Starting on Wednesday the 27th of July, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA will take on Volta a Portugal with a strong and ambitious team comprising of José Gonçalves, Ricardo Vilela, Eduard Prades, Javier Aramendia, Fabricio Ferrari, Antonio Molina, Domingos Gonçalves and the stagiaire Josu Zabala, who makes his debut for the team.
 
The Portuguese stage race opens with a 3.6 km prologue in Oliveira de Azeméis, which is followed by three undulating stages. The queen stage is on day 4 with the mountain top finish on Alto Sra. da Graça. This 8.2 km long category 1 climb has an average gradient of 7.7 % and will most likely have a strong impact on the fight for the general classification. A short but steep uphill finish in Guarda awaits on stage 6, while the sprinters will get their chance to shine the following day, on the flat stage to Castelo Branco, where Caja Rural - Seguros RGA’s Eduard Prades won in 2015. The 10th and final stage of the race is a 32 km individual time trial to Lisbon.
 
José Gonçalves arrives at his home race after a recent altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada. Last year, Gonçalves won a stage in Volta a Portugal and made Top5 in no less than six out of ten stages in total. Together with his teammates, the 27-year-old Portuguese is now eager to shine on home soil once again.
 
José Gonçalves said: 

“My legs are good right now so I will try to do as well as last year. However, Volta a Portugal is a very difficult race with many hard stages. I will do the best I can to fine-tune my shape ahead of Vuelta a España next month”.
 
Sports director Josemi Fernández added: 

“We arrive at Volta a Portugal as motivated as ever. It’s a race we really like and always try to do well in. With riders as José Gonçalves and Prades, we’ll have good options to aim for stage wins as there are many stages well-suited for their characteristics. Vilela is our man for the general classification, while Molina, Ferrari, Aramendia and Domingos Gonçalves will try to join the strong breakaways that can make it all the way. For Zabala, it’s all about learning as much as possible from this experience”.
 
Full line-up for Volta a Portugal (July 27 to August 7):
José Gonçalves, Ricardo Vilela, Eduard Prades, Javier Aramendia, Fabricio Ferrari, Antonio Molina, Domingos Gonçalves & Josu Zabala.