As it happened: Wout van Aert blasts to debut 2024 win at Volta ao Algarve

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve!

25 minutes until the stage gets underway.

Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) is a DNS today.

The Dutchman was caught in a crash yesterday and can't continue in the race.

He joins Alexander Hajek and Gonçalo Amado on the list of riders to leave the race so far.

Only two climbs on today's stage – both third-category hills and coming at 88km and 44km to go. Not much to trouble the sprinters.

A look at the results from yesterday's stage up the Alto da Fóia, which saw defending champion Dani Martínez beat Remco Evenepoel to the line of the race's first summit finish.

The winning shot as the pair emerged from the fog at the top of the climb.

Volta ao Algarve: Dani Martínez out-sprints Remco Evenepoel on Alto da Fóia

Sepp Kuss takes third ahead of Sergio Higuita on stage 2

10 minutes to the start now.

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Soudal-QuickStep star praises team for control of key hilly stage

The riders are rolling out in Vila Real de Santo António to start stage 3!

173 riders take the start today following Oomen's abandon.

192km of racing coming up today, with a bunch sprint likely to conclude the stage.

The flag has dropped and the riders are underway for the official start.

186km to go

No breakaway just yet.

Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua have the most kilometres in the breakaway so far in the race at 404km, according to procyclingstats.

The Portuguese Continental team had Gonçalo Amado in the break on stages 1 and 2, with César Martingil joining him out front yesterday.

They have a rider – Francisco Morais – on the attack today, too!

He's out front in a group of seven right now as they attempt to form the break of the day. 

180km to go

Morais is joined by Afonso Eulálio (ABTF Betão-Feirense), Carlos Miguel Salgueiro (APHotels & Resorts-Tavira-SC Farense), German Tivani (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé Concelho), António Ferreira (Efapel), Raúl Rota (Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista), and Frederico Figueiredo (Sabgal-Anicolor).

Figueiredo is the biggest name in the move. The 32-yera-old is a regular contender at the Volta a Portugal and has finished second, third, and twice fifth in the country's biggest race.

He's the best-placed man on GC in the move, lying at 8:14 down currently.

The move has over a minute on the peloton now. This is our break of the day.

The gap between peloton and break is only growing now.

171km to go

The seven men out front have 2:30 now.

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3:15 for the breakaway now.

160km to go

The riders are on a flat part of the stage now, but the hillier terrain is coming up – unclassified for the next 55km.

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A 40.6kph average speed so far on today's stage with just over 41km covered.

145km to go

The situation is fairly stable at the moment. Four minutes between peloton and breakaway.

The riders of the breakaway out on the road today.

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The riders are tackling some hilly roads at the moment but the day should end with a sprint finish. Will Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) make it two wins in three days in Portugal?

There's not a top sprint field at this race, with plenty of big names instead taking on the UAE Tour next week. However, Thijssen should have plenty of rivals today.

The opening stage saw Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe), Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) round out the top five behind Thijssen.

Other names including Casper van Uden (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates), Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Marius Mayrhofer, Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling) should also be in the mix.

Outsiders from the Portuguese Continental squads include Luis Mendonça (Sabgal-Anicolor), Santiago Mesa (Efapel), and Leangel Linarez (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua).

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), meanwhile, will likely avoid the sprint today. His team reported him as saying "I'll try to stay out of trouble and save my energy" before the stage.

The peloton out on the road during stage 3.

132km to go

4:40 between break and peloton currently.

Intermarché-Wanty are among the teams working in the peloton at the moment along with Bora-Hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, and Arkéa-B&B Hotels.

They're working for Thijssen, Meeus, Van den Berg, and Démare.

120km to go

The break's advantage is coming down slightly. It's at 3:45.

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More hills on the way here as the riders move towards the first classified climb of the day at Alcaria in around 15km.

105km to go

The gap to the break has now just dipped under two minutes.

The break taking on a short descent now before hitting the base of the third-category climb.

Still all seven men in the breakaway as they race into the final 100km.

The upcoming third-category Alcaria climb is 2.3km at 7%.

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The break lead the way up the climb now, 2:40 up on the peloton.

Up to the top of the climb now for the breakaway.

Intermarché, EF, and Bora currently among the teams leading the peloton.

88km to go

Tivani led the break over the top of the climb for four KOM points. Ferreira and Salgueiro are next in line, though none of them will trouble KOM leader Dani Martínez, who has 10 points.

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75km to go

The gap remains at 3:30 as the seven men out front stick together on the other side of the climb.

There's more racing going on today in Spain and France. Check out the results below...

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Following the descent from the climb, there'll be a short spell of 10km or so on the flat before the riders hit the second and final climb of the day.

68km to go

2:45 between the break and the peloton.

Intermarché, Arkéa, Bora all lined up on the front now, though the French squad onlt have one man in there.

