As it happened - Evenepoel seizes Volta ao Algarve race lead and ITT stage win

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve, an 22km individual time trial from Albufeira to Albufeira.

Today it’s the time trial stage of the Volta ao Algarve, and one that’s set to be pivotal to the overall classification. With just one more hilly stage to come tomorrow, whoever finishes today in the yellow jersey will likely be crowned overall victor.

22 kilometres is a pretty long time trial for a five-day race — long enough to make it the decisive day in the Volta ao Algarve With the GC tightly poised and 11 riders within 30 seconds of race leader Dani Martínez, it could be all change at the top.

So what of the route? It’s an out-and-back effort from the city of Albufeira, and the race’s official website describes it as “made up of several long straights and few bends, but still with some more technical parts. The route is mostly flat, but there are some ups and downs, as usual in the Volta ao Algarve, and in the middle there is an area more exposed to the wind.”

Daniel Martínez leads the race having won stage two’s uphill finish, and is seeking to defend his overall title from last year. On that occasion, he jumped up seven places on the final day time trial to take the lead from his then-Ineos teammate Tom Pidcock, and just held off his other teammate Filippo Ganna by two seconds.

This year, however, Martínez faces the extra complication posed by a certain Remco Evenepoel. Martínez might have surprised Evenepoel by outspinting him to win stage two, but time trialling is the Belgian’s domain, and he’ll be confident of overturning the four second deficit on GC.Just look at what happened here two years ago: Evenepoel won the penultimate stage time trial by a whopping 58 seconds from second-place Stefan Küng, to take and ultimately win the yellow jersey.

We won’t be seeing those two showdown for a few hours yet, as the riders set off in reverse order of their standing on GC. Portuguese rider Diogo Oliveira is the first out, and is on the course now approaching the first time check.

There will be two intermediate time checks for each rider today: one at 7.1km, the other at 16.9km.

There will be one rider setting off per minute, until we reach the top ten at 15:00 this afternoon whereupon there will be two minute intervals. Here’s a complete list of every start time.

Tiesj Benoot is the only non-starter this afternoon. The Jumbo rider crashed on the opening stage, and the team decided he was best off sitting out the rest of the race as he prepares for next weekend’s cobbled classics.

Benoot’s teammate and leader for the spring classics Wout van Aert won yesterday’s stage, and will again be a favourite today. He’s one of the few riders in the world who can compete with Evenepoeil against the clock, and this will be the first showdown between them this year as they build towards the Olympics Games this summer.

Several riders have now passed the first intermediate time check, with João Martins of the Rádio Popular - Paredes - Boavista team posting the quickest time of 11.02.

The other hot favourite for stage victory alongside Evenepoel and Van Aert is Filippo Ganna. Here he is earlier today checking out the course, resplendent in the Italian national champion jersey.

Martins’ time at the first checkpoint has been eclipsed by Daniel Babor, who is up by almost half a minute already.

Some stunning scenery on display today in the Algarve. Here’s John Degenkolb’s view while on his recon earlier.

Our first rider of the day, Diogo Oliveira, is at the clubhouse, posting a time of 32.46. 

At the second checkpoint, Daniel Babor has once again posted the quickest time, but there’s a new pace-setter further down the road as American Keegan Swirbul puts 9 seconds into his benchmark at the first checkpoint.

Gerben Thijssen is out on the road now. The Belgian didn’t manage to back up his opening day stage with another in yesterday’s bunch sprint, but has looked mightily impressive so far and could be poised for a big season.

Ed Theuns is one of the first household names on the road, and he’s set a new fastest time at the first checkpoint, smashing Swirbul’s by 25 seconds.

Meanwhile at the finish, Babor maintained his early pace and has set the new fastest time: 31:33

Here’s a glimpse of Theuns on the road. As you can see, it’s a sunny day with clear skies, and no threat of the weather affecting the results.

There’s a new leader at the clubhouse, as Keegan Swirbul finishes with a time 23 seconds quicker than Babor.

His time there is short-lived, however, as Ed Theuns dethrones him with a new best time of 29-04 — almost two minutes quicker!

His time looks set to remain the best for a while. His is still the fastest time at the first checkpoint, where even the second and third best Julien Vermote and Florian Sénéchal were respectively 14 and 21 seconds adrift.

French rider Donavan Grondin reaches the finish with the second fastest time. It’s a strong ride by the 23-year-old, but he’s still a long way off Theuns, who was 37 seconds quicker.

Theuns might have a rival in Clément Russo. The Frenchman is the only rider to get near his time at the first check, where he was just 3 seconds adrift.

It also seems Julien Vermore is speeding up. Having been 14 seconds slower than Theuns at the first check, he’s now fractionally up on him at the second. Theuns’ time might not be so safe after all…

All of this might soon be moot, as the day’s first world class time trial specialist, Stefan Bissegger, has just rolled off the start ramp. He was up there in yesterday’s bunch sprint, finishing fifth place, but this is the discipline he lives for.

