Ronan McLaughlin, left, leads today’s main breakaway
Team Sky ripped the field apart today on the third stage of the Volta ao Algarve, driving hard into the final two climbs to leave Richie Porte to solo to an impressive stage win and take the yellow jersey.
Nicolas Roche was best of the Irish, taking eleventh after being right in the mix until the 2km to go mark, when Bradley Wiggins did the last bit of damage and pulled over only for Porte to attack.
The earlier part of the day had been animated by an eight-man breakaway – featuring An Post’s Ronan McLaughlin - that went clear just 28km into the 194.6km stage. They built a lead of eight minutes at one point. But on the third last climb of the day – a 3rd category ascent – they were recaptured and the race began in earnest with 50km to go.
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There were a number of counter attacks by small groups looking to catch the peloton on the hop, but Team Sky had clearly had their weetabix this morning and rode a blistering tempo that simply closed down anything that managed to briefly escape.
The men in black lashed into the second last climb of five today, leaving a massive line-out in their wake.
They drove over the top of that hill – crested with 15km to go – and blasted down the other side, meaning there was no chance for anybody to get back on.
By the time the Sky-driven lead group reached the early slopes of the last climb up to the finish, the group numbered no more than 50 riders.
And the minute the road went up, Bradley Wiggins put in some massive turns as he took over the driving from yellow jersey and yesterday’s stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Once Wiggins was done, Porte attacked. Tiago Machado (Radioshack-Nissan) and Rui Coast (Movistar) – both competing on home soil – were the only ones able to even try and go after Porte.
Seconds behind them, Roche was trying to get on terms with the Portuguese duo just ahead. The remains of what had been the lead group – including Wiggins – were hanging out of the Irishman.
But the gaps established by Porte’s attack simply opened all the way to the finish, where Roche was 11th; some 44 seconds down.
Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare) was, like Roche, today being properly tested for the first time this season. He put in a reasonable ride, finishing in 31st spot 1:22 down.
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After the Donegalman rolled over the line there was a long wait for the next two Irishmen home, with the An Post duo of Ronan McLaughlin and Connor McConvey both finishing in a group 20 minutes down.
McLaughlin had put in a great ride to get into the escape and stay there for most of the stage. However, once caught he had a mechanical that saw him completely fall out of contention.
“I went from having one of my best days in a long, long time to the worst day ever in a matter of seconds; I hate mechanicals,” he said.
“At least now I know what it takes to get away from a bunch now; we had close to a 48kmph average for first hour, including 1,200m of climbing.”
Tomorrow’s stage is 186km but has no climbs to speak off so should suit the sprinters. The race concludes on Sunday with a 25.8km individual TT, which should suit Porte and Wiggins, not to mention 10th placed in GC Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).
Stage 3
1 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling 4:55:11
2 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:08
3 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team
4 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM 0:00:24
5 Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
6 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
7 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:31
8 José Mendes (Por) LA-Antarte 0:00:35
9 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:40
10 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2R-La Mondiale 0:00:44
31 Philip Deignan (Irl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
69 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly 5:29
87 Mark Christian (GBr) An Post-Sean Kelly 7:12
131 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post-Sean Kelly 20:05
140 Connor McConvey (Irl) An Post-Sean Kelly
145 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post-Sean Kelly
146 Niels Wytinck (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly
DNF Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly
DNF Joren Segers (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly
General classification
1 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling 13:54:41
2 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:12
3 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:00:14
4 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM 0:00:34
5 Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
6 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol
7 José Mendes (Por) LA-Antarte 0:00:45
8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:48
9 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:00:49
10 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:50
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2R-La Mondiale 0:00:54
30 Philip Deignan (Irl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
70 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly 5:46
85 Mark Christian (GBr) An Post-Sean Kelly 7:29
128 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post-Sean Kelly 20:20
135 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post-Sean Kelly 0:20:45
143 Connor McConvey (Irl) An Post-Sean Kelly 0:22:09
146 Niels Wytinck (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly 0:23:29
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