Geraint Thomas still second at Volta ao Algarve as Marcel Kittel wins

Geraint Thomas will go into the final day of the Volta ao Algarve with a three-second deficit to Tony Martin after the pair retained first and second place overall on a flat fourth stage won by Marcel Kittel.

Kittel (Etixx - Quick-Step) made it four wins from the four sprints he has contested so far in 2016 by comfortably beating Wouter Wippert (Cannondale) into second place and Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) into third in Tavira.

Martin (Etixx - Quick-Step) and Thomas (Team Sky) both followed in the peloton five seconds later, as did Ion Izagirre (Movistar), who remains 20 seconds down in third overall.

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) is still 1min 7sec off the lead in 10th, while Fabio Aru (Astana) is 1min 42sec back in 16th.

Kittel said: "I can't find the words to express my happiness. We did a great race today and we showed again a fantastic team spirit. We can all be very proud of what we achieved."

Thomas will now look to attack Martin on Sunday's 169km final stage, which ends with a 2.9km climb to the summit finish on Alto do Malhao.

Martin is an inferior climber to Thomas but finished only 14 seconds behind the Briton on stage two's 7.4km climb to the summit finish on Alto da Foia.

Stage four result

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step, 4:46:35

2 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale, same time

3 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st

4 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) IAM Cycling, st

5 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp) Movistar, st

General classification

1 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step, 14:08:57

2 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, +3

3 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar, +20

4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal, +46

5 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr, +47

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