Dan Martin among the biggest guns atop the summit finish at the Volta ao Algarve. The Irish climber is now in a fantastic position to strike for yellow in coming days if he can perform in tomorrow's TT.
Strong riding by Dan Martin on Volta ao Algarve summit
There was no repeat victory for Dan Martin at the end of the first summit finish on the Volta ao Algarve.
But the UAE Team Emirates man looked in very good form as he climbed to fourth place atop the final mountain at Foia.
And there were also very positive signs for the Irishman along the way; his new team mates riding on the front for him to be sure the early breakaway was caught.
Martin has transferred to this team for the support it can offer in the Tour de France. And it was encouraging to see the first signs of that today.
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In the end Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) took the stage after almost five hours of racing. He easily won the sprint from the small group that reached the finish together.
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) was next, followed by Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and then Dan Martin; all on the same time.
An early breakaway went clear, though with the uphill finish their chances were always limited.
In that escape were: Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-hansgrohe), Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors), Benjamin King (Team Dimension Data), John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Marcos Jurado (Efapel), Oscar Pelegri (Rádio Popular-Boavista) and Ricardo Mestre (W52-FC Porto).
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They built a lead of over nine minutes. With about 30km remaining Martin’s UAE Team Emirates went to the front to start reeling in the escapees for their team leader.
With 9km remaining the last of the escape group were caught. And once the leaders had all been mopped up Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) attacked.
Martin went after him. Primoz Roglic (LottoNl-Jumbo), Simon Spilak (Katusha) and Philippe Gilbert (QuickStep) soon caught them to make five up front.
However, Kiryienka took off again to lead solo once more as the climbing continued and the summit finish neared.
Those he had attacked were caught by what was left of the main field. It was just 10 seconds back well inside the final 3km.
Eventually the lone leader was caught; a group of between 10 and 15 riding under the red kite with 1km remaining intact.
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) opened the sprint, with his team mate Michal Kwiatkowski taking victory.
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) took 2nd, Thomas 3rd and Dan Martin 4th. Thomas takes the race lead after two stages, with Martin in 4th on the same time.
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