168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Remco Evenepoel is, according to those around him at 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, a calmer and more mature bike rider in 2022. Mild misgivings about the inclusion of gr🌄avel on the route notwithstanding, he was certainly magnanimous in defeat to Aleksandr Vlasov at the recent Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, offering fist bumps of congratulations to the men who finished ahead of him at Alto Las Antenas Maigmó Tibi.

Even so, one can safely assume that Evenepoel’s new-fou𒈔nd zen has its limits. Defeat in Valencia ended his striking sequence of never having lost a leader’s jersey in a stage race – he has seven multi-day wins on 💃his palmarès – and, if his short career to date is any guide, a forceful response would appear imminent.

Enter the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Volta ao Algarve, the next race on Evenepoel’s programme. 🐬;

Two years ago, he delivered his final exhibition before t🐻he first coronavirus lockdown by landing two stages and overall victory here, and he returns to Portugal this week as the man most likely to carry off the spoils in a race that features two familiar – and gravel-free – summit finishes, as well as a 32km individual time trial.

There are 174 other riders in the Volta ao Algarve peloton, including a 🧜former Tour de France winner and a brace of former world champions, but Evenepoel is not 𒀰simply the pre-race favourite, he is the overwhelming box office attraction. 

It 🌠has ever 𝄹been thus. Few riders have ever done their growing up quite as publicly as Evenepoel, the only rider to make junior races a marquee event in World Championships week. Win or lose, the headlines in Portugal will again be his.

The riders

But even if Evenepoel is central to the narrative, there are plenty of other subplots to be followed in the Algarve this w𒊎eek. 

Several of them are shoehorned into the Ineos Grenadiers team, where 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Geraint Thomas starts his 16th season as a professional in an event where he has shone in the past. He is joined by the future of the British team, as newly-minted cyclo-cross world champion 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tom Pidcock begins his road campaign alongside 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Ethan Hayter, who placed second overall last year, and new arrival Ben Tulett. A deep line-up a♛lso sees Dylan van Baarle and Michal Kwiatkowski – overall winner here in 💟2014 and 2018 – get their years underway in Portugal. For Ineos Grenadiers and everyone else, the early season races are becoming more and more important. 

The Volta ao Algarve also sees 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tobias Foss begin his build-up to the Giro d’Italia at the head of a solid Jumbo-Visma squad, while 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:David Gaudu leads the line for Groupama-FDJ and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Sergio Higuita is et🥃 to make his European debut for Bora-Hansgrohe after winning the Colombian national road race title on S🍰unday.

On the evidence of early-season form, meanwhile, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) might well be the rider most likely to challenge Evenepoel. The American was climbing very well at the Challenge Mallorca, where he was an impressive solo winner of the Trofeo Calvia, while the stage 4 time trial here should also b🎀e to his l🌺iking.

His fellow countryman 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Joe Dombrowski is on han💙d for his Astana-Qazaqstan debut, though the team is without another new arrival, Gianni Moscon, du🍌e to illness. 

Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) moves on to Portugal after a fast start in Mallorca, though the sheer length ไof the time trial likely places a ceiling on what he can achieve in the overall standings.

As ever, the Volta ao Algarve offers something for everything, and there are two clear opportunities for the sprinters. Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) looked imperious in the Volta a la Com🦋unitat Valenciana and he has already won twice on the Volta ꦰao Algarve’s stage 1 finish on the Avenida dos Descobrimentos in Lagos.

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) have also both started 2022 with two wins and a sparkling run of form, and they will inevitably be in the mix this week. Alexander Kristoff opened his account for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert with a win in Almeria, while Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) and Jake Stewart (Grouapama-FDJ) will all be ꩵkeen to get off the mark here.

Elsewhere, men with designs on Opening Weekend, such as Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), will look to bank warm weather miles in Portugal, while Stefan Kü🔯;ng (Groupama-FDJ) is always a strong performer inꦓ the Volta ao Algarve time trial and he will surely enjoy the extra length this time out.

Defending champion João Rodrigues (W52/FC Porto) leads the home challenge, and although the field is deeper than it was during last year’s pandemic-postponed May edition, he will 🍃expect to be up there in the uphill finales at Fóia and Malhão, as will his teammate and 2021 Volta a Portugal winner Amaro Antunes.

W52/FC Porto are one o🍨f ten Portuguese squads in the peloton and therein lies a sizeable part of the char🐓m of this event. The Portuguese pelotão, composed of teams that are part of bigger sporting clubs, has for decades endured almost independently of trends beyond its borders. 

The Volta a Portugal, by dint of its summer date, has always been an event utterly dominated by domest🐼ic ℱriders and teams. The Volta ao Algarve, with its early slot on the calendar, allows the rest of the world to sample a flake of a unique cycling culture.

The route

Every year, the Volta♍ ao Algarve offers mild variations on a familiar theme, and the 2022 edition has a familiar feel, with two flat🍸 days, two uphill finishes and a time trial. 

That balanced combination has been drawin🌊g WorldTour teams to this corner of the world since the Volta ao Algarve moved to its February date almost twenty years ago, and the organisation have seen no reason to tinker unnecessarily with that formula.

Wednesday's opening stage from Portimao to Lagos winds inland to take in some undulating terrain around the climb to Nave, but the sprinters will contest the win on the Av🍃enida dos Descobrimentos. 

The first rendezvous for the GC men comes on the second day as the race climbs into the hills of the Serra de Monchique. The long ascents of Pomba and Picota serve as a preamble to the Alto da Fóia (7.7km at 6.1%), where Tadej Pogačar announced himself in 2019 and where Evenepoel unleashed a thunderous late acceleration twelve months later.

The category 4 climb of Bengado could provoke late frissons on stage 3 to Faro, but the sprinters&rs𝓡quo; teams still have more than 20km to ensure another bunch finish. This year, the time trial moves to the penultimate day and the organisers have tacked on an extra dozen kilometres to the usual menu to create a 32km test from Vila Real de Santo António to Tavira. The distance is particularly striking given that this year’s entire Giro d'Italia has just 26km across its three weeks. 

In a five-day stage race, this time trial will carry outsized weight and shortens Evenepoel&rsꦰquo;s odds of overall victory still further.

The grand finale, meanwhile, comes once again on the Alto do Malhão, which is tackled twice on stage 5. The ascents of Picota, Vermelhos and Alte are also on the route, but the sho🌳rt and sharp haul up the category 2 Malhão (2.6km at 9.5%) is where the race will ignite.

Barry Ryan will be at the Volta ao Algarve for Cyclingnews, providing exclusive news, interviews and analysis from the race.