Wout van Aert, a favorite for the Volta ao Algarve, finished seventh in the stage 3 bunch sprint, echoing his previous day's performance. Although he previously excelled in similar situations, he admitted to being outpaced by younger competitors like Milan Fretin. Despite an effort from his team to control the race and stretch the competition on uphill sections, he acknowledged falling short in terms of raw speed, stating his strengths are shifting toward tougher racing conditions rather than pure sprinting.
I just wasn't strong enough. I'm no longer one of the fastest Belgians. For me, it has to be a bit tougher to tire out the other sprinters.
I felt really good today, but the race was less difficult than I expected. Our team took control of the race and we tried to hurt the sprinters on the hills.
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