Volta ao Algarve: Remco Evenepoel takes control with stage 4 time trial victory

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) took control of the Volta ao Algarve with a storming victory in the stage 4 time trial.

The time trial world champion delivered on his favourite status with a commanding performance that blew the yellow leader's jersey off the shoulders of Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and into his own hands.

Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) placed second on the stage at 16 seconds down, with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) rounding out the podium at 29 seconds.

Stage 2 winner Martínez didn't have a bad ride and was in fact best of the rest in terms of the GC contenders who were up front on Thursday's summit finish, but despite finishing eighth he shipped 52 seconds to Evenepoel, who now leads him by 48 seconds atop the general classification.

"It was close to a perfect time trial," said Evenepoel. "From the start I had a good feeling. I knew the course pretty well – on Monday I did a good recon, this morning I did two laps, so I knew everything by heart, all the corners.

"That was necessary, because it was a technical TT, with lots of speed bumps, poles in the road, holes, left and right, tight corners... you really had to know where to take risks and where not."

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Dani Martinez had to hand yellow over to Evenepoel

The stage 4 time trial measured 22 kilometres, starting and finishing in Albufeira, with the course heading for an inland loop before returning to the coast for a more technical finale through the city. It was a rolling course with several light inclines, perfectly suited to the world champion's strengths.

Evenepoel stopped the clock on 27:09 at an average speed of 48.6km/h – the fastest at the finish line but also at both intermediate checkpoints at kilometres 7.1 and 16.9.

Starting second last, he blitzed away from last-man Martínez, and it was soon apparent he was tearing into the times of Sheffield, Küng, and the young talent Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates), who rode to a hugely impressive fourth place after his disappointing climbing display on Thursday.

Those who mis-fired in this time trial include the UCI Hour Record holder Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who was sixth at 48 seconds, and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), who could only manage 11th at a minute after tweaking his position over the winter.

Where this leaves the general classification

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Remco Evenepoel pulls on the leader's jersey

Evenepoel's performance was such that overall victory looks more than likely when the race concludes atop the Alto do Malhão on Sunday afternoon. Already runner-up atop Foia on Thursday, the Belgian has a huge lead of 48 seconds to play with, on a climb that hasn't produced major gaps in the past.

In terms of his closest competition, Martínez was the rider he was hunting down in the time trial, having outsprinted him atop Foia, and the Colombian remains his closest threat, albeit a distant one. Such was Evenepoel's strength, it seemed like Martínez was getting ripped apart, but he still placed eighth as the next-best rider from the main cluster of GC contenders.

In third place at 1:12, having placed 10th on the day, is Jan Tratnik, who has become Visma-Lease A Bike's default GC leader after Van Aert's subdued performance and a display from Sepp Kuss that left the Vuelta a España champion nearly two minutes down in 11th place. Van Aert is still fourth overall, at 1:18, but it's Tratnik who's climbing better on the evidence of Foia, where he was fifth.

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Tom Pidcock on course in what was a mixed day for Ineos

Küng lies fifth overall but is also likely to lose ground on Sunday, while the man in sixth produced arguably one of the biggest and more impressive rides of the day, Ben Healy, who was seventh on the stage, between Ganna and Martínez. The Irish champion lies sixth overall at 1:21 and, despite a disappointing ride on Foia, has the climbing pedigree to go after the top five or even a podium.

It was a mixed day for Ineos Grenadiers. They had Sheffield in second but Ganna didn't win and Tom Pidcock didn't produce his hoped-for improvements against the clock, shipping a minute and a half to Evenepoel. With Geraint Thomas way off the pace, Pidcock lies 10th as one of a trio of Ineos riders inside the top 10, with Thymen Arensman sefventh at 1:24 and Sheffield eighth at 1:35.

With Del Toro already way down GC, UAE Team Emirates' hopes now lie with another young talent, Antonio Morgado, the home Portuguese rider moving up to 9th at 1:39.

After a hugely impressive finish with the favourites atop Foia, it wasn't such a good day for Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) on his comeback from a long injury lay-off, with the former Giro d'Italia champion dropping nine places to 16th.

Still, it seems like everyone in the field is a mile off Evenepoel, and the only real question from here would seem to be whether he seals it with another win atop Malhão.