Volta ao Algarve: Porte wins in Malhão

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Team Sky’s Richie Porte took a solo win during the fourth stage, the queen stage, of the Volta ao Algarve on a hilltop finish in Malhão. He crossed the finish line three seconds ahead of current world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) and nine seconds ahead of Ion Izagirre (Movistar). 

"This time I was not expecting to win," Porte said. "The Etixx team wore us out a lot and I was booked to ride strong in the last 10 kilometers before the climb. It is good to reward Thomas with the yellow jersey because he, in recent years, has done a lot for me and my career. 300 meters from the finish he told me to attack and everything went well. Days like this are rare in cycling. It was perfect. It is an excellent start for the season and strengthens the morale of the team."

Porte’s teammate Geraint Thomas maintained his lead in the overall classification and is now sitting 27 seconds ahead of Kwiatkowski and 1:11 minutes ahead of Tiago Machado (Katusha).

Team Sky spent much of the 218km stage trying to contain a series of attacks from the Etixx-QuickStep team. The stage offered two intermediate sprints in Cacela and Alcoutim and three KOMs in Malhão, Ameixieirinhas and again in Malhão at the finish line.

Seven riders escaped the field during the opening kilometres including Davide Malacarne (Astana), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal), Adriano Malori (Movistar), Mauritis Lammertink (Roompot), Kamil Gradek (ActiveJet), Filipe Cardoso (Efapel) and Beñat Txoperena (Murias Taldea).

The group gained over two minutes on the field before the 30km mark where Gradek picked up the full set of intermediate sprint points available in Cacela.

Their gap grew to 4:30 minutes as they headed toward the second intermediate sprint located at the 85km mark in Alcoutim where Txoperena got the better of Lammertink and Gallopin in the sprint to the line.

As there race headed toward the hills, Malacarne rolled across the top of the first KOM in Malhão, ahead of Malori and Lammertink. The trio, along with Gallopin and Txoperena continued on as the others fell off pace.

Back in the field, the previous day’s time trial winner Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) attacked on the climb with his teammate Michal Golas, Sep Vanmarcke (Lotto NL-Jumbo) and Jesus Herrada (Movistar) in tow. They teetered on 25 seconds behind the lead group but build up an advantage of 31 seconds ahead of the main field that included overall leader Geraint Thomas and Team Sky, who were forced to chase.

As the breakaway and the chase group were brought back into the mix before the second KOM, Etixx-QuickStep continued to put pressure on Team Sky, as Zdenek Stybar made a move and got to the top of the climb in Ameixieirinhas ahead of Porte and Thomas.

Stybar made a second move over the crest of the climb that earned him a five-second advantage over Thomas and some 30 riders left of the main field.

The Czech rider’s move was short-lived, however, as Porte led Thomas and the group into the final climb toward the finish line in Malhão. He reduced the group to only nine riders and then had just enough left in the tank to make a winning move, crossing the line by a slim margin ahead of Kwiatkowski and Izagirre, while his teammate and race leader Thomas crossed safely over the line in fourth.

Canada’s Michael Woods (Optum Pro Cycling) had a strong ride finishing fifth on the stage just ahead of Tiago Machado (Katusha) in sixth.

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