Cycling superfan follows time trial rider with megaphone for 18km

A Portuguese cycling fan appears to have taken the lead in the battle to be crowned 2017's ultimate cycling fan with a rousing 18km-long pep talk at the Vola ao Algarve on Friday.

Sat in the driver's seat of the support vehicle behind Spanish and Astana cyclists Pello Bilbao was the fan in question, who took it upon himself to shout encouragement at Bilbao for the entire 22 minutes and 46 seconds of his time trail.

While we can't quite understand the clip that was posted to Twitter by Bilbao himself, none of the sentiment is lost.

Como se vive el ciclismo en Portugal! CRI de ayer, 18km muy intensos con un nuevo fichaje de la squadra No tuve tiempo para aburrirme! pic.twitter.com/eZ3swR7ydR

— Pello Bilbao (@PelloBilbao1990) February 18, 2017

Stage three of the Portuguese race was the individual timetrail that ran along 18km of the country's most exposed section of south western coastline.

If the Spaniard Bilbao needed any extra motivation racing across the border in Portugal, we doubt he was expecting to get it from a Portuguese fan in the car behind him. He said in the tweet posted alongside the video that the 18km ride was made all the more intense by the squad's new signing shouting encouragement.

Bilbao clarified in a later tweet that the fan was working in collaboration with Astana, which explains his presence in the car at least.

@Eurosport_UK @robhatchtv He was colaborating with the organisation in ITT. Really big cycling fan! Impressive talking capacity!

— Pello Bilbao (@PelloBilbao1990) February 18, 2017

While we think the video's fantastic, we do have a number of questions. Firstly, why was a fan allowed to drive the car directly behind Bilbao for the duration of his time trail? Secondly, How did he keep shouting for the whole 18km?

Bilbao ended the stage in 17th place, but comes out of the weekend's racing down in 19th.