Volta ao Algarve: Modolo wins stage 1

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Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) claimed his fourth victory of the season, by some margin, on stage 1 at the Volta ao Algarve.

Such was the strength of Lampre-Merida's lead-out that Modolo's teammate Rui Costa, who set the Italian sprinter up for victory, placed second followed by Alessandro Petacchi (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) in third.

"It was a dream for me to have Rui Costa in his world champion’s jersey leading me out," said Modolo after the finish. "I don’t think I’ve got much chance of holding onto the leader’s jersey given the profile of tomorrow’s stage, but I hope that I can hand it on to Rui. Let’s hope that he can win tomorrow’s stage."

The Lampre-Merida Italian has had a great start to the season with victories at the Tour de San Luis and the Mallorca Challenge. His win puts him equal with André Greipel at the top of the victory rankings for 2014.

Modolo takes control of the general classification, leading César Fonte (Radio Popular) by a single second. Costa sits third in the classification, putting him in a good position for the remainder of the week.

Lampre-Merida directeur sportif Maxtin Joxean Fernàndez was just as pleased as his riders with the result. "Our tactics worked out perfectly. Kwiatkowski jumped away on the final hill, but Rui was ready and reacted well to that move," he explained. "Then he eased off with the intention of working for Modolo and by doing that he managed to not only set Sacha up for the stage but also gain some bonus seconds for himself in the overall.

"It’s important for Sacha to beat Cavendish and those other good sprinters behind him, it’s important for the team too. That’s his fourth win of the season already. It’s also important for Rui, because it shows him that he’s got a good team behind him, that there are other riders who win races, that we’re a good group, and that we’re all prepared to work for each other."

Petacchi is in the Algarve to support his teammate Mark Cavendish. However, the Manxman wasn’t present for the sprint and it was left to Petacchi to take the lead.

Cavendish has suffered from some back luck early this season, but his directeur sportif Tom Steels believes he is in good shape. He finished in a group 10 seconds behind Modolo. The young Bryan Coquard took an impressive fourth place behind his more experienced counterparts.

Alberto Contador made his season debut at the race and finished safely in the bunch. Like Costa, he will have his eyes on tomorrow’s stage to Monchique and the summit finish on Saturday.

The opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve looked like a day for the sprinters, but with a bit of climbing to do it was not going to be straightforward. The day got off under clear skies and a five-man break soon established. The five to make it away were Fonte, Luis Afonso (Aluminios-Antarte), Alesandr Pliuschin (Skydive Dubai), Volter Pereira (Banco Bic-Carmin) and Bruno Silva (Efapel-Glassdrive)

With bonus seconds available at the intermediate sprint, it was possible for one of the escapees to take the leader’s jersey at the end of the day. The escapees were keen to establish a decent lead and the pace proved too much and Pereira and Silva fell behind.

Fonte and the remaining escapees forged ahead, with the Portuguese rider taking the intermediate sprint and the all important bonus seconds. The trio were finally absorbed by the peloton in the final 20km.

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