Remco Evenepoel delivers the first big uphill win on the Alto da Foia
Evenepoel attacked the big hitters to solo to the line in the last 500 metres, dedicating his ride to teammate Nicolas Mas
Stage 2 of the 2020 Vuelta ao Algarve was destined to be a dramatic day and didn't disapoint.
An early breakaway of three riders formed; Dries de Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix), Casper Pedersen (Team Sunweb) and Michael Schar (CCC Team). The trio built up a maximum lead of around 2m 40s.
The lead started to come doen quickly 30 kms to go as Team UAE Emirates put the hurt on at the front, notably Joe Dombroski putting in a massive turn for teammate Rui Costa, a favorite to win the stage.
With 22 kms to go the bunch caught the breakaway on the penultimate climb. The reduced bunch still had all the big hitters here; Thomas, Kwaitkowski, Martin, Nibali, Evenpoel, Costa and Lopez.
The peloton was reduced further as it turned left for the final 8km climb up to the Alto da Foia.
Mathieu van der Poel and Greg Van Avermaet were seen struggling at the back of the group and van der Poel was dropped with 3km to go.
Ben Swift from Team Ineos took up the pace setting and Lopez attacked, Costa counter attacked and Geraint Thomas was dropped.
Geske from CCC attacked with 2 km to go but was reeled back in and joined by Lopez, Wellens, Rui Costa, Dan Martin, Nibali and Evenepoel.
With 500m to go, Evenepoel laid down a massive attack that initially no one could respond to.
With 250m to go Maximilian Schachmann countered, but Evenpoel has time to raise his hand in victory ahead of Schachmann, Dam Martin trailing just behind.
The young Deceuninck-Quickstep was clearly emotional on the line and dedicated his win to his teammate whose son had died recently.
VIDEO: 2020 Volta ao Algarve Stage 2 Highlights
2020 Volta ao Algarve Stage 2 Top 10
1 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 04:46:38
2 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 00:00:02
4 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
5 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 00:00:05
7 Frederico Figueiredo (Por) Atum General / Tavira / Maria Nova Hotel 00:00:08
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Amaro Antunes (Por) W52/FC Porto
2020 Volta ao Algarve GC after Stage 2
1 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 9:42:15
2 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:02
4 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
5 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:05
7 Amaro Antunes (Por) W52/FC Porto 0:00:08
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Federico Figueiredo (Por) Atum General/Tavira/Maria Nova Hotel