Van Wilder celebrates early but is beaten at the line
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Magnus Cort won stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
Here comes Magnus Cort as Ilan Van Wilder leaves the door open along the barriers (Image credit: Getty Images)
Uno-X protect Alexander Kristoff during stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
UN-X in formation at the Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
The views of the 2023 Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
Matt Gibson of Human Powered Health was in the break on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
Magnus Cort made a late surge to win stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
Stefan kung goes deep at the Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Getty Images)
Magnus Cort came up late but fast to beat Ilan Van Wilder at Alto da Fóia (Image credit: Getty Images)
Ineos Grenadiers tried to control the Volta ao Algarve peloton(Image credit: Getty Images)
Magnus Cort (Ef Education-EasyPost) stay protected(Image credit: Getty Images)
Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) snatched the stage 2 victory from Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep) with a late surge to the line atop Alto da Fóia at the Volta ao Algarve.
Van Wilder had launched his sprint from a select group with 300 metres to go and celebrated as he crossed the line with what he thought was a victory.
However, Cort, who said he was boxed in along the right-hand bend in the road toward the finish line, found an opening to sprint from five riders back and used his powerful surge to snatch the stage win. Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) was third.
Cort now leads the overall classification by four seconds ahead of Van Wilder and six seconds ahead of Costa, as the race heads into stage 3 from Faro to Tavira on Friday.
"I really struggled to find my way out and luckily I came just in the last five metres and I got the win,” Cort said.
“In the final, I got really nervous. I was feeling, on the climb, that I was always going OK. It was hard but I still had a sprint, I knew. When we got closer, 5km to go 4km to go, I thought, OK if we keep this tempo it’s perfect. In the final 500m, obviously everyone wanted to be close to the front and there was a headwind. I was a little afraid to hit the wind too early."
"I have won before in uphill finishes but it's always been from thebreakaway. I've never done it with the main GC favourites from the bunch. It's really funny - I know it's not such a steep climb so this suits me better but it was super nice."
Ineos Grenadiers set the tone on the final climb of the Alto da Fóia, a 7.7km ascent with an average grade of 6%, controlling the race into the last kilometre where they still had four riders Jonathan Castroviejo pulling the field into a headwind with Dani Martinez, Tom Pidcock, and Thymen Arensman.
As the road flattened slightly, Ineos Grenadiers appeared to lose control as Bora-Hansgrohe moved up to the front for Jai Hindley. Team DSM’s Kevin Vermaerke was the first to sprint, perhaps hoping to catch the selection off-guard.
Van Wilder was quick to react, and at 300 metres out, rounding the final bend, he looked to have a clear shot at victory with Costa on his wheel. But Cort saw an opening out of the corner and started his sprint, passing Hindley, Costa and Van Wilder to take the win.
The select-group sprint also saw Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) in fourth, Hindley hung on for fifth, Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) was sixth, Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) seventh, and Tom Pidcock was the highest-placed finisher for Ineos Grenadiers in eighth place.
How it unfolded
The second stage of the Volta ao Algarve offered the field a 186 km route from Sagres to the top of Alto da Fóia. There were four main ascents; Casais (80.3km) and Alferce (112.3km), both category 3, then Picota (171.2km), a category 2 climb, ahead of the final category 1 ascent atop Alto da Fóia.
Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) started the day in the leader’s jersey after winning the opening stage in Lagos, but the jersey was almost sure to change hands throughout the hilly second day of racing.
An early breakaway formed that included six riders: Matthew Gibson (Human Powered Health), Rafael Lourenco (APHotels-Resorts-Tavira), Tomas Contte (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé Concelho), Gasper Goncalves (Efapel Cycling), Antonio Ferreira (Kelly-Simoldes-UDO) and João Matias (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua).
Lourenco picked up the full mountain points over the first two ascents Casais and Alferece, inching closer to Ferreira’s lead in the mountains classification after both riders battled for points on the previous day’s breakaway.
As they reached the foothills of the final two ascents, Picota and Alto da Fóia, Gibson and Contte were the first to lose contact. Soon after, Lourenco, Matias, Ferreira and Goncalve were all swallowed up by the chasing peloton.
Wearing the yellow jersey, overnight leader Kristoff showed signs of a struggle to stay in contact with the main group as the final section of the stage became increasingly more challenging.
Ineos Grenadiers and Alpecin-Deceuninck led the race over the uncategorised climb, thinning out the peloton into the base of the Picota. Ineos Grenadiers pulled the field onto the lower slopes of the 6.4km climb with Michał Kwiatkowski, Castroviejo, Martínez, Filippo Ganna, Arensman and then Pidcock. The team lost Laurens De Plus, who stopped to give Arensman his bike when the Dutchman had an untimely puncture.
Kasper Asgeen (Soudal-QuickStep) surged over the top of the Picota, picking up the category 2 mountain points, as a reduced 35-rider peloton descended toward the base of the final climb. He kept the pace high so his teammate Van Wilder could sit back among the field protected ahead of Alto da Fóia.
The 7.7km final ascent began with pitches as steep as 9% for the first kilometre, the most challenging part of the climb before the gradient steadied out at a more manageable 5% to 6% to the top.
Asgreen pulled the field into the early, steeper slopes but soon drifted to the side, his work done for the day, leaving Van Wilder on his own.
Kwiatkowski did the lion’s share of the work for Ineos Grenadiers with a fast but steady pace, just enough to deter early attacks. He pulled off the front with 3.5km to go, where Castroviejo took over the workload with Martinez, Pidcock, and Arensman on his wheel in the final kilometre, Ganna still hanging onto the back of the group, too.
It appeared to be a perfect setup for the British team, but as the road flattened out and the wind picked up, fresher teams and riders moved forward to contest the select-group sprint atop Alto da Fóia.
Van Wilder went early and could sense victory was his, only for Cort to beat on the line.
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
