BORA – ARGON 18 barely missed the Top 10 at the opening sprint of the Volta ao Algarve. The team’s sprinter Phil Bauhaus lost contact with his lead-out Christoph Pfingsten in a hectic final, so he couldn’t take part in the stage decision. Pfingsten himself sprinted to the 15th rank. After 166 kilometers, the winner of the stage in Albufeira was Gianni Meersman (Etixx – Quick Step) who relegated Ben Swift (Sky) and Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo) to the podium places.

“We focused completely on the final because we knew that the major sprinter teams will control the race. Unfortunately, the bad luck hit us on the last kilometers. First, Björn [Thurau] punctured. Then Phil and Christoph lost contact. That could happen. Christoph gave it a go himself and delivered a good result with his 15th place”, said Sport Director Christian Pömer after the opening stage.

The second day will challenge the classification riders. The stage covers almost 200 kilometers on the way from Lagoa to Monchique and it includes some mountainous terrain in the final third.