From the beautiful sand dunes of the Rub Al Khali desert, to the state-of-the-art flood-lit Yas Marina Circuit, the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour next month promises to be a spectacular event, according to star sprinter Mark Cavendish.
The jerseys for the four-stage race, scheduled for October 8-11 2015, were unveiled at Yas Marina, with Tour ambassador Cavendish in attendance.
Each of the four jerseys – designed by Castelli – reflects a colour from the UAE flag with the leader’s general classification jersey being red, the points classification one is green, the best young rider’s is white, and the intermediate sprint classification is black.
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“Bikes and jerseys are an inseparable couple and cycling fans know how important the jersey’s reputation is for the success of a stage tour,” said Aref Al Awani, the secretary general of Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), who are joint org-anisers with Italian company RCS Sport.
“Ours is a choice of identity: red, green, white and black, representing the UAE’s unity and it is important to carry on this context through sport.”
The Abu Dhabi Tour will see riders traverse a total of 555km starting with the Liwa stage which is a flat one predominantly contested in the Rub Al Khali desert, followed by the Capital Stage, which begins and ends at Yas Island but takes the cyclists to the city Corniche and back, the Al Ain stage, which ends with a 12 per cent climb at Jebel Hafeet, and the fourth and final Yas stage which consists of 20 laps of Yas Marina Circuit.
That fourth stage will be a night race, held under the floodlights of the iconic Formula One track.
“It would be an incredible end to a year of cycling. We’ll finish here at Yas Marina Circuit which in itself is incredible, it’s a world famous motor circuit, I’ve watched the Formula One on TV and watched the cars go around, to be able to race here is great, and to do it at night, it’ll be a fitting end to a great cycling season,” Cavendish told Sport360°.
The Abu Dhabi Tour is the latest in a series of endeavours from the UAE government to push cycling forward and capitalise on the international publicity the sport brings to the country.
RCS Sport – also organisers of the Giro – and Dubai Sports Council planted the seeds last year with the first edition of the Dubai Tour and the Italian organisers have now branched out to the capital emirate.
“For RCS it’s a privilege to work with the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Sports Councils. Both are working together to promote the UAE as a country so I think it’s something to be proud of.
"To be one country with two stage races like this in cycling is not something that is very frequent,” said Lorenzo Giorgetti, RCS Sports and Events DMCC CEO.
“I think it will grow the fan base, the community, the amateur scene, the infrastructure… everything around cycling. So this is just the tip of the iceberg then all the rest will be built and this will be just the spotlight, the advertisement of the fact that this country is becoming every day more bike-friendly.”
Thanks to the agreement signed between ADSC and Velon group of WorldTour teams, an A-list field, headlined by Cavendish, is expected to compete in the Abu Dhabi Tour. The full list of participants will be revealed tomorrow with organisers hinting that only “very few” big names will be missing.
After the final stage, an inaugural UCI Cycling Gala will be hosted by the world governing body in collaboration with the UAE Cycling Federation and ADSC at the Du Forum where the best riders, teams and national federations in road cycling in 2015 will be honoured.
