Volta ao Algarve 2014 - Stage 1

The Volta ao Algarve started today with a 160 kilometre stage from Faro to Albufeira. Big names were out in force for this race, dismissing the Middle Eastern race the Tour of Oman and racing in Europe, such as Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish and current world champion Rui Costa, who this season is representing Lampre-Merida. 

The stage looked likely to end in a sprint finish, but as always with the Algarve, the race could be unpredictable; the lumpy terrain could favor a breakaway. A breakaway thus decided to try their luck, and unsurprisingly, it contained five men from Portugal; Luis Afonso, Cesar Fonte, Bruno Silva and Valter Pereira. They were joined by the man from Moldova Alexandr Pliuschin.

Pereira and Silva eventually dropped back when the pace was increased, but the remaining three continued on. They were eventually brought back into the fold with 20 kilometres to go. Michal Kwiatkowski, the young Pole on Cavendish's Omega Pharma-Quickstep team attempted to make a late move, but he was covered effectively by the world champion Costa. 

As the sprint approached, it was Costa who was working for his teammate Sacha Modolo. Lampre-Merida put in an impressive amount of work, and it was Modolo who ended up winning the stage ahead of teammate Costa, and Alessandro Petacchi of Omega Pharma-Quickstep. Mark Cavendish once again had bad luck in the finale, finishing ten seconds down on Modolo in another group.

Alberto Contador (Team Tinkoff-Saxo) finished safely in the bunch, and will be looking forward to when the road tilts upwards, and gaining time on other rivals in the time trial. Tony Martin is still a danger however, with the 13 kilometre time trial still to come.