Remco Evenepoel wins the Volta ao Algarve

Remco Evenepoel wins the Volta ao Algarve

Remco Evenepoel sealed the overall victory at the Volta ao Algarve, becoming the first rider in four decades with three wins at the most important Portuguese race of the calendar and confirming his flying start to the season. The Belgian Champion, who triumphed here also at the 2020 and 2022 editions, racked up his 12th victory in a stage race and showed that he is on the right track for his first big rendez-vous of the year, next month’s Paris-Nice.

“I’m very happy with my win! I felt good today, I had a great team around me, strong legs, and I’m delighted I could bring it home. It means a lot to have such a great start to the season, with three victories in the space of a week”, said immediately after the race Remco, who before starting in Algarve soloed to a crushing win at the Figueira Champions Classic.

The final stage of the 50th edition was a lively and nervous one, due to the numerous attacks that came in the first hour, which made the pace really relentless. Evenepoel began the stage with the yellow jersey on his shoulders, following Saturday’s success in the individual time trial, and despite the fact that he and his Soudal Quick-Step teammates were put under pressure by a large 20-man breakaway, they didn’t panic and handled the situation with a lot of calm and confidence.

Our squad sent Mattia Cattaneo in the front group to keep an eye on things, while controlling the gap of the escapees. After a period of relative peace, more attacks followed the first time up the steep Malhão, where James Knox took over the reins in the bunch to make sure none of these would become a threat. Having dropped back from the break, Cattaneo too gave a hand on the descent, before Mikel Landa moved into the slot at the bottom of the final climb. The Basque whittled down the peloton to just a handful of riders, and from that small group Remco finished second after a powerful kick in the last 300 meters.

“It was a good week for us and we can be content with how things went. I’m proud of the guys, because they remained calm at all times and showed how strong we are mentally. We never panicked, regardless of the situation, and knew how to handle all things”, added Remco after the team’s seventh success of the season. “To have three overall victories here it’s nice and I hope to come back here one day and try to go for a fourth win.”

 

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images

Race details

1 Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda
BORA - hansgrohe
3:55:35
2 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
3 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
0:03
4 Christian Scaroni
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:07
5 Jan Tratnik
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:07
6 Sepp Kuss
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:07
7 Tao Geoghegan Hart
Lidl - Trek
0:16
8 Ben Healy
EF Education - EasyPost
0:16
9 Thymen Arensman
INEOS Grenadiers
0:16
10 António Morgado
UAE Team Emirates
0:24
18 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
1:30
50 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
7:12
71 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal Quick-Step
10:04
73 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
10:51
77 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
10:59
136 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
24:01
1 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
18:45:53
2 Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda
BORA - hansgrohe
0:43
3 Jan Tratnik
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1:21
4 Ben Healy
EF Education - EasyPost
1:42
5 Thymen Arensman
INEOS Grenadiers
1:45
6 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
1:49
7 Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1:57
8 Sepp Kuss
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1:59
9 Stefan Küng
Groupama - FDJ
2:06
10 António Morgado
UAE Team Emirates
2:09
16 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
4:11
42 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
13:54
48 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal Quick-Step
15:19
69 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
23:55
91 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
30:48
136 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
52:56
1 Gerben Thijssen
Intermarché - Wanty
44 pt
2 Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda
BORA - hansgrohe
30 pt
3 Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
29 pt
4 Rui Oliveira
UAE Team Emirates
28 pt
5 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
24 pt
6 Jan Tratnik
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
16 pt
7 Marius Mayrhofer
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
16 pt
8 Jordi Meeus
BORA - hansgrohe
16 pt
9 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
15 pt
10 Sepp Kuss
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
15 pt
28 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
2 pt
29 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
2 pt
1 Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda
BORA - hansgrohe
16 pt
2 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
14 pt
3 Andreas Leknessund
Uno-X Mobility
13 pt
4 Sepp Kuss
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
9 pt
5 German Nicolás Tivani Pérez
Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé Concelho
8 pt
6 Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
8 pt
7 Tomas Contte
Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé Concelho
7 pt
8 Ben Healy
EF Education - EasyPost
6 pt
9 Martin Urianstad Bugge
Uno-X Mobility
6 pt
10 Max Walker
Astana Qazaqstan Team
6 pt
20 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
2 pt
1 António Morgado
UAE Team Emirates
18:48:02
2 Magnus Sheffield
INEOS Grenadiers
3:32
3 Jan Christen
UAE Team Emirates
4:43
4 Per Strand Hagenes
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
10:39
5 Jaume Guardeño Roma
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
13:18
6 Enzo Paleni
Groupama - FDJ
21:31
7 Mathias Vacek
Lidl - Trek
27:01
8 Pavel Bittner
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
28:12
9 Alexandre Montez
Credibom / LA Alumínios / Marcos Car
31:36
10 Duarte Domingues
Sabgal / Anicolor
44:20
1 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 56:22:59
2 BORA - hansgrohe 1:28
3 INEOS Grenadiers 3:16
4 Soudal Quick-Step 9:23
5 UAE Team Emirates 9:29
6 EF Education - EasyPost 9:53
7 Lidl - Trek 14:26
8 Astana Qazaqstan Team 15:14
9 Uno-X Mobility 21:42
10 Groupama - FDJ 22:22

Related items

Evenepoel moves into yellow after dominant ITT win

Evenepoel moves into yellow after dominant ITT win

17/02/2024 - Race report
Link
Volta ao Algarve - stage 5

Volta ao Algarve - stage 5

18/02/2024 - Road
Link