Portimão is hosting the start of the Volta ao Algarve cycling race for the fourth time in a row, in what is the 51st edition of the Portuguese event. This Wednesday, the city of Portimão is the venue for the first stage, which finishes in Lagos, over 192 kilometers.

It’s not expected to be a day in which there will be any major upheavals in the general classification, as the peloton is expected to finish in a sprint.

That’s why, more than the GC men, this is a race that will interest strong names like Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty) or Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), riders who will certainly be in the fight for the Green Jersey in the overall points classification.

It’s on Avenida dos Descobrimentos, in Lagos, that everything will be decided, in the first moment of the Algarve’s great spectacle, which should start to move at the last traffic circle before the finish, about 800 meters from the finish line.

Before that, however, there are more points to be collected. At kilometer 98, in Nave, the first count of the Mountain Prize takes place, on a third category climb that starts at kilometer 94.

Then, 30 kilometers from the finish line, there’s a warm-up for the sprinters, with a intermediate sprint in Vila do Bispo, counting towards the points classification. There, the aforementioned Van Aert, Girmay or Ganna are names to watch out for, but also cyclists such as Portugal’s Iuri Leitão (Caja Rural), Milan Fretin (Cofidis) or Arnaud de Lie (Lotto).

The first stage of the Volta ao Algarve is scheduled to start at 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday, February 19.