Ryan Anderson third in Stage 2 of Volta ao Alentejo

Ryan Anderson of Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies finished third on the second stage of the Volta ao Alentejo on Thursday. He had a lead-out from fellow Canadian Guillaume Boivin, who helped Anderson up the narrow, cobbled uphill finish.

The second stage of the UCI 2.2, five-stage race in Portugal was run over 153 km. The U.S. team Axeon, whose James Oram was in yellow after winning the first stage, controlled the pace. Optum had planned to begin their lead-out at 4 km to go. As director Eric Wohlberg said, things got “a little argy bargy” or “physical, like a hockey match,” so Pierrick Naud, Scott Zwizanski and Bjorn Selander worked at the front to get Boivin and Anderson to the final 2 km.

At around 1 km to go, the bunch came across a median that wasn’t include in the race bible. Boivin, Anderson and other riders ended up on the wrong side and had to jump over the barrier. They still managed to contest the sprint. Anderson’s third-place finish comes with a time bonus that put him in fifth in the GC. Manuel Cardoso (Team Tavira/Portuagal) took the stage win and the overall lead.

“The GC lead is now shared between two teams, Tavira and Axeon,” Wohlberg said. “Tavira wants sprints, Axeon doesn’t. We’re going to side with Tavira and do our best to roll them on the very technical finish of Friday’s 190-km stage. Ryan is sprinting well and the guys are good for lead-outs, so our best hope is that Tavira, W52, Efapel, and the other Portuguese teams wear each other out on the front of the peloton, while we chill and then hit them hard in the final run-ins.”

“At the end of the day, we have to simply be passively aggressive, and look for our chances,” Wohlberg added.