Ben Swift sprinted to second place on the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve.

The Brit mixed it up in the bunch kick as he made his debut in the Portuguese event, finishing just behind Gianni Meersman.

The Etixx – Quick-Step rider chalked up his second victory of the year in Albufeira, with Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo) rounding out the podium places.

Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas finished safely in the lead group to keep their general classification ambitions on track in the five-day race, with Meersman now holding a slender four-second lead over Swift.

“Everything went well for the team today,” explained Sports Director Gabriel Rasch.

“Four riders went away in the first kilometre which was good for us. The guys were able to have a nice first stage and they didn’t have to use too much energy.

“They did a lead-out for Ben in the last five or six kilometres but they got a bit blocked with 1.5km to go.

“That was a shame but everyone is feeling good ahead of tomorrow. It should be quite a hard stage, particularly the last 60km which is always up and down on twisty roads. There’s a tough climb with 10km to go so it should be interesting.”