Portuguese February stage race secures seven WorldTour squads
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The 2016 Volta ao Algarve podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alberto Contador wins Algarve's final stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Geraint Thomas and Alberto Contador celebrate on the final podium at Algarve(Image credit: Bettini)
It took the peloton just over six hours to make the 207.5km trip from Sagres to Lagos.(Image credit: João Dias)
Sprinters bear down on the finish of stage 4 at Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The organisers of the 2.HC Volta ao Algarve have announced 24 teams will compete in the 2017 edition of the race to take place February 15-19. The route for the 43rd edition of the race will confirmed later this week although several of the stage starts and finishes have already been announced. Stage 1 starts in Albufeira and finishes in Lagos and concludes with stage 5 from Loulé to the iconic Malhão climb.
Astana, Bora-Hansgrohe, Cannondale-Drapac, Dimension Data, Katusha-Alpecin, Lotto Soudal and Quick-Step Floors are the seven confirmed WorldTour teams for 2017. Yet to be confirmed is Team Sky who have won the race on the last two occasions with Geraint Thomas.
The Pro-Continental teams for the 2017 edition of the race are Belgian squad Wanty-Groupe Gobert, Gazprom-RusVelo, Caja Rural-Seguros-RGA and the Colombian outfit Manzana Postobón. Rounding out the team selection for the race will be seven Continental teams with American squad Rally Cycling joining six Portuguese teams.
The six teams yet to be added to the 2017 start list will come from the WorldTour and Pro-Continental level.
The team of last year's runner-up Alberto Contador, Trek–Segafredo, are also missing from the provisional start list. As are fellow WorldTour teams FDJ, Movistar and LottoNL-Jumbo who raced the event last year.
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