UAE Team Emirates-XRG enjoyed a one-two finish on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve as Jan Christen won a high-octane summit finish, just ahead of teammate João Almeida.
Christen had been part of an initial group of six to go clear on the Alto da Fóia, but as Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked from the chasing group in the closing 2km it looked as if the GC favourites would win the day.
But Christen dug deep and held on, while Almeida flew across the gap to distance Vingegaard and finish hot on the heels of his young teammate. Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), another survivor of the day’s final breakaway, finished third, seven seconds back, with the trio also taking the top three positions on GC.
In the first battle of the GC favourites this week, Almeida was the clear winner. The Portuguese rider goes into stage 3 with a 20-second lead over Vingegaard thanks to the bonus seconds available, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) ceding a further three seconds. Both Vingegaard and Roglič had been left isolated on the Alto da Fóia, while Almeida still had Antonio Morgado for support and Christen up the road.
“I’m super happy, it’s an amazing stage win,” Christen said at the finish. “All in all the first part was quite easy, with the final climb it was all-in. Now [I’m] a bit speechless, to win such a climbing stage, especially with such a strong field at the start. I’m super thankful to the team, like João and Antonio [Morgado] were in the back protecting me.
“It’s amazing, now already [my] second win [of the season], and it’s for sure one of the nicest wins, with a climbing finish. We are here for João, Antonio and me for the GC, and we’re all gonna try. Now it’s recovering the legs and staying in good positions.”
How it unfolded
After the mayhem that ensued at the finish line at the opening day at the Volta ao Algarve, where the peloton veered off course and onto the unblocked support-car deviation during the final sprint, the second day of racing went much more smoothly.
Although Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) crossed the finish line first on stage 1, organisers cancelled the results and so there were no leader's jerseys presented for any of the special classifications.
The peloton tackled 124.4km from Lagoa to the first mountaintop finish at Alto da Foia, on a day that also included intermediate climbs at Pictoa (1.1 at 7.5%), Alderece (4.3km at 5.2%), Marmelete (2.3km at 7.6%), Pomba (3.8km at 7.4%) before heading straight into the final ascent to Alto da Foia.
An early breakaway formed that initially included nine riders; Iúri Leitão (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Brent Van Moer (Lotto), Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Fábio Costa (Anicolor-Tien 21), André Carvalho (Efapel Cycling), Hugo Nunes (Credibom-LA Alumínios-Marcos Car), German Nicolás Tivani (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé) and teammates Leangel Rubén Linarez and Guilherme Lino (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua).
The breakaway riders pushed their lead out to more than four minutes over the first ascent of the day where Tivani took full mountain points. However, it was reduced to eight when Leitão fell off the pace over the top.
It was Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe that led the peloton for their GC favourites Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, respectively.
The breakaway settled into a rhythm and Tivani picked up full points again over the second climb, Alferece, taking the early lead in the mountains classification.
On the roads toward Marmelete, the breakaway was reduced to just four riders as Tivani, Bayer, Van Moer and Nunes pushed on with three minutes in hand and determined to stay away from a chasing field before the final series of ascents.
Tivani took more points over the top increasing his virtual mountains classification lead to 12 points.
On an important day in the GC battle, EF Education-EasyPost, Bahrain Victorious, Soudal-QuickStep, Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe pulled the field into the base of the Marmelete, setting up their respective contenders in good position to react to the attacks.
Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) led the field over the top of the Marmelete, slashing the gap to the breakaway to just 1:13, Vingegaard tucked in behind his teammates. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Roglič safely in the field, took over on the downhill into the shallow-grade intermediate sprint at Monchique.
Up the road, Tivani fell off pace, as Bayer, Van Moer and Nunes continued a last-ditch effort as the main peloton loomed at 20 seconds behind them until they were caught with 20km to go.
The peloton descended into the 3.5km Pomba ascent that fed into the base of the 8.5km Alto da Foia. Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) was the first to attack on the slopes of the Pomba, but the Frenchman looked over his shoulder and sat up as UAE Team Emirates-XRG closed the gap. However, their GC rider João Almeida appeared to initially struggle to stay with the pace as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took over.
Among the favourites in the select group of 30 riders that emerged on the climb, Vingegaard stayed glued to the back of Roglič's wheel, as he led the field on the descent and into the base of the Alto de Foia.
Results
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