Trek-Segafredo's Fabian Cancellara and Frank Schleck will take to the start line at the Volta ao Algarve held from February 17-21 in Portugal. This season marks Cancellara last as a professional bike racer as he is set to retire at the end of the year.
Cancellara has already confirmed that he will start his season in Mallorca and in Algarve, and follow that with a spring campaign that includes Strade Bianche, Tirreno and Milan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics. He is also confirmed to start the Giro d’Italia in May.
In Algarve, Trek-Segafredo will rely on Schleck and Julián Arredondo for the overall classification. The team will also include Stijn Delvolder, Yaroslav Popovych, Gregory Rast, Jasper Stuyven and Edward Theuns.
Volta ao Algarve organisers also announced the 24 teams that will participate. There will be 12 WorldTour teams including Astana, Cannondale, Etixx-QuickStep, FDJ, IAM Cycling, Katusha, Lotto Soudal, Lotto NL-Jumbo, Movistar, Team Sky, Tinkoff and Trek-Segafredo.
Professional Continental teams are Bora-Argon 18, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Gazprom-RusVelo, Novo Nordisk, Roth and Verva ActiveJet. Continental teams include Efapel, LA Alumínios-Antarte, Louletano-Hospital de Loulé, Rádio Popular-Boavista, Sporting-Tavira and W52-FC Porto.
Movistar announce line-up for Tour de San Luis
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Movistar announced their team line-up for the Tour de San Luis on Thursday. Nairo Quintana will lead the team during the seven-day race held from January 18-24 in Argentina.
Quintana, who won the title in 2014 and was third last year, had already been confirmed to compete at the Tour de San Luis, a race he as used twice to kick start his season.
The team confirmed the remaining riders on the roster to include time triallist Adriano Malori, who will have an impact on the team’s performance in the opening team time trial. Also on the team are Dayer Quintana, Fran Ventoso, Marc Soler, Dani Moreno, who has been training on the roads of the Tour de San Luis over recent weeks.
Cyclingnews readers think that Tony Martin could win a cobbled Classic
The majority of Cyclingnews readers believe that Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) could win a cobble Classic, following a recent poll on Twitter. Martin announced this week that he would try his had at Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix this year.
"I wanted to try some new things, so that's why I talked with the team at the end of last season and agreed to go for the Belgian classics and semi-classics," Martin said. "I will mix the regular races I usually do with the one-day races, which means I'll line-up for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen, and if everything will work well I will try to be part of the team that will go in Gent-Wevelgem, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix in the following months."
Scarponi rides with pet parrot Frankje
Michele Scarponi (Astana) had a little fun on Twitter, posting a video of himself riding his bike with a parrot, Frankje, on his shoulder. The pair had a discussion in Italian before Frankje flew off. Check out the video below.
