Contador takes control in Malhão

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Alberto Contador hammered home his first win of the season atop the Alto do Malhão in the Volta ao Algarve today. His Astana team set-up the two-time Tour de France winner perfectly to claim the mountaintop stage ahead of RadioShack's Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer.

With the help of Astana's new mountain domestique, David de la Fuente, Contador pulled away from the peloton on the final 2.7 kilometre ascent to secure both the stage win and overall lead in the race. The result meant Contador went one better than the equivalent stage last year where he finished second to Antonio Colom.

"I'm thrilled by the work that was done by the team, both yesterday and today. Everything worked out perfect. I was able to finish the job, but the victory is because of my teammates," said Contador.

While Contador hasn't put huge amounts of time into his rivals, he was happy with the time gaps he got. "At the end we weren't many seconds ahead because the climb was short, but the result is pretty good."

Contador reached the base of the 2.7km climb in the front group, but was a bit far back in about 20th position he said. "De la Fuente looked for me." The pair found each other and exploded off the front, riding solo for 1.5km to go when Contador took off alone.

The only rider who could come close to matching Contador's climbing speed was RadioShack's Tiago Machado, but Contador said he had no thoughts of the supposed rivalry between the teams and was focused only on the battle to win. "I prepare to win, but not over them, all that is clear is that I dedicate this victory to each of Astana's riders".

The win was a small step toward his goal of getting a third Tour de France title. "It begins here, and I am delighted that after seven months without racing I have managed to win today because I did not expect it."

Machado rolled in 11 seconds later, with Leipheimer at 22 seconds - within striking distance for the RadioShack riders to fight for the overall on Sunday's final 17.5 kilometre time trial in Portimão.

"It was our job to be in the front the last kilometers," said Machado. "The first two corners were sharp and the slope was steep. When Contador attacked with his teammate David de la Fuente, we decided to wait for the reactions of other potential overall contenders like Luis León Sánchez or Kim Kirchen. Their reaction did not come, so I counterattacked. The gap between Contador and me remained constantly the same, about ten, fifteen seconds. This means that I may not complain about my condition."

RadioShack team director José Azevedo added, "It's the first race of the season for our riders. We have to be careful and not too audacious. The most important thing is that Tiago proved he has worked hard and that he has a place in this big team. Tiago was nervous before the season. Now we see there was no need for it."

Shrunken peloton faces up to longer stage

Only 167 riders took the start for the third stage after 13 riders abandoned during the miserably cold and rainy second stage. Celio Sousa (Madeinox-Boavista) also leaving before the start of Friday's stage.

The weather improved considerably over the previous day: clouds gave way to bright sunshine thanks to strong winds that blew the rain away. The previous day's weather caused some problems with the route, however. Organisers had to add on distance to route the race around the damaged roads. Instead of 173.7 kilometres, the racers would contest 180.7 kilometres on the day.

The first crash and the first escape of the day happened inside the first 10 kilometres: three riders went down at kilometre eight when Gert Steegmans reportedly crashed into a parked car. The Belgian sprinter apparently losing his helmet in the impact and hitting his head. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation along with Manuel Carsoso (Footon-Servetto), but both escaped serious injury. Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) also abandoned the race after the crash.

While the crash victims were being attended to, seven riders had escaped at kilometre 10: Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step), Edward King (Cervélo TestTeam), Gonzalo Rabuñal and Nelson Oliveira (Xacobeo Galicia), Thomas de Gendt (Topsport Mercator-Vlaanderen), Bruno Saraiva (CC Loulé Quarteira) and Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post Sean Kelly Team).

The breakaway gained several minutes on the peloton, with De Gendt taking out two intermediate sprints and mountain points, but a quick succession of category 2 and 3 climbs after the feedzone broke the lead group apart, and by the top of the penultimate climb Nelson Oliveira was the sole survivor of the escape, while Frederik Kessiakoff (Garmin-Transitions) left the race as a victim of a crash.

Oliveira was finally brought back by the relentless pace of the Astana team, which looked to set-up its man Alberto Contador for the final ascent to the Alto do Malhão - only 2.7 kilometres long but at an average of 8.9 per cent a perfect launching pad for the world's best climber.

Countering a move from a Quick Step rider, De la Fuente and Contador accelerated away from the peloton on the slopes of the final climb, with RadioShack's Portuguese climber Tiago Machado trying to get on terms.

Contador kept the pressure on, claiming his first win of the season, while Machado rode to a brilliant second place. However, the time gaps to the rest of the peloton are not big enough to call the hunt for Volta ao Algarve general classification off just yet.

Levi Leipheimer followed his teammate across the line to take third place on the stage, while HTC-Columbia's new recruit Tejay Van Garderen came in fourth ahead of his teammate Peter Velits.