Team Greens will kick off their 2014 international campaign by taking part in the UCI Tour of Algeria.

The seven-day event will start with an 83km city-circuit race in Algiers tomorrow before heading south where the six-man team will race between 150 to 170km daily until the final stage next Friday in the city centre of Oran.

The race, part of the UCI Africa Tour, is a 2.2 category event featuring professional riders from Europe as well as national teams from African countries.

The Tour of Algeria has a long history, dating back to 1945, and is considered as the biggest cycling race in the African continent.

This will be Team Greens’ third participation in this tour. The selection is made up of Etienne Bonello, captain, James Mifsud, Gerard Said, Jeffrey Borg, Christian Formosa and Marco Fiorilla.

The team is being assisted by experienced team manager and mechanic Charles Sammut and sports therapist Joseph Buttigieg.

“The Tour of Algeria represents a great challenge for our team,” Bonello said in a Team Greens statement.

“This year, we have prepared really well to cope with the demands of this race.

“At this level, the speed is much higher and the distances longer than we are used to locally.

“The road to Oran will take us over high peaks but this is the only way to improve.”