Remco Evenepoel and Soudal - Quick-Step controlled fully the second stage of the
Volta ao Algarve, but the Belgian had to settle for second as he was beaten on the line by defending champion
Daniel Martínez.
The breakaway of the day was formed by Gonçalo Amado, Max Walker, Martin Urianstad, Pedro Silva, Ruben Simão, Aleksandr Grigoriev, Oliver Rees and Ce´sar Martingil. A group that would see more riders join later in the day.
Uno-X Mobility already had a rider up front in the break, but two more would jump across the gap. Andreas Leknessund was the protected rider, and was helped by Jonas Abrahamsen to join the group - which happened with 60 kilometers to go.
The gap slowly came down as the Uno-X led group had a strong pace, but ultimately the Norwegian was the final rider to be caught at the base of the final climb. He had gone alone in front previously with 16 kilometers to go.
Soudal - Quick-Step as expected spent long kilometers in the head of the peloton and chased down the breakaway. Mattia Cattaneo and James Knox pushed through almost the entirety of the final ascent shedding the group down to a couple dozen riders.
Mikel Landa took over outside the final kilometer after a brief attack of Jan Christen. This brutal pace saw Wout van Aert and many others get dropped. There was no room for attacks as the riders headed for an expected sprint at the summit of the ascent.
An early sprint from Remco Evenepoel who hit the front, but defending champion Daniel Martínez was the fastest and took an impressive debut with for
BORA - hansgrohe. Evenepoel was second whilst
Sepp Kuss sprinted to third already some seconds behind.