After coming through two Volta ao Algarve bunch sprint stages unscathed, on Sunday 20-year-old Jan Christen faces the biggest obstacle of all in his quest to clinch the first stage race of his incipient pro career.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer and the rest of the Algarve peloton will tackle a 19.6-kilometre time trial, mostly flat but finishing with an ascent of the race's most emblematic and demanding climb, the Alto do Malhão.
The Algarve often has mid-length time trials and the Malhão has been used multiple times since it was first conquered by Denmark's Claus Moller in a summit finish in 2003, replacing the Foia from that year on as the decisive ascent of the race. However, the two - time trial and Malhao - have never been combined in an uphill race against the clock, until this Sunday.
As for Christen, he has already conquered the Foia on Thursday, crossing the line on the highest ascent of the Algarve region just ahead of his teammate João Almeida.
But if the up-and-coming Swiss rider wants to become the youngest Algarve winner overall since a certain Tadej Pogačar in 2019, too, Christen will now have to turn in a top performance on the Malhão as well.
And with numerous GC contenders and time trial stars including Almeida, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at 20 seconds or less, that could prove - in all senses of the expression - to be a severely uphill task.
"For me tomorrow is all or nothing," Christen told Cyclingnews after the stage 4 finish, "so I'm gonna set a high pace right from the start and see if I can keep it up all the way to the finish.
"I'm going to be going at it [for the win] super strong, otherwise if I explode it's just - not what it could have been."
Christen did an uphill TT like this last year in the Tour de Suisse, he recalled, "but that was longer, so tomorrow [Sunday] for sure will be better. I've made a step up in the winter and I know the climb already."
"So it's going to be an all-out effort, it'll be pacing about seven minutes, I'll just have to try to get as fast as possible to the top."
Apart from in last year's race, Christen himself most recently rode on the Malhão on stage 4, when it was tackled by the bunch early on. So its steep lower segments, averaging a draining and steady 10.3% for 1.6 kilometres before easing out for the second part to a much more benign 4% are very familiar to everybody in the peloton, including the race leader.
Christen would not be drawn on Saturday evening on whether he would switch from TT to a road bike for the climb itself, simply telling Cyclingnews, "I'm thinking about it."
Gaps remain nervewrackingly tight at the top of the overall classification after three days of racing in any case, with Christen just four seconds ahead of teammate and local favourite Almeida.
Behind Almeida, Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) is at seven seconds, Antonio Morgado (UAE Team Emirates) is at 14 seconds, Vingegaard is in sixth place at 20 seconds and Roglič is at 23 seconds. The GC, then, remains very much in the balance.
Regarding UAE's options, Almeida wore a facemask to the sign-on for Saturday's stage 4, sparking questions over his health, but team sources told Cyclingnews it was just a precaution.
In any case, Christen himself is no slouch in the time trials - in 2024, he took third in the U23 World Championships as well as third in the Swiss Nationals. In the most similar kind of uphill TT he's done recently, a 15.4-kilometre race against the clock in the Tour de Pologne last year, he finished ninth, although that day Vingegaard - who went on to win Pologne overall - was 31 seconds faster.
Over the winter, he told reporters, "I was almost never on the TT bike, I think my last real training was the U23 World Championships where I was third, so sitting tomorrow on the TT bike for sure will be a special feeling."
"I think I can do well, but it's all about the legs. I think João is in good condition for sure and he is a better time triallist. So I hope that if I need to give the jersey to somebody, I can give it to him."
Come what may, he added, he has enjoyed being in the yellow jersey at Algarve for three days, and whatever happens from hereon is something of a bonus.
"Yes, it's been super nice," he agreed, "I felt I got some more respect in the peloton and that's a nice feeling. Compared with the longer road stages, he concluded, "I'm looking forward to tomorrow. [Sunday] It's going to be less suffering so I'm going to enjoy it."
