Volta ao Algarve: Gerben Thijssen wins stage 1 in bunch sprint

Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) collected his second victory of the season, taking out the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve in a bunch sprint.

As was the case when this exact same finish in Lagos was used last year, there appeared to be some finish line confusion, with Thijssen stopping pedalling on a white road marking 10 metres shy of the actual finish line.

Still, his burst of finishing speed had allowed him enough of an advantage to hold on for victory as he cruised home ahead of the advancing Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost).

Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) grabbed the final spot on the podium as Arnaud Démare, whose Arkéa-Samsic team had taken the reins in the finale, had to settle for fifth.

“Last year I didn’t have such good start season, so this year it was so important to get good start,” said Thijssen, who won the Trofeo Palma in Mallorca at the end of January.

“Two wins already is quite unbelievable, and at this level. It proves I worked really hard this winter, and it’s nice when the hard work pays off."

There were splits in the field following a late kicker and descent in the final couple of kilometres, but those time gaps were neutralised in terms of the general classification. That would indicate that, despite Arkéa's work on the climb, the splits were caused by a crash on the descent, with Marco Haller seen on the deck.

A windy day, but a calm day, until the finale

The opening stage of the 2024 Volta ao Algarve ran 200.8km from Portimão to Lagos. The two towns are scarcely 15km apart but the route delved inland for two early climbs and then down the Atlantic coast before the run-in to Lagos.

The day’s breakaway was made up of seven riders, six of which came from the third-division Portuguese teams. The odd one out was the WorldTour’s Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and he was duly the last man standing, attacking his companions just over 50km out.

Their advantage had never grown above five minutes, and Bayer himself was calmly wound in with 22km go. Despite a constant background threat of crosswinds, and despite a crash that saw Visma Lease A Bike’s big names — Sepp Kuss, Wout Van Aert, Tiesj Benoot — briefly held up, it was a calm run-in to the finish.

Things hotted up on a short incline inside the final 3km, where Démare’s teammates looked to rip things up. They caused some damage to the bunch and to Intermarché, but Thijssen was present and correct with a teammate.

"The little kicker with 2km to go was quite hard for me," Thijssen admitted, "but I knew if I could get to the top of that, I could be in a good position to win."

Arkéa led the race into the home straight but things soon became chaotic as riders looked to open up from range. Instead of following his own lead-out man, Thijssen stuck religiously to the back wheel of Démare, which threatened to box him in. However, he opened up on the right-hand side, then expertly threaded his way through a gap to hit the front in the centre of the road, and never looked back.

He cruised out in front, sitting up early as the wrong white line came along, but the turn of speed had already proven to be emphatic.

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