The Belgian WorldTeam Etixx-QuickStep is a serious candidate to win the 41st edition of the Volta ao Algarve/Tour of Algarve (February 18-22). The teams Bora-Argon 18 and Murias Taldea have also revealed the riders who will be present in Portugal.

Road world champion and Polish time trial champion Michal Kwiatkowski, winner of the Tour of the Algarve in 2014, will again be present in the most international of the Portuguese races, and he is a leading candidate to win. Next to him will be in German time trial champion Tony Martin who will be another of Etixx-QuickStep bets to fight for the yellow jersey that he won in 2011 and 2013. Martin's best weapon is the time trial on the third stage.

Czech road champion Zdenek Styba, is another man to take into account, just as Belgian sprinter Gianni Meersman who already knows how to win the sprint in Albufeira where the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve/Tour of Algarve ends. He started this season in a good way, winning Sunday's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Michal Golas, Yves Lampaert, Petr Vakoc and Julien Vermote complete the roster

The professional continental team Bora Argon-18 has also sent the registration form to the organizes of the Volta ao Algarve/Tour of Algarve. Among the eight chosen, Portuguese José Mendes will be the leader and he will be joined bt Czech Time Trial Champion Jan Barta and young Germans Phil Bauhaus, winner of two stages in the Tour of Portugal, and Emanuel Buchmann, one of the best riders in the last edition of Tour de l'Avenir. Cesare Benedetti, Bjorn Thurau, Andreas Schillinger and Christoph Pfingsten complete the team.

The continental team of the Basque Country, Murias Taldea, will compete with a mix of young and more experienced riders, including two men who have represented top level teams, Egoitz García and Garikoitz Bravo. The six remaining riders are Aritz Bagues, Mikel Bizkarra, Imanol Estévez, Ion Ander Insausti, Unai Intziarte and Beñat Txoperena.

The peloton of the 41st Volta ao Algarve/Tour of Algarve will have 22 teams, eight of them from the WorldTour level: Astana, Cannondale-Garmin, Ettix-QuickStep, Katusha, Lotto NL-Jumbo, Lotto Soudal, Movistar and Sky.

Five teams will be of professional continental category: Bora-Argon 18, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, RusVelo, Team Roompot and Wanty-Groupe Gobert. The organizers have also ensured the presence of the six Portuguese continental teams – Efapel, LA Alumínios-Antarte, Louletano-Ray Just Energy, Rádio Popular-Boavista, Tavira and W52-Quinta da Lixa - as well as the continental teams ActiveJet, Murias Taldea and Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies.

Provisional start list

Astana: Michele Scarponi, Luis León Sánchez, Rein Taaramae Valerio Agnoli, Davide Malacarne, Maxat Ayazbayev, Arman Kamyshev and Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev.

Cannondale-Garmin: André Cardoso, Davide Formolo, Kristijan Koren, Sebastian Langeveld, Alan Marangoni, Ramunas Navardauskas, Kristoffer Skjerping and Dylan van Baarle.

Etixx-QuickStep: Michal Kwiatkowski, Michal Golas, Yves Lampaert, Tony Martin, Gianni Meersman, Zdenek Stybar, Petr Vakoc and Julien Vermote.

Katusha: Tiago Machado, Sergey Chernetski, Yuri Trofimov, Alexander Porsev, Rudiger Selig, Alberto Losada, Anton Vorobyev and Alexander Kolobnev.

Lotto NL-Jumbo: Robert Gesink, Sep Vanmarcke, Tom van Asbroeck, Paul Martens, Bram Tankink, Robert Wagner, Kevin de Weert and Maarten Wynants.

Lotto Soudal: André Greipel, Tony Gallopin, Jens Debusschere, Jurgen Roelandts, Sean de Bie, Stig Broeckx, Marcel Sieberg and Vegard Breen. 

Movistar: Jonathan Castroviejo, Rubén Fernández, John Gadret, Jesús Herrada, José Herrada, Ion Izaguirre, Adriano Malori and Marc Soler.

Sky: Ian Boswell, Andy Fenn, Sebastian Henao, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Richie Porte, Salvatore Puccio, Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas.

Bora-Argon 18: Jan Barta, Phil Bauhaus, Cesare Benedetti, Emanuel Buchmann, José Mendes, Bjorn Thurau, Andreas Schillinger e Christoph Pfingsten.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA: Ricardo Vilela, José Gonçalves, Ángel Madrazo, Heiner Parra, Hugh Carthy, Omar Fraile, Luis Mas and Fabricio Ferrari.

RusVelo: Ivan Balykin, Igor Boev, Petr Ignatenko, Artem Nych, Roman Maikin, Artem Ovechkin, Kirill Pozdnyakov and Mamyr Stash.

Team Roompot: Michel Kreder, Raymond Kreder, Wesley Kreder, Jesper Asselman, Maurits Lammertink, Berden de Vries, Tim kerkhof and Mike Terpstra.

Wanty-Goupe Gobert: Bjorn Leukemans, Marco Marcato, Francis de Greef, Roy Jans, Jan Ghijselinck, Frederik Veuchelen, Kevin Van Melsen and James Vanlandschoot.

ActiveJet: Mario González, Lukasz Bodnar, Michal Podlaski, Pawel Brylowski, Pawel Franczak, Arkadiusz Owsian, Pawel Bernas e Kamil Gradek.

Murias Taldea: Aritz Bagues, Garikoitz Bravo, Mikel Bizkarra, Imanol Estévez, Egoitz García, Ion Ander Insausti, Unai Intziarte e Beñat Txoperena.

Oputm: Jesse Anthony, Scott Zwizanski, Thomas Zirbel, Eric Young, Ryan Anderson, Bradley Huff, William Routley and Phil Gaimon.

Stages

1st Lagos – Albufeira, 166,7 km

2nd Lagoa – Monchique, 197,2 km

3rd Vila do Bispo – Cabo de S. Vicente, 19 km (ITT)

4th Tavira – Malhão, 218,3 km

5th Almodôvar – Vilamoura, 184,9 km