The 2024 road racing season is now well underway, with riders heading for the sun around the world to kick off their seasons, with Portugal and the 2024 Volta ao Algarve on the menu for a swathe of the peloton's top riders.
The race, which runs from February 14-18, gives riders a chance to get up to speed at this early point in the season ahead of bigger goals to come in the spring.
Cyclingnews will bring you full live coverage, reports, results, news, interviews and analysis of the 2024 Volta ao Algarve. Read on to find out how to watch the Bessèges via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
There are plenty of big names heading to the Algarve this week, with a fierce GC battle expected as the riders take on the traditional mountain finishes at the Alto da Fóia and the finishing Alto do Malhão as well as the new 22km stage 4 time trial in Albufeira.
The race will be headlined by the return of 2020 and 2022 champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who will be accompanied by new teammate and right-hand man Mikel Landa.
2023 winner Dani Martínez will be joined at Bora-Hansgrohe by Sergio Higuita, while other big GC names include Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease A Bike), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Tom Pidcock, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), and Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates).
Other major names set to take the start in Portimão include Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), and local favourite Rui Costa along with his EF Education-EasyPost teammate Ben Healy.
Read on for all the information on how to watch the 2024 Volta ao Algarve.
How to watch the Volta ao Algarve in the USA & Canada
The 2024 Volta ao Algarve will be aired by Max in the USA. A subscription to the service will set you back $10 per month or $100 per year with ads, $16/$150 for an ad-free experience, or $200 per year for the 'Ultimate' package, which includes additional devices and 4k resolution where available.
In addition to that, you'll need to pay for the B/R Sports add-on, which costs an extra $10 per month.
For Canadian viewers, FloBikes will be your port of call. A subscription will set you back CAN$150 for the year or CAN$29.99 on a monthly basis.
How to watch the Volta ao Algarve in the UK
In the UK, live coverage of the race will continue to be broadcast via Eurosport and Discovery+ – with the same commentators that featured on GCN+.
A 'standard' subscription to Discovery+, which includes Eurosport's cycling coverage, will set you back £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. The package includes year-round cycling streams as well as other live sports, including snooker, tennis, motorsports, the Paris Olympic Games, and more.
A premium subscription, which includes all that plus TNT Sports (Premier League, Champions League and Europa League football plus rugby, wrestling, UFC, and MotoGP) costs an additional £29.99 per month.
How to watch the Volta ao Algarve around the world
The Volta ao Algarve will be broadcast for free on SBS on Demand for Australian audiences. For those away from home, you can still watch the race for free using a VPN (details below).
Local TV coverage comes courtesy of TVI24 and Eurosport. The race will be broadcast to 120 countries around the world, with Eurosport catering to the streaming needs of many of those countries.
Best VPN for streaming live cycling
If you are outside of your home region and need to access your live streaming services to watch the action, you may find your access to be geo-restricted.
In this case, a VPN service will come in handy, allowing your computer to pretend it's home and let you log into your streaming accounts to catch all of the racing action.
Our colleagues at TechRadar thoroughly tested several VPN services and came up with a few great recommendations below.
There are a couple other very good options that are safe, reliable and offer good bandwidth for streaming sports. Check out the best two options below - NordVPN and the best budget option, Surfshark.
2024 Volta ao Algarve schedule
| Stage | Date | Location | Times (GMT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | February 14 | Portimão - Lagos | 11:45 - 16:46 |
| Stage 2 | February 15 | Lagoa - Alto da Fóia | 12:00 - 14:27 |
| Stage 3 | February 16 | Vila Real de Santo António - Tavira | 11:55 - 16:48 |
| Stage 4 | February 17 | Albufeira - Albufeira ITT | 12:15 - 15:48 |
| Stage 5 | February 18 | Faro - Alto do Malhão | 11:25 - 15:43 |
