Jonas Vingegaard wins Volta ao Algarve after brutal time-trial victory

Jonas Vingegaard seemed to have a rough first days to his season, now being able to distance his rivals at the Alto da Fóia, but he has taken his first win of the season at the final time-trial of the race - and with it, also the overall classification of the Volta ao Algarve.

The decisive 19-kilometer long time-trial was always going to be an interesting one, with many riders in contention for the overall victory; for the stage win which had an interesting combination of a long flat section and the steep final Alto do Malhão; and even which riders would switch bikes at the base of the final 2-kilometer long climb. Many questions, that would be answered only later in the day.

Right from early on we would hav strong contenders for the stage win, as Filippo Ganna and Stefan Küng for example would cross the line but both with underwhelming times. Ganna could not beat Lidl-Trek development team's Jakob Söderqvist. But Wout van Aert did, having also opted with switching bikes at the base of the final climb, he put in a massive time, removing 27 seconds from the Swedish specialist.

Van Aert's time would resist that of Romain Grégoire, Max Schachmann, and it held on to Antonio Tiberi's attack by a mere 3 seconds. The big GC contenders would then come through to decide ho would win the yellow jersey. The first intermediate points gave Jonas Vingegaard an advantage over his rivals, several of which struggled including even Primoz Roglic and João Almeida who were also big contenders to win the stage.

Vingegaard went on to win the time-trial and with it also the overall classification. Wout van Aert and Antonio Tiberi filled the podium. Primoz Roglic lost 49 seconds, Almeida lost 31 and race leader Jan Christen lost 1:18 minutes and lost the lead.