Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) launched his sprint with 175 metres to go to take a commanding victory on stage 4 at the Volta ao Algarve.
The Frenchman bided his time, waiting for the perfect moment to launch his sprint up the centre of the road, and none could respond as he crossed the line by a bike length ahead of runner-up Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and third-placed Oded Kogut (NSN Cycling Team).
The penultimate day of racing was always meant to be one for the sprinters. With Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) finishing safely in the bunch, he maintained his lead in the overall classification by 14 seconds ahead of Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) and 44 seconds ahead of João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Ayuso will wear the leader's jersey into the final day of racing from Faro to the summit of Malhão (Loulé) on Sunday.
"It was super good. I had a really strong feeling today, and the team did a good job of controlling the whole day. It was a bit hectic in the final because everyone was fresh and the team did a really good job, and I'm super happy to finish it off," Magnier said in a post-race interview.
"The last three kilometres were chaotic because the last 20km were quite easy with the smaller roads. In the end, I had a super good position in the final corner with two teammates in front of me still, so it was a super good day."
