Abu Dhabi: The success of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour has spurred the Abu Dhabi Sports Council to push for the race to be included in cycling’s World Tour.
The sport’s governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) president Brian Cookson, now in the capital to evaluate the achievements and results of the first edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour, revealed that they were looking to take the World Tour to all parts of the globe.
“We are in an appraisal process at the moment. We are looking to expand and develop the World Tour from next year. We are going to make those decisions during the course of this year,” said Cookson, adding, “All I can say is that Abu Dhabi Tour was of highest quality and this year will be same too.”
Abu Dhabi Sports Council’s General Secretary Arif Awani confirmed that they have already put an application expressing their willingness to host the World Tour. “This is one of the things which was already in our plan from the first day when we thought about the Abu Dhabi Tour and we are in continuous discussion with UCI to have the World Tour,” said Awani, adding that most of the UCI requirements have been fulfilled and the parent body is satisfied with the race.
“This is a long journey, we started last year and we have been elevated to level 2 HC, which means it is good success for us in the first year. And during the race, we will have another meeting and see from where we go from there,” added Awani, who revealed this year’s Abu Dhabi Tour stages will remain the same but the route will be changed to add more excitement.
The twilight stage last year at the Yas Marina Circuit was a huge attraction and on popular demand from the riders, it has been retained.
“We would like to cover the same area. The change in the route will be within the cities. We were thinking of changing the fourth stage, of Yas but most of the bikers have requested that we keep it as they enjoyed it; so that is why we kept it. Yas will be the final stage,” revealed Awani, who, however, has been forced to postpone the race by two weeks this season with the World Road Championships in Doha, Qatar lined-up at the same time.
The inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour was run under sweltering conditions and the two-week delay should do a world of good for the riders this time round.
“It is not because of that (heat). The world championship is there and that is why there is a delay. The UCI is happy that we have the final, even this year, because we are the one who invented the gala dinner,” said Awani.
Cookson was also of the view that cycling has put all the doping saga behind and have moved forward and other sports can take a leaf out of cycling.
“I think we have worked very hard to restore the integrity of the sport. We have put into place processes and procedures to ensure that the problems of the past didn’t happen,” said Cookson, adding, “There will always be people who will try and cheat in any walk of life, profession and sport. We are seeing other sports are having some of the problems cycling has had and they also need to address them in the way we have done.”
