Ineos Grenadiers rolled out the old mountain lead-out train on the winding road to the Alto da Foia but, despite maintaining multiple irons in the general classification fire, came away empty-handed on the second stage at the Volta ao Algarve.
Michał Kwiatkowski performed a huge turn from near the base of the climb to the 3.4km-to-go marker, with Jonathan Castroviejo then taking it well into the final kilometre. However, as Dani Martínez took over and riders started scrambling in anticipation of the final dash, they got swamped, and Tom Pidcock found himself boxed in with no path to victory, even if he felt he had the strength for it.
Pidcock could have crashed as he made contact with the barriers in the chaotic rush for the line, and in the end, had to content himself with eighth place on the stage.
"Today was maybe a lack of experience of these sorts of finishes," Pidcock told Cyclingnews at the Alto da Foia.
"I got squashed against the barriers. It was kind of my fault for going a bit late, to be honest - probably lack of experience. It's just a shame how it unfolded after the work the guys did there.
"Bora came to the front, and I was on Dani's wheel. We just went backwards a bit and should have gone ourselves there. It's a shame to mess up the last part, but I felt good, so that's a positive."
Pidcock was one of four Ineos Grenadiers riders in the top 25, with the British team still possessing four possible cards for the overall title.
Martínez was 15th on the same time as Pidcock, while Thymen Arensman was 25th, a further 10 seconds back. But a potential source of intrigue was Filippo Ganna in 20th, just five seconds behind Pidcock and Martínez.
"We've got a hell of a team here," Ineos boss Rod Ellingworth told Cyclingnews. "We have any one of four riders who could win it if they got it right, so we've got to try and use the strength of the team."
There were high hopes for Arensman, but he attributed his relatively lowly finish to a puncture on the way to the final climb, describing his effort as an exercise in damage limitation.
"Bad luck today, punctured at a really bad moment on a bad road with 70+ km/h," he said. "Happy to stay upright; big thanks to Laurens De Plus for lending me your bike! But starting the last climb already empty from chasing back isn’t ideal. Limited the losses, all to play for as a team."
All to play for, with four riders still in contention. Arensman and Martínez had been expected to be the primary GC leaders, but Pidcock, despite being relatively untested, is capable of a strong time trial.
"For me, the GC is an afterthought," Pidcock said. "I want to try and win a stage, so I guess there's one more opportunity for that."
As for Ganna, the final-day time trial looms large in the overall complexion of the Volta ao Algarve. The Italian, who has just come from the European Track Championships - where he won another gold medal in the team pursuit - hung grimly to the back of the thinning bunch as Kwiatkowski and Castroviejo pushed it on from the front on the Alto da Foia and then limited his losses in the final scramble.
The steeper finish at Malhao on stage 4 is a different kind of test, but the 24km TT on Sunday brings the two-time world champion firmly into the general classification equation.
