Volta ao Algarve: Jakobsen makes it two on stage 3

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QuickStep-AlphaVinyl delivered Fabio Jakobsen to the stage 3 victory and what was his second sprint win at the Volta ao Algarve. 

In the closing metres, Jakobson swung off the wheel of Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) to take a convincing  victory ahead of Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), leaving Coquard to settle for third place in Faro.

Jakobsen’s lead-out did not include Tim Declercq, who suffered a stomach bug, but the team performed a perfectly-timed effort in the closing kilometres of the race with their remaining riders. Yves Lampaert hit the front through a long roundabout, with just over 2km to go, taken over by Remco Evenepoel, who gave another time-trial-like pull into the final kilometre. 

Cofidis disrupted the QuickStep train through the final twists and turns, however Bert van Lerberghe pulled Jakobsen into winning position in the last few hundred metres. Jakobsen made a split-second decision to open the door and let Coquard take van Lerberghe’s wheel, which gave himself extra shelter before launching his own sprint in the last 150 metres. 

As Coquard began to fade, Merlier reacted with his own effort but wasn’t fast enough to overtake Jakobsen.

“We always try to win. We lost Tim Declercq, who felt sick last night, we missed him today. But the rest of the guys did a perfect job. They put me in the perfect position at the bottom,” Jakobsen said.  

“I have to say a special thanks to Kasper Asgreen. He kept me out of the wind and was there in the final, even though he was sick last week. It was, again, perfect teamwork, and I’m happy to have the strongest legs here on the uphill. It was a good sprint here in Faro. 

“This finish is never easy, it’s about positioning in the last two kilometres. We were always there in the top ten places and then it’s about taking the roundabout, then it’s 400 metres uphill. 

“I launched my sprint with 200 metres to go, with Coquard. He can do a sprint like this but it’s full gas to the line. I could see Tim Merlier behind me but he couldn't get past me on the left.”

David Guadu (Groupama-FDJ) held onto the leader’s jersey by one second ahead of runner-up Brandon McNuty (UAE Team Emirates) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) heading into the decisive stage 4 time trial from Vila Real de Santo António to Tavira on Saturday.

“Today we wanted to keep the jersey, and so that is okay, and tomorrow, I want to do the best TT that I can. I’ve worked for the TT and so I want to see if my effort will be good for it,” Gaudu said.  

“We hope that Stefan [Küng] can win tomorrow. I’m not sure if I can keep the jersey. I think that a rider like Remo Evenepoel is faster than me in the TT. So, I want to do a good TT but I think it will be hard to keep the jersey. I hope, for the last day, that I have good legs for a good stage.” 

How it unfolded

Stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve was the longest of the five-day race at 211.4km from Almodovar to Faro. The day saw an opening sprint in Almodovar (25km) followed by two more at Alcoutim (105km), and Alpendre (160km). There were two climbs with a shorter category 4 Pisa Barro (147km) and the category 4 climb of Bengado, and then 20km descent and flat run-in to the finish line. 

An early breakaway of seven riders formed to include Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rafael Lourenco (Atum General-Tavira), Rafael Silva (Efapel Cycling), Afonso Eulalio (Glassdrive Q8 Anicolor), Afonso Silva (Kelly-Simoldes-UDO ), Nicolas Saenz (Tavfer-Mortágua-Ovos Matinados) and Samuel José Caldeira (W52-FC Porto).

Rafael Silva picked up full points at the first intermediate sprint in Almodovar but he only managed second at the next intermediate sprint in Alcoutim, won by Caldeira. 

With no danger to David Gaudu’s overall lead, the seven riders pushed their gap out to more than five minutes, as Lourenco rolled over the Pisa Barro picking up the mountain points. The Portuguese rider also took the points at the third and final intermediate sprint in Alpendre.

A touch of wheels in the peloton saw several riders hit the pavement at 35km to go, but all managed to get back on their bikes and into the race.

The gap dropped to under a minute as Apecin-Fenix set a quick pace, but Tavfer-Mortagua-Ovos Matinados took over to set up their mountain classification contender João Matias, just one point behind Gaudu, ahead of the Bengado ascent.

Bengado’s shallow 4.9 per cent average gradient across 1.5km wasn’t enough to break apart the peloton that hovered just seconds behind three remaining breakaway riders Afonso Silva, Rafael Silva and Afonso Eulalio. 

They were no match for the main field that caught and passed the trio on the way to the mountain sprint won by Matias, who moved into a two-point lead in the mountain classification ahead of Gaudu.

Glassdrive Q8 Anicolor teammates Fabio Costa and Afonso Eulalio, who had already been in the all-day breakaway, along with Hugo Nunes (Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista) formed a new three-rider breakaway.

They only managed to create a 15-second gap on the descent, in an almost futile effort, as Alpecin Fenix lined out a full complement of seven riders on the front to the field for Merlier. 

Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux pulled up alongside Alpecin-Fenix for their sprinter Alexander Kristoff on the left, while Geraint Thomas led Ineos Grenadiers to the front through the middle of the field. Other sprint stakeholders were Jumbo-Visma, who moved up on the right side of the road to protect Tobias Foss, while Arkea Samsic and Human Powered Health briefly led the field in the final five kilometres.

In the end it was a battle between QuickStep-AlphaVinyl and Cofidis in the closing metres with Jakobsen taking his second win of the five-day race and fourth win of the season.