The first stage of Volta ao Algarve saw Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) get his sixth win of the season in a tight sprint with Danny Van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux. Jon Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) closed de top 3 in Portimão.

This 47th edition of Volta ao Algarve started in Lagos, with Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) and Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) being the main candidates to win in Portimãos’ sprint finish. However, things got a bit chaotic in the last few kilometers.

Today’s breakaway had five riders. Among them were Carlos Canal (Burgos-BH), Jon Irisarri (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Gustavo César Veloso (Atum General-Tavira-Maria Nova Hotel), Cesar e Hugo Nunes (Rádio Popular-Boavista) and Nicolas Paredes (Louletano-Loulé Concelho), who fell and left the group with four elements left.

The peloton was easily managing the advantage of the fugitives, which reached 3m40. This difference started slowly going down, decreasing even more after the 3rd category climb, in Picota, when Jon Irisarri (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) guaranteed the Lusíadas Blue Jersey.

The main group was mainly headed by Deceuninck-Quick-Step and Bora-hansgrohe who caught the breakaway at 20 kilometers to the finish. These last moments of the stage saw the intense fight for good positioning cause several riders to crash, including Davide Ballerini, Shane Archbold, and Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step), but with no major consequences.

Despite this, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) still managed to win the stage in a very tight sprint finish with Danny van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux). Jon Aberasturi Izaga closed todays’ stage in third.

With this win in Portimão, Sam Bennett is the owner of the Crédito Agrícola Green Jersey, for the points, and the Turismo do Algarve Yellow Jersey, for the general classification.