The small cloud of question marks that briefly enveloped one summit finish of the Volta ao Algarve for Jonas Vingegaard last Thursday disappeared completely over the race's second and definitive hilltop stage 7 on Sunday as the Dane conquered both the Algarve's final time trial and the overall into the bargain.
In the process and for the third year running, Vingegaard has now taken his opening stage race of the season, following two editions of O Gran Camiño. But if his victories on the opposite corner of the Iberian peninsula in 2023 and 2024 saw the Visma-Lease a Bike leader stand head and shoulders above the opposition from the word go, in Portugal's premier early season stage race 12 months later, it was not so straightforward.
