At the start of the Volta Ao Algarve, Tom Pidcock vowed that "every day is a chance to race," and Ineos Grenadiers boss Rod Ellingworth insisted that his star contingent would "certainly put themselves out." Friday's third stage proved that rationale when Pidcock and Filippo Ganna broke the script in a late ambush

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Race leader Magnus Korto (EF Education-Easy Post), who won a bonus second in the intermediate sprint with 25km to go, was pulled out along with the other overall contenders. Ineos left behind two more accomplished GC riders, Dani Martinez and Tymen Arensman, and Pidcock was led by Filippo Ganna, the dark horse for the overall win, given the time trial on the final day.

Cote comfortably won the sprint, with Pidcock in third place behind Rui Costa (Intermarché Circus Wanty). Cobblestones and a slight incline created a gap in the peloton, and Ganna quickly moved back to the front to widen the gap.

"When [Michał] Kwiatkowski saw that, he said over the radio, 'Keep going. ' So I kept going, but at 20 km I got kicked in the head."

Everyone else had the same idea. Valentin Maduas (Groupama-FDJ) was the last member of a group packed with equal amounts of strength and commitment.

"The only guys in front of us were really strong, and we ran 'full on,'" Foss told Cycling News. 'When you have six guys in front of you, it's hard to catch up. Everyone was focused on going full throttle to the line."

Cote added: "I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to go for it.' I was thinking, "Okay, Gana's over there, he's a big, big machine," so I was happy to keep pushing"

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The gap was 15 to 20 seconds at the beginning of the race, but the peloton caught up with him at the final corner. Colt again showed strong acceleration on the 200-meter climb to take his second consecutive stage win.

"It was a little disappointing to get caught up with the pack at the finish, but it is what it is. It was a good, fun race. After a relatively boring stage, it was a fun final."

The disappointment was even greater for Ganna, whose first win of the season disappeared before his eyes, despite a strong showing in his return from the European track championships.

"It's my third second place this year, so I want to win quickly," the Italian, who finished second in the stage and second overall at the Vuelta a San Juan, told Cycling News. 'Now is the time I want to win.'

Still, the ambush was by no means a wasted effort.

The big winner was Colt, who got a 10-second bonus for the stage win and a 6-second bonus for the intermediate sprint. Ganna, meanwhile, gained 6 seconds for second place, while Costa and Pidcock gained 4 and 2 seconds, respectively, for the intermediate sprint. Foss and Maduas were the only two who did not gain anything concrete.

The stage served to shed some light on the overall picture of the race, which remains mysterious, with a steep uphill finish on Saturday and the possibility of a 24 km time trial on the final day.

It was especially interesting for Ineos that Pidcock was favored for the second day in a row with four strong options.

"Let's hope for tomorrow. It's a hard stage and we suffered a lot yesterday. Let's hope for tomorrow. Right now I'm just thinking about recovering."

As for Pidcock, he described GC as an "afterthought" on Thursday, but the fact that he reached for bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint seems to contradict that idea.

"I was going for a bonus second in the intermediate and then again in the finish, but I didn't think Magnus would go from the bottom.

"After the sprint, when we started running I went into the red and couldn't recover. I was able to recover a little bit at the end, but it was tough. Tomorrow will be a good stage for me, but we'll see how worn out I am."

Pidcock and Ganna finished sixth and seventh, respectively, just 0.5 minutes behind Cote.

Foss and Maduas were unable to make up time on the rest of the overall contenders, who were presumably breathing a sigh of relief at the finish.

"It was a lot of fun," Foss said with a Cheshire cat smile.

"I might have deserved to get caught up with the pack, but I could have gained maybe 20 seconds. It was definitely worth a try."

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