Racing
Magnus Cort wins stage two of the Volta ao Algarve
The Dane races to victory atop the Alto da Fóia with stupendous sprint to the finish line
February 16, 2023
Magnus Cort won stage two of the Volta ao Algarve today in Portugal.
The Dane fought his way all the way up the day’s final climb to the Alto da Fóia and then launched a powerful sprint through traffic from way back in the group. Magnus thrust his bike forward at the last moment to cross the line first by a tire length and take over the race’s leader’s jersey.
This win is a testament to Magnus’s tenacity and the confidence that his teammates had in him.
“For me, this is really amazing,” Magnus says. “At home, I was thinking about this stage and didn’t really know that I could tell the sports directors that I wanted to go for this climb—it’s an eight-kilometer mountain. But I came to this race, and they had the same idea that I should try today. Trying is one thing. I have won on mountain-top finishes before, but it has always been from the breakaway. I have never done that from the bunch of main GC favorites. It is really fun. The team here has a really big belief in me.”
Magnus knew he had the legs, but thought he had missed his chance until the very end. Boxed in, with riders in front and around him, he had to wait and wait and wait to see space. As soon as he saw an opening, he went. And when Magnus Cort sees an uncrossed finish line…no bike racer can push himself harder.
“I got really nervous in the end,” Magnus says. “I was always feeling on the climb that it was going okay. It was hard but I was still inside, I wouldn’t say my comfort zone, but I knew I had a sprint left. As we got closer, with four kilometers to go, I was thinking okay, if we keep this tempo it is perfect. And then, in the final 500 meters, obviously everyone wanted to be close to the front and there was a headwind. I was maybe a little bit afraid to touch the wind too early, and I really struggled to find my way out, but luckily I got there in the last five meters, and I got the win.”
Tomorrow, Magnus will defend the race leader’s yellow jersey, as the Volta ao Algarve heads from Faro to Tavira for a likely bunch sprint. Stage four will be a hilly run from Albufeira to the uphill finish on the Alto do Malhão. The Volta ao Algarve will finish Sunday with a flat 24-km time trial in Lagoa.
Congratulations, Magnus! And good luck!