Tony Martin to lead Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step at the Volta ao Algarve 2012
With two overall victories in its bag, Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step is currently leading the 2012 season. The Belgian side has announced earlier that Tony Martin will lead the side at the Volta ao Algarve 2012.
The 38th edition of the UCI 2.1 ranked event is scheduled from February 15-19th and a total number of 20 teams are shortlisted for the race.
11 UCI Pro Tour Teams, 4 Professional Continental and 5 UCI Continental teams are also among the teams contesting the event.
Jose Manuel Marques won the first edition of the race back in 1960, whereas Belmiro Silva holds the honour of winning it for a maximum number of three times, in 1977, 1981 and 1984.
German professional cyclist, Tony Martin, won the most recent edition of the race, along with the individual time trial, stage five.
The cyclist will start his 2012 campaign at the Portuguese race and will try to defend his 2011 title at the event.
Rik Van Slycke, the team’s Sports Director, is certain that Marin is a perfect choice to represent Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step at the race.
He briefed, "It will be important to understand to which point Tony is ready for the next races. The race features an uphill finish, but this shouldn't make a difference for the men who are jostling for the general classification".
The 26-year-old will be accompanied by his compatriot Gerald Ciolek. Van Slycke explained that the two youngsters Kwiatkowski and Ciolek can also be quite helpful during the race.
"On the team we can also count on the young Kwiatkowski and on Ciolek, who is pedalling well and who still has some more room to grow. The team is motivated and ready to take to battle on the road," he claimed.
The Belgian team had a terrific start to the 2012 season. Levi Leipheimer helped the side with two stage wins and the overall victory at the Tour de San Luis 2012.
Francesco Chicchi and Tom Boonen also secured stages during the race. Tom Boonen filled his bag with the overall win at the Tour of Qatar, also the stage 1 and 4 wins at the race.
The Belgian team is currently leading the team’s classifications with a total number of ten victories in the season already.
Gerald Ciolek, Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra, Matteo Trentin, Martin Velits, Dries Devenyns, Michal Kwiatkowski and Nikolas Maes will lead Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step at the Volta ao Algarve 2012.
It will be interesting to see if Martin can meet the expectations of his Sports Director by claiming a podium spot at the race.
The Belgian side also announced its final roster for the Tour of Oman as Gert Steegmans, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Stijn Vandenbergh, Peter Velits, Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Bert Grabsch and Frantisek Rabon will represent the squad at the Oman race.
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