Relive the Dubai Tour through every alphabet letter

Sport360 staff 12:56 11/02/2018
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  • The 2018 Dubai Tour ended in style on Saturday with Elia Viviani sprinting to victory in the fifth and final stage.

    Let’s relive it through this year’s “Dubai Alphabet”:

    A for Astana: A team known for specializing in the Grand Tours’ overall classifications, Astana unveiled their new Classics-oriented style of racing with their Danish recruit Magnus Cort Nielsen, second in the Dubai Tour overall (and Best Young Rider), and with Riccardo Minali third in Stage 2 and a constant presence at the front in the attacking parts of the race.

    B for Blue Jersey: the General Classification jersey, sponsored by Commercial Bank of Dubai, was worn by two riders, Dylan Groenewegen of Lotto NL-Jumbo, and Elia Viviani of Quick Step-Floors.

    C for Castelli: 558 jackets, 1174 polo shirts, 408 pairs of pants and 680 hats provided for the officials – plus, of course, the 20 jerseys for the leaders of the Dubai Tour’s four classifications.

    D for Dubai Sports Channel: The host broadcaster provided full live coverage of each and every stage on both Dubai Sports Channel 1 (in Arabic) and Dubai Sports Channel 2 (in English), with race, pre-race and post-race shows totalling 24 hours.

    E for Emirates: The Points Classification was won by Elia Viviani of Quick-Step Floors, leader of the Red Jersey Classification sponsored by Emirates. It was also worn by Dylan Groenewegen of Lotto NL-Jumbo.

    F for Five Editions: The Dubai Tour celebrated its fifth anniversary in style: superb weather, big show from the riders and, during the first stage, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, attending the race.

    G for Guests: 104 VIP guests followed the Dubai Tour from the VIP cars that were supplied by the official partner, Audi Al Nabooda.

    H for Hatta: Hatta has become the perfect venue for a thrilling finale with everything to be won or lost in the last 100 meters of an uphill stretch to the dam. This year the Dubai Tour’s Queen stage registered the win of the Italian Sonny Colbrelli of the Bahrain–Merida Pro Cycling Team.

    I for Intermediate Sprint Classification: The UAE Flag Jersey, sponsored by the Dubai Health Authority, ended up on the shoulders of Frenchman Quentin Valognes who broke away on two occasions, despite being a sprinter for Team Novo Nordisk, a unique team made up of diabetic cyclists only.

    J for Journalists: 198 members of the media attended the Dubai Tour, comprising 150 journalists and 48 photographers, representing 88 international and national media outlets.

    K for Km: The riders of the fifth Dubai Tour covered 841km at the average speed of 44.025km/h.

    L for Likes: 95,000 on Facebook, 13,100 on Twitter and 11,300 on Instagram, +19% compared with the 2017 edition by the start of stage 5.

    M for Meraas: The City Walk area hosted the final sprint for the second year consecutively and, again, was a great show. A big crowd was pumped up by a favorite local radio celebrity, Kris Fade, and was rewarded by the thrilling sprint won by Elia Viviani.

    N for News: During the five days of the Dubai Tour, more than 500 articles have been published each day covering the Dubai Tour across worldwide media. The increased exposure in media outlets from some of the world’s most populated countries – such as China, India and Brazil – is noteworthy.

    O for Official Timekeeper: Brandon McNulty of Rally Cycling received the #dontcrackunderpressure prize offered by Tag Heuer, the Dubai Tour’s official timekeeper.

    P for Peloton: 111 riders started the Dubai Tour on February 6th. 105 completed all five stages. The General classification by teams was won by BMC Racing Team. Their seven riders completed the five stages in 57 hours, 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

    Q for Quick-Step Floors: The Belgian outfit has reached the impressive proportion of 80% of overall victories in the Dubai Tour – with four victories out of five – Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel (twice) and Elia Viviani having achieving the overall win, in consecutive years, for the same sponsor.

    R for Rookie: The fifth Dubai Tour will be remembered for the cruel end to the breakaway of the USA’s 19-year-old Brandon McNulty who got swallowed by the peloton in the last 50 meters of Stage 4. Jacob Hennessy is another name to remember: the 21-year-old British sprinter finished sixth on Stage 1 and was the last escape artist reined in on the last stage along with his Australian team-mate from Mitchelton-BikeExchange Robert Stannard who was the youngest competitor at the age of 19.

    S for Skydive: The Dubai Tour Fan Village, hosted by Skydive Dubai, was a big success and registered large attendance numbers every day from Tuesday till Saturday. Thanks to the large public seating area and the food trucks provided by ‘Last Exit’, the teams’ and sponsors’ paddocks with a wide range of activities both to watch and participate in, and the radio shows of Dubai Eye 103.8 and Tag 91.1.

    T for Television: The Dubai Tour was shown in 192 countries, 9 more territories compared with 2017 (+4.9%).

    U for UAE: Six Emirates were involved in the 2018 Dubai Tour’s route: Ajman, Sharjah, Umm-Al-Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and, of course, Dubai.

    V for Viviani: Elia Viviani hasn’t ‘just’ won two stages and the overall classification of the 2018 Dubai Tour… he also enchanted media and fans with his smart and informative comments and interview, making himself an excellent ambassador for the event.

    W for Win: Only eight riders have recorded victories here in Dubai, since 2014. The record holder is still the German Marcel Kittel with eight wins, followed by the Italian Elia Viviani (4), Mark Cavendish (GBR) with 3, the German John Degenkolb with 2, then Taylor Phinney (USA), Juan Antonio Lobato (ESP), Dylan Groenewegen (NED) and Sonny Colbrelli (ITA) with one each.

    X for Xue: Xue Fuwen was one of the attackers in the Mitchelton-BikeExchange team in the Chinese-registered squad’s first participation in the Dubai Tour. The team features an interesting mix of young talents including Australian and Chinese prospects, one of them being Kazakhstan-born Nazaerbieke Bieken, who is an Asian mountain biking champion.

    Y for Young: The Best Young Rider – the White Jersey, sponsored by RTA (Roads and Transport Authority), was held throughout this year’s Dubai Tour by Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Team Lotto NL – Jumbo), Belgium’s Nathan van Hooydonck (BMC Racing Team) and eventually won by Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana Pro Team).

    Z for Zayed: Because 2018 marks 100 years since the birth of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding Father of the UAE, who passed away in 2004.

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