Volta ao Algarve: Thomas takes solo win in Monchique

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Team Sky's Geraint Thomas showed impressive early season form by soloing to the stage victory and race lead on a lumpy finish on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal. Thomas attacked on the final climb to catch an earlier solo escapee, Rein Taaramäe (Astana) and then left the Estonian behind to solo to his first victory since he won the Commonwealth Games road race last August.

Thomas came to the line with a 19 second lead over Taaramae, with Valerio Agnoli (Astana) leading home the group with world champion Michal Kwiaktkowski (Etixx-Quickstep)  and teammate Zdenek Stybar at 23 seconds. Thomas now leads Taaramae in the general classification by 30 seconds, thanks to the time bonus, with Stybar and Kwiatkowski at the head of a bunch of riders at 33 seconds.

"It was pretty unexpected if I’m honest," Thomas said of his performance on TeamSky.com. "I knew I was doing OK but I didn’t know how I’d feel on that climb. It was pretty steep at the bottom, levelled off during the middle, and then ramped up towards the top again. Once I’d got over the summit, there were still some more little rises to overcome which definitely hurt, but I managed to get enough out of myself to take the win.

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"It was an amazing feeling crossing the line. I don’t get to win too often – especially not on my own – and it’s a great way to kick start my year."

The stage started off with five man breakaway containing Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Soudal), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon 18), Frabricio Ferrari (Rural Seguros RGA-Caja), Wesley Kreder (Team Roompot) and Ivan Balykin (RusVelo) gaining almost five minutes on the field.

As the mountainous final circuits approached, the quintet was reeled in with more than 25km still left to race. The catch spurred a counter-attack of five other riders: Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Astana), Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Ian Boswell (Sky), Phil Gaimon (Optum) and Alberto Gallego (Rádio Popular-Boavista), who gained a handful of seconds but never looked sure of staying away.

They were brought back in before the final ascent, and Taaramae launched a vicious counter-attack that caught the attention of Team Sky. The Estonian, full of confidence after a victory in his season opener, the Vuelta a Murcia, looked to be on his way to another triumph, but he had gone too soon. Thomas was able to bridge to him, then leave him behind, fighting to hold off the chasing field.

"Once I’d decided to follow Taaramae, I looked back and everyone behind me was on the limit," Thomas explained. "I jumped across, took a few deep breaths, and then went over the top of him and managed to hold a decent lead all the way to the finish."

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