Cavendish heads impressive Dubai Tour line-up

Sport360 staff 14:20 03/02/2015
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  • Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)

    Team: Etixx-Quick Step
    Age: 29
    Rider Type: Sprinter

    Cavendish is widely considered to be the fastest road cyclist in the world. He won gold on the track in the Madison for Team GB at the 2005 and 2008 World Championships, but he has competed on the road since 2006. His 25 Tour de France stage wins put him third on the all-time list, while he is fourth on the all-time list of Grand Tour stage wins with 43. In 2012 he became the first person to win the final Champs-Elysees stage in the Tour de France in four consecutive years.

    Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
    Team: Movistar Team
    Age:34
    Rider Type: All-rounder

    Valverde is seen as a rarity in cycling, combining different specialities in road bicycle racing, being a strong climber, sprinter and time-trialist in latter years. The Spaniard is known as ‘The Bullet’ or ‘Green Bullet’ and his biggest wins have been the 2009 Vuelta a Espana, the Liege–Bastogne–Liege in 2006 and 2008 and the 2006 UCI ProTour series championship. He has twice collected the silver medal in the UCI Road World Championships, in 2003 and 2005.

    Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
    Team: Astanax
    Age: 30
    Rider Type: All-rounder

    Considered one of the strongest stage race riders in the world today and it’s easy to see why. ‘The Shark’ has been ruthlessly impressive in his relatively short career. He only turned professional in 2005 but has completed cycling’s hallowed treble – winning the Vuelta a Espana in 2010, the Giro d’Italia in 2013, and the 2014 Tour de France. The wins made the Italian one of only six cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours in their career. He has also won two editions of the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.

    Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
    Team: BMC Racing Team
    Age: 32
    Rider Type: Classics Specialist

    Perhaps best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, the Belgian is one of two riders to have won three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne and Liege–Bastogne–Liege – in a single season (2011). A Classics specialist, Gilbert has won several, including two Paris–Tours, two Giro di Lombardias, three Amstel Gold Races, La Fleche Wallonne (2011), Liege–Bastogne–Liege and the Clasica de San Sebastián.

    Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain)
    Team: Katusha
    Age: 35
    Rider Type: Climber/Classics specialist

    Has enjoyed a distinguished career with some notable results, including second place at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, third in the general classification of the Vuelta a Espana in 2010 and 2012, and third in the 2013 Tour de France. Rodriguez is nicknamed ‘Purito’ (little cigar) after he passed some team-mates in a training camp early in his career appearing to smoke a cigar, suggesting he was doing so with ease. His colleagues later made him smoke a real cigar as an initiation.

    Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)
    Team: Team Sky
    Age: 28
    Rider Type: All-rounder

    The Welshman is an accomplished road cyclist, having won the 2004 Junior Paris–Roubaix, the 2010 British National Road Race Championships and the 2011 and 2014 Bayern- Rundfahrt. It is on the track where he has really made a name for himself though, winning Olympic gold at both Beijing in 2008 and at London 2012 in the team pursuit. Thomas has also won the team pursuit at the World Track Championships on three occasions, as well as one individual pursuit title.

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