Male Team 14 - 18 Feb
Volta ao Algarve
771 Kilometers 5 Stages
Very few things have changed -actually, only one- on the Volta ao Algarve’s beautiful scenery and routes for its 44th edition in 2018: the individual time trial on stage three (Friday 16th) will not be held at the Sagres fortess and the Cabo Sao Vicente -hosting the stage two start in its place-. The race will instead be using the roads surrounding the town of Lagoa, where a 20.3km test will take place with plenty of small climbs in its first part.
The rest of the race’s route is very much known by usual competitors. There will be two days for sprinters: the inaugural stage on Wednesday 14th, finishing in Lagos, and stage four to Tavira (Saturday 17th), with a 400m finishing slope at 4% gradient -which doesn’t prevent pure specialists from contesting the win-. In turn, the two remaining days will be the decisive ones: a longer, more gentle climb (15.4km, 5% avg.) to Fóia (Thursday 15th), the highest point of the region, will be followed by a short, brutal ascent, the Alto do Malhão (2.7km, 9% avg.), to be climbed twice in the finale of day five (Sunday 18th).