Another race, another bizarre feat of strength. Lemko Evenpoel has long since exhausted all superlatives in his short professional career. Now he has no choice but to wash them out and use them again. Each demonstration is as impressive as the one before it.

On Saturday, on the wavy road between Vila Real de Santo Antonio and Tavira, Evenepoel won the Volta ao Algarve stage 4 time trial. A second overall win seems inevitable for the Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl leader in the race, which concludes Sunday atop the Alto do Marjan.

The results sheet spoke for itself: in the 32.2km time trial, Evenpoel was nearly a minute ahead of European champion Stéphane Kühn (Groupama-FDJ) in this discipline. Evenpoel's average speed was 51.089 km/h. No other rider reached the 50 km/h mark.

Visual proof of Evenpoel's superiority came midway through the test on the Pisa Barro climb, when he chased down Sven-Erik Byström, who was in the 2-minute range. While Bystrom shook his shoulders as he fought the gradient, Evenepoel stayed in the aerodynamic position, not moving an inch, and rotated his legs ruthlessly as he passed him. No one could follow where he was going.

"The wind was blowing pretty hard, so it was a little dangerous on the downhills," he said. And on the climbs, I gave it my all without hesitation. And on the climbs I gave it my all without hesitation. It was pure feeling and power, and I think it was the best time trial I've ever done."

Before the race, Evenepaul revealed that he had adjusted his time trial position during the off-season and used his time trial bike during the warm-down after the first two stages to further familiarize himself with the new setup.

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, his cranks are a few millimeters shorter than before and his hands have been moved closer together, but on Saturday evening the Belgian suggested that his off-season strength training contributed to his dominant victory here.

"I did some muscle-specific training this winter," he said.

"These time trials suit me very well and I am very happy to win with such a big lead. Filippo Ganna, Wout (van Aert), Primoš Roglic, myself and all the other riders, as well as Kühn are among the best time triallists in the world. I am very proud to have achieved this here in Portugal."

Evenpoel's overall approach to this race was of course a little different. He arrived in Portugal after a rare stage race defeat in Volta, Autonomous Region of Valencia, where he lost yellow to Alexandre Vlasov on the gravelly climb to Antenas del Maigmo.

Throughout his short career so far, Evenpoel's default setting has been "aggressive," and his instinctive response to setbacks has been an all-out attack.

A quick and powerful reaction was expected at the first summit finish of the Volta ao Algarve on Thursday, but instead Evenpoel chose a cautious approach to the Alto da Foia and watched David Gaudou sprint for the stage win.

"I think the feeling I saw with my eyes on Saturday was perfect," he said. He was not bluffing.

"Yes, I think you have to be smart. Everyone wants to win, but sometimes you need a good plan and strategy," Evenpoel said Saturday evening, even if he was going against type with his conservative approach at Alto da Foia.

"If you get a flat tire in the time trial, or crash, or anything like that, the race is over.

In the overall standings, Evenpoel leads Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) by 1:06, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) by 1:25 and Daniel Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) by 1:30.

Sunday's final stage, two laps of the short but sharp Alto do Marhão, is always a good enough platform for attackers, but as the sun slowly set over Tavira on Saturday evening, Evenpoel was called back to the podium and the kids from the local cycling club It was hard to shake off the feeling that the yellow jersey was no longer secure.

"Ok, this is a pretty big gap, but anything can happen," said Evenepoel when informed of the lead.

"Tomorrow is still a hard day. Tomorrow is still a hard day, so we have to stay focused, try not to do anything stupid, try to stay out of trouble."

The evidence suggests that it is hard to believe that Evenpoel would not find a solution to any problem that arose.

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