Pidcock switches to road mode after winning in MTB: Volta al Algarve 2024

The Iberian Peninsula becomes the epicenter of world cycling throughout this week, between February 14 and 18, with the parallel dispute of the Vuelta a Andalucía and the Volta al Algarve 2024. The latter have managed to attract a truly luxurious participation, including Tom Pidcock who starts his road season here in what will be an incredibly intense year for him.

The Volta al Algarve 2024 gathers the best of the peloton

The Volta al Algarve 2024 celebrates its 50th edition this season and it couldn't do it in a better way, counting on its starting list with the best of the peloton in a race that always turns out to be spectacular thanks to the possibilities offered by the tough broken terrain of southern Portugal where the Algarve region is located and the approach of an organization that always plans complicated and nervous stages for this race.

Favorites Volta al Algarve 2024

Although the Volta al Algarve 2024 is a 2.Pro category test, it could well pass for World Tour if we look at the list of participants in the race, starting with a INEOS Grenadiers that will try to retain the victory that Daniel Felipe Martínez achieved last year, also present this year in the race but now as leader of the Bora-Hansgrohe. However, the leader of the British team in this Volta al Algarve 2024 will be Tom Pidcock who, like last year, will start here a road campaign whose highlight will be to make a great role in the Tour de France while keeping an eye on his preparation for the Olympic mountain bike test. Pidcock has worked this winter to take care of all the details of his bike in the search for the best performance on thin wheels.

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A top-notch squad in which he will be escorted by Geraint Thomas or Filippo Ganna, who despite their size and broken terrain of the Algarve, last year managed to climb to the second place in the general of this Volta al Algarve.

The main rival for the victory of an INEOS Grenadiers is probably found in the ranks of the Soudal-QuickStep, which lines up two of its big stars. We are talking about Mikel Landa, who in these small tours is where he can find his opportunities to shine; and we are talking, of course, about a Remco Evenepoel who just a couple of days ago started his season in the Figueira Classic by sentencing the race with a solo exhibition in the last 40 kilometers.

Of course, we cannot forget the Visma-Lease a Bike, which will count among its ranks not only with a Sepp Kuss erected as leader after his victory in La Vuelta and who becomes a serious candidate to occupy the podium of this Volta al Algarve 2024. Kuss will have the always invaluable help of Wout van Aert who continues his preparation for the assault on the cobblestone classics.

Good lineup we also find in the Lidl-Trek that will mean the return of Tao Geoghegan after his chilling fall in the Giro d'Italia. On the table the question to know if he will have been able to recover from the serious injury suffered and that meant the end of his season.

EF Education-EasyPost presents a very serious trident that, surely, will give a lot of war, with a veteran guerrilla like Rui Costa and the solvency of Stefan Bissegger and, above all, of Ben Healy.

Route Volta al Algarve 2024

The Volta al Algarve 2024 repeats practically the same formula that has worked so well in recent years. 5 stages: first and third with a profile more suitable for riders, although not exempt from broken terrain, two mountain stages and a time trial that, among the three, should decide the result of the general.

The first stage will unite the towns of Portimao and Lagos, undoubtedly the easiest day of this Volta al Algarve 2024 and that, presumably should be resolved at the sprint. A kind of warm-up for the favorites who will face each other the next day with the stage that will lead them to the Alto da Foia, ascent that is preceded by two small ascents, Alferce and Pomba and that mean that the last 30 kilometers of the stage are almost all in clear and hard ascent.

On the other hand, new quiet day in the third stage, with a profile very similar to the first: little unevenness on paper, but a deceptive terrain with continuous ups and downs that always put a point of nervousness to the race. Stage that is the precedent of the time trial that will take place in the fourth stage, 22 kilometers also by broken terrain and that, for sure, will be taken advantage of by the specialists in the increasingly fewer occasions of showing off that they have in this specialty.

To finish, the Alto do Malhao will again be the judge of the Volta al Algarve 2024 with a stage in which up to 5 ascents are included in its barely 165 km, including a final loop with a double ascent to the almost 3 km of the Alto do Malhao and its slopes maintained around 10% that every year give us excitement until the last meter.

How to watch the Volta al Algarve 2024

The Volta al Algarve 2024 is disputed between Wednesday, February 14 and Sunday, February 18. A race that, as usual, will have the coverage of Eurosport in an intense week of cycling in which they are compatible on the channel Eurosport 2 the emission of Vuelta a Andalucía and, at the end of the Andalusian stage, the connection with this Volta al Algarve 2024 around 16:00.