Hello and welcome to our live coverage of 🅺stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve!

25 minutes until the stage gets underway.

Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) is a DNS today.

The Dutchman was caught in a crash y💧esterday 🐭and can't continue in the race.

He joins Alexander Hajek and Gonç🌃;alo Amado on the list of riders to leave the race so far.

Only two climbs on today's stage – both third-category hills and coming at 88km and 44km to go. No🤡t much to trouble the sprinters.

A look at the results from yesterday's stage up the Alto da Fóia, w🐲hich saw defending champion Dani Martínez beat Remco Evenepoel to the line of the race's first summit finish.

The w🔜inning shot as the 🃏pair emerged from the fog at the top of the climb.

Volta ao Algarve: Dani Martínez out-sprints Remco Evenepoel on Alto da Fóia

Sepp Kuss takes third ahead of Serg༒io Higuita on st🅷age 2

10 minutes to the start now.

No regrets for Evenepoel with second on Fóia summit finish at Volta ao Algarve

Soudal-Quick﷽Step star praises te𝄹am for control of key hilly stage

The riders are rolling out in Vila Reꦬal🐈 de Santo António to start stage 3!

173 riders tꦑake the𓆏 start today following Oomen's abandon.

192km💟🌺 of racing coming up today, with a bunch sprint likely to conclude the stage.

The flag has dropped and the rideඣrs are underway foℱr the official start.

186km to go

No breakaway just yet.

Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua have the most kilometres in the breakaway so far in the race🅺 at 404km, accor🌠ding to procyclingstats.

The Portuguese Continental team had Gonçalo Amado in the break on stages 1 and 2, with César Martingil joining him out ♒front yesterday.

They have a rider – Francisco Morais &nd🐻ash; on the attack today, too!

He's out front in a group of seven right now as they attempt to form the break of tꦅh🎉e day. 

180km to go

Morais is joined by Afonso Eulálio (ABTF Betão-Feirense), Carlos Miguel Salgueiro (APHotels & Resorts-Tavira-SC Farense), German Tivani (Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé Concelho), António Ferreira (Efapel), Raúl Rota (Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista), and𒁏 Frederico Figueiredo (Sabgal-Anicolor).

Fi🌠gueiredo is the bigg𒆙est name in the move. The 32-yera-old is a regular contender at the Volta a Portugal and has finished second, third, and twice fifth in the country's biggest race.

He's the best-placed man on GC in the move, lying at 8:14 down currently🌳.

The move has over a♏ minute on the peloton now. Thiꦡs is our break of the day.

The gap🦩 between p𒀰eloton and break is only growing now.

171km to go

The seven men out front have 2:30 now.

Ruta del Sol reduced to a 4.9 km time trial due to farmer protests and police shortages

Weekend stages scrapped despite changes to route

3:15 for the breakaway now.

160km to go

The riders are on a flat part of t⛦he stage now, but the hillier terrain is coming up – unclassified for the next 55km.

Pure power and race knowledge - How Dani Martinez beat Remco Evenepoel at the Volta ao Algarve

Defending champio🌟n plays down chances of holding onto lea꧃d in decisive TT

A 40.6kph average speed so far on🧸 today's stage💃 with just over 41km covered.

145km to go

The situation is fa꧑irly stable at the moment. Four minutes between peloton෴ and breakaway.

The riders of tꦛhe breakaway out on the road today.

Geoghegan Hart shows impressive climbing form in comeback at Volta ao Algarve

Briton well placed on Algarve summi🐷t finish of Alto do Foia with seventh on stage

The riders are tackling some hilly roads at the moment but the day should end with a sprint finish. Will Gerbeꦉn Thijssen (Intermarc🔜hé-Wanty) make it two wins in three days in Portugal?

There's not a top sprint field at thi⛎s race, with plenty of big names instead taking on the UAE Tour next week. However, Thijssen should have plenty of 🍰rivals today.

The opening stage saw Marijn van den Berg (ꦯEF Education-EasyPost), Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe), Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) round ouไt the top five behind Thijssen.

Other names including Casper 𝐆van Uden (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates), Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ), Jonas Abrahamsen (Unoꦿ-X Mobility), Marius Mayrhofer, Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling) should also be in the mix.

