Skydive Dubai disappointed and surprised by Abu Dhabi Tour snub

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  • Mancebo won a stage at Tour of Alberta this month.

    UAE’s Skydive Dubai-Al Ahli Club have expressed their surprise and disappointment after being left out of the list of teams invited to next month’s Abu Dhabi Tour.

    As the Emirates’ first professional cycling outfit, Skydive Dubai have been flying the nation’s flag at races around the world since they launched at the start of 2014.

    The Dubai-based team have also competed at last year’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour as well as all three editions of the Dubai Tour, where their Moroccan rider Soufiane Haddi captured the young riders’ white jersey last February.

    Team manager Ricardo Martins was surprised to learn his riders were not invited to participate in the second edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour and was unable to convince organisers, Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), to change their minds.

    A total of 11 WorldTour teams, four Professional Continental teams and three Continental teams will take part in the Abu Dhabi showpiece next month.

    Soufiane Haddi won the white jersey at the 2016 Dubai Tour.

    Soufiane Haddi won the white jersey at the 2016 Dubai Tour.

    Skydive Dubai are a Continental team, but were overlooked, with Nasr-Dubai (a new UAE professional side founded this year), Minsk Cycling Club and Team Wiggins extended an invitation instead.

    “We tried by all our means to justify that we should have been in this race due to our performances in other Tours, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours. We are an Emirati team, it makes much more sense to have a Continental team from the UAE rather than one from Belarus, with all due respect to the team from Belarus,” Martins told Sport360°.

    “Abu Dhabi Sports Council said their justification for their decision is that they want top teams and top riders to make this race a top race – okay we cannot compare ourselves with Sky or Movistar or Quickstep of course – but when I see the list of teams invited, I cannot understand their theory. If they put in a Continental team from Belarus, it makes no sense.”

    Earlier this month, Skydive Dubai returned from the Tour of Alberta – a 2.1 race featuring several strong teams like Cannondale and Trek-Segafredo – with a stage win courtesy of their Spanish rider Francisco Mancebo.

    They are also entered in the team time trial at next month’s Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

    “How can the Abu Dhabi Sports Council exclude a team from the country, one that is developing cycling in the country and UAE athletes? Even the UCI accepted us in the World Team Time Trial in Qatar, as one of the few Continental teams going. We have a very good image, we have won lots of races, even UCI recognises our work, and they don’t.

    “We have much bigger acceptance out of the country than inside the country.”

    As organisers, the ADSC reserve the right to invite any team they want.

    When asked why Skydive were not invited, ADSC secretary general Aref Al Awani said: “We are trying to promote cycling here and there are a lot of clubs in the UAE. We have already coordinated with the UAE Cycling Federation that every year we should choose one team.”

    Last year, two UAE teams competed at the Abu Dhabi Tour – Skydive Dubai and a squad representing the UAE Cycling Federation.

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