World Champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep) won the Time Trial with a 17-second advantage over 2nd place, Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers), thus taking the leader’s jersey from Daniel Felipe Martínez.
The fourth stage of the Volta ao Algarve could end up being the most important of the entire race. A 22 km time trial was scheduled, leaving and returning to the tourist city of Albufeira.
The route was not exactly flat, with a stretch of eight hundred meters with an average gradient of 8%. Far from being flat, the top time trialists in the peloton should be able to make good progress here. Only in the last kilometers did the route become more technical, before that, it was mostly a straight line.
Sheffield takes the lead
Of the cyclists who started early, Matteo Trentin stood out, who spent a good amount of time in the lead. Trentin had a good time, which became clear when specialist Stefan Bissegger crossed the finish line. The Swiss was three seconds away from taking down Trentin. However, Arthur Klucker, Trentin’s teammate, managed to take the lead.
The next to record the best time was Isaac Del Toro. Filippo Ganna was doing better than the young Mexican in the intermediate points, but at the finish line, he was unable to overcome the lead. Magnus Sheffield, however, did it.
The American recorded a time that many would have difficulty beating. Including established cyclists such as Stefan Küng, Thymen Arensman, Ben Healy and Wout van Aert. The latter lost almost 45 seconds to Sheffield.
Evenepoel takes the lead
There was only one driver who would do better than Sheffield: Remco Evenepoel. The world champion beat Sheffield’s time by 16 seconds and also beat Daniel Felipe Martínez, who was 52 seconds behind. The Colombian had to give up his leadership shirt. With just one more stage to go, Evenepoel is in an extremely favorable position to win the Volta ao Algarve overall.
Watch Evenepoel’s arrival
Results of the 4th stage of the Volta ao Algarve
