The Volta ao Algarve enters into a new phase this Thursday, one that smiles more on the men in the general classification. The mythical Alto da Foia hosts the finish of the second stage, after a journey of almost 178 kilometers from Lagoa.

It’s a traditional finish, but there are some new features for 2025. First of all, the final climb to the highest point in the Algarve will take place on the northern side of the mountain, where the gradient will be less constant and there will be some more difficult sections.

The climb to the finish line will now be 8.4 kilometers long, but the most demolishing part of the final section will be earlier, 3.5 kilometers from the finish line, where there will be a thousand meters with an average gradient of around ten percent.

That’s why all the ingredients are in place for this to be a day in which the sprinters don’t have much chance of getting on the podium, and in which the main candidates to wear the yellow jersey at Alto do Malhão, in the final stage, take a step forward.

Even so, the men in the sprint will have the chance to score points for the Green Jersey: 22,000 meters from the finish line, in Monchique, there will be an intermediate sprint.

The last few kilometers, as if the climb to Alto da Foia wasn’t enough, promise to be very exciting: in addition to the finish line, there will be two counts for the Mountain Prize. One at kilometer 141.5, third category, in Marmelete, and another just over ten kilometers from the end of the stage, second category, in Pomba.

The Volta ao Algarve is only in its second stage, but it’s on Thursday that some changes in the general classification could begin to emerge. It’s all to see from 12 noon, the start time of the race.