Favourite for Omloop? Beastly Magnier strikes again in the Algarve

The Volta ao Algarve is the kind of “preparation race” that offers a bit of everything, and that’s exactly what we saw in the first few days of the stage race. Magnier opened the week with a punchy uphill sprint win, Paul Seixas then took victory on the mountaintop finish, and Filippo Ganna delivered in the individual time trial.

Saturday’s stage was one for the pure sprinters into Lagos — the same place where it went completely wrong last year (remember?) when much of the peloton ended up on the wrong side of the barriers and there was ultimately no winner. (https://www.youtube.com) In 2026, the organisers were determined to avoid a repeat.

Just like the first two stages, an early breakaway of largely unfamiliar names — mostly from local teams — was given some room. The nine riders (Campos, Carvalho, Contte, Costa, Fernández, Ivanov, Nunes, Pinto and Silva) were never likely to decide the day, and the bunch kept them on a short leash with the fast men focused on another sprint opportunity.

With 35 kilometres to go, the escape was swept up. Under the impetus of Dylan van Baarle — doing his work for Magnier — the pace stayed high enough to shut down any late moves. It looked set to be a calm run-in until a crash inside the final 6 kilometres, involving, among others, Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon CMA CGM).

In the lead-out, Juan Ayuso did a huge amount of work himself, but Tudor appeared to have the slickest sprint train. Tim Torn Teutenberg launched early, yet once again Magnier was the king of the sprint: he sealed his second stage win in Portugal. Meeus never got close and had to settle for second place.