Danish cyclist Magnus Cort (EF Education-Easy Post) today won the third stage of the Volta ao Algarve in the sprint, the second in a row, and strengthened the lead in the overall individual standings on arrival in Tavira.
Cort, 30 years old, completed the 203,1 kilometers between Faro and Tavira in 05:05.14 hours, beating the Italian Filippo Ganna (INEOS), second, and the Belgian Jordi Meeus (BORA-hansgrohe), third, with Rui Oliveira (UAE Emirates) in sixth and Rui Costa (Intermarché- Wanty-Circus) in seventh.
Overall, the Dane now has an advantage of 18 seconds over Rui Costa, who is second, and 20 over Belgian Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), third.
“Nothing was expected, nor was anything planned. In fact, the idea was to pass the stage as comfortably as possible and not even compete in the sprint. We decided to compete in the intermediate sprint, the idea was to bonus a few seconds for the general classification. In the final part of the stage we canceled the escape before the sprint. It was a hard effort, over the cobbles, and suddenly we gained a slight advantage. I had no intention of continuing the effort, but the INEOS men and Tobias Foss walked past me and challenged me, “let's go” and I seized the opportunity. We gathered an excellent group at the front and rode the last 25 kilometers in a perfect team time trial», described Magnus Cort.
The fact that, this year, the bonuses returned, meant that the peloton fought for the Meta Volante Crédito Agrícola, installed in Vila Real de Santo António, 24,6 kilometers from the finish line. Six athletes attacked it: Pedro Andrade (ABTF Betão-Feirense), Daniel Viegas (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé Concelho), Aleksandr Grigorev (Efapel Cycling), Fábio Costa (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor), Guillermo García (Rádio Popular-Paredes -Boavista) and Gonçalo Amado (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua).
Fábio Costa still tried to postpone the inevitable and tried to go it alone, which earned him the combativeness award, a choice of fans in online voting. The approach to the flying goal of Vila Real de Santo António dictated an acceleration of pace and led to a dispute for bonuses. Magnus Cort won the intermediate sprint, followed by Rui Costa and Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers).
António Ferreira (Kelly-Simoldes-UDO) keeps the Cyclin'Portugal Blue Jersey, best climber, since day one. The IPDJ White Jersey belonged to Frederik Wandahl (BORAhansgrohe) and EF Education-EasyPost accumulates the individual general with the collective.
This Saturday, the peloton will depart from Albufeira Marina, at 11:20 am, and it is expected to reach the top of Malhão, a second category mountain, at 15:45 pm.
This will be the fourth and penultimate stage of the 49th edition, which connects Albufeira to Alto do Malhão over 177,9 kilometres, before the decisive time trial on Sunday, in Lagoa.
Currently, the first cyclist of Algarve teams is Carlos Oyarzun, from Aviludo Louletano, in 72nd place. This is followed by Rúben Simão, from AP Hotels Resort Tavira, in 77th.
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