The front group, under pressure applied by Eddie Dunbar and his team mates, rides away from the rest of the field, just about visible in the distance. Above, Dunbar's team can be seen just beginning to get on the front and were left to do the vast majority of the work once it became clear the race was not regrouping.
Rising Irish climber Eddie Dunbar has enjoyed a very strong result at the five-day Volta ao Alentejo (2.2) on a stage when he and his team mates split the field in crosswinds.
The Axeon Hagens Berman team the 19-year-old is now riding for took advantage of the crosswinds on the 187km stage 3 from Portel to Beja on Friday.
They hit the front with 40km remaining and very much made their mark; massing at the front of a lead group when the first splits began to appear and dragging it clear.
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Eventually a group of some 40 riders would leave everyone else behind, with Dunbar and all of his team mates present and on the front.
Those 40 men would put just over two minutes into the next large group on the road by the finish, where a ramp at the very end ensured the front group split in the rain at the end of a very difficult stage.
The weather had turned nasty by the time the field hit the final ramp up to the finish, with Metec-TKH Continental scored a 1-2 via Johim Ariesen and Tijmen Eising.
Dunbar had spent 80km riding in a solo escape on Thursday's stage 2 before being recaptured with 60km remaining, though he appears to have recovered from that effort very quickly.
In the charge up to the finish line, small gaps appeared in the lead group, with Dunbar finishing in a very respectable 21st place.
Metec-TKH Continental scored a 1-2 via Johim Ariesen and Tijmen Eising, with Dunbar losing just 14 seconds on the finishing ramp despite his effort of yesterday still in his legs.
His Axeon Hagens Berman team mates Logan Owen and Tao Geoghegan Hart scored top 10 placings on the stage; 5th and 7th respectively.
American rider Owen finished on the same time as the winner, with Briton Geoghegan Hart losing three seconds.
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Geoghegan Hart is now best placed of the team overall, in 6th place and 17 seconds behind race leader Krister Hagen (Team Coop-Øster Hus). Dunbar has jumped from 44th overall to 21st an 2:11 with two stages remaining.
Geoghegan Hart said: "The team did a great job of being organised and split the race in crosswinds with about 40 km to go.
"We were committed to maintaining the gap with little concerted help from other teams. Overall, it was a great job by the whole team today.
"The only shame is we couldn't catch more of the general classification riders out. But since most of them are sprinters or some variation, maybe that is not a surprise."
Dunbar’s assistant sport director Jeff Louder said the team perfectly executed its pre-race plan.
"We spoke about the potential to break up the race in the last 40 kilometres during the morning meeting," he said.
"Then, the guys fully committed and made it happen. I am very proud of the way all of them committed to forcing the selection.
“Today's results were a team effort and everyone made an impact."
Louder added the team will continue to be aggressive in the last two days of the race.
"Moving Tao and or Logan up in the standings is very possible," he said.
"We have two days left to keep riding aggressively and looking for opportunities to better our already very good position."
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