Sam Bennett's Deceuninck-QuickStep team boss may have said this morning that the Irish rider was set to leave the squad this year, but that didn't stop Bennett turning himself inside out for the team today at Volta ao Algarve.
On the final stage of the race, over hilly terrain, Bennett went in the early breakaway in the hope he would still be clear in the finale to help his team mate Kasper Asgreen in trying to win the race overall.
Bennett survived up the road over the penultimate climb, at which point the remains of the peloton caught him and those he was with. And from the moment he was caught Bennett went to the front of the group and lined it out for 10km.
He did that in a bid to keep Asgreen's rivals under pressure before they hit the final climb of the day, the Alto do Malhão, where the destination of the final yellow jersey would be decided.
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It was only with 4km to go, and as the race had already reached the lower slopes of the final climb, that Bennett was finally spent; the Irish rider having been up the road among 13 men, also with team mate Michael Mørkøv, from 20km into the stage.
Bennett was among the last three breakaway men to be caught by the remains of the bunch, with 25km to go, such was his determination to be still at the front to be able to help Asgreen in the finale.
The moment Bennett's work was done on the front with 4km to go the riders from W52-FC Porto went to work. They were clearly intent on aiming for the stage victory and the final yellow jersey of the race against the WorldTour teams.
The final climb became a battle for the spoils between the men who filled the top three positions overall starting out this morning; race leader Ethan Hayer (Ineos Grenadiers), 2nd placed overall João Rodrigues (W52-FC Porto) and 3rd placed Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
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The W52-FC Porto team had six riders at the front of the reduced peloton as they hit the final climb, with Asgreen just behind them and Hayter looking vulnerable the moment the climbing proper began.
Clockwise from top left: Bennett lines out the remains of the peloton into the base of the final climb. The Irishman in the green jersey today. Asgreen on the climb but no match for the leading trio and it was those three who carved up the stage win and the final yellow jersey
Young British rider Hayter was bandaged up after a heavy fall in yesterday's TT. That crash not only cost him valuable time in the test but also took a lot out of him, judging by his below par ride today.
With 2km to go it was Asgreen who took it up on the front and while Hayter looked in trouble as the leading five or six riders on the road began to ride away from him, he was limiting his losses.
However, with 1.4km to go Rodrigues squeezed harder on the pedals and began to ride away, with only his team mate Amaro Antunes and Élie Gesbert (Arkéa Samsic) able to follow.
When those three pulled clear Antunes hit the front and rode as hard as he could to pull out the gap even further. In the end it was Gesbert and Rodrigues who proved strongest; Gesbert taking the stage and Rodrigues 2nd on the stage in the same time.
Asgreen was 19 seconds back in 8th place on the stage and Hayter was 10th at 21 seconds. Those time gaps meant Rodrigues took the final yellow jersey by nine seconds from Hayter, with Asgreen 3rd overall at 28 seconds.
After his heroics today Bennett lost almost nine minutes in the final 4km, eventually finishing in 91st place at 8:58. Having won two stages on the race he maintained his green jersey to win the points classification.
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