Dubai: The Dubai Tour 2014 cycling next month will be another feature to Dubai’s cap as one of the premier sporting destinations in the Middle East. While authorities have been putting several facilities in place to encourage cycling as leisure and as a sport among residents in the emirate, necessary operations are being carried out to ensure the success of the event.
Huraiz Bin Huraiz has been handpicked as Tour Director by organisers Dubai Sports Council. After spending nearly a decade with Dubai Airports, Bin Huraiz made the short trip to Abu Dhabi as chief commercial officer for a period of three years. Now with this challenge of the Dubai Tour 2014, Bin Huraiz is confident Dubai will host one of the best cycling events for the international cycling fraternity.
GULF NEWS: What was the thinking behind organising a cycling event in Dubai?
HURAIZ BIN HURAIZ: The initiative came from the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) with several objectives in mind. Cycling enables media to showcase the entire city through TV production and broadcasting. There is no other sport that can cover so much land within a city. Secondly, we hope the impact of this event will enable our youth to be attracted to cycling. As a firm believer in individual sport, I am convinced cycling can find an appeal with the new generation.
Do you think the promotion of cycling can boost pursuit of individual sport?
It will certainly create an awareness. Everyone will see how a sport like cycling can create a vision for kids in the future. Perhaps they will set their eyes on winning the Dubai Tour and be part of the international cycling scene. Today some of the clubs are active in the sport and the Dubai Tour will encourage more clubs to create teams and push the sport forward. Presently, we have a lot of suppliers in town who have been very active doing a great job of promoting cycling.
A lot of the fans are pushing the sport forward. We have to remember that at the end of the day cycling is an affordable sport and the platform is available in Dubai to encourage and grow the sport. Besides, we have some great initiatives from the DSC due to the cycling tracks at various locations. The platform has been set by the Government and now it’s left up to the people to push it forward.
What is the ambition of the Dubai Tour over the next three years?
To start with, we want to be among the leading cycling events in the world. When Dubai organises any event, we are expected by our superiors to deliver something that is world-class. This is not a choice but it is how we do things here. Dubai is known to do things as perfect as possible. To me this is the most important aspect. With the support we are getting from our superiors, we simply do not have any choice but to deliver a world-class event.
What do you think is the salient feature of the Dubai Tour?
One of the main elements for the success of the Tour is the timing. We have the best weather for outdoor sport at the moment while a major part of the world is experiencing severe winter. So this event will give teams and riders to remain active during winter months while visiting Dubai as a destination. In my opinion, Dubai can capitalise more on bringing a lot of other sport activities during this period that will attract a major part of the world here.
What about the targets to be achieved?
Of course, the basic objective will be to showcase Dubai. The world is aware of Dubai and its various successes. Through this event, part of our emphasis will now be on a Dubai that people do not know about. The Tour will give them a better insight. The route has planned with this aspect in mind. We want to expose most of the components of our city to the world and allow people to get an experience of the place with the Tour as a facilitating medium. The coverage will be a complete package and the goal is to reach out to an audience of at least 150 million viewers worldwide.
Do you foresee the Tour passing through Old Dubai creating problems?
I doubt this. We have been in very close coordination with the RTA and Dubai Police. Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that some of the roads will be closed. But somehow we will make sure that there is no major traffic disruption and inconvenience to residents. The cyclists will be allowed to pass and access will be open for people to move about like normal. There is no need to worry as everything will be worked out to the most minute detail in due course of time.
How different is the Dubai Tour from the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia? And why is it so?
The basic difference is that the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia are held across the country, whereas in our case it is across a city. I don’t see this as a fair comparison.
But at the end of the day, the experience that the teams, the spectators and the audiences will get will be the same. This is what we are betting on. We are hosting the Tour in a different way, in a unique manner and we would like to stand in our own way. The demographic of Dubai in fact allows us to show interesting parts that are very diverse: beaches, new and old Dubai, the desert and the mountains — all in one city over a four-day period.
