The French WorldTour team FDJ will attend the 43rd Volta ao Algarve (February15-19) with its main riders and will probably fight for both stages and the overall classification.

Thibaut Pinot, third at the 2014 Tour de France and fourth at the 2016 Volta ao Algarve, will be one of the most importante contenders for the yellow jersey. The French Time Trial Champion will have one of the first big challenges of the season in Algarve 

Swiss Sébastien Reichenbach, Pinot’s lieutenant in stage races – during the 2016 campaign he was fourth at Tirreno – Adriático and had top 15 results at Tour de France, Romandie, Basque Country and Algarve – will also be an outsider for the general classification.

For the sprint finishes, the French team will go to Algarve with winner of the 2016 Milan-Sanremo, Arnaud Démare. He will be supported by his sprint train of Marc Sarreau, Jacopo Guarnieri and William Bonnet. Lithuanian Time Trial Champion, Ignatas Konovalovas and Tobias Ludvigsson are also registered.

The strong FDJ team joins the Katusha-Alpecin high quality block on the provisional peloton of the Volta ao Algarve. Tony Martin, Tiago Machado, Simon Spilak and José Gonçalves are the main names of the Katusha-Alpecin roster for Algarve.