Once again, the bunch sprint was not the smoothest on the Volta ao Algarve this Friday. In Tavira, on stage 3, a crash split the peloton in the last kilometre and only Clément Russo managed to make the cut for Groupama-FDJ. Usually a domestique, he fought until the line and took eleventh place of the day, a few bike lengths behind the winner Wout van Aert. Stefan Küng was given the same time on Friday and will compete in his first time trial of the season on Saturday.
Despite a rather hilly terrain and nearly 2,500 meters of elevation gain on the menu, a bunch sprint was indeed expected on Friday in Tavira, like quite often in the past years. “We still wanted to be careful at the start,” Frédéric Guesdon nuanced. “We considered taking the breakaway if a few WorldTour teams tried to go there, given that it is a bit complicated in the sprint for us. We did have this option, but in the end, a group of seven went from the start, with only riders from Portuguese teams. When we saw that, we understood that it was going to be hard for the breakaway to make it, and that we were heading straight for a sprint.” At the head of the race, German Nicolás Tivani, Raúl Rota, Afonso Eulálio, Carlos Miguel Salgueiro, António Ferreira, Frederico Figueiredo and Francisco Morais got a maximum lead of four minutes and thirty seconds, but never put the teams of sprinters in trouble. In the second part of the race, the peloton gradually got closer, but also experienced a hitch when several riders had to abandon after a crash 80 kilometres from the end. “Enzo was caught in there, but didn’t fall,” explained Frédéric. “We changed bikes, but overall, we stayed out of trouble.”
“It’s possible to do better”, Frédéric Guesdon
The fugitives were then caught one after the other, Salgueiro being the last one to surrender, approximately fifteen kilometers from the finish. The teams of leaders and sprinters also began to fight for position, and Valentin Madouas especially brought his teammates back up in the last ten kilometers. “Today, we decided to change the roles, with Marc leading Lewis out,” said Frédéric. “Unfortunately, there was a crash in the last kilometre, and they were caught behind. Only Clément, who was the penultimate lead-out man, passed through it.” In a group of around twenty riders, Clément Russo eventually took eleventh place while Wout van Aert won the stage. “The day went pretty well, but it’s a shame that we didn’t get a better result because it’s possible to do better,” Frédéric said. “For now things are not going our way. They do their best, they try, but the level is high in the sprints.” Stefan Küng was obviously given the same time on today’s stage and remains 53 seconds behind Dani Martinez in the general classification while a twenty-two-kilometre time trial awaits him on Saturday. “We will do everything to make sure that he goes for victory like last year, even if the level is even higher this year,” concluded Frédéric.
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