Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) notched up his second win of the new season, taking out a messy bunch sprint on the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve in Lagos.
After his victory in Trofeo Palma last month, Thijssen showed patience and poise in what was a hectic final kilometre. He waited patiently until the very last moment into the headwind and won by a clear bike length over Marijn Van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost).
Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) powered to third ahead of Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-Samsic).
“This year, it was important to get a good start, and I have these two wins in February now. It’s quite unbelievable, and on this level, it proves that I worked really hard to be in this shape, and you see how the work pays off in the end,” Thijssen said in a post-race interview.
“It was quite hard with the block headwind in the last 15km, and then we had the little kick at 2km to go. That was quite hard for me also, but I knew if I could get over the top of that, I’d be in a good position, and I’d be able to win.
“The team did a really amazing job today. I saw all six guys with me all day, and also, the whole day, they were fighting for me, riding in the front and controlling the race.
“We have a good guy for the GC like Rune Herregodts, who was also good last year. Tomorrow we’ll go for him on the mountain stage. Then, on the third day, we’ll probably try again to have a bunch sprint, but it’s already amazing to have this win in the pocket.”
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