Dubai Tour 2014 - Int'l Cycling Race

Details of all four stages unveiled, along with a first list of potential riders. Dubai Sports will be the event's Host Broadcaster. Inside the UCI President Cookson greeting to Dubai Tour.

DUBAI, 10 December 2014 – the Dubai Tour has been unveiled in style at the One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai. There is a great atmosphere developing for what will be the first important new race in the 2014 International Racing Calendar. Dubai, recently appointed as host of the 2020 EXPO, is the stunning setting for the race – organised by Dubai Sports Council in partnership with RCS Sport – from 5th to 8th February 2014. There will be four stages: one Individual Time Trial and three in-line. Every stage will start from the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The course
The first stage – a 10km Individual Time Trial – will be held within the new city and named “The Down Town stage”. The second stage – 122km long – runs through the area with the most important sports building in Dubai, including as the Hippodrome, the Olympic pool, the Al Qudra cycling path, the Autodrome and the amazing Golf Club. This will be called “The Sport Stage”. The third stage, the longest of the race at 162km, will go outside the city and through the desert to finish in Hatta. This stage will be called “The Nature Stage”. The fourth and final stage – 124km in length – will cross the old part of the city, passing alongside two of the most iconic Dubai buildings: the Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the World at 830 metres high. This stage will be named “The Old Dubai Stage”.

The teams
Competing on Dubai's roads will be 16 teams, each with eight riders. The 16 teams are made up from 11 UCI ProTeams, the first three teams classified in the UCI Asia Tour 2013, the United Arab Emirates national team and the Dubai Sky Dive team.

Some of the greatest cycling champions in the World have already announced their availability to participate at the Dubai Tour, including: reigning Road World Champion, Alberto Rui Costa; the British king of sprints Mark Cavendish, Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara; the emerging German sprinter Marcel Kittel; the Spanish rider, winner of the 2013 UCI World Tour ranking, Joaquin Rodriguez; the young Slovakian champion Peter Sagan and Ji Cheng from China.