Remco Evenepoel, from Soudal Quick-Step, became the grand champion of the Volta ao Algarve 2024. The victory was celebrated after an electrifying final stage arriving at Alto do Malhão. Despite having also tried to win the stage, Evenepoel was overcome in a direct confrontation, with Colombian Daniel Felipe Martínez (BORA-Hansgrohe).
The stage that marked Evenepoel’s victory was also marked by the bold performance of Wout Van Aert, who opened the escape of the day and was only caught on the final climb.
Details of the final stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2024
The decisive stage of the Volta ao Algarve included five categorized climbs. The climbs to Picota and Vermelhos were a little far from the finish line, but the decisive phase began 40 kilometers from the finish with the climb to Alte (2.4 km with a gradient of 6.2%).
Soon after, the challenging Alto do Malhão emerged (2.6 km with a slope of 9.2%), a section that appeared twice on the route: once about 25 kilometers from the end and then at the conclusion of the stage.
After Evenepoel’s double victory in Saturday’s time trial stage, the Belgian cyclist started the final stage with a comfortable lead of 47 seconds over Daniel Felipe Martínez.
Last step action
A large breakout formed with approximately 100 kilometers to go, with a group of around twenty cyclists. Among them James Shaw was the best-placed escapee (3min 57sec from Evenepoel), Mike Teunissen, Gijs Leemreize, Per Strand Hagenes, Filippo Ganna, Valentin Madouas, Jasper Stuyven, Mattia Cattaneo, Nils Politt and Andreas Leknessund also took part.
Evenepoel’s team, Soudal Quick-Step, and the BORA-hansgrohe team worked together to reduce the lead group’s advantage. When the competition intensified on the climb to Alte, Visma-Lease a Bike made the first big move.
Conclusion of the last stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2024
In the final fight for the Alto do Malhão climb, the INEOS Grenadiers team and BORA-hansgrohe joined the chase, given that the gap was still over a minute. After this joint pressure, the lead quickly diminished and Van Aert, Ben Healy and Gijs Leemreize were finally caught three kilometers from the finish line.
The stage victory was won by a small elite group. Daniel Martínez was the first to attack, but Evenepoel was glued to his wheel. Despite escape attempts by Cristian Scaroni and Sepp Kuss, they were unable to gain distance. The stage then resulted in a sprint where Martínez proved superior, but the final victory in the competition went to Evenepoel.
Watch the arrival
Resultados da 5ª etapa da Volta ao Algarve
