Magnus Cort sprints to another win in Portugal

With 450 meters to go, it looked like it was all over for the man in the yellow jersey. After winning yesterday’s race to top of the Alto da Fóia, Magnus had gone for the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint today and found himself in front with a powerful group. They made the split-second decision to drive it to the line, riding a team-time-trial ahead of the charging peloton.

"I was not expecting that at all,” Magnus said afterwards. “The idea was just to get through the stage as easily as possible and not even try to sprint. Quickstep was keeping the break very, very close, and we came with the idea to go for the bonus sprint and see if I could get some bonus seconds for the classification, so we went there and they brought the breakaway back for the bonus sprint. It was a hard sprint on cobbles and suddenly we were a small group with a gap. I didn’t really think about it but especially the Ineos guys and Foss, they came straight away and said, “Hup, hup! Let’s go!” I was keen straight away to go on the attack there with those guys. It was a great group to ride the last 25 kilometers. It was the perfect team-time-trial teamwork.”

Heads down, on the long straight run to Tavira, Magnus’s group drag raced the sprinters’ teams, who were mounting a frantic chase behind them. Inside the final kilometer, the peloton caught up. Magnus looked back, tightened his shoes, and then surged to the front of the race to round the final right-hand turn at speed. He saw the finish line at the top of the hill—almost half a kilometer straight in front of him—and went for it.

The sprinters could only gasp as Magnus left them in his dust.

Magnus now leads the Volta ao Algarve by 18 seconds and also leads the points competition. Tomorrow, he will defend his yellow jersey on the hilly run from Albufeira to the summit of Alto do Malhão. The Volta ao Algarve will finish Sunday with a flat 24-km time trial in Lagoa.

We’re in awe. Tillykke, Magnus. Good luck!