Tom Gloag is Top 5 Surprise in Final Algarve Stage: It's Not Every Day You Ride with Those Guys

Juan Ayuso, João Almeida, Paul Seixas, Oscar Onley and... Tom Gloag were the ones to sprint for the stage victory in the last stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2026. A big surprise for the public and for Gloag himself, he admitted to Cyclingflash.com.

While all the big guns were attacking each other and fighting for the stage win and the overall victory in Southern Portugal, bib number 146 followed as a big surprise. It was Tom Gloag who was able to follow the top four climbers in this ProSeries stage race. "It's not every day that I ride with those guys, so it's fair enough to say so, yeah."

Gloag went with an all-or-nothing approach on the final climb, Alto do Malhão. "To be honest, whether I come in fifth or sixth, or 105th... It doesn't matter. I just ride as hard as I can", he explains. The fifth place in the final stage was not enough to make the top-10 in GC, as Gloag finished eleventh, almost three minutes behind GC winner Juan Ayuso.

For the 24-year-old rider it's his first stage race of the season for his new Pinarello-Q36.5 team, after leaving Visma | Lease a Bike following nearly four years. "It's nice, I'm going well and I've been enjoying racing with the team so this is really a nice result", Gloag said.