Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi may have scaled giant heights by acquiring the World Tour status in a span of just two years but the mission for the best riders and teams remains the same — conquer the testing mountain Jebel Hafeet to win the general classification.
The major relief this time round being the cooler conditions, unlike in previous appearances where the riders had to pedal around in temperatures that soared to well over 45 degrees at times.
Despite there being three stages dedicated to the sprinters, including the final stage under lights at the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit, the winners of the General Classifications have gone on to win the overall title.
While Esteban Chaves did it in 2015 and Tanel Kangert in 2016, this time too, the teams with a rider with the best climbing ability will be the winner. The World Tour has still attracted a stellar cast of sprinters and thrilling finishes are on the cards.
Quick-Step Floors’ Marcel Kittel is the man to watch out for, especially in the sprint stages, as he comes into the World Tour after tasting success in this month’s Dubai Tour. Kittel completely dominated the race, winning three stages on his way to claiming the overall victory and the sprint jersey.
“I have got the same motivation, the same mind set and I’m really happy to be here, especially after the confidence I and the team got after the victory in Dubai. This is what we want to repeat and show again in Abu Dhabi,” said Kittel, whose team will be pinning their general classification hopes on Julian Alaphilippe and Gianluca Brambilla.
This is not unknown terrain for Kittel as he figured in the race in 2015 but that was with his former team Giant Alpecin, at the back of a testing season, and ended up in the top 10.
“It is a challenge with the top riders here but we are definitely going to give our best. The scenario is slightly different to that of Dubai but we are up for it,” added Kittel, whose team also includes New Zealand time trial champion Jack Bauer, Davide Martinelli, Fabio Sabatini, Pieter Serry and Petr Vakoc.
Other major challengers include Abu Dhabi Tour ambassador Mark Cavendish of team Dimension Data, Caleb Ewan of Orcia-Scott, Andre Greipel of Lotto-Soudal, Elia Viviani of Team Sky and Niccolo Bonifazio of Bahrain-Merida.
“It is simply incredible what Abu Dhabi has achieved in a just a couple of years. I missed the first edition of the race with a shoulder injury but it was good to come back here and win two stages including the final stage at the Yas Marina Circuit,” said Cavendish, who has won 27 stages at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta a Espana.
“You don’t see such a field in Grand Tour any more. I would like to win here again with Dimension Data as we did last year. We would like to do well in the sprint stages and see what we can do in the climb,” added the 31-year-old.
With the mighty Jebel Hafeet to take care of in the third stage, the main general classification contenders are likely to be Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and his former Astana teammate Fabio ARU.
“For us at Bahrain-Merida it’s a very important race, We’ll try to do very well. We have Niccolò Bonifazio for the sprint stages and I’m looking forward to the mountaintop finish. I’ve just done a training camp with the other guys so it’s good to come here and see how the teams gelled and also how I measure up to other big riders,” said Nibali, who finished fourth in the general classification here in October last year.
ARU also revealed that he was looking forward to the prospect of racing against Nibali. “I’m very pleased to meet Vincenzo here. We hadn’t seen each other for a few months. This is the first time we’ve been rivals, but I’m not only focused on him. The level of contenders here is so high that we need to mark a number of riders. I’ve already raced here and I liked it. I want to try my best to have a good race: I will give 100 per cent,” said ARU, who was runner-up in the general classification in the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour in 2015.
Mollema, who leads Trek-Segafredo with the support from Contador can spring a surprise while Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) will also be keen on showing their legs in the 10.8km climb to Jebel Hafeet — the key decider for general classification.