Outsiders from the Portuguese Contin🎃ental squads include Luis Mendonça (Sabgal-Anicolor), Santiago Mesa (Efapel), and Leangel Linarez (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua).

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), meanwhile, will likely avoid the sprint to🍌day. "I'll try to stay out of trouble and save my energy" before the stage.

The peloton out on the road during stage 3.

132km to go

4:40 between break and peloton currently.

Intermarché-Wanty are among the teams wor🐠king in the peloton at the moment along with Bora-Hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, and Arkéa-B&B Hotel🎐s.

They're working for Thijssen, Meeus, Van den Berg, and D&eacuꦅte;mare.

120km to go

The b🤪reak's advantage is 𝕴coming down slightly. It's at 3:45.

From Utah to the Algarve: Efapel's Keegan Swirbul guns for breakthrough in Portugal

Former Rally and Human P♌owered Health racer re-crosses paths with compatriot Sepp Kuss in Volta ao Algarve

More hills on the way here as the 🍬riders move towards the first classified climb of the day at Alcaria in around 15km.

105km to go

The gap to the break has now just dippedꦐ under two minutes.

The break taking on a꧃ short descඣent now before hitting the base of the third-category climb.

Still all seven men in the breakaway as 🔥theyꦇ race into the final 100km.

The upcoming 🌟third-category ♒Alcaria climb is 2.3km at 7%.

How to watch the 2024 Volta ao Algarve – Catch all the acti🔜on from the expected sprint on stage 3

The bre🅷a💛k lead the way up the climb now, 2:40 up on the peloton.

Up to the top of the climb now for the breakaway.

In⛦termarché, EF, and Bora currently among the teams leading the peloton.

88km to go

Tivani led the break over th𓆉e top of the climb for four KOM points. Ferreira and Salgueiro are next in line, though none of them will trouble KOM leader Dani Martínez, who has 10 points.

Michał Kwiatkowski - Ineos Grenadiers' trusted leader and servant

'I always say a third Str🐈ade Bianche would be a dream result'

75km to go

The gap remaiꦫns at 3:30 as the seven men out front stick together on the other side of the climb.

Ther🍒e's more racing going on today in Spain and France. Ch🍒eck out the results below...

Classic Var: An early celebration loses the win on Mont Faron summit finish

Following the descent from the climb, there'll be a short spell of 10km or so on the flat before the riders hit the se𝓡cond and final climb of the day.

68km to go

2:45 between the break and the peloton.

Inteꦕrmarché, Arkéa, Bora all lined up on the front now, though the French squad onlt have one man in there.

Just under two minutes for the brea♛kaway now on the flat ru🅠n to the Faz Fato climb.

'High speeds, travelling and suffering' propel Enzo Hincapie's road career

Reigning US Junior 15-16 road race champion wants to improve sprinting and emulate M𓂃athieu van der Poel

53km to go

The break closing in on F𓂃az Fato (4.7 km at 3.3ℱ%) now.

Still two minutes between the two groups.

The peloton racing through 🌼the picturesque hills of sไouthern Portugal.

Eulálio pushes the pace on the climb and there's a split in the 💟break.

45km to go

2:35 for the break now after th🐽eir acceleration on the way uℱp.

Tivani leads Salgueiro anꦕd Figueiredo over the top for another four points to put him joint second in the mo🐽untain classification.

Onwards down the descent now.

Tivani, Figueiredo and Salgueiro o𓆏ff the front at the moment.

It's all flat ♚roads to the finish after the descent.

36km to go

Ferreira is coming back to the lead trio now.

Tao Geoghegan Hart ♓stops with a mechanical🔯 and gets going to chase back on.

Up front it's still Arkéa, Intermarché, and Bora leading the chꦺase.

The front of the peloton on the charge tow꧋ards Tavir♑a.

Morais, Rot💝a and Eulálio are caug♍ht by the peloton.

Tivani, Figueiredo and Salgueiro remain out front with Ferreira just beꦡhind.

31km to go

The trio of leaders just over ꦕa minuဣte ahead of the peloton now.

Now Ferreira has dropped back to the peloton.

