Organisers of the Volta ao Algarve have confirmed nine of the teams set to line up at the start of next season's edition, which will run from February 16-20.
Four WorldTour teams have been confirmed as organisers have invited the top four teams on the 2021 UCI rankings. QuickStep-AlphaVinyl will be joined at the race by Ineos Grenadiers, Jumbo-Visma, and UAE Team Emirates.
Those teams have had a stranglehold on the race since 2012, with João Rodrigues of W52-Porto breaking the spell of dominance at the 2021 race. Ineos have taken victory four times via Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas (twice), and Michał Kwiatkowski.
QuickStep have won three editions with Kwiatkowski, Tony Martin, and Remco Evenepoel. Jumbo-Visma's Primož Roglič and UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogačar won the race in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Five ProTeams have also been confirmed for the race, with Mathieu van der Poel's Alpecin-Fenix team the headline name. They'll be joined by Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, who make their 12th consecutive appearance at the race, plus Euskaltel-Euskadi, Arkéa-Samsic, and US team Rally Cycling.
25 teams usually take part in the race, meaning 16 spots are still up for grabs, though around eight to 10 of those will go to Portuguese Continental squads such as W52-Porto, Efapel, and Radio Popular-Boavista.
The race is set to revisit the traditional summit finishes of the Alto da Fóia and the Alto do Malhão, which are usually decisive points of the race along with a short individual time trial.
The 2021 edition of the race, which was delayed to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saw Rodrigues triumph on the final day at Malhão after overturning Ethan Hayter's (Ineos Grenadiers) GC lead. The Briton took second, while QuickStep's Kasper Asgreen rounded out the podium.
