Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) motored to the stage 3 individual time trial victory in the Volta ao Algarve on Friday, setting a time of 21:53.66 over 19.5 kilometres.
Race leader Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) took one more major step toward an overall victory by finishing second at 5.69 seconds. His teammate Jakob Söderqvist finished third on the day.
Ayuso was pleased to extend his lead in the general classification but at the same time, frustrated to not get the stage win after being denied on the Alto da Fóia on Thursday.
"I'm happy that the first TT in the team, I was competitive, but the second day that I'm second - it's not, it's not really nice, but I think if you look on the overall picture for the GC. It's a good day for us. So yeah, we have to take it from there," Ayuso said before looking on the brighter side.
"If you have to be beaten by anyone, then you want it to be Filippo, who is I think one of the best specialists in the time trial in the world."
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) was the fourth fastest in Vilamoura to hold onto second place in the GC standings, further impressing at the age of 19, a fact that further concerned Ayuso.
"I think Paul is only five or six seconds behind me, and seeing how strong he was yesterday, and having the hard stage on the last day, for sure it is going to still be tight and to be a real fight."
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) lost time but held onto third in the overall standings, now 44 seconds behind his Spanish rival Ayuso.
"I think I did pretty good, but the others were just faster," Almeida said. "I was expecting to lose a bit, but not that much. But yeah, congrats to [Ayuso]. I think he's in a really good shape."
Ganna was understated in his evaluation of his stage victory. After Ayuso went slightly faster in the first half, Ganna looked quite worried the win would slip through his fingers but explained that he took a conservative approach to that section.
"The first part is a little bit technical. I tried to not take too many risks - it is an important race today, but my biggest goal [Milan-San Remo] is in less than one month, and it's better to not take many risks."
How it unfolded
Sunny skies and calm conditions met riders for the start of the 19.5km time trial around Vilamoura on stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve.
Former under-23 time trial world champion Johan Price-Peijtersen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) set the quickest time from the early starters in 22:21.4.
The current U23 TT world champion, Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek), set the next fastest time, going 20 seconds faster than his teammate.
But soon after, Ganna ripped around the circuit to knock just over seven seconds off Söderqvist's time.
That put the Italian into the hot seat for a good long sit as the GC contenders started 90 minutes later.
When they started to arrive, Ganna's teammate Thymen Arensman slotted into third, and later on, his teammate Kévin Vauquelin finished fourth, 24 seconds down on Ganna.
Out on course, Seixas and Ayuso were flying, with the Spaniard coming through the intermediate check one second faster than the Italian powerhouse and Seixas within six seconds.
Things weren't looking great for Almeida, who lost 21 seconds on the first half and then came through the line 43 seconds down on Ganna. Hot on his heels, Seixas kept his position tight and low to slice through the finish 12.7 seconds down on the leader.
Ayuso slowed a little in the closing kilometres, much to the relief of Ganna, finishing in second, 5.69 seconds down but up on all of his rivals.
Results
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