Aru, Mas, Demare, Valgren and Degenkolb headline Volta ao Algarve 

Fabio Aru will race his second event of the 2019 season and captain a young team at the Volta ao Algarve, February 20-24

The young UAE Team Emirates averages 24.7 years old but is full of talent, with Conti and Consonni coming off a great showing in Argentina, Petilli climbing well in Mallorca and Philipsen already winning at the start of the season in Australia. Pogacar’s natural talent and Durasek’s experience complete the team roster.

“After the good start in the Mallorca challenge, I expect that I will find even more good feelings to confirm the rise in my condition,” Aru said. “The tour offers stages that should provide a good testing ground. Like always, I’m going to ride with grit and go for it in the stages most suited to my abilities.”

Amongst the big names taking part in the Portuguese stage race are sprinter John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Enric Mas (Deceuninck – Quick-Step), Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) and Michael Valgren (Dimension Data).

The five-day stage race has a testing course, with three hilly days, one mountain stage and a 20km individual time trial.

Volta ao Algarve start list

Bora-Hansgrohe (Ger) – confirmed
1. ACKERMANN Pascal (Ger)
2. BODNAR Maciej (Pol)
3. DRUCKER Jempy (Ned)
4. KONRAD Patrick (Aut)
5. SCHILLINGER Andreas (Ger)
6. SCHWARZMANN Michael (Ger)
7.  SELIG Rüdiger (Ger)

CCC Team (Pol) – confirmed
11. ANTUNES Amaro (Por)
12. BARTA Will (USA)
13. BERNAS Pawel (Pol)
14. CERNÝ Josef (Cze)
15. KOCH Jonas (Ger)
16. TEN DAM Laurens (Ned)
17. ZOIDL Riccardo (Aut)

Deceuninck – Quick-Step (Bel) – confirmed
21. DECLERCQ Tim (Bel)
22. JAKOBSEN Fabio (Ned)
23. LAMPAERT Yves (Bel)
24. MARTINELLI Davide (Ita)
25. MAS Enric (Esp)
26. SÉNÉCHAL Florian (Fra)
27. ŠTYBAR Zdenek (Cze)

Groupama-FDJ (Fra)
31. DÉMARE Arnaud (Fra)
32. GUARNIERI Jacopo (Ita)
33. KONOVALOVAS Ignatas (Ltu)
34. KÜNG Stefan (Sui)
35. LE GAC Olivier (Fra)
36. SEIGLE Romain (Fra)
37. VAUGRENARD Benoît (Fra)
38. ARMIRAIL Bruno (Fra)

Lotto-Soudal (Bel)
41. DE BUYST Jasper (Bel)
42. DEWULF Stan (Bel)
43. FRISON Frederik (Bel)
44. HAGEN Carl Fredrik (Nor)
45. MAES Nikolas (Bel)
46. NAESEN Lawrence (Bel)
47. VAN GOETHEM Brian (Ned)

Dimension Data (RSA)
51. VALGREN Michael (Den)
52. BAK Lars Ytting (Den)
53. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald (Nor)
54. CUMMINGS Steve (GBr)
55. KING Ben (USA)
56. VERMOTE Julien (Bel)
57. WYSS Danilo (Sui)

Jumbo Visma (Ned)
61. GROENEWEGEN Dylan (Ned)
62. JANSEN Amund Grøndahl (Nor)
63. VAN DER HOORN Taco (Ned)
64. POWLESS Neilson (USA)
65. ROOSEN Timo (Ned)
66. TEUNISSEN Mike (Ned)
67. WYNANTS Maarten (Bel)

Katusha-Alpecin (Sui)
71. DEBUSSCHERE Jens (Bel)
72. GONÇALVES José (Por)
73. GUERREIRO Ruben (Por)
74. POLITT Nils (Ger)
75. ŠPILAK Simon (Slo)
76. STRAKHOV Dmitry (Rus)
77. WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads (Den)

Team Sky (GBr)
81. DE LA CRUZ David (Esp)
82. DUNBAR Eddie (Irl)
83. GEOGHEGAN HART Tao (GBr)
84. POELS Wout (Ned)
85. ROWE Luke (GBr)
86. STANNARD Ian (GBr)
87. VAN BAARLE Dylan (Ned)