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Nothing to worry about for anyone taking a leisurely cycle ride in this part of Portugal, but for the professional riders in this year's Tour of the Algarve, things were slightly crazy as they arrived in Albufeira during the February event.

Normally when a professional bike race arrives in town, roads are closed to traffic while the race convoy passes through. This ensures safety for everyone concerned and lets the riders use the whole road. However, as the end of the first day of this year's Volta ao Algarve approached Albufeira, the local police hadn't quite got their act together and there were cars and trucks still driving down the route. For a few kilometres, chaos ensued but fortunately as the race reached the 4 kilometers to go marker all was back to normal, no harm was done and the beautiful town of Albufeira was able to welcome the Tour safely.

The route of the Algarve Tour, which lasts for five days in total, traveled next from Sagres to Lagos on a long trip of over 200 kilometres. Day three saw the race route wind its way between Castro Marim and Alto do Malhao. The route for day four took the riders from Cacela across to the harbour town of Tavira, a direct distance of only 7 miles, but the race chose a hillier, 170 kilometre route. A short stage on the final day travelled between Lagoa and Portimao.

For the competitors, this early season race on the Algarve made perfect sense, with weather conditions dry and mild and the gentle rolling hills providing a steady warm up for the much harder routes in store as the season progresses.