British long-distance champion Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) is the latest star to join the prized squad of the 40th Tour of the Algarve on bicycle, which will take place between the 19th and 23rd of February.
The “Isle of Man Express” is part of the powerful formation of Omega Pharma-QuickStep, being accompanied by two personal pitchers, the Australian Mark Renshaw and the Italian Alessandro Petacchi, in a block that also distinguishes the world champion of time trial, Tony Martin , and the long-running Polish champion Michal Kwiatkowski, two of the candidates for the final yellow jersey.
So far, the Volta ao Algarve squad has already confirmed the presence of 19 teams, including eight from WorldTour, the first cycling division: Belkin, Europcar, FDJ.fr, Katusha, Lampre-Merida, Movistar, Omega Pharma -QuickStep and Tinkoff-Saxo.
From the continental professional level, Caja Rural, Cofidis, Netapp-Endura and Wanty-Groupe Gobert will line up. SkyDive Dubai will be the foreign representative of the continental category contingent, which includes the Portuguese Banco BIC-Carmim, Efapel-Glassdrive, LA Alumínios-Atarte, Louletano-Dunas Douradas, OFM-Quinta da Lixa and Rádio Popular.
So far the organization has already received the registration bulletins – which may still undergo changes until the eve of the race – for eleven teams, which allows us to have an idea of the great quality of the peloton in the Algarve race.
Looking at the route and the list of pre-registered candidates, a very close Tour to the Algarve is foreseen, with candidates of the caliber of Rui Costa, Tony Martin, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Simon Spilak (Katusha), Tiago Machado (Netapp-Endura), Christopher Horner – recent addition to Lampre-Merida and winner of Vuelta2013 –, Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo), Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) or Florien Senechal (Cofidis).
The stages for sprinters are also expected to be lively, as the range of sprinters at Volta ao Algarve includes the aforementioned trio of Omega Pharma-QuickStep (Cavendish, Renshaw and Petacchi), but also with people like Paul Martens (Belkin), Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr), Roberto Ferrari, Maximiliano Richeze and Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida), Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) or Lucas Haedo (SkyDive Dubai).
The time trial of the third stage also finds a high number of applicants with scrolls in this specialty: Tony Martin, Michal Kwiatkowski, Jack Bobridge (Belkin), Rui Costa, Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida), Jonathan Castroviejo, Alex Dowsett and Adriano Malori (Movistar ), Tiago Machado and Jan Barta (Netapp-Endura).
Pre-registered list:
Belkins: Wilco Kelderman, Jack Bobridge, Marc Goos, Tom Leezer, Paul Martens, Bram Tankink, Sep Vanmarcke, Maarten Wynants
Codes: Jeremy Bescond, Jerome Coppel, Julien Fouchard, Cyril Lemoine, Guillaume Levarlet, Adrien Petit, Florian Senechal, Rein Taaramae
FDJ.fr: Arnaud Démare, Mickaël Delage, Alexrande Geniez, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, Laurent Mangel, Cedric Pineau, Geoffrey Soupe, Benoit Vaugrenard
Katusha: Maxim Belkov, Segei Chernetckii, Marco Haller, Alexander Kolobnev, Dmitriy Kozonchuk, Alberto Losada, Simon Spilak, Eduard Vorganov
Lampre-Merida: Rui Costa, Mattia Cattaneo, Kristijan Durasek, Roberto Ferrari, Sacha Modolo, Kan Polanc, Maximiliano Richeze, Nelson Oliveira, Christopher Horner
Movistar: Jonathan Castroviejo, Alex Dowsett, Jesús Herrada, Gorka Izagirre, Pablo Lastras, Adriano Malori, Enrique Sanz, Francisco Ventoso
Netapp-Endura: Jan Barta, Iker Camaño, Tiago Machado, José Mendes, Jonathan McEvoy, Erick Rowsell, Daniel Schorn, Paul Voss
Omega Pharma-QuickStep: Tony Martin, Mark Cavendish, Michal Kwiatkowski, Alessandro Petacchi, Mark Renshaw, Martin Velits, Julien Vermote, Michal Golas
Tinkoff Saxo: Alberto Contador, Chris Sorensen, Bruno Pires, Jesús Hernández, Matteo Tosatto, Nicki Sorensen, Rafal Majka, Sérgio Paulinho
SkyDive Dubai: Lucas Haedo, Francisco Mancebo, Oscar Pujol, Alexandr Pliuskin, Rafaa Chtioui, Adil Jelloul, Soufienne Haddi, Meher Hasnaoui
Wanty Groupe Gobert: Bjorn Leukemans, Laurens de Vresse, Thomas de Ghent, Jempi Drucker, Jan Ghyselinck, Wesley Kreder, J van Landschoot, Frederik Veuchelen
Stages of the 40th Round of the Algarve:
1st Stage: February 19th - Faro / Albufeira – 160,00 km
2nd Stage: February 20th – Lagoa / Monchique – 196 km
3rd Stage: February 21st – Vila de Bispo / Sagres – 13,6 km (C/R Ind.)
4th Stage: February 22 – Almodôvar / Alto do Malhão (Loulé) – 164,5 km
5th Stage: February 23 – Tavira / Vilamoura – 155,8 km
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