UnitedHealthcare bouyed by Van Poppel's performance in Portugal

Two new recruits, Boy Van Poppel and Scott Zwizanski. (Image credit: Jonathan Devich)

Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team) delivered his squad its first top-10 result on European soil after he sprinted to eighth place on the final road stage of the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal on Saturday afternoon.

The Dutchman, who joined the American ProContinental outfit this year, was the only non-ProTeam rider to finish in the top 10 on the 167.3km stage from Albufeira to Tavira. Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) collected his first race win of the season, ahead of Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and Anthony Ravard (Ag2R-La Mondiale). Van Poppel expressed his satisfaction with his result, praising his teammates for their work to set him up for the sprint finish.

Van Poppel's result was a welcomed by his UnitedHealthcare, who has found itself caught up in a number of with frustrating crashes throughout the race. US rider Brad White remains in the race after his stage 2 accident, while Christian Meier and Charly Wegelius were involved in a late race crash on Saturday. Despite their misfortune, UnitedHealthcare General Manager and Directeur Sportif Mike Tamayo expressed his satisfaction with the squad's performance in their first major test against ProTour competition.

The team also has the opportunity to secure a top 10 position in the final general classification, with Australian Rory Sutherland sitting 21st overall, 51 seconds behind race leader Steve Cummings (Team Sky) but just 20 second off the overall time of Tiago Machado (RadioShack), who sits in 10th overall. Sutherland will line up for the final stage individual time trial only one second from a top 20 position. He is poised behind a group of three riders: Sebastian Langeveld and Steven Kruijswijk of Rabobank, and Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep).