Remco Evenpoel (Quick Step - Alpha Vinyl) will make his 2022 season debut at the five-day Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in early February.

Evenpoel was scheduled to compete in the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina. The Vuelta a San Juan was scheduled for February 2-6, the same dates as the Valenciana stage race, but the South American event was canceled due to a pandemic.

"I am happy to go to Valenciana. I love running in Spain, the climate and the fans are great, and I had success there as early as my first professional season.

"I can't wait for the season to start. I had a good preparation over the winter and I'm more relaxed than last year. I'm looking forward to a solid year and stepping up in a better direction and winning here and there."

Evenpeol's 2022 season will begin with stage races and one-day classics before heading to Verta a España at the end of the summer.

The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was postponed to April last year due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but in 2022 it will return to its traditional early season format and is the preferred first stage race of the year for many top competitors. [Vincenzo Nibali (Astana-Cazakstan), Fabio Jacobsen (Quick Step-Alfa Vinyl), Jacob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorias) and others. Fifteen of the 18 World Tour teams will participate in the first 2. Pro category event of 2022.

The organizers of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana will start with a hilly 173 km stage with a final climb at 3 km from the finish Torralba del Pinar.

Following the flat course between Betela and Trento in stage 2, the toughest day on this year's route is unquestionably stage 3. Starting in Alicante, this 156km stage includes five mountain sections and a 3km dirt road race in the town of Las Antenas del Maigumo.

The final two stages of the 2022 edition are both likely to be group sprints. Stage 4 will run between Orihuela, home of Bernardo Ruiz, the oldest living Grand Tour winner, who won the 1948 Vuelta a España, and the coastal resort of Torrevieja.

Stage 2 is a traditional short stage between Paterna and the capital Valencia.

Spanish fans will be looking to Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who chose Valenciana as the first stage race of his final professional season. Valverde has won the race three times in his career, most recently in 2018.