Martínez denies Evenepoel in Algarve as Healy fights to stay in touch | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Dani Martínez took advantage of the work done for Remco Evenepoel all the way up the climb by James Knox and Mikel Landa*

Dani Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) has put Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) to the sword on the first big finish of Volta ao Algarve (2.Pro).

Though Evenepoel's team mates, James Knox and Mikel Landa, put in a brilliant shift on the final climb to the line, it was Martínez who capitalised on it, proving much faster than Evenepoel in the long sprint to the line.

The winner and runner-up went toe-to-toe in the gallop from such a long way out - over 300m uphill in the mist - they opened a five-second gap on the third man home, Vuelta champion Kuss.

Just a bit further back came Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who was forced to grovel in the wheel from about the 1.5km to go marker aftter Knox had shattered the front group on the climb before Landa took over inside 2km to go and turned the screw even more.

In the end, Irish champion Healy lost some time as was on the wrong side of the splits in the select group in the final push for the line. He finished in 17th at 27 seconds.

The 171.9km stage from Lagoa to the climb of Alto da Fóia was billed as a first clash of many fancied riders this year with Evenepoel and Kuss lining up against the likes of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Sergio Higuita and Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl Trek), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Healy.

A breakaway briefly threatened to spoil the big finish though the last man standing from it, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), was caught with about 7km to go, just as the final climb commenced.

From that point, Knox got into the front of the group, which was already trimmed right down after a brace of earlier climbs, and kept the pressure on with a brilliant rider.

With just under 2km to go, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) attacked as Knox finally fell away from the front. Kuss covered the very brief surge forward by Christen, which failed to have any impact in splitting the group.

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As that mini skirmish petered out, Landa took to the front, ramping up the pace with Kuss in his wheel and then Evenepoel.

As Landa strung out the group, the gaps appeared further back and riders were dropped. Healy and Van Aert were among those caught on the wrong side of a gap at the back of the 15-strong group with about 2km to go. Though Healy dug very deep to hang in, he lost ground.

Up front, as the leaders were deep inside the final kilometre, Landa peeled off and Evenepoel opened his sprint, apparently on the way to another stage win in Algarve; a race he has won overall twice before.

However, Martínez had other ideas, with the Colombian matching Evenepoel as he surged forward and then getting ahead of him with about 150m to go, sprinting in to take the victory from the young Belgian.

Kuss was 3rd at six seconds and was trailed in by Higuita, at 6 seconds, Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike), at 8 seconds, and then Pidcock and Geoghegan Hart, both at nine seconds.

More to come.