Jan Christen follows Tadej Pogačar's Volta ao Algarve wheel tracks with stunning win and race lead at Alto da Foía

Six years after Tadej Pogačar claimed the first win of his pro career at the Alto do Foía in the Volta ao Algarve, history partly repeated itself for UAE Team Emirates-XRG as Pogačar's up-and-coming teammate Jan Christen clinched both the stage and the lead.

Like Pogačar back in 2019, Christen is just 20 years old and although he does not have a Tour de l'Avenir in his palmares like the Slovenian, his impressive run of victories in his first year as a pro in 2024, coupled with his recent victory this February Mallorca, already very much made the young Swiss a name to follow, too.

It's far too much, of course, to think that after his victory on the Foia, Christen will now automatically go on following Pogačar in the future. But in the present, regardless Christen's win and lead rounded out a remarkable day both for the 20-year-old and for UAE Team Emirates, currently leading on GC in the Vuelta a Andalucia with Pavel Sivakov and, of course, in the UAE Tour itself with Pogačar.

Christen's Algarve victory made him the first of three UAE Team Emirates riders to cross the line in the top five at Foia, ahead of João Almeida in second and recent Figuiera Champions Classic winner Antonio Morgado in fifth.

"I am feeling super good and I'm super happy about this win and I'm also super thankful for my teammates today, especially João and Antonio who were protecting me for ten kilometres in the group behind," Christen said. "It wouldn't have been possible without them."

Asked if they were jealous about his performance, he replied, "No I think they are happy because they are super-good teammates and we are happy for each other. Antonio took a crazy win in Figueira and now I win here. I think we also push each other a lot and that makes our team so strong."

Pogačar's assured performance six years ago in the teeth of a pursuit led by Team Sky on the Foia culminated in a perfectly calculated, rasping sprint in the last kilometre. But this year, the switch in the stage route to the much tougher northern approach road to the highest summit of the Algarve made for a very different, if equally tactical finale.

Christen attacked shortly after the foot of the climb with a break of four and then went clear close to the finale, fending off the favourites like Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) as they closed in on him.

"Before the stage, we knew me, João and Antonio were in good condition and could go for the wins, so the plan was to look at the other guys and try to follow, see what happened in the last two or three kilometres," he explained

"I was feeling super good at the bottom of the climb so I was really offensive and I tried to follow the [early] moves of big guys like Roglič and Vingegaard."

"Then in one moment a group went and I decided to jump across and I started doing my turns. I was looking at the other guys a bit in the end and then I waited to make my move later on. But to come to the finish like this [and win] - it's surprising."

With just a four-second advantage on Almeida and another six riders at 20 seconds or less, including Vingegaard, Christen's next challenge will be to try and maintain the lead in the final time trial. 

But he pointed out that given he had performed so well against the favourites this time round, his confidence was sky high and thanks to Almeida and Morgado still being very much in the mix, too, the team had multiple options - not just him.

"I'm not thinking too much about the GC, the stage win already means a lot to me given the guys on the start list," he argued. 

"So now that takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders with João sitting in the GC behind me. It is the best situation for us."

As for the weight of past UAE success in the Volta ao Algarve with Pogačar, Christen said he had not even been aware that the Slovenian had shone so brightly in the past on the same ascent. "He was strong in a lot of races when he was young," Christen pointed out.

Assuming the GC now stays stable until Sunday, Almeida's considerable time trial success in the past makes the Portuguese star one of the standout favourites for the overall. Furthermore, his most recent success in an uphill time trial in the Tour de Suisse last year - similar to the one the Algarve will face on Sunday.

However, Christen himself recently finished bronze in the U23 World Championships TT in Zurich, "and not on my best day, either", he added, so he can hardly be ruled out of the running, either. Furthermore, the Swiss rider politely turned down one Portuguese journalist's suggestion, though, that he would try to "give something back to Joao" in the final TT of the Algarve.

"For sure that is difficult because it's a TT and everybody goes full gas," he pointed out, "In a specialty like this João is stronger than me anyway, so I think we'll see how it ends." But after following Pogačar's wheel tracks so closely in the Alto do Foia, come what may the 2025 Volta ao Algarve must already feel like a massive success for Christen - and an excellent omen for the future, too.