her career on Wednesday, claiming a superb solo win on the opening stage of the Volta a Portugal Feminina. The 21-year-old Belgian also moved into the overall lead and the young rider classification after an aggressive display from AG Insurance-Soudal Development Team.

With around 50 kilometres remaining, Tess Moerman launched an attack that forced the peloton into action. As the bunch came back together, Siegers immediately counter-attacked, producing the perfect piece of teamwork. She bridged across to lone leader Maite Urteaga before making the decisive move on the final classified climb, where she dropped her breakaway companion and powered solo to the finish. Urteaga took second place, while Annelies Nijssen completed the podium.

"It was a really long effort. I tried not to go too hard from the beginning and kept riding at my own pace until my advantage grew to almost two minutes. After that, I didn't receive any more time gaps. Then, with around ten kilometres to go, I heard I still had a gap of one minute and 30 seconds. From that moment, I knew it was possible.

We raced aggressively as a team today and it paid off. I'm really happy to take my first victory after giving it everything. Tomorrow will probably be a sprint stage, but we have a strong team and we'll do everything we can to keep the leader's jersey and fight for another win," concluded a delighted Emma Siegers.

Siegers will start Thursday's second stage wearing both the yellow jersey as overall leader and the white jersey as the best young rider.