Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana ProTeam) joined the collection of summit finish victories in the Volta ao Algarve on Saturday, taking first place in the last attack on the Alto do Malhão.

The win in his first participation in the race adds to an impressive list that includes Lagunas de Neira, Alpe di Pampeago, Sierra Nevada, Superga, and Kitzbuehelerhorn. Lopez said that his victory after an unsuccessful attack on stage 2 at Alto da Foia helped him achieve his goal for the race.

"I wanted to win here. It was a logical goal after the battle for the win fell back in stage 2. In the end it came down to two, but the goal was accomplished."

"Today is the first fruit of what we have been doing. The team did a great job as usual and we had the legs for the last few kilometers. We took the win.

Lopez was 500 meters from the line after the peloton was cut off on the hill from an elite group that included race leader Remco Evenpole (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and second place Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation). He jumped out.

The 26-year-old Dan Martin, starting his fifth professional season, maintained his advantage and crossed the finish line for his 16th career win. However, although he was within one second of Evenpoel heading into the final day, he is unlikely to widen that gap further.

On Sunday, the Voltas will head to Lagoa for a 20km time trial to conclude the day. This 20km time trial is an event that he has long sought to improve upon, as it is a time trial that will significantly reduce his time in the Grand Tours.

"The time trial will be key to knowing what conditions I will face in the Tour de France," he said. 'It's going to be quite a complicated race and tomorrow we'll see that there are still a lot of things to improve on.'

"You will realize that you need to keep working on your time trial and gradually improve to reach a higher level.

So while an overall win is out of reach, at least this test will be an indicator for the rest of his season. Next up will be Paris-Nice (15km time trial) and Volta a Catalunya (21km).

"Superman" is flying through the season, as he did in 2019 when he won the Tour Colombia 2.1 overall.