The second UAE Tour, running from February 23-29, has attracted a star-studded field reflective of its status as the Middle East’s one and only stop on the UCI WorldTour.
Fans across the Emirates will be treated to an elite field headlined by four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome’s return at Team Ineos from June’s career-threatening crash, Movistar’s 2018 UCI Road World Champion Alejandro Valverde and two-times UCI Time Trial World Champion Rohan Dennis of Ineos.
Yet the host outfit will be emboldened by 2019’s steady progression and the startling growth of Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar.
The 21-year-old’s trio of stage triumphs at the Vuelta a Espana showcased a competitor of genuine promise. Colombian rocket Fernando Gaviria also prevailed on stage three at the Giro d’Italia to provide another highlight.
These are solid achievements from a year that was curtailed by granite team leader – and Grand Tour contender – Fabio Aru’s health problems with a constricted iliac artery.
Positivity has soared during a nascent 2020 marked by nine stage wins, Pogacar prevailing at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, plus points-classification supremacy for Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen at Tour Down Under and Juan Sebastian Molano – in familiar surroundings – at Tour Colombia.
Team principal and CEO Mauro Gianetti has been with the emergent competitors since they rose from the ashes of Lampre-Merida three years ago. The ebullient 1995 winner of Liege–Bastogne–Liege is positive in his assessment of what’s been achieved – and what is to come.
“Honestly, we are probably a little bit in advance of my expectations,” says the 55-year-old Swiss when asked to reflect on their genesis. “We also work in long term, step-by-step, but seriously.
“We go in the right way slowly, but with confidence. Big talents like Pogacar and Philipsen, plus the good results of [Diego] Ulissi and Alexander Kristoff, probably is a little bit in advance of the list of targets.
“In 2020, we want to see our young riders – Pogacar, Philipsen, Brandon McNulty, [Fernando] Gaviria, Mikkel Bjerg, [Alessandro] Covi – progressing. We also are glad to see our leader of the big tours, Fabio Aru.
“Guys like Gaviria, Kristoff can continue, also, the progression of the results. We’ve seen with Davide Formolo and David de la Cruz that we have very, very strong riders and have big support for the big tours.
“I want to see a team that is more confident at the start of races. Some riders more in the top of the races.”
The thrill of watching elite riders in a bunch sprint is one the best fan experiences out there #UAETour pic.twitter.com/RvQzjrHfrY
— UAE Tour Official (@uae_tour) February 17, 2020
UAE Team Emirates garnered global attention with 2018’s double stage victories at the Tour de France for Dan Martin and Alexander Kristoff, the latter coming on the final day on the streets of Paris.
2019 hopes at ‘Le Tour’ were hampered by Aru’s absence and a gruelling route. A failure to add any more victories at cycling’s most-famous race should not detract, however, from a promising year.
It contained 29 victories, good enough for fourth place in the UCI’s WorldTour rankings. Success for Norwegian veteran Kristoff at the 81st running of Gent-Wevelgem was complimented by promising cameos from the likes of Belgium’s Philipsen (a stage winner at Tour Down Under) and Pogacar.
“This was the goal – the goal was to progress year by year,” says Gianetti. “But at the same time, the goal was not just to buy some riders.
“The goal was to create our team, create our future. Pogacar, Philipsen, McNulty, Gaviria, Bjerg, Covi.
“We have a very long list of young riders with futures. This is our goal – our goal is to create our team.
“Pogacar is, of course, the big star. But all the other guys are also at a very high level.
“This is why I am happy for the job done in these few years. We are now one of the big teams in the world in results, image and investment in young talent.
“This is something that is very important.”
It's not everyday a whole city can catch a glimpse of more than 100 of the world's leading athletes! Where will you be watching them? #UAETour pic.twitter.com/XzBFf3PmLw
— UAE Tour Official (@uae_tour) February 13, 2020
Mention Pogacar to Gianetti and his cadence quickens. This is an administrator, audibly, in awe of his rider’s ability.
A 40-kilometre solo breakaway on the penultimate stage of the Vuelta sealed his spot on the podium in defiant fashion, plus top spot in the young rider classification. There was further joy at Tour of California and Volta ao Algarve.
The year is not yet two months’ old and the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana has been added to his creaking trophy cabinet.
Aru’s continuing recovery and Martin departure in the off-season has ensured Pogacar will spearhead an assault on the UAE Tour. Gianetti is convinced this “complete star” will keep excelling.
He says: “He is amazing. I have no words to describe this kid; he is intelligent, he is a nice person, he is a complete star.
“Everybody likes him. Not only because he’s strong, but because he’s a nice person.
“He is always smiling; with all his team-mates, staff and with the public.
“He is a phenomenon, a real phenomenon of cycling.”
The UAE Tour has come too soon for Italy’s Aru, but he will not be far from UAE Team Emirates’ minds.
Mystery surrounded a disappointing start to 2019 from the winner of stages on all three Grand Tours, before March’s diagnosis and subsequent angioplasty surgery.
The 29-year-old’s priority at present is getting in shape to tackle this summer’s Tour de France, an event he’s previously placed fifth in.
“Fabio had a very long period of stoppage,” Gianetti states. “He started a little bit later with the training, but this was necessary.
“He has a big morale [boost] and now he feels completely recovered. Now, it is time to work.
“He needs, also, to take a little bit more time to come back at his level. He is one of the riders who can win on the big tours – he has been on the podium three times at the big races.
“Definitely, we hope he’ll only be looking back at his problems. He has a big morale, he’s now in Colombia, helping the team and progressing slowly, slowly.
“His goal for the season is the Tour de France. He’ll be given all the time necessary to come back at his level.”
Home comforts helped UAE Team Emirates to overall success with Portugal’s Rui Costa in 2017’s Abu Dhabi Tour, while Kristoff also notched up a stage in 2018. Last year’s inaugural UAE Tour contained a solitary triumph for Gaviria on the second day.
Gianetti cannot wait to test out his upwardly mobile outfit, once again, on familiar territory.
He says: “We have Gaviria for the sprinting, but I think in the UAE Tour it will be the race, in the whole year, with the biggest sprinters; [Dylan] Groenewegen, [Mark] Cavendish… all of them will be there.
“Not even the Tour de France is as much about sprinters. Also for the GC [General Classification] there is [Chris] Froome, Pogacar, [Alejandro] Valverde.
“Our main goal is the general classification, but, of course, we will not forget to win a stage.”
