The Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won today the 46th Volta ao Algarve Cofidis, imposing itself in the final time trial, an exercise of 20.3 kilometers, in Lagoa.
The 20-year-old rider marked the best record ever on this course, in a very technical and demanding route.
The Belgian rider rode above 50.504 km/h to close the 20.3 kilometres in 24m07s – the previous best time was 24m09s and was set by Geraint Thomas in 2018. The second in today’s TT was the world champion, Rohan Dennis (Team INEOS), 10 seconds from the winner. Last year’s time trial winner Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) closed the podium at 19 seconds.
The race arrived balanced on the last day, but the so-called “proof of truth” put everyone in their place. Remco Evenepoel was the undisputed winner of the race, succeeding another young prodigy, Tadej Pogačar.
Remco Evenepoel completed the five-day race in 19h23m42s, 38 seconds behind German Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) and 39 seconds behind Colombian Miguel Ángel López (Astana Pro Team), second and third respectively.
“I gave the maximum since the start. It was 20 kilometres of effort, but having recognised the route, I knew beforehand the points on which I could recover. My technique with the time trial bike is quite good and I risked a lot to curve, the course was very technical. As my teammate Yves Lampaert told me, it was also windier than last year. I’m happy, it’s a dream to beat the world champion. I enjoyed racing in the Algarve, the weather is pleasant, the roads are excellent and we still had two important days of effort in the mountain,” said Evenepoel.
Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), fourth-placed, 56 seconds from the winner, was the best Portuguese in the overall classification. Two more Portuguese riders managed to close in the top ten, João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), ninth, at 1’40s, and Amaro Antunes (W52-FC Porto), tenth, at 1’57s.
Remco Evenepoel also won the IPDJ White T-shirt for the best youngster. Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won the Red Cofidis T-shirt, of the points classification, and Dries de Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) takes home the Lusíadas Blue Jersey, of the mountain classification. Team INEOS won the Teams Classification.