The⛄ intermediate sprint at Vila Real Santo Ant&oacu🐻te;nio is coming up in a few kilometres.

Still a minute for the three leaders.

26km to go

The peloton speeds up and the gap comes down.

40 seconds now.

Salguei෴ro leads Figueiredo and♋ Tivani across the sprint line.

Their time out fro🎃n🅰t is numbered, though. The time gap is under 30 seconds now.

Salgueiro pushin♛g on a little now as Tivani goes with him. They're not far ahead of the peloton, though.

20km to go

Just a handful of seconds left now for the trio.

The🐎 breakaway survivors are still pushing on with Figueiredo leading the way but they're only a🐷 few seconds ahead of the peloton.

18km to go

Tivani and Figueiredo are caught.

Salgueiro pushing on alone for a little longer.

😼A rider from Sabgal-Anicolor attempted to make a move from the peloton but couldn't get away.

16km to go

Salgueiro still out front. T♏he peloton are letting him hang out there, a few seconds u꧂p.

14km to go

The breakaway is finished as Salgueiro is caught.

Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua are massed at the front🧔 of the pelᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚoton.

Lidl-Trek are also in the mix.

12km to go

All the sprint squads are up there, though it's꧑ not going at full speed yet.

Now an attack from Sabgal-Anicolor.

10km to go

But the rider is quickly caught back.

Visma-Lease A Bike are up there wꦬith Groupama-FDJ lined up behind. Lidl, Bora, Astana, QuickStep, Bora, Uno-X, Tavfer all have representatives up there, too.

8km to go

No change in the ♔situ𝓰ation here. Wout van Aert is up there. Will he sprint today after all?

U🦩no-X well organised at the fron🎃t with a line of riders.

6km to go

Bora-Hansgrohe have a line of riders up t🅷here too.

Soudal-QuickStep working to pr🏅otect Remco🅘 Evenepoel, too.

A 🌠look at Salgueiro, the last man standing from the breakaway today.

4km to go

Ineos Grenadiers move up.

We're just waiting for the big sprint finish now.

3km to go and all the GC men a✅re still in there safely.

DSM-Firmenich PostNL move up with their train.

2km to go

Van Aert shifts up to fourth wheel as Uno-X push the paceꦚ.

And now Intermarché move up, too.

Tudor take over from Uno-X with🌠 Van Aert just behind.

1km to go

Teams flowing back and forth at the front.

Intermarché up front with three men.

A crash near the front takes out a rider and now൲ there's a split𝓡 behind the sprinters.

Only around 20 men left!

Intermarché lead it out.

Thijssen in prime position in the closing metres.

But Va🐈n Aert com༒es alongside him in the final 50 metres.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) wins stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve!

The Be💎lgian picked the best wheels to🐻 follow and timed his sprint perfectly.

Thijssen had a good lead out in third 🔯wheel, but he had Marius Mayrhofer and Van Aert rigꦆht behind him and he faded in the dash to the line.

Van Aert outdragged ꧂Thijssen, while Rui Oliveira came through with a late burst to take third ahead of the stage 1 winner.

Van Aert celebrates with his t🔥eammate Ju🌱lien Vermote after the finish.

Volta ao Algarve: Wout van Aert surges from bunch sprint to win stage 3

Oliveira second,🌟 Mayrhofer third in flat, fast ꦇfinish to Tavira

There should be no change in the GC tonight. A host of the GC men lost🐼 time but the majority of𒅌 the peloton was held up by the late crash.

Only 20 ri🀅ders finished in the lead group with the top sprinters.

Wout van Aert celebrates on the final podiu🃏m. It's his first win of the 2024 season.

Martínez🔯 finished 1:22 down on the day but 156 riders in the peloton will be given the🌠 same time. He's back in yellow tonight.

With a win on stage 1 and⭕ fourth today, Gerben Thijssen remain🍒s in the green points jersey.

António Morgado is iꦜn the white best young rider jersey.

Martínez in the blue of the mountain classification l🅰eader.

And finally herꦦe's Carlos Salgueiro, who unsurprisingly gets the most combative rider of the day prize for his efforts in the🔥 breakaway.

That's all from us🏅 today. Be sure to check the site through the evening for mor🎃e news from the Algarve and beyond!