Startlist Volta ao Algarve 2026 | Riders: Almeida, Ayuso, Seixas, Ganna, Philipsen, Lipowitz and Onley

The 2026 Volta ao Algarve will take place from the 18th to 22nd of February, and as is the case every year, will be one of the most fought out early-season stage-races. It features stages for the sprinters, climbers, timetrialists and classics specialists all to fight for results and work on their form. We take a look at its startlist.

The 'Algarvia' is Portugal's most prestigious international race, and a race with immense amount of history as well as many different phases. Its first edition was in 1936, won by Joaquim Fernandes, but it would have to wait until 1960 to have its second edition. After three consecutive years, the event took another large break and only in 1977 was the event finally on its tracks and taking place on a yearly basis. Until 1997, it was a race that was won by Portuguese riders, with the exception of the Brasilian Cássio Freitas.

Many of the country's best, some of which remain very active in the current peloton as team owners or event organizers, can be found ont he list of winners such as Joaquim Andrade, Joaquim Gomes, Fernando Carvalho, Vitor Gamito and Cândido Barbosa. In 2000, Alex Zulle won the race, coming from a second place at the previous year's Tour de France. The race at this time transitioned into an event where more and more the international teams took control over the top results, and the startlists began showing more quality than even a large part of the World Tour calendar.

Floyd Landis won it back in 2004; Alessandro Petacchi won it in 2007; Stijn Devolder won it in 2008 ahead of his first Tour of Flanders win; Alberto Contador won it in 2009 and 2010 - building on two Tour de France wins... And the list of winners has simply not had a single miss when it came to huge talents (except for the 2021 triumph of João Rodrigues who was later suspended for doping.

Tony Martin, Richie Porte, Michal Kwiatkowski, Geraint Thomas, Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel (on three occasions), Daniel Martínez and Jonas Vingegaard have been the riders who have won this race since 2020. These riders have won multiple Tour de France editions, all Grand Tours; multiple world titles both on the road and time trial; and several of them have been the most dominating figures of their respective (and current) generations. It is a race where just making it onto the podium is often a monumental task. In 2025, Jonas Vingegaard beat João Almeida in the race after winning the final time trial into the Alto do Malhão.

Download the startlist in A4. 12 out of the 18 World Tour teams will be at the start of the race and this does not include defending champion Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike; but it does include many of the world's best riders on multiple terrains.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG have local heroes João Almeida, António Morgado and Brandon McNulty; Lidl-Trek have Juan Ayuso and Jakob Söderqvist; Decathlon CMA CGM Team has Paul Seixas and Matthew Riccitello; Alpecin - Premier Tech has sprinters Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves; Team Jayco AlUla have Pascal Ackermann; INEOS Grenadiers have Filippo Ganna, Kévin Vauquelin, Oscar Onley, Ben Turner and Thymen Arensman; Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have Florian Lipowitz and Daniel Martínez; Lotto-Intermarché have Arnaud de Lie and Jarno Widar; Soudal - Quick-Step have Dylan van Baarle and Paul Magnier...

EF Education-EasyPost, NSN Cycling Team and Team Picnic PostNL are also present; as is the case with all nine Portuguese continental teams; whilst at ProTeam level we also have Tudor Pro Cycling Team also come in with Julian Alaphilippe and Stefan Küng.

Dewulf, Stan

Labrosse, Jordan

Naesen, Oliver

Pestel, Sander De

Riccitello, Matthew

Seixas, Paul

Staune-Mittet, Johannes

Ayuso, Juan

Kämna, Lennard

Skujiņš, Toms

Söderqvist, Jakob

Teutenberg, Tim Torn

Verona, Carlos

Alaphilippe, Julian

Haller, Marco

Küng, Stefan

Mozzato, Luca

Thalmann, Roland

Voisard, Yannis

Wirtgen, Luc

Andrade, Pedro

De Paula, Victor

Ivanov, Viacheslav

Mesquita, Guilherme

Montez, Alexandre

Pereira, Francisco

Wood, Harrison

Barbas, Rafael

Carvalho, Gonçalo

Dias, Daniel

Linarez, Leangel

Morais, Francisco

Sanchez, Angel

Silva, Bruno

Braguini, Andrey

Bustamante, Adrián

Carvalho, Rui

Castro, Pedro

Moreira, José Miguel

Neves, José

Ribeiro, André

Blackmore, Joe

Frigo, Marco

Hofstetter, Hugo

Kogut, Oded

Neilands, Krists

Pinarello, Alessandro

Tricht, Floris Van

Alves, Rodrigo

Barbosa, Diogo

Campos, Francisco

Campos, Noah

Lasa, Ailetz

Mestre, Guilherme

Silva, Afonso

Bonillo, Iker

Costa, Fábio

Domínguez, David

Rodrigues, Rúben

Rota, Oscar

Silva, João

Silva, Pedro

Carvalho, André

Contte, Tomas

Francisco, Filipe

Leal, Cláudio

Oyarzún, Carlos Iván

Tivani, Nicolás

Viegas, Daniel

Azparren, Xabier Mikel

Christen, Fabio

De La Cruz, David

Frison, Frederik

Gloag, Thomas

Liepiņš, Emīls

Moschetti, Matteo

Bayer, Tobias

Belmans, Lennert

Groves, Kaden

Philipsen, Jasper

Planckaert, Edward

Price-Pejtersen, Johan

Uhlig, Henri

Almeida, João

Giaimi, Luca

Grossschartner, Felix

McNulty, Brandon

Morgado, António

Oliveira, Ivo

Oliveira, Rui

Ackermann, Pascal

Bondt, Dries De

Bouwman, Koen

Engelhardt, Felix

Juul-Jensen, Chris

Krijnsen, Jelte

Pooter, Dries De

Domingues, Duarte

Duarte, Emanuel

Martins, João

Narciso, Diogo

Nunes, Hugo

Oliveira, João

Pinto, Diogo

Balderstone, Abel

Berwick, Sebastian

Guardeño, Jaume

Leitão, Iúri

Molenaar, Alex

Otruba, Jakub

Sorarrain, Gorka

Arensman, Thymen

Ganna, Filippo

Heiduk, Kim

Jungels, Bob

Onley, Oscar

Turner, Ben

Vauquelin, Kévin

Denz, Nico

Lipowitz, Florian

Marit, Arne

Martínez, Daniel

Meeus, Jordi

Tratnik, Jan

Vermeersch, Gianni

Fernández, Rubén

Guérin, Alexis

Leijnse, Enzo

Mesa, Santiago

Miles, Carson

Nych, Artem

Reis, Rafael

Asgreen, Kasper

Battistella, Samuele

Berg, Marijn van den

Hobbs, Noah

Rafferty, Darren

Rodriguez, Juan Felipe

Simmons, Colby

Bittner, Pavel

Ceuster, Milan De

Degenkolb, John

Flynn, Sean

Martinez, Juan Guillermo

Poole, Max

Artz, Huub

Beullens, Cedric

Boven, Luca Van

Giddings, Joshua

Lie, Arnaud De

Slock, Liam

Widar, Jarno

Baarle, Dylan van

Gestel, Dries Van

Lampaert, Yves

Magnier, Paul

Schachmann, Maximilian

Stuyven, Jasper

Vervenne, Jonathan

Antunes, Tiago

Gonçalves, Diogo

Lopes, Lucas

Peña, Jesús David

Silva, Joaquim

Swirbul, Keegan

Tavares, Gonçalo