Richie Porte wins the third stage at the Volta ao Algarve 2012
Richie Porte of Team Sky turned the tables around during the 194.6 kilometre chase to Malhao. The Australian shined at the third stage of the Volta ao Algarve and claimed the stage win to bag his first victory of the season.
Porte finished the race in the fastest time of 4 hours, 55 minutes and 11 seconds. Tiago Machado, Rui Costa, Johnny Hoogerland and Wouter Poels claimed the next four spots.
The Australian started the Queen stage of the race with the 13th overall position after the stage 2 classifications.
His teammate, Edvald Boasson Hagen had a good grip at the overall classifications before the start of stage 3.
However, Hagen could not click during the race and finished at the 36th position, which destroyed his overall lead.
The Norwegian has now dropped down to the 34th overall position after the stage 3 classifications.
Nevertheless, Edvald’s teammate Richie Porte is the new overall leader, with a lead of 12 seconds over Tiago Machado.
Rui Costa, Johnny Hoogerland and Wouter Poels are holding the third, the fourth and the fifth positions, respectively.
Richie commented after winning the race, "It wasn't hard with that team, they were incredible! You don't really want to single out one person as they were all incredible. You see Zandio and Kosta on the front the whole day".
He further added, "It was a hard stage and they got dropped but then they come back with bidons and food with 60k to go. For me that just shows what this team is all about".
Hugo Sabido won the first and the second sprints of the race, while Jose Goncalves claimed the first and the second Mountains category of the event.
Sergio Sousa, Christopher Froome and Richie Porte succeeded at the third, fourth and fifth mountains of the race.
Matti Breschel is holding the top spot at the points classifications with a total number of 29 points in his bag.
Edvald Hagen is at the second position with 27 points, while Richie Porte is holding the third spot with 25 in his pocket.
The 27-year-old is now the main man for the British team and with two more stages to go, he is definitely a strong podium contender for the 2012 edition of the Volta ao Algarve.
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