{"id":1784984,"date":"2026-02-20T10:03:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1784984"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:03:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:03:59","slug":"lidl-treks-multi-million-dollar-signing-delivers-in-the-algarve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1784984","title":{"rendered":"Lidl-Trek&#8217;s Multi-Million Dollar Signing Delivers in the Algarve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262668282-scaled-e1771606323805.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-wrap fp-contentTarget\">\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<div class=\"mb-base-loose flex flex-wrap gap-(--spacing-base)\"><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"flex items-center justify-start gap-(--spacing-base-tight)\"><span class=\"font-utility-2 font-bold text-primary\">Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub-date font-utility-2 text-secondary\">Updated February 20, 2026 10:59AM<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-base-loose\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A Portuguese \u201crace of truth\u201d delivered some crucial lessons to a bunch of grand tour hopefuls on Friday at the Volta ao Algarve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aspect-video\">\n<p>In a field full of riders hoping to either podium the Tour de France or win the Giro d\u2019Italia, Friday\u2019s 19.5km stage 3 time trial was a ruthless early test of winter training and aero testing.<\/p>\n<p>Juan Ayuso uncorked the TT of his life to finish second behind only premium rouleur Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) in what\u2019s a sure sign Lidl-Trek did something right this winter with its ~\u20ac25 million signing.<\/p>\n<p>The young Spaniard was just 5 seconds back of the two-time TT world champion in what\u2019s a major mojo boost for his ride toward a showdown with Tadej Poga\u010dar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n<p>And one day after Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) stunned the world with his first pro win on the Alta da F\u00f3ia, the French sensation bettered all his GC rivals except Ayuso by finishing fourth on the stage.<\/p>\n<p><em>This kid\u2019s gotta go to the Tour this summer, surely?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After being tied on time at the start of the stage, Ayuso is now seven seconds ahead of Seixas ahead of a hilly fourth stage of the Volta ao Algarve on Saturday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-embed\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Second best time for Juan which keeps him in the lead at #VoltaAlgarve \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n<p>A great performance\ud83d\udca5 pic.twitter.com\/PRbMbbGFHA<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) February 20, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-placeholder-wrapper relative w-full border-t border-b border-border-light col-span-full my-3 md:col-span-10 md:col-start-2\">\n<div class=\"mb-[30px] min-h-[30px] text-center\"><span class=\"font-utility-4 font-medium tracking-[1px] text-neutral-500 uppercase\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-placeholder -mt-[30px] mb-[30px] flex min-h-[250px] w-full items-center justify-center\">\n<div class=\"w-full \">\n<div id=\"in-content-leaderboard-I0-P0-CMI0\" class=\"flex justify-center text-left\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Almeida, Lipowitz, Onley off the pace<\/h2>\n<p>Elsewhere, it was mixed fortunes for Ineos Grenadiers\u2019 GC triple threat. Thymen Arensman finished fifth, while Tour de France co-leaders Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley were sixth and a somewhat disappointing 24th, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Jo\u00e3o Almeida (UAE Emirates XRG) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) might also have been hoping for more.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-placeholder-wrapper relative w-full border-t border-b border-border-light col-span-full my-3 md:col-span-10 md:col-start-2\">\n<div class=\"mb-[30px] min-h-[30px] text-center\"><span class=\"font-utility-4 font-medium tracking-[1px] text-neutral-500 uppercase\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-placeholder -mt-[30px] mb-[30px] flex min-h-[250px] w-full items-center justify-center\">\n<div class=\"w-full \">\n<div id=\"in-content-leaderboard-I1-P0-CMI0\" class=\"flex justify-center text-left\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>They both finished more than 30 seconds back on second-place Ayuso, a rider whose <em>palmar\u00e8s<\/em> and potential are considered similar to their own.<\/p>\n<p>And U.S. stars Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates XRG)?<\/p>\n<p>The 55kg pure climber Riccitello did well to limit his losses to 1:17, while McNulty\u2019s race was over early after he lost time to a bike change.<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-embed\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A \ud83d\udd1d start to 2026 for Top Ganna! \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n<p>After a brilliant ride, @GannaFilippo claims victory in the stage three time trial at #VoltaAlgarve \ud83d\udc4a pic.twitter.com\/yCewyfOuzM<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) February 20, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nAnd of course, there was no surprise who won the dead-flat 19.5km TT.<\/p>\n<p>Towering Italian \u201cTop Ganna\u201d blitzed a 53.5kph time trial that was some way short of the 56kph record set by Remco Evenepoel in the UAE earlier this week, but was good enough to hint he\u2019ll be good to swing for the fences next month in Milan-San Remo.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<div class=\"mb-base-loose flex flex-wrap gap-(--spacing-base)\"><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"flex items-center justify-start gap-(--spacing-base-tight)\"><span class=\"font-utility-2 font-bold text-primary\">Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub-date font-utility-2 text-secondary\">Updated February 20, 2026 10:59AM<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-base-loose\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/volta-ao-algarve-stage-3-ayuso-delivers\/&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262668282-scaled-e1771606323805.jpg&#8221;] Jim Cotton Updated February 20, 2026 10:59AM A Portuguese \u201crace of truth\u201d delivered some crucial lessons to a bunch of grand tour hopefuls on Friday at the Volta ao Algarve. In a field full of riders hoping to either podium the Tour de France or win the Giro d\u2019Italia, Friday\u2019s 19.5km stage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1784984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1784984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1784984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1784984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1784984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}