The peloton of the 43rd Volta ao Algarve, the Portuguese 2.HC race that takes place from 15th to 19th February, is growing in quality. The last names added to the roster are the representatives of the teams Cannondale Drapac, Trek-Segafredo and Manzana Postobón.
The Trek-Segafredo will bet on the riders expected to shine during the Spring Classic campaign, the German John Degenkolb, already winner of Paris-Roubaix, Milan-Sanremo or 10 stages at the Vuelta a España, the Belgian Jasper Stuyven, winner of the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne (2016) and the Volta ao Alentejo (2013), and the Italian national road champion, Giacomo Nizzolo.
After his good performance, last week, in the Tour Down Under, the young Portuguese Rúben Guerreiro will fight for the general classification and looks to the youth jersey. Marco Coledan, Koen de Kort, Mads Pedersen and Gregory Rast are also between the team choices to Algarve.
The Cannondale Drapac team will show in Algarve two of the most importants recruits for the new season, the specialist in one day races Sep Vanmarcke and the US national time trial champion, Taylor Phinney, a rider expected to be seen fighting for the first positions on the overall classification.
The “green” team will presente another specialist in time trials, the Irish Ryan Mullen, and the sprinter Wouter Wippert. Alberto Bettiol, Sebastian Langeveld, Dylan Vanbaarle and Davide Villella close the roster of Cannondale Drapac.
The team Manzana Postobón will arrive from Colombia with the Portuguese Ricardo Vilela as leader for the overall classification. The colombian Aldemar Reyes will try to be with the best young cyclists of the race. The Spanish Antonio Piedra and the Dutch Jetse Bol give another european flavour to a team with another four riders from Colombia: Hernán Aguirre, Juan Molano, Hernando Bohórquez e Juan Osorio.
There are also registered by their teams riders such as Tony Martin, Simon Spilak, José Gonçalves and Tiago Machado (Katusha Alpecin), Arnaud Démare and David Gaudu (FDJ), Luis Léon Sánchez, Michele Scarponi, Moreno Moser, Sergei Chernetskii (Astana) or Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-RusVelo).
The race will have tv live broadcast of the last hour of every stage. The can be seen in 55 countries and 68M homes.
Teams
WorldTour: Astana (KAZ), Bora-hansgrohe (GER), Cannondale-Drapac (USA), Dimension Data (RSA), FDJ (FRA), Katusha-Alpecin (SUI), Lotto NL-Jumbo (NED), Lotto Soudal (BEL), Movistar (ESP), Quick-Step Floors (BEL), Team Sky (GBR) and Trek-Segafredo (USA).
Continental Professional: Caja Rural-Seguros RGA (ESP), Cofidis (FRA), Gazprom-RusVelo (RUS), Manzana Postobón (COL), Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij (NED) and Wanty-Groupe Gobert (BEL)
Continental: Efapel, LA Alumínios-Metalusa, Louletano-Hospital de Loulé, RP-Boavista, Sporting-Tavira e W52-FC Porto (POR), and Rally Cycling (USA)
Route
1st Stage: Albufeira – Lagos, 182,9 km
2nd Stage: Lagoa – Fóia (Monchique), 189,3 km
3rd Stage: Sagres – Sagres (C/R Individual), 18 km
4th Stage: Almodôvar – Tavira, 203,4 km
5th Stage: Loulé – Malhão, 179,2 km