Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock took the overall lead of the Tour of Algarve by winning stage four.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider led a three-man breakaway up the Alto do Malhao in Portugal, before sprinting away to take the leader’s jersey.
Pidcock, 23, leads by five seconds from Soudal-Quick-Step’s Ilan van Wilder with UAE Team Emirates’ Joao Almeida a further two seconds back.
The final stage of the tour is Sunday’s time trial in Lagoa.
Pidcock, the Olympic mountain bike champion and 2022 world cyclo-cross champion, is competing in his first race of the year for Ineos.
He attacked within the final kilometre of the 2.5km climb, holding off Portugal’s Almeida to claim victory.
“I went, thinking the finish was where it was before,” Pidcock told Cycling News. “Then I turned left and there was another 70 metres.
“So I thought someone was coming with me. But I’m not sure how much I won by. In that kind of situation, you’re going full gas, so it really doesn’t matter what’s happening.”
Source – BBC Sport
