Late burst sees Belgian open his account with new Lotto-Belisol team after five-rider break is pulled back
Gianni Meersman (Lotto-Belisol) opened his account for his new team in style, with an impressive sprint victory in the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve. The 26-year-old Belgian surged past the other sprinters in the final hundred metres of the rolling 151km stage between the coastal towns of Dunas Douradas and Albufeira; he finished well clear of compatriot Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Dane Matti Breschel (Rabobank), to take his first victory since the previous April.
The stage was dominated by a five-rider break, which formed shortly after the first Meta Volante sprint at 19km. Michael Cherel (Ag2r La Mondiale), Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank), Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Sérgio Sousa (Efapel-Glassdrive) and Ricardo Mestre (Carmin-Prio-Tavira) escaped as Kroon took first place over the line; they managed to open up a lead of 4’50” by the 35km point, but were eventually pulled back by the sprinters’ teams.
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Having taken the first sprint, Kroon was first over the top of the stage’s first 3rd category climbs, at Barranco do Velho after 37.7km. With the peloton controlled by RadioShack-Nissan and Omega Pharma-Quick Step on the rolling parcours though, the gap game down steadily. By the 95km mark, the gap was down to just a minute, but with the group so close now, the peloton sat up and allowed the five riders to stew off the front for just a little longer.
Kroon took the second of the stage’s two climbs at Picota after 112km; as the gap came down to less than a minute once more, and as Kroon and Vandousselaere were fighting for the second Meta Volante at Boliqueime after 119km, first Vandousselaere himself, and then Sousa were left behind by the other three; they were quickly picked up by the peloton, but Cherel, Kroon and Mestre persisted with the escape.
Victory in all both Meta Volantes and both mountain sprints meant that Kroon would end the day with a dominant lead in both competitions.
The gap dropped down to 50 seconds, but was allowed to grow again by Omega Pharma-Quick Step, and was soon back up to more than two minutes.
Team Sky with Omega Pharma-Quick Step left the three riders dangling out front, maintaining the gap at around a minute for some time until, with 20km to go, they began to close them down.
On the long, straight roads back to the southern Portuguese coast, the three riders were in sight of the peloton and, as BMC Racing and RadioShack-Nissan moved their men forward to join the chase; the fugitives began to look at one another as they resigned to their inevitable fate.
With 13km to go it was all over, and the three riders were absorbed by the Team Sky-led peloton.
Now that the break was over, the peloton spread across the road, as BMC Racing, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Rabobank, and Saxo Bank briefly vied for control of the front of the race. The Belgian team soon took over though, as it began to turn up the speed on the approach to the finish.
6km a crash disrupted the peloton a little as a few riders came off on the left side of the road. BMC Racing and RadioShack-Nissan came through to keep the pace high though.
Into the final 4km Carlos Barredo (Rabobank) opened up an attack on the opposite side of the road, but BMC Racing – with the help of Movistar – calmly pulled him back again before he was more than a few metres clear; Omega Pharma-Quick Step came forward to help once more.
Rui Costa (Movistar) tried to attack as the race hit the last slight drag inside the final kilometre, but Omega Pharma-Quick Step was on him right away and he wasn’t able to get clear. Any number of teams were mixing it at the front as the final kilometre began, but it was Meersman that opened his sprint up first and the Belgian flew past the rest, with nobody able to respond to his sudden kick.