Having started the final stage 41 hundredths of a second behind Brandão, João Rodrigues was the fastest cyclist in the time trial, finishing in 27 minutes 31 seconds, or 15 seconds less than his team-mate António Carvalho and 27 seconds less than Brandão.


Overall Rodrigues, 24, finished with a 27-second lead over Brandão and a lead of 1 minute 8 seconds over Spain’s Gustavo Veloso, another team-mate of his.


In what is the seventh consecutive overall win for his team, Rodrigues succeeds Spanish champion Raúl Alarcón, who missed this 81st Volta because of injury. The last Portuguese winner was Rui Vinhas, three years ago.


The final stage of this year’s race took place between Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto, with tens of thousands of people lining the route to watch.