UAE Team Emirates-XRG is pleased to announce its line-up for the five-day Volta Comunitat Valenciana, with João Almeida set to make his season debut for the Emirati squad.
The Portuguese climber will be joined in Spain by experienced riders Marc Soler, Brandon McNulty, Felix Großschartner, and Florian Vermeersch, with young talents Adrià Pericas and Moritz Mauss (Gen Z) rounding out the squad. McNulty is a former stage winner and overall champion of this race in 2024, whilst Almeida took the runner-up spot last season.
Their big goals for the year will come later in the campaign, but the Volta Comunitat Valenciana presents a first opportunity to see how fruitful a winter of training has proved. The same can be said for Vermeersch, who will begin his second season in UAE Team Emirates-XRG colours.
Soler, Großschartner, Pericas, and Mauss, meanwhile, all raced for the team in Spain last week, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG winning the Trofeo Calvià and performing strongly throughout the whole Challenge Mallorca. At the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, the team will be led by Sports Directors Fabio Baldatoand Marco Marzano in the team car.
This year’s edition will begin in Segorbe, in the north of Valenciana, on Wednesday, 4 February, with a stage that looks set to suit the sprinters. Equally, the fifth and final stage will likely go to the fast men. For the general classification contenders, meanwhile, all eyes will turn to stages 2, 3 and 4.
A 17km-long individual time trial will set an initial pecking order on Thursday, before two days in the mountains. Perhaps the Costa Blanca’s most famous climb, the Coll de Rates, will feature on stage 4.
The full UAE Team Emirates-XRG line-up for the UCI 2.Pro race is as follows:
Volta Comunitat Valenciana (Wednesday 4 February – Sunday 8 February) (2.Pro)
– João Almeida (Por)
– Marc Soler (Spa)
– Brandon McNulty (USA)
– Felix Großschartner (AUT)
– Florian Vermeersch (Bel)
– Adrià Pericas (Spa)
– Moritz Mauss (Ger) (Gen Z)
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