Volta ao Algarve: Jakobsen wins stage 1

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Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took his first win of the season at the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve after a crash with seven kilometres to go wrecked the chances of some of his big-name sprint rivals.

Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) was the first to jump in the sprint and even though he gained a small gap in the final few hundred metres, the move served as a launching pad for the patient sprinters and Jakobsen had the power to o clear and crossed the line ahead of Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) in second and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in third.

Jakobsen’s victory also secured him the first leader’s jersey as the race heads into stage 2’s 187km from Almodovar to Foia.

It wasn’t a smooth run-in to Lagos, however, as the crash with seven kilometres to go caused mayhem among the peloton. A touch of wheels near the front of the field caused the crash and wound up taking down some of the top sprinters including favourites Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), who won this stage last year, and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo). It also caused splits in the field that amounted to between one- and two-minute gaps in stage results and the overall classification.

The race continued on without them and Groupama-FDJ, Lotto Soudal, Bora-Hansgrohe pushed the speeds toward the finish in Lagos.

Trek-Segafredo shifted their focus from Degenkolb to Edward Theuns over the final rollers, but Deceuninck-QuickStep led through the final kilometre and into the final 500 metres. UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe pulled up alongside the powerful Belgian team, and even though Consonni ignited the bunch sprint, he was quickly overtaken by Jakobsen, Demare and Ackermann, and forced to settle for fourth.

How it unfolded

The opening stage at the Volta ao Algarve offered the peloton a lumpy 199km between Portimao and Lagos, which was the longest stage of the five-day tour. The day included two KOM ascents; Aldeia dos Matos at the 40km mark and then a mid-stage climb through Nave at roughly 100km, along with three intermediate sprints.

It was an aggressive start to the race with a breakaway emerging before they even hit the first climb of the day. Pedro Paulinho (Efapel), David Ribeiro, Marvin Scheulen (LA Aluminios), José Mendes (Sporting-Tavira) and Rafael Lourenço (UD Oliveirense/InOutBuild) initially pushed their lead out to more than four minutes. However, that gap settled back down to 2:40 as teams Jumbo-Visma, Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe took the peloton’s reins.

Bora-Hansgrohe's Ackermann recently won the Clásica de Almería and aimed to continue his success in Portugal, while riders like Jakobsen and Groenewegen looked for a season’s first win.

Up in the breakaway, Paulinho had picked up the early sprint and KOM points offered in the first 50km of the stage. He looked in good position to secure the category jerseys until Ribeiro grabbed the more hefty set of points at the top of Nave and then Mendes took the sprint points in Aljezur, although Paulinho took the minor place points in both efforts.

As the stage flattened out for the remaining 60km, the peloton shut down the gap and caught all but Mendes, who hung out for another few kilometres.

A series of counter-attacks followed with Efapel teammates Sèrgio Paulinho and Antonio Angulo gaining two minutes on the field, but their efforts seemed futile with teams Bora-Hansgrohe, Jumbo-Visma and Deceuninck-QuickStep set the pace behind.

Angulo picked up the final full set of intermediate sprint points available in Vila do Bispo. The leading pair looked back over their shoulders only to see that the peloton had slashed their gap down to under a minute with 30km remaining. They shook hands and then called it a day as the main field swarmed around them with 20km to go in pursuit of the stage glory and the first leader’s jersey.

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