Miguel Angel Lopez shown his climbing skills by taking the victory at the mountain finish of the fourth stage at the Volta ao Algarve.
The short but steep summit finish was the last chance for the climbers to try to dislodge Evenepoel going into Sunday’s 20km individual time trial.
Lopez left his attack until the closing stages, jumping clear and powering away towards the finish despite the best efforts of Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) to bring him back.
“We wanted to win the second stage but things didn’t go right. Today they did. I’ve got to thank the team for great work today all day. This is the first fruit of the great work we’ve done. It’s for them and my family in Colombia,” Lopez said.
Evenepoel is now tied on the same time as Martin and Schachmann at the top of the GC, with López now in fourth, only a single second behind.
Volta ao Algarve 2020 – stage 4 results (Albufeira – Malhão):
| 1 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | 4:16:25 |
| 2 | Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) | +02” |
| 3 | Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +04” |
| 4 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 5 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +05” |
| 6 | Simon Geschke (CCC) | +14” |
| 7 | Amaro Antunes (W52/FC Porto) | ,, |
| 8 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 9 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +19” |
| 10 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +21” |
Volta ao Algarve 2020 – general classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 18:59:35 |
| 2 | Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) | ,, |
| 3 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 4 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +01” |
| 5 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +03” |
| 6 | Amaro Antunes (W52/FC Porto) | +18” |
| 7 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 8 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +19” |
| 9 | Simon Geschke (CCC) | +24” |
| 10 | Federico Figueiredo (Atum General/Tavira/Maria Nova Hotel) | +31” |
