Abu Dhabi: Both sprinters and climbers will get a fair shot at the Abu Dhabi Tour title this time around with the addition of a time-trial stage to minimise the impact that the treacherous climb of Jebel Hafeet has on the General Classification.
It gives an opportunity for both more riders in the second World Tour event of the year, starting on Wednesday in the capital.
The introduction of the new stage has thrown up fresh challenge for the Abu Dhabi peloton. In response, the teams have picked a perfect mix of sprinters and climbers to take a shot at the GC in a contest that promises to be an exciting one with some of the biggest names in world cycling present.
Although the first three days will be dominated by the sprinters, one of the firm favourites for the GC will be Tom Dumoulin of Sunweb.
The 2017 Giro d’Italia winner and world individual time trial champion is making a late start to his season, but will be leading his team’s ambitions. Dumoulin’s main role will come in the penultimate individual time trial stage and in the final climb of 11 kilometres that features gradients of 11 per cent.
“The Abu Dhabi Tour has a perfect course for me with the time trial and the uphill finish. We came here with a good team, including Wilco Kelderman riding for GC,” said Dumoulin, who can’t wait to don his new world champion’s rainbow jersey.
“I just saw my time trial world champion jersey. It’s amazing, so I’m looking forward to wearing it,” revealed Dumoulin adding that his preparation for the new season has been pretty much the same as last year.
Late start
“I have kept my preparations same but you can never duplicate what we did last year exactly. I like to start late always, I like the heat, the course with time trail and finish with climb is great for me. Dumoulin also said he has set sights on the Giro again this season.
UAE team Emirates will also be a strong force with 2015 Vuelta a Espana champion and two-time Giro d’Italia runner-up Fabio Aru joining force with defending champion Rui Costa.
Costa revealed that he is not in the best of shape like last year but will be giving this everything to retain the title in front of home fans. “I missed out on some crucial training in January as I was unwell, so not at my peak but want to do well. Our job in the first three days is to support Kristoff and then think about the GC. “The new route with a time trial changes the tactic. But Jebel Hafeet remains a hard climb, it’s 25 minutes of climbing. It’s not easy to be the defending champion and, racing on home soil we have many motivated riders like Aru, Kristoff and Ulissi.
British ace Mark Cavendish has won more stages than anyone here in the capital and the brand ambassador for the Tour will be targeting the sprint stages for his team Dimension Data.
“My legs were all right again in Oman after my stage victory in Dubai,” he said. “It makes it a long time racing in the Middle East, but it’s an honour to come back to Abu Dhabi. We have a GC team here, I’ll be missing my lead out guys who are injured or sick, but I want to be successful.”
Cavendish has won three stages and two consecutive Green Jerseys at the Abu Dhabi Tour and also registered an early stage win in Dubai.
Giving the Manxman a firm challenge in the sprints will be Olympic champion Elia Viviani of Quick-Step, who was in tremendous form in Dubai en route to the overall title.
“I’ve had an amazing start to the season in Australia, which continued with winning the Dubai Tour, but I want more,” said the Italian. “I’ve spent one week at home after a long way away. For the Abu Dhabi Tour, we have a very strong team and Julian Alaphilippe for GC. The world’s best sprinters are here. The addition of Andre Greipel and Caleb Ewan will not change the dynamic of the sprints we had in Dubai — we expect really powerful sprints again.”
Alejandro Valverde of Movistar is also keen to take a shot at the overall honours and grab those World Tour points on offer. The 37-year-old comes in at the back of a stage victory in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier in the month.
“I’ve fully recovered from my crash last year and I’ve started the new season well with a victory in Valencia,” he said. “The Abu Dhabi Tour is a great race: this is my second participation and I hope to enjoy it a lot.”
Valverde was out of action for six months after suffering a broken kneecap following the Tour de France crash.
Ilnur Zakarin of Katusha-Alpecin having finished second a year ago, will also be keen to go one step further and so will be the triple and reigning Australian Champion Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team. Dennis said: “I recently got married, so this trip to Abu Dhabi is like a honeymoon for me. After my wedding in Australia, I spent one week in Girona, Spain, so I went from heat to cold and back to heat again. The Time Trial is only 12km long, so I don’t think it’s gonna play that much importance in the final result.”
Marcel Kittel’s switch to Katusha-Alpecin failed to make a mark in Dubai and he will be keen to notch up stage wins here before supporting Zakarin for the GC.
“I have good memories from the Abu Dhabi Tour and I came very well motivated,” he said. “We had a good start in Dubai and we want to do even better here, but we will not only focus on sprinting, we’ll also try to win GC [with Ilnur Zakarin].”
