The 36th Tour of the Algarve will have this year more cyclists than the Tour de France, with its leading figure undoubtedly being the Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, who will once more be competing for the title that he won in 2009 in the race more popularly known as the “Algarvia”. This cycling competition will be held from 17 to 21 February.

This year’s race will be watched by viewers in millions of homes all around the world, with three 12-minute sets of highlights being broadcast each day on the Eurosport 2 channel. These highlights will be shown at 19.00, 22.00 and 23.30 on this European sports channel and will also be made available to the continent’s public television channels, as a result of agreements signed with Eurovision, according to reports in the “Região Sul” newspaper.

The great novelty in this year’s event – which will enjoy the participation of 23 teams and 182 cyclists – is to be found in the time trial, which has been moved to the last day of the race, ending in Portimão.

The race will cover a distance of 700 kilometres divided into five stages, and is sponsored by both Turismo do Algarve and Crédito Agrícola.

More information about the tour is available at www.voltaalgarve.com.