Fabio Jacobsen was the favorite for the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve, but the Soudal-Quick Step lead-out train misfired and the European champion faded in the headwind of Lagos.

The Belgian team had high expectations, as they have one of the world's top sprinters in Jacobsen and a strong leadout that includes not only the evergreen Michal Morkov, but also newcomer Casper Pedersen, a Danish rider.

In front of Jacobsen was Kasper Asgreen, making it a Danish trio, and many expected Quick Step to show their authority and march to victory in the traditional peeling lead-out, but it was not to be.

"It wasn't a very good lead-out," Morkov told Cycling News on the team bus in Lagos.

"It was pretty chaotic, we had to come from the back and not everyone was lined up together."

Jacobsen, a three-time stage winner in the Lagos Volta, went straight to the team bus that was crossing the line and jumped onto it in almost the same motion. The open road stretched out before him, but he stayed in fourth place.

"There was a strong headwind for that sprint, and I think that had an effect," suggested Morkov.

Soudal-QuickStep dominated the opening stage until the last few kilometers, with Tim Declercq doing much of the work to control the breakaway group. The final climb and climb to Lagos caused some confusion on the descent to the right curve that signaled the last kilometer and the roundabout before the final straight.

Asgreen led the field through the final kilometer, but looking around, his teammates were elsewhere. Pedersen stuck to Morkov's wheel, hoping that Jacobsen's trusted lead-out man would find the gap.

Morkov then gave Jacobsen a fighting chance, and Jacobsen jumped forward with around 125 meters to go. Jacobsen, however, did not run immediately and took a short pause in the wind before opening the tap. Soon stage winner Alexander Kristoff (Uno X) was ahead on the other side of the road.

"I didn't position myself as well as I had hoped," Morkov said. Of course, every team hopes to make a good lineup in a race like this, but today it didn't work out the way we hoped."

." We were able to catch up from behind and eventually launch where we wanted to, but we need to see the picture to know exactly what went wrong."