Results Volta ao Algarve 2026 | Paul Magnier wins stage 1 on star-studded sprint

Stage 1 of the Volta ao Algarve was a bunch sprint and it featured a golden opportunity for all the fastest men in the peloton. The Soudal - Quick-Step leader Paul Magnier was the strongest on the opening day and is the first leader of the race.

The stage, flat in nature, began with a breakaway of nine riders featuring Noah Campos, Bruno Silva, Tomas Contte, Diogo Narciso, André Riberi, Enzo Leinjse, Viacheslav Ivanov, João Silva and José Miguel Moreira. The riders in the group battled each other to be the last survivor from the front group, eventually the catch was made with 24 kilometers to go almost at the same time as the peloton rode through the stage's golden kilometer.

Hugo Nunes attacked and passed in front of two of them; but amongst the bonifications were Juan Ayuso who captured 3 and Jan Christen who captured 2 seconds. Small differences, but they could see changes in the race lead tomorrow at the summit finish in the Alto da Fóia. The riders then began to slowly increase the speed towards the finish heading towards the bunch sprint in Tavira.

Several leadouts had a lot of quantity into the final kilometers, but that only led to a chaotic leadout, in which no team managed to grab control. Alpecin - Premier Tech had the men entering the final kilometer but Jasper Philipsen lost contact with his leadout, and did not have the best position into the final sprint. Nevertheless, within the chaos, it was Paul Magnier who soared to his first win of the season. Jordi Meeus and Pavel Bittner were second and third on the day.