Gerald Ciolek took advantage of a superb lead-out to take victory on stage four of the Volta ao Algarve.
Porte maintains race lead
Gerald Ciolek took advantage of a superb lead-out to take victory on stage four of the Volta ao Algarve.
The German latched onto a fast delivery from his Omega Pharma-Quickstep team out of the final corner, following in the wheel of team-mate Matteo Trentin before powering across the line.
The young Italian held on for second while Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) completed the top three after narrowly edging out Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen in Tavira.
Ciolek’s squad took up the charge early after the day’s break was caught heading under the two kilometre banner.
Team Sky had kept tabs on the situation during the day on behalf of race leader Richie Porte, the Australian finishing in the main bunch to maintain his 12-second lead heading into the final stage time trial on Sunday.
Sprint spectacle
After Friday’s spectacular mountain-top finish the 186.3km test from Vilamoura looked likely to hand the initiative back to the sprinters.
Despite the stage appearing relatively straightforward on paper that did not stop a large group of 10 riders heading clear prior to the day’s only categorised climb.
With Jesus Hernandez (Saxo Bank) the best placed man on the GC - one minute and one second behind Porte - the deficit was monitored closely by Team Sky who held the gap steady despite the amount of escapees.
The team shared out the workload on the front until other teams who had a vested interest in a sprint finish also arrived to help as the size of the break began to decrease.
Five riders still had a tantalising advantage in the closing stages but were swallowed up with two kilometres to go and Omega Pharma-Quickstep took the finale by the scruff of the neck.
