Louletano/Dunas Douradas and Banco BIC/Carmim/Tavira are the two Algarve teams that this Wednesday, from 15 pm, will start to compete in the 76th Liberty Seguros Tour of Portugal, whose prologue of 6,8 kilometers in an urban route one runs in Fafe.
When exactly three minutes after 15 pm, the clock will start counting the time of Japanese Kota SumiYoshi (Team Ukyo), the first to hit the road in the order of starting the individual time trial.
The last runner to start the Prologue will be the Spaniard Gustavo Veloso (OFM/Quinta da Lixa) at 17:20. On average, runners will spend about eight minutes doing the course that will mark the first differences in the competition.
Over the 11 days of competition, 138 men from 16 teams are part of the peloton that will cover more than 1600 kilometers between Fafe and Lisbon. These are the traditional competition days that are already part of the Portuguese summer, calling thousands of fans and enthusiasts to the side of the road, in a true popular phenomenon of color and animation that extends to the real country.
In a Tour that, in reality, will only be halfway through Portugal, as it will never descend below the Tagus River, one of the favorites is the Algarvean Ricardo Mestre, the last Portuguese to win the national cycling's premier competition, in 2011, then in service of the formation of Tavira.
The following year, Mestre left through the small door, after suffering a massive fall, having been absent last year because he was representing Euskaltel-Euskadi, extinct WorldTour team.
Back to a Portuguese team, Ricardo Mestre now lines up with Efapel-Glassdrive and doesn't want to assume favoritism: «this will be my ninth round, I'm aware that no years are the same. It could be better, it could be worse, I hope it will be a year in which luck goes with me».
Another favorite is the Portuguese Hernâni Broco, now head of the line at Louletano/Dunas Douradas. «The homework was done, now it's trying to face the stages with the utmost tranquility and that things go well for us. My goal at the time is this and I did everything to be well on this day», said Hernani Broco.
«The mountain is good for me, these are stages that I adapt to perfectly. I hope the weather helps me too, I'm a cyclist who likes the heat. I think that, in the first week, the four stages can be decisive, maybe not for the winner, but they can dictate who will be in the final discussion», added the cyclist from the Loulé team.
Broco had announced his retirement from cycling, after having finished the 2013 Tour in 5th place, but ended up continuing, joining the Loulé team as leader of the team.
Other favorites are Edgar Pinto, from LA/Atarte, Rui Sousa, from Rádio Popular/Onda, and Gustavo Veloso, from OFM/Quinta da Lixa.
Altogether, there will be 11 days of many emotions, in the 76th Bicycle Tour of Portugal.
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