Stage and lead for Australian as he escapes on the final climb after ground work put in by dominant Team Sky
Richie Porte continued Team Sky’s dominance of the Volta ao Algarve, winning the third stage between Castro Marim and the Alto do Malhão, to take the team’s second victory in as many days. The Australian attacked from a very select group on the second category climb to the finish, after Sky teammate Bradley Wiggins had worn down the rest of the stage favourites, and soloed away to victory.
Porte managed to hold off a chase from the Portuguese duo of Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) and Rui Costa (Movistar), to finish seven seconds clear. Machado won the sprint for second, and time bonuses on the line meant that the overall classification mirrored the top three of the stage, with Porte taking over the yellow jersey from stage two winning teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen.
“It wasn’t hard with that team. They were incredible!" Porte exclaimed after the finish. “You don’t really want to single out one person as they were all incredible. You see [Xabier] Zandio and Kosta [Siutsou] on the front the whole day. It was a hard stage and they got dropped but then they come back with bidons and food with 60k to go. For me that just shows what this team is all about.
“[Chris] Froomey, Thomas [Lövkvist] and Lars [Petter Nordhaug] did brilliant work, then Edvald and Brad on the climb. It just worked like clockwork. I know in cycling it doesn’t always happen like that. It’s a team victory but to then get the glory of riding across the line first is great."
Taking the race lead marks the first time that Porte has held leader's jersey since the 2010 Giro d'Italia; the race where he really burst onto the international stage.
“Even a day in yellow and a stage is great," he said, "as well as Eddy yesterday – it’s just nice to be enjoying riding my bike again and that’s credit to Team Sky.”
The start of the 194.6km stage saw a number of unsuccessful attacks, until an eight-man group escaped after 28km. Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing), Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Barracuda), Kasper Larsen (Saxo Bank), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Ronan McLaughlin (An Post Sean Kelly Team) and José Gonçalves (Onda-Boavista) were the riders to get away, and they were allowed to build a healthy lead.
Hugo Sancho (LA-Antarte) tried to make it up to the leaders, but was forced to drift back to the peloton.
As it reached the first feedzone, after 50km, the breakaway’s advantage reached its maximum of 7’30” before the peloton, under the control of Team Sky, began to gradually peg them back.
After 105km, just before the real climbing began, the gap had been narrowed to 5’30”; by the time Gonçalves led them over the top of the Portela do Barranco after 123km though, the eight leaders were just 1’05” ahead.
The eight riders began to split on the climb to Vermelhos after 130.7km, with Trentin, Maaskant and McLaughlin losing contact; the remaining five were still clear over the top though, with the peloton now just 50 seconds behind them.
Just a few kilometres later, the group was finally reeled in, as they neared the top of the climb to Cavalos. On the long descent a new breakaway began, with Carlos Barredo (Rabobank) and Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale) getting clear; at the 160km point, with less than 35km to go, the two riders were 50 seconds clear.
Team Sky seemed happy to allow Barredo and Kadri a little room, allowing their lead to drift out to more than a minute; but as they traversed the rolling roads on the approach to the foot of the final climb the two of them were steadily closed down again, and they were caught with 15km remaining.
Saxo Bank began to move forward as the final climb approached, but Team Sky was not willing to give up control of the peloton, and the speed rose sharply as the British team began to accelerate. With the lower slopes beginning, the peloton began to split as the non-climbers began to lose contact.
Bradley Wiggins took over the Team Sky pacesetting as the climb proper began, and the group began to splinter. Boasson Hagen found the pace too hot with 2km to go, but the British team was riding for Richie Porte, and Wiggins was putting a number of his rivals under pressure, including defending champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Belgian Tour hope Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), and Andreas Kloden (RadioShack-Nissan); as Wiggins pulled over from the front of what was a very select group, the Australian attacked.
Porte was chased by Machado, with compatriot Costa chasing him, but he was not to be caught as he rode away from the rest of the field. As they passed the final kilometre banner, the two Portuguese riders came together, but they were several seconds behind Porte, who sat up to take his first victory of the season.
Machado managed to hold off Costa to take second place, with the rest of the group crossing the line in ones and twos behind them.