Dan Martin on Algarve podium after another strong summit finish ride

*Remco Evenepoel is on fire already this season and has taken another win today; this time at Volta ao Algarve, above*

Dan Martin has extended his strong early season climbing display
with 3rd on stage 2 of Volta ao Algarve.

The Irishman had no answer at the top of the final climb
when Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) put in a decisive attack and Maximilian
Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) went after the 20-year-old.

However, while Martin couldn’t quite match the leading
duo, he proved best of the rest and put time into almost everyone behind him.

Martin finished two seconds down on Evenepoel and Schachmann,
with Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) finishing in
4th and 5th and on the same time as the Irish rider.

After that, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) rounded out the top six, some three seconds down on Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) despite having gone on the attack on the climb.

*Dan Martin finishes in 3rd place, just ahead of Rui Costa and Tim Wellens*

*Luke Rowe leads team mates Geraint Thomas and Rohan Dennis on what was a poor stage for Team Ineos*

Evenepoel bided his time perfectly on the 7km climb to
the finish at Alto da Fóia after 184km of racing.

The young Belgian waited until the select group, which
numbered no more than about 15, was inside the last 500 metres before
attacking.

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And when he went he had the legs to keep it going all the
way to the line, though Schachmann rapidly closed the gap to him but could not
overtake him for the win.

The result for Ireland’s Martin comes after a strong ride
at his opening race of the season, the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro),
where he was 4th on the two climbing stages and 4th overall.

On the evidence so far this season, though it is still
very early in the campaign, Martin seems to be in much better form than last
year which proved to be something of a washout for him.

Tomorrow’s stage should be one for the sprinters before
another uphill finish, at Malhão, on Saturday and the
concluding 20.3km TT on Sunday.

Thanks to his stage victory today
Evenepoel now leads the race overall equal on time with Schachmann, who
are both two seconds up on Martin, Costa and Wellens.

The Trek-Segafredo duo of Vincenzo Nibali and Bauke
Mollema are 8th and 9th, both just eight seconds down, and cannot be
discounted.

However, Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) lost exactly one
minute to Dan Martin today; a disadvantage he will find very hard to make back
up.