Evenepoel seals Volta ao Algarve overall victory on Malhão

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Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) proved to be unflappable on the final stage of the Volta ao Algarve as he sealed the overall victory at the race for the second time in his young career.

The 22-year-old Belgian rode the wheels of his teammate Yves Lampaert and Louis Vervaeke on the lower slopes of the steep Alto do Malhão, later accelerating to pull away a five-man winning move in the final kilometre.

He let go of the sprint once his race victory was assured and sat up to celebrate what is now his eighth stage race victory in three years since turning pro.

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) kicked off the sprint to the line, but the American faded to third as Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) dashed away to the stage victory, just managing to get past compatriot Dani Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) at the finish.

Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), second in the general classification heading into the stage, lost contact on the steep slopes of the final climb and finished 10th on the stage, 42 seconds back. In the process, the Briton ceded his podium spot to McNulty. Ineos Grenadiers could be consoled, however, with Martínez jumping up to take the third podium spot.

The stage result sees Evenepoel take overall victory by 1:17 from McNulty while Martínez finishes 1:21 back. Evenepoel also takes the white young riders jersey, while his teammate Fabio Jakobsen brings home the points jersey. João Mathias (Tavfer-Mortágua-Ovos Matinados) is the mountain classification winner.

How it unfolded

With a lumpy 173 kilometres from Lagoa to the Alto do Malhão on tap, the first hour of racing on the final Volta ao Algarve stage started out at a furious pace, with no attack able to resist the speed of the peloton. A full 40 kilometres went past without a successful move.

The first intermediate sprint in Paderne was won by Rafael Reis (Glassdrive Q8 Anicolor) ahead of José Gonçalves (W52-FC Porto) and Simon Gugliemi (Team Arkéa-Samsic) and, soon after, the race headed up the first classified climb, the Picota.

It was just a third-category hill, but proved tricky enough for some gaps to form, and Luís Fernandes (Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista) led the way over the climb with Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jokin Murguialday (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) following his surge.

47 kilometres were covered in the first hour, but the trio had only a few seconds in hand and were brought back by the peloton ahead of the next sprint in Loulé at kilometre 53. Tomás Contte (Aviludo) led at the sprint over Castroviejo, with Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) taking the last of the points to seal the points classification.

As the road tilted slightly uphill a large group tried to forge a gap with about 20 riders in the attack, the best-placed GC rider George Zimmerman (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) at almost five minutes down.

This escape – which also included Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo), and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), among others – had gained 2:20 on the peloton when there was a crash that took down Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), who abandoned, and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who managed to chase back on.

The gap remained stable as the leaders hit the category 3 Vermelhos, where José Neves (W52-FC Porto) took the points ahead of João Matias (Tavfer) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic).

Jakobsen then got to work to bring down the gap as it stretched to 2:50. Up front, Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) attacked, taking with him Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma) and Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

De Bondt won the next climb, the category 3 Alte, and kept powering after the crest, drawing out Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) and Zimmermann.

The Belgian led again over the Malhão with 24km to go but QuickStep were in firm control. They shut down an attack by Dani Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) and brought back the breakaway survivors after the summit.

The climb caused some splits in the bunch, with Ineos' Ethan Hayter missing the front of the race, though a large chase group with him in caught back before the finale.

There, following a long stint of hard work from teammate Yves Lampaert on the lumpy run-in, Evenepoel came to the front with just over a kilometre left of the steep 2.6-kilometre climb, pulling out a five-man lead group with Sergio Higuta (Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and Martínez.

That group would contest the finish, leading to a Colombian battle for the final stage win of the race, while Evenepoel felt free to celebrate his eighth career stage race victory a few bike lengths behind.