Bahrain Victorious will be on the start line of the ‘Volta ao Algarve’ for the very first time this week. It’s a race that always features a star-studded entry list, and this year is no different, with no fewer than six previous Grand Tour winners taking to the roads of southern Portugal.

The 745.9km route offers something for all kinds of riders, with sprinters, climbers and classics specialists catered for across five stages, from February 19th-23rd. Two flat profiles on days one and three give the fast men the chance to show their speed and guile, starting with 190km from Portimão to Lagos, where the first leader’s jersey will be awarded. Friday will see another high velocity finish, after the peloton has covered an inland loop of 183.5km that starts and finishes on the coast, leaving from Vila Real de Santo António and arriving in Tavira.

In between those is the main GC stage of the event, from Lagoa to Alto de Foia, a first category summit finish of 8.5km averaging 5%. The 177km contains 2757 vertical metres, and four other categorised climbs before that last ascent.

Stage 4 measures 175.2km, from Albufeira to Faro, and is a rolling parcours which will tempt anyone who fancies their chances to make a breakaway. However, there is probably not enough challenging terrain to rule out a third sprint finish.

The final day will decide who dons the yellow jersey for this 51st edition with an individual time trial of 19.6km departing from Salir. Traditionally, the famous ‘Alto do Malhão’ climb  (2.1km at 9.3%) has been used as a summit finish during the week, but this year it appears as a testing conclusion to this test against the clock.

Bahrain will use their debut at Algarve to try out a new combination of young riders, with their eyes on bigger races to come later in the year, as Sports Director Gorazd Štangelj explains:

“Our out and out leader is Antonio Tiberi. There’s not much that needs saying about him! Damiano Caruso will be his shadow and do everything for Antonio.

For the sprint stages we have Alberto Bruttomesso, with Nicolò Buratti who will be support for both him and the GC riders. 

Then we have a new guy, Afonso Eulálio, who is Portuguese, and I would like to give him a bit of freedom as he’s racing at home and super motivated. Having said that, he also needs to learn how to help the leaders, because later in the season he may find himself on races where that is his job. So this is all part of the learning process for him.

We were hoping to have Mathijs Paasschens with us, who would have been really good support for Bruttomesso in the sprints alongside Vlad van Mechelen, but unfortunately he is injured. So instead we are bringing a rider from our Development Team, the Italian Bryan Olivo.

Analysing the parcours, Štangelj agrees that it provides a real variety of potential outcomes:

We expect a bunch sprint on the first day, as we do on day 3. Stage 2 is a GC stage with a traditional uphill finish which we know well from watching on TV. Stage 4 could be for a big breakaway, but I have my doubts; it could also be for a reduced bunch sprint. That could maybe be a chance for Afonso to do something from the break and show a bit in front of the Portuguese fans and cameras. The last day is an individual time trial with an uphill finish, so is obviously a GC day.

With so many of the sport’s top names on show, and with such an inexperienced line-up, Štangelj says the team has various hopes for their time on the North Atlantic coast.

The startlist is a very high level, with Roglic, Vingegaard, Alaphilippe & Almeida for example. Our objectives are realistic: top 5 overall with Antonio, and for Bruttomesso to get on the podium on a sprint stage. We also want to test the limits of Afonso, and develop him as a rider, which is why he’ll have some freedom in the race.

But our major goal here is for these guys to get used to racing together from now on, as we look towards the Giro d’Italia.

The 51st ‘Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta’ starts from Portimão on Wednesday at 11:50am WET