"I did most of the work and yeah, in the end, Christen dropped me" - Laurens De Plus can't quite continue INEOS' hotstreak on stage 2 of 2025 Volta ao Algarve

The INEOS Grenadiers have been very successful over the last week or so across the cycling world. Although Laurens De Plus couldn't quite add another victory for the team on the stage 2 summit finish of the 2025 Volta ao Algarve, a 3rd placed finish, out climbing both Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard gives the Belgian plenty to be happy about.

Attacking numerous times on the final climb, De Plus was eventually countered by stage winner Jan Christen and then denied 2nd place at the line as Christen's UAE Team Emirates - XRG teammate Joao Almeida came past. "I'm really happy with the start of the season. I raced on instincts and yeah, third place is not bad," reflected the Belgian in his post-stage interview afterwards. "It was very tactical. The boys of UAE good job to be fair and yeah, I just wanted to be up the road for Primoz and the other guys. I did most of the work and yeah, in the end, Christen dropped me."

After years as a loyal domestique, could De Plus now be emerging as a potential leader for the INEOS Grenadiers? "I got a wildcard so I was like: yeah, let's try to go for it," he smiles. "We will go full throttle on Sunday (final ITT) and hopefully yeah, I can keep doing what I'm doing now."