Male Team 14 - 18 Feb Volta ao Algarve
Volta ao Algarve 
771 Kilometers 5 Stages
Participants list
- Nuno Bico
- Nelson Oliveira
- Jaime Rosón
- Eduardo Sepúlveda
- Jasha Sütterlin
- Rafa Valls
TV
The ending part of all five stages will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2, starting at 5pm CET / 4pm local.
Bonus
There won't be any time bonuses awarded during the race. Ties will be solved with the hundredths/ thousands of second from the ITT, starting on stage three, and the position countback, as second criterion and before the time trial.
Score
The Abarca Sports organisation won the Volta ao Algarve 18 years ago with Alex Zülle (2000). Other than that GC win, the squads managed by Eusebio Unzué have obtained five stage victories, the latest one notched up by Jonathan Castroviejo at last year's Sagres ITT.
Stages
Analysis
01
Albufeira - Lagos (192.6km)
14 February
- 01 Dylan Groenewegen LottoNLJumbo 4h47'58"
- 02 Arnaud Demare Groupama-FDJ m.t.
- 03 Hugo Hofstetter Cofidis m.t.
- 22 Jasha Sütterlin Movistar Team m.t.
- 32 Jaime Rosón Movistar Team m.t.
- 55 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team m.t.
- 59 Nuno Bico Movistar Team m.t.
- 81 Eduardo Sepúlveda Movistar Team m.t.
- 126 Rafa Valls Movistar Team +1'01"
02
Sagres - Alto da Fóia (187.9km)
15 February
- 01 Michal Kwiatkowski Team Sky 4h49'51''.
- 02 Bauke Mollema Trek-Segafredo m.t.
- 03 Geraint Thomas Team Sky m.t.
- 05 Jaime Rosón Movistar Team m.t.
- 17 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team + 10''
- 22 Rafa Valls Movistar Team + 27''
- 33 Eduardo Sepúlveda Movistar Team + 48
- 72 Jasha Sütterlin Movistar Team + 3'53''
- 108 Nuno Bico Movistar Team + 9'37''
03
Lagoa (CRI) (20.3km)
16 February
- 01 Geraint Thomas Team Sky 24'09"
- 02 Victor Campenaerts Lotto Soudal +11"
- 03 Stefan Küng BMC Racing Team +19"
- 05 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team +22"
- 17 Jasha Sütterlin Movistar Team +1'12"
- 21 Jaime Rosón Movistar Team +1'18"
- 32 Rafa Valls Movistar Team +1'37"
- 58 Eduardo Sepúlveda Movistar Team +2'10"
- 122 Nuno Bico Movistar Team +3'45"
04
Almodôvar - Tavira (199.2km)
17 February
- 01 Dylan Groenewegen LottoNLJumbo 4h33'49''
- 02 Matteo Pelucchi Bora-Hansgrohe m.t.
- 03 John Degenkolb Trek-Segafredo m.t.
- 23 Jaime Rosón Movistar Team + 3''
- 27 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team m.t.
- 103 Eduardo Sepúlveda Movistar Team m.t.
- 107 Jasha Sütterlin Movistar Team m.t.
- 126 Rafa Valls Movistar Team m.t.
- 127 Nuno Bico Movistar Team + 31''
05
Faro - Alto do Malhão (173.5km)
18 February
- 01 Michal Kwiatkowski Team Sky 4h18'02''
- 02 Rúben Guerreiro Trek-Segafredo +4''
- 03 Serge Pauwels Dimension Data +8''
- 26 Jaime Rosón Movistar Team +1'50"
- 49 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team +2'41"
- 69 Eduardo Sepúlveda Movistar Team +3'39"
- — Nuno Bico Movistar Team DNF
- — Jasha Sütterlin Movistar Team DNS
- — Rafa Valls Movistar Team DNS
Analysis
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).