Consonni sprints from far, 4th place

UAE Team Emirates’s Simone Consonni places fourth in the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve, from Portimão to Lagos over 199.1km. Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step), stage winner, leaves with the leader’s jersey.

The Italian sprinter started from far out, squeezing by his rivals but not enough to hold off the resurgence of Jakobsen. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) placed second and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) third.

“We hoped that the last kilometres would be hard, for that reason we were in good position,” Consonni said. “Unfortunately the crash happened in the first spots and Fabio was caught behind. At that point, with Philipsen and Pogacar I tried to win the race. My two team-mates put me in the perfect spot to win but I made a mistake by starting from too far out. I am sorry not to be able to finish off the team’s work, also given I had great legs“.

They had caught the escape of five riders who had controlled must of the stage. At high speeds, the group neared the finish line. At seven kilometres out, though, a crash broke everything up. Only around 40 riders were able to make the first group and the rest of the riders had to stop and restart, trying to limit the gap to the rest.

UAE Team Emirates counted Jasper Philipsen, Tadej Pogacar and Simone Consonni ahead and worked for the sprint. Fabio Aru and Valerio Conti were caught on the wrong side of the crash and though not directly involved, they lost 1’05” as a consequence.

The second stage tomorrow already features a summit finish to Foia. The climb runs for 7.8km and averages 6.7%.

Stage 1 results
1 Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 4h52’59”
2 Arnaud Démare (FDJ) s.t.
3 Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) s.t.
4 Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.

General classification after stage 1
1 Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 4h52’59”
2 Arnaud Démare (FDJ) s.t.
3 Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) s.t.
4 Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.