Volta ao Algarve stage 4: Kittel dominates the sprint in Tavira

Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) won his second stage at the Volta ao Algarve in Tavira, beating Wouter Wippert (Cannondale) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) with yet another of his power sprint finishes.

The German sprinter crossed the line two bike lengths ahead of Wouter Wippert (Cannondale) and Jens Debusschere after his Lotto Soudal teammate Andre Greipel was caught up in a late crash that also saw Alex Dowsett (Movistar) go down.

“I can’t find the words to express my happiness," Kittel said right after the finish. "We did a great race today and we showed again a fantastic team spirit. We can all be very proud of what we achieved.

“It was a pretty fast and chaotic finale. Fabio Sabatini risked a lot to bring me into a good position, and I can’t thank him enough for his effort. He took me to the front with one kilometer to go and did an incredible lead-out, leaving me to open my sprint in the final 200 meters and finish off the job. Today’s victory if of the entire team, because the boys looked after me all the time, controlled the race and made sure I’m in a safe position.”

Kittel has now won four sprints so far this season plus the overall classification of the Dubai Tour. It is a remarkable turnaround after his problems and disappointment of 2015, when he struggled with illness and was not selected for Giant-Alpecin’s Tour de France squad. His change of teams was a risk for the Etixx-QuickStep team but has already paid off handsomely. The Belgian team has now won 11 races and Tony Martin still leads the overall classification at the Volta ao Algarve.

How it happened

The 194km stage was widely expected to end in a sprint but that did not stop a breakaway trying their hand. Dam Stachowiak (Verva Actijet), Ivan Savitskii (Gazprom), Charles Planet (Nordisk) and Guillaume Almeida (Boavista) formed the move and stayed away until just five kilometres from the finish.

At this point the sprinters teams took over with speed and determination. Greipel was set to fight for victory against his fellow German but crashed late on. Fortunately he was not seriously hurt and finished the stage with a bloody elbow before apologising to Dowsett via Twitter.

Wippert was well supported in the finale by his Cannondale teammates but so was Kittel, who can count on the speed, muscles and expertise of Etixx-QuickStep including Tom Boonen and Tony Martin. Kittel hit out early and went deep to produce his winning sprint but it was worth the effort. He won by a safe margin, confirming he is back to his very best.

Martin still leads Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) by three seconds and the two big-name riders and their superteams will surely clash on Sunday’s final stage. The overall winner will be crowned atop the final climb to Alto de Malhão. It is 2.5km long and has an average gradient of 9.4per cent.

With seven riders in less than a minute it should be a thrilling final day of racing.

"Tomorrow it won’t be easy," Martin said after stage 4. "But I will give my best and will try to stay with Geraint, although I’m sure attacks will come also from other riders. It’s going to be again a hard day, but I can count on a great team and we’ll see how things go."

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