Dubai, UAE, February 3, 2016: “The cycling environment in Dubai is really good” says Roy Curvers, professional road cyclist currently riding for team Giant-Alpecin at the Dubai Tour 2016. “When you see a big city like Dubai and all the traffic, you’d think it’s almost impossible to ride a bike here. But it’s really interesting to see that Dubai has great tracks where people can go cycling overnight or whenever they want. That’s really one of the key success factors here to get the cycling culture alive,” he added. Curvers, the winner of the Halle-Ingooigem race in 2011, is competing as part of team Giant-Alpecin at the Dubai Tour taking place in Dubai until February 6, 2016. Other riders in the team include Belgian cyclist Bert De Backer, Caleb Fairly and Carter Jones from the United States, Koen De Kort from the Netherlands and Sindre Skjostad Lunke from Norway. Speaking at an event at the Go Sport at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai ahead of the tournament, Curvers said: “Dubai has made cycling like a 24-hour-a-day sport. They have built a really good and safe environment to start cycling. Dubai Tour is the start of a new season for us for the 2016. The whole team is prepared and are looking forward to the Dubai Tour to get started with the races. We have a good team and are at a decent level,” he added. Giant is the official bike of the Dubai Tour. Giant is distributed exclusively in the UAE by Dubai Desert Extreme L.L.C. (DDE), a leading distributor and retailer of action sports equipment, apparel and footwear and bikes in the GCC and Middle East. Commenting on Giant’s involvement in Dubai Tour, Shahriar Khodjasteh, CEO of DDE, said: “This is a very exciting year for us because this is the first event where Giant is the official bike of Dubai Tour. We have signed a two year deal so that’ll go on for this event and also for the next event in 2017. Having said that, it’s also great because team Giant-Alpecin has participated in this event from its inception and we’ve won a lot of the stages over the last two events. It’s great to have the guys here. For us, it’s all about the progression of cycling as a sport in the region. We believe that being involved with the Dubai Tour and having the opportunity to have team Giant-Alpecin here helps us to achieve those goals.” Andrew Fairall, General Manager of Al Mana Fashion - Sports Division, said: “The Dubai Tour promises to be a fantastic sporting event not only for the cyclists involved but also for Dubai. Go Sport is delighted to have been able to host the Giant-Alpecin team with Dubai Desert Extreme at our flagship megastore in the Mall of the Emirates. We wish the team every success for the tour ahead.” Mr. Rudi Kemna, Coach of Team Giant-Alpecin, said: “Cycling is a fun sport. The best thing about cycling as a sport is that there is no age limit, you can do it from eight years old. Cycling is being taken up around the world and the Dubai Tour is a great initiative. Since my last time in Dubai two years ago I have seen a lot of progression in terms of the city promoting cycling through building numerous bike tracks that shows the amount of people taking up cycling here. The city is making an effort to ensure the safety of riders which in turn will encourage more and more people to cycle, be it for leisure or sport. With DDE bringing in Giants bikes to the UAE and the region we are very thankful for their support.” DDE was established in December 2001 in Dubai, UAE, and has today become a leading distributor of bikes, action sports equipment, apparel and footwear in the Middle East. Apart from bringing internationally recognised brands to the region, DDE has been actively involved in facilitating the growth of action sports and bikes in the UAE.
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