After the fast opening day of the Volta ao Algarve on Wednesday, the peloton awaited a climbing-packed parcours for the second stage. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rode strongly together to keep climber Gijs Leemreize out of any problems and after great teamwork and positioning him well at the foot of the climb in the second part of the stage, Leemreize was able to follow the group of favourites for a long time, showing his great endurance from altitude camp. Only within the final kilometres, a select group of riders upped the pace once more after which the Dutchman rode his own pace to the finish line.
Speaking after the race, Leemreize said: “The guys were with me all day long and kept me near the front of the peloton. Towards the penultimate climb, unfortunately, I became a bit boxed in and I had to make a big effort to get back to the front. I was just able to make the jump to the first group, but the effort took too much of my energy after which I had to let the group go on the final climb. Nevertheless, we can be happy about the nice teamwork today and I’m looking forward to the coming days with the guys!”