It was fast on the road in Portugal today but the European spring sun shined on the riders
The An Post-Chainreaction duo of Sean Downey and Ronan McLaughlin were involved in numerous early attacks on the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal today, Thursday.
Both riders were in the thick of the action in the frantic opening kilometres of racing in a bid to get into a breakaway that would become the main move of the day.
However, while both managed to spend some time off the front of the bunch and up the road with some small groups, when a clear breakaway went they were not in it.
That move contained five riders - Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Sergio Paulinho (Saxo-Tinkoff), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Marco Corti (Colombia) and Christopher Jones (UnitedHealthcare) – but never gained more than three minutes. They were overhauled with around 10km remaining to the finish of the 199km stage with one cat 3 climb.
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The bunch was in tact as it approached the finish but was outwitted by a very late attack by Paul Martens (Blanco) and Tiago Machado (RadioShack Leopard).
They were caught by the bunch on the line after a slight uphill finish but just about held on for first and second place, with Martens taking the victory and the first leaders’ jersey of the race.
McLaughlin and Downey finished in the bunch on the same time as the winner as did former Vuelta stage winner Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare).
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The race continues until Sunday.
Stage 1: Faro - Albufeira 198.8km
1 Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 5:07:29
2 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard
3 Theo Bos (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
4 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack Leopard
5 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
6 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
7 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
8 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team
9 Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
10 Samuel José Rodrigues Caldeira (Por) OFM-Quinta Da Lixa
32 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
65 Philip Deignan (Irl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
74 Sean Downey (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
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