Magnier gets Soudal-QuickStep off the mark with win in Algarve opener

Paul Magnier picked up Soudal-QuickStep’s first victory of the season with a devastating sprint finish on the lightly climbing finishing straight in Tavira on stage 1 of the Volta ao Algarve.

The Frenchman held off Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL), while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) had to settle for fourth.

Philipsen had three Alpecin teammates for company in the final kilometre, but he was unable to make their numbers count. Magnier was cannily perched on Philipsen’s wheel, and he struck out decisively with a shade under 200m to go to claim the victory and the first yellow jersey of the race.

Following the departure of Remco Evenepoel, Magnier – who scorched to 19 wins last season – is set to play an ever-more important role at Soudal-QuickStep in 2026. 

The Volta ao Algarve peloton set out from Vila Real de Santo António, on the silty estuary of the Guadiana that marks the border with Spain. Shortly after leaving the start, the break of the day took shape, with Enzo Leijnse (Anicolor-Campicarn), Tomas Contte (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé), Hugo Nunes (Credibom), Diogo Narciso (Credibom), André Ribeiro, José Miguel Moreira (GI Group Holding), Viacheslav Ivanov (Feirense-Beeceler), João Silva (Feira dos Sofás – Boavista) and Noah Campos (Team Tavira - Crédito Agrícola) forging clear.

They would spend most of the day out in front, but the peloton was closing in quickly by the time they reached the trio of Golden Kilometre sprints with 25km to go. Nunes clipped away to claim the first two sprints, but the peloton already swamped him ahead of the third.

Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) cannily snared three bonus seconds across the Golden Kilometre, while Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won the final sprint.

From there, a bunch finish was inevitable, with the headwind dissuading late attackers ahead of the grand finale in Tavira.