The 46th Volta ao Algarve, the Portuguese ProSeries race which be held from 19 to 23 February 2020, will end with an individual time trial in Lagoa, one day after the traditional stage with summit finish at Malhão.
The first stage is a long journey, over 200 km, likely for sprinters, starting in Portimão and finishing in Lagos, in the same place where Fernando Gaviria, Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jakobsen won in the previous years.
The second stage is the first decisive day. The starting shot will happen in Sagres and the finish line will be placed at Fóia, the highest point of Algarve (900 meters). It will be one of the toughest stages ever finishing at Fóia. Before the last climb (8 km at 6,3%) the riders will climb to Alferce and to Pomba (3,9 km at 7,1%). The Pomba is just 7 km to the bottom of Fóia, last year the distance was 29,7 km which makes a huge difference in tactics.
The sprinters will have another chance on the third day of race, a stage from Faro to Tavira. For the final weekend, the race offers two decisive stages, one for climbers and other for time trialists.
The fourth stage starts in Albufeira and finishes at top of Malhão (2,5 km at 9,9%). The riders will pass at Malhão a first time, with almost 20 km to go.
The 2020 Volta ao Algarve will end in Lagoa with a 20,3 km individual time trial in the same route of the two previous years, when Geraint Thomas and Stefan Küng imposed their strength in the individual efforts.
The real distance of each stage will be announced in the coming weeks.
Previous Winners – Volta ao Algarve
2019 – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
2018 – Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)
2017 – Primož Roglič (Team LottoNL-Jumbo)
2016 – Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
2015 – Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
Previous Winners – Stages
Lagos
2019 – Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
2018 – Dylan Groenewegen (Team LottoNL-Jumbo)
2017 – Fernando Gaviria (QuickStep-Floors)
2011 – John Degenkolb (HTC-High Road)
2010 – André Greipel (Team HTC-Columbia)
Fóia
2019 – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
2018 – Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)
2017 – Daniel Martin (QuickStep-Floors)
2016 – Luis León Sánchez (Astana)
2002 – Alex Zülle (Team Coast)
Tavira
2019 – Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jumbo-Visma)
2018 – Dylan Groenewegen (Team LottoNL-Jumbo)
2017 – André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
2016 – Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep)
2013 – Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
Malhão
2019 – Zdeněk Štybar (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
2018 – Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky)
2017 – Amaro Antunes (W52-FC Porto)
2016 – Alberto Contador (Tinkoff)
2015 – Richie Porte (Sky)
Lagoa
2019 – Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ)
2018 – Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
2013 – Theo Bos (Blanco)
2012 – Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky)
2004 – Martin Garrido (Barbot-Gaia)
Photo: Bettini Photo