Sacha Modolo and Rui Costa made it a 1-2 for Lampre-Merida in the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve. We have already posted several reactions and have gathered a few more below.

Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha, 9th s.t.)

“I can be happy with the result, but the result could have been better. The team did a nice job in protecting me and bringing me to the last kilometers but it was chaotic in the last kilometers, very tricky with lots of roundabouts. There was a lot of confusion and some riders in front of me stopped pedaling, and because of that I lost crucial positions. The good thing is that it can only get better and the result of Alexander Kristoff in Oman motivates us here too in Portugal.“

Franck Pineau (sports director FDJ whose best rider was Arnaud Demare in 6th)

"The stage was without any problems but our lead-out train was derailed by a puncture for Mickael Delage 2km from the finish. Our organization was disrupted. Geoffrey Soupe tried to compensate but he had already done his share of the work. Arnaud could only look at the sprint without being able to participate. There was a good reason to be frustrated."

Alex Sans Vega (sports director NetApp-Endura whose best rider was Daniel Schorn in 8th)

"Today we concentrated on leading out the sprint for Daniel to put him in a position to score. The finish line arrival was highly unusual and difficult. First came a 500-m ascent, followed by a 500-m descent. This made it very difficult for a team to get a rider into position. But the boys managed to get Daniel into a good spot, so then it was up to his power to convert this advantage, which he did very well with an eight-place finish in view of the strong competition here.

“Tomorrow will be a tough day. A day for riders interested in placing in the general classification. Of course, we hope that Tiago Machado and José Mendes will have a say in what goes on here, don’t lose any time."

Serhiy Honchar (sports director Rusvelo whose best rider was Igor Boev in 16th)

"Two punctures suffered by Artem Ovechkin and Igor Boev in the final ten kilometers compromised an otherwise realistic opportunity to climb higher up the result sheet. It was not easy for Igor to accelerate after the frantic chase. All in all I'm reasonably satisfied with the form demonstrated by our riders. The first two days of the race are inevitably taken up by getting used to high speeds, then we hope to find our bearings and to jump on every chance we come across."  

Carlos Pereira (sports director Efapel whose best rider was Filipe Cardoso in 31st)

"Today went well. We had a rider [Bruno Silva] in the breakaway which was the main goal. In the end, we treied to put Filipe Cardoso in a good position to finish in the top positions but we hit the front of the peloton a bit too early and ended up paying the price at the finish.

"Tomorrow there may be surprises. The stage is pretty tough. Not much but the constant climbs and descents will break the riders legs. It will be selective, with a fairly technical finish, and the pace will be fierce because all team want to position their leaders well. In Efapel-Glassdrive, we will try to take the mountains jersey."

Mario Rocha (sports director LA Aluminios whose best rider was Edgar Pinto in 7th)

"Today our goal was to be visible which we managed successfully as Luis Afonso went away with a breakaway right from the start, take 2nd in the final two intermediate sprints. Furthermore, we wanted Edgar Pinto to finish near the front as he is our main rider in this race and we also achieved that. Therefore our riders did what I asked of them and we will try to tackle the next stages in the same way."

Valter Pereira (Banco BIC, leader of the mountains classification, 157th +2.22)

"To be on the podium in a race with so many stars at cycling's highest level is an honour and a sign of progress. I felt food and it is a good start to the season."