Jordi Meeus is the fastest wheel in the third stage of the Volta ao Algarve, the Vila Real Santo António - Tavira of 183.5 km. Definitely no luck in this Portuguese sprint: after the incredible cancellation of the first stage, today also saw a rather chaotic finish and a bad crash in which Portuguese rider Iuri Leitao, Olympic champion of the madison in Paris, was certainly involved and may have suffered a collarbone fracture. Second place in the sprint for Alberto Dainese, but the Veneto rider from Tudor was then disqualified for an irregular sprint, so Biniam Girmay came second and Arnaud De Lie only third, who with his Lotto team had long led the sprint maneuvers only to then lose himself on the final straight.

In the general classification, Swiss rider Jan Christen (UAE Emirates XEG) remains in command, having conquered the leadership jersey by winning yesterday's stage at Alto de Foia.

THE RACE. Long-range attack by Johnston, Bruno Silva, Pinheiro, Fonte, Ribeiro, Gonçalo Oliveira, Salguero, Campos, Joaquim Silva and Joao Oliveira. Their action ended near the Faz Fato, the last - but simple - difficulty of the day, when the sprinters' teams definitely took control of the game.

Also worth noting is the crash and withdrawal of Romain Bardet, who fell 23 kilometers from the finish along with his teammate Romain Combaud.

FINISH ORDER

1. Meeus Jordi (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) in 04:18:34
2. Girmay Biniam (Intermarchè-Wanty)
3. De Lie Arnaud (Lotto)
4. van Uden Casper (Team Picnic PostNL)
5. Fretin Milan (Cofidis)
6. Mihkels Madis (EF Education-EasyPost)
7. van Aert Wout (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
8. Mesa Santiago (Efapel Cycling)
9. Watson Sam (INEOS Grenadiers)
10. Jacobs Johan (Groupama FDJ)

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Christen Jan (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 08:47:08
2. Almeida Joao (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 04
3. De Plus Laurens (INEOS Grenadiers) + 13
4. Morgado António (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 20
5. Vingegaard Jonas (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) + 20
6. Vergallito Luca (Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 20
7. Roglic Primoz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) + 23
8. Geoghegan Hart Tao (Lidl-Trek) + 23
9. Grégoire Romain (Groupama-FDJ) + 26
10. Powless Neilson (EF Education-EasyPost) + 26