Gerald Ciolek has won the fourth stage of the Volta ao Algarve, delivering a one-two finish for his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team by finishing ahead of teammate, Matteo Trentin.
Team Sky’s Ritchie Porte remains in the yellow jersey of overall leader, retaining his 12 second lead over home rider, Rui Costa (Movistar).
Ciolek thanked his teammates for his victory, including world time trial champion, Tony Martin, who took up the pace making in the closing kilometre.
“The sprint was fantastic because the team controlled the race in every moment from the beginning,” Ciolek said after his victory.
“Then the final with the entire team — it’s unbelievable how all the riders know their jobs really well, and their position. Everyone knows what they have to do at whichever moment of the race. I don’t want to say it was easy to win, but it was a big help to have riders like these together. In the last kilometer I think it was Tony who pulled the sprint. Then there was a roundabout at about 450 meters from the finish. At that time I asked Matteo to pull for my sprint and he did it perfectly.”
Team Sky played a prominent role in Ciolek’s victory by chasing down a breakaway that included Saxo Bank’s Jesus Hernandez to keep Porte in yellow.
Directeur sportif, Nicolas Portal, said: “It was a good day for the team today. Richie is still in the yellow jersey and the team controlled things very well.
“Ciolek won the stage but Edvald was up there and took the points jersey. There were no issues for the guys and we are ready for the final stage tomorrow.
“We had some help today with the chase. Topsport Vlaanderen helped during the day and then in the final Garmin were also up there which was good for us.”
A strong performance in tomorrow’s closing stage, a 25.8km individual time trial from Lagoa to Portimão, could give Porte overall victory. Most of his closest rivals on GC are sprinters, and tenth-placed Tony Martin is 50 seconds back.
Martin’s directeur sportif, Rik Van Slycke, said his world time trial champion faced a tough challenge to secure overall victory.
“It won’t be easy for Tony to to win the race because the gap between Richie Porte (Team Sky) and Tony is big. But Tony will ride 100 percent to win the race, even if it won’t be easy due to Porte’s strength as a rider,” he said.
Volta ao Algarve stage four
1) Gerald Ciolek (GER) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep 4:35:01
2) Matteo Trentin (ITA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep
3) Heinrich Haussler (AUS) – Garmin-Barracuda
4) Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – Sky Procycling
5) Francesco Lasca (ITA) – Caja Rural
6) Koldo Fernandez (SPA) – Garmin-Barracuda
7) Kris Boeckmans (BEL) – Vacansoleil-DCM
8) Anthony Ravard (FRA) – Ag2R-La Mondiale
9) Gianni Meersman (BEL) – Lotto Belisol
10) Michael Van Staeyen (BEL) – Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
General classification
1) Richie Porte (AUS) – Sky Procycling -18:29:42
2) Rui Costa (POR) – Movistar Team +12”
3) Tiago Machado (POR) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek
4) Johnny Hoogerland (NED) – Vacansoleil-DCM +34”
5) Jurgen Van Den Broeck (BEL) – Lotto Belisol
6) Wouter Poels (NED) – Vacansoleil-DCM
7) José Mendes (POR) – LA-Antarte +45”
8) Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda +48”
9) Gianni Meersman (BEL) Lotto Belisol +49”
10) Tony Martin (GER) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +50”