Vermote’s arrived at the finish, and it’s a new fastest time, 8 seconds quicker than Theuns.

Matteo Trentin has just set a blistering time at the first check, a whole 24 seconds quicker than Theuns’ benchmark. The Italian hasn’t featured in the sprints this week but clearly has energy to burn.

Here's Trentin on his way to setting that time.

Now Bissegger approaches the first time check…and it’s slower than Trentin. The Swiss rider is 2nd quickest, but has 7 seconds to make up on Trentin already.

Trentin’s time has now been beaten, and by a less-fancied rider: Arthur Kluckers. The young Luxembourg rider has gone 8 seconds quicker. Can he keep that pace up?

Back at the finish, Vermote’s time remains untouched, with Clément Russo coming closest with a time 6 seconds adrift.

Trentin isn’t letting up: he’s posted the fastest time at check 2, 15 seconds better than Vermote.

But further down the road, it’s not just Kluckers who is threatening Trentin, but also young Czech rider Mathias Vacek, who has also gone quicker than him at the first timecheck.

He’s still safe from Bissegger’s time, though. Despite his time trial credentials, Bissegger is only third-fastest at the second timecheck.

As expected, Trentin sets the new fastest time at the finish, putting half a minute into Vermote. How long will he stay there though? Kluckers is continuing to bear down on his time, and will be at the finish soon…

Bissegger finishes his ride with the second fastest time, 4 seconds down on Trentin. 

Kluckers reaches the finish…and it’s the fastest time so far, seven seconds superior to Trentin.

Kluckers stay in the hot seat looks set to be longer than Trentin’s, as Mathias Vacek slowed down in the final kilometres and failed to beat his time, falling 6 seconds short.

Interesting developments early on the route, as it seems the prodigious Isaac del Toro is up for it. The Mexican might not have featured in any of the tussles for stage wins so far, but he;s just set the fastest time at the first checkpoint.

He’s not the only big name out on the course. Ineos star duo of Filippo Ganna and Geraint Thomas are also off.

No surprises at the first time check, as Ganna smashes Del Toro’s time to set the new fastest. He’s gone 12 seconds quicker, but we’ll only know how good that really is when the likes of Van Aert and Evenepoel set theirs.

You get a real sense of how much faster Ganna is going than the others, as he eases past his minute man Enzo Paleini, just 13 minutes into his ride.

Del Toro once again posts the quickest time at the second check. It seems he hasn’t just gone off fast, but has timed his effort well. We can add time trialling to the ever-growing list of disciplines he looks set to excel at.

Another scalp for Ganna, who has now passed Luc Wirtgen, who started two minutes before him.

Del Toro’s finished his ride, and it’s the quickest time He’s unlikely to be in the hot seat for long with Ganna bearing down on the finish, but it’s yet another exciting performance from the young revelation of the winter.

Even more impressively, Del Toro appears to have ridden a negative split. By the finish, his advantage over Kluckers had increased from only a couple of seconds to 32 seconds.

Ganna’s nearing the finish, and he’s just passed his third rider of the day. This is going to be quick, but it will have to be given how rapidly Del Toro finished his ride.

Geraint Thomas crosses the line, but appears to have taken it quite easy out there. He hasn’t featured in any of the intermediate splits, and finished outside of the top ten.

Here comes Ganna...

…and he’s slower than Del Toro!

Ganna posts the second fastest time, and it’s a whole 11 seconds down on Ganna. That’s some turn up for the books.

Considering how seasoned a time trialist Ganna is compared to Del Toro, it’s quite something to see the latter speed up while the latter slowed down. If anything, it seems the Mexican must have underestimated his strength during the first half of the course, and had loads left in reserve for the final kilometres.

Matteo Cattaneo arrives at the finish, and he sets the third best time, fractionally slower than Ganna. That’s a great ride by him, but also perhaps an indication that Ganna isn’t at his best - on a normal day he would be comfortably ahead of his Italian compatriot.

Another member of time trialling royalty is out on the road now, as Stefan Küng gets underway. Küng has a happy history at this race having won the time trial stage here last year, but how well recovered will he be from the crash that ended his 2023 season?

Ganna doesn’t have much to say at the finish. “Not the best feeling, but it’s ok,” he tells the interviewer. The tone of his voice suggests he does not feel ‘ok’.

Now this looks interesting. Magnus Sheffield has just beaten both Del Toro and Ganna’s time at the first checkpoint. Is a potential new best time on the horizon?

Del Toro did finish very quickly, but Sheffield is up by a whole 17 seconds already. That’s a lot of time to play with over just 15 kilometres.