Just under two minutes for the breakaway now on the flat run to the Faz Fato climb.

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53km to go

The break closing in on Faz Fato (4.7 km at 3.3%) now.

Still two minutes between the two groups.

The peloton racing through the picturesque hills of southern Portugal.

Eulálio pushes the pace on the climb and there's a split in the break.

45km to go

2:35 for the break now after their acceleration on the way up.

Tivani leads Salgueiro and Figueiredo over the top for another four points to put him joint second in the mountain classification.

Onwards down the descent now.

Tivani, Figueiredo and Salgueiro off the front at the moment.

It's all flat roads to the finish after the descent.

36km to go

Ferreira is coming back to the lead trio now.

Tao Geoghegan Hart stops with a mechanical and gets going to chase back on.

Up front it's still Arkéa, Intermarché, and Bora leading the chase.

The front of the peloton on the charge towards Tavira.

Morais, Rota and Eulálio are caught by the peloton.

Tivani, Figueiredo and Salgueiro remain out front with Ferreira just behind.

31km to go

The trio of leaders just over a minute ahead of the peloton now.

Now Ferreira has dropped back to the peloton.

The intermediate sprint at Vila Real Santo António is coming up in a few kilometres.

Still a minute for the three leaders.

26km to go

The peloton speeds up and the gap comes down.

40 seconds now.

Salgueiro leads Figueiredo and Tivani across the sprint line.

Their time out front is numbered, though. The time gap is under 30 seconds now.

Salgueiro pushing on a little now as Tivani goes with him. They're not far ahead of the peloton, though.

20km to go

Just a handful of seconds left now for the trio.

The breakaway survivors are still pushing on with Figueiredo leading the way but they're only a few seconds ahead of the peloton.

18km to go

Tivani and Figueiredo are caught.

Salgueiro pushing on alone for a little longer.

A rider from Sabgal-Anicolor attempted to make a move from the peloton but couldn't get away.

16km to go

Salgueiro still out front. The peloton are letting him hang out there, a few seconds up.

14km to go

The breakaway is finished as Salgueiro is caught.

Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua are massed at the front of the peloton.

Lidl-Trek are also in the mix.

12km to go

All the sprint squads are up there, though it's not going at full speed yet.

Now an attack from Sabgal-Anicolor.

10km to go

But the rider is quickly caught back.

Visma-Lease A Bike are up there with Groupama-FDJ lined up behind. Lidl, Bora, Astana, QuickStep, Bora, Uno-X, Tavfer all have representatives up there, too.

8km to go

No change in the situation here. Wout van Aert is up there. Will he sprint today after all?

Uno-X well organised at the front with a line of riders.

6km to go

Bora-Hansgrohe have a line of riders up there too.

Soudal-QuickStep working to protect Remco Evenepoel, too.

A look at Salgueiro, the last man standing from the breakaway today.

4km to go

Ineos Grenadiers move up.

We're just waiting for the big sprint finish now.

3km to go and all the GC men are still in there safely.

DSM-Firmenich PostNL move up with their train.

2km to go

Van Aert shifts up to fourth wheel as Uno-X push the pace.

And now Intermarché move up, too.

Tudor take over from Uno-X with Van Aert just behind.

1km to go

Teams flowing back and forth at the front.

Intermarché up front with three men.

A crash near the front takes out a rider and now there's a split behind the sprinters.

Only around 20 men left!

Intermarché lead it out.

Thijssen in prime position in the closing metres.

But Van Aert comes alongside him in the final 50 metres.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) wins stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve!

The Belgian picked the best wheels to follow and timed his sprint perfectly.

Thijssen had a good lead out in third wheel, but he had Marius Mayrhofer and Van Aert right behind him and he faded in the dash to the line.

Van Aert outdragged Thijssen, while Rui Oliveira came through with a late burst to take third ahead of the stage 1 winner.

Van Aert celebrates with his teammate Julien Vermote after the finish.

Volta ao Algarve: Wout van Aert surges from bunch sprint to win stage 3

Oliveira second, Mayrhofer third in flat, fast finish to Tavira

There should be no change in the GC tonight. A host of the GC men lost time but the majority of the peloton was held up by the late crash.

Only 20 riders finished in the lead group with the top sprinters.

Wout van Aert celebrates on the final podium. It's his first win of the 2024 season.

Martínez finished 1:22 down on the day but 156 riders in the peloton will be given the same time. He's back in yellow tonight.

With a win on stage 1 and fourth today, Gerben Thijssen remains in the green points jersey.

António Morgado is in the white best young rider jersey.

Martínez in the blue of the mountain classification leader.

And finally here's Carlos Salgueiro, who unsurprisingly gets the most combative rider of the day prize for his efforts in the breakaway.

That's all from us today. Be sure to check the site through the evening for more news from the Algarve and beyond!