Volta ao Algarve stage 2: Dani Martínez beats Remco Evenepoel on Alto da Fóia

Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) won a hilltop sprint atop the Alto da Fóia to take victory on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve, and moved into the lead of the Portuguese stage race.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) took second after opening up the sprint with 300m to, but Martínez was quick on his wheel and Evenepoel could not match his speed to the line.

The pair finished a few seconds ahead of Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) in third.

“We knew we had really strong rivals. Everybody did a great job today,” Martínez said at the finish. “In the final, in the sprint, I had really good legs, so it went well.”

“Today was an important day, and it went well, so we’ll be ready for the next few stages.”

A reduced but sizable group stayed together all the way into the final, misty kilometre of the Alto da Fóia climb, with Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) leading the group towards the bunch sprint, but ultimately the Belgian team were beaten by Bora-Hansgrohe’s Colombian puncheur.

After bridging across to the leaders halfway through the stage, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) forged on to be the final survivor of the day’s breakaway, but was caught on the final climb 6km from the finish.

Leknessund braves it but GC favourites conquer Alto da Fóia

With the day’s climbing back loaded in the finale, the start of stage 2 offered around 70km of flat roads, and a prime chance for an early breakaway to establish itself. In the first 10km of racing, an eight-rider group go away, containing six riders from local Portuguese Continental teams, plus Astana Qazaqstan’s brand-new signing Max Walker, and Martin Urianstad Bugge of Uno-X Mobility. Likely not a threatening group for the finish, the leaders were allowed to establish a gap of just under five minutes before the climbing began.

The first categorised climb, the Alto de Choca, came just under 80km into the 172km stage, at which point the break was still comfortably ahead. Aleksandr Grigorev (Efapel Cycling) won the KoM, and shortly afterwards the break became seven as Gonçalo Amado (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua) dropped out with knee pain.

After the first climb, the race hit some rolling roads, and with 75km to go the Uno-X Mobility pair of Andreas Leknessund and Jonas Abrahamsen launched an attack out of the peloton to start the racing early. The Norwegian pair chased down the leaders remarkably quickly, joining the front of the race with 61km to go, now two and a half minutes ahead of the peloton.

Over the next 30km, the break started to slowly deplete, as the Uno-X trio drove the pace and put some of the Continental riders into difficulty as the race entered the climbs proper. With 30km to go, the leaders still had more than two minutes’ advantage on the peloton, led by Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal Quick-Step. Riders were beginning to drop from the bunch, including race leader Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty).

Heading into the final 20km, the ever-shrinking breakaway was still up the road, but the peloton were starting to race hard on the penultimate climb before the Alto da Fóia. On that climb, the break quickly became just three, with only Leknessund, Urianstad Bugge and Walker remaining. With 17km, Leknessund launched his predicted move, going clear of his companions for the first time, with a 1:30 lead over the remainder of the peloton.

Leknessund crested the climb alone and headed onto the descent, taking bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, where Wout van Aert also grabbed a few seconds from the bunch. The lone leader was still ahead as the Alto da Fóia started, but his day was finally over with 6km to go as the very selective main group swept him up.

Soudal Quick-Step’s James Knox and Mikel Landa set the pace up the climb in support of Remco Evenepoel, with Sepp Kuss, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Tom Pidcock on the Belgian’s wheel. Isaac del Toro was one of the riders to lose contact on the climb, with 4km to go, as Soudal gradually turned up the pressure on the front. The action didn’t really kick off until the final kilometre, after Knox yielded to Landa who wound things up for a sprint.

Evenepoel was the first to open up the sprint with 300m to go, quickly getting a jump on all of his rivals except Martínez, who was able to follow and then overtake the Belgian to sprint to victory. The pair’s finishing speed was so high that they gained six seconds on Sepp Kuss in third, whilst Bora-Hansgrohe picked up two in the top five as Sergio Higuita came across the line in fourth, just ahead of Jan Tratnik.

With bonus seconds, Martínez now leads the race overall by four seconds over Evenepoel, and 12 seconds ahead of Kuss.

For more from the Volta ao Algarve, visit our dedicated race page.