Stefan Küng's through the first timecheck, and he's third-fastest, 8 seconds slower than Sheffield and 3 seconds slower than Ganna.

Here comes Wout van Aert! Yesterday’s stage winner has just rolled down the start-line to begin what could be another stage-winning ride.

Ben Healy is going well. He’s posted the fourth fastest time at the first check, up there with the specialists.

Not long now until Evenepoel and Martínez set off to do battle for the GC.

Neither Sheffield nor Kung are letting up. The former has arrived at the second time check with the fastest time, the latter with the second fastest, 10 seconds down.

Now Sheffield is on the finishing straight...and it's the new best time!

He's smashed Del Toro's time, too, by a huge margin of 21 seconds.

That’s some ride, but if anyone can better it, it’s Remco Evenepoel, who’s beginning his ride as we speak.

Stefan Küng arrives at the finish, and it won’t be a repeat of his stage win from last year. It’s a good ride though, bettered only be Sheffield so far.

Daniel Martínez is off, the last man to start.

An indication about the occasionally rolling nature of this course is the fact that Evenepoel currently isn’t in his usual time trial aero tuck, but out of the saddle as he climbs up a rise.

Evenepoel is back in his saddle and will be at the first time check in a few minutes. He looks smooth, but we’ll soon know for sure how well he’s going.

Wout van Aert has just come through, and it’s a little underwhelming - he’s 5th fastest at 16 seconds behind Sheffield. There’s still time to make that time up, but it’s quite a deficit already.

Incidentally, Thymen Arensman is one of the riders quicker than him, after he posted a very strong time at that check.

Remco's through the check point - and it's quick! The quickest so far, in fact, by 5 seconds.

As expected, Martínez will have to ride the time trial of his life to retain his slender lead on GC

It’s not happening for Van Aert today. He’s slowed down over the last few kilometres, and is a distant 10th at the second time check.

Martínez reaches the time check, and he’s lost 13 seconds to Evenepoel. It’s a good ride, but not enough to defend his overall lead.

Thymen Arensman finishes with the 8th fastest time of the day, having slowed down over the second half of the course. Nobody has threatened the top three of Sheffield, Küng and Del Toro for a while now - but that’s soon going to change.

Van Aert finishes, with only the 8th fastest time. He might have found his sprinting legs already, but clearly not his time trialling. 

Only a handful of riders left to finish now, of whom only Evenepoel appears to be going quick enough to threaten Sheffield’s time. Could this be a first win of 2024 for the American?

Evenepoel’s arrived quickest at the second time check, this time with a lead of 17 seconds. Surly victory is inevitable?

Unlike Ganna, Van Aert doesn’t look too disappointed by his underpar ride. “It was a good test, but the legs need to improve,” he tells the interviewer, referring to his tweaked position on the time trial bike.

Martínez’s deficit to Evenepoel has grown from 13 seconds to 42 seconds. It’s still a good ride (the 6th quickest at the second time check), but Evenepoel is simply too good.

Here comes Evenepoel at the finish...and it's the quickest time!

17 seconds is his eventual margin of Sheffield. The stage will be his, as will the yellow jersey.

It’s now a matter of damage limitation for Martínez, as he looks to at least keep himself in contention for the yellow jersey ahead of tomorrow’s final stage, and give himself an outside chance of retaking the overall lead on its hilly terrain.

Martínez only arriving at he finish now, emphasising just how much quicker Evenepoel is.

8th place for Martínez, 52 seconds down on Evenepoel.

So Remco Evenepoel wins the stage, with Magnus Sheffield in second and Stefan Küng third.

That makes it two wins in just five days for Evenepoel. He looks as good as ever already this season.

It was a battle of time trial heavyweights, but whereas the likes of Ganna and Van Aert look a little off their game at this early point in the season, clearly the world champion is already flying. 

As for the GC, today’s result means Evenepoel has a big advantage of 48 seconds over Daniel Martínez in second-place. Further back, Jan Tratnik’s tenth-place finish is enough to see him rise to third overall, with Van Aert and Küng six seconds behind him in fourth and fifth.

One advantage Evenepoel might have had over his rivals was familiarity. In his post-race interview, he explains how he did plenty of recons of the route, which really helped given the technical nature of the course - which he describes as “maybe a bit too much,” but still a “very beautiful time trial.”

As for tomorrow’s finale, Evenepoel says it “will be all about defending,” but that he will also “try to go for a stage win.”

Thanks for joining us today, for what was yet another vintage Remco Evenepoel victory, not to forget a very impressive won from runner-up Magnus Sheffield, and a revelatory one from Isaac del Toro, who defeated the likes of Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert to finish fifth. 

Join us again tomorrow for the final stage. It’s Evenepoel’s race to lose, but he could come under some pressure in what looks like a potentially tricky hilly stage.