Iaphet Elli NIBALI AND CAVENDISH AMONG THE 2015 DUBAI
TOUR STARTERS
Valverde, Martin, Rodríguez, Gilbert and Degenkolb
amongst others complete the list of the starting champions. Press conference on
3rd February.
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| PHOTO CREDIT ANSA / DUBAI TOUR |
Dubai, 29th January 2015 – A line up full of
stars will take to the start of the 2015 Dubai Tour, the race, organised by
the Dubai Sports Council in partnership with RCS Sport and running from
4th-7th February.
Some of the greatest cycling champions in
the world are on the official entry list, including: Vincenzo Nibali, reigning
Tour de France champion and former winner of the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a
España, who is having is seasonal debut at the Dubai Tour; Mark Cavendish,
former UCI Road World Champion and winner of 43 Grand Tour stages; Alejandro
Valverde, winner of the 2014 UCI WorldTour ranking; Tony Martin, three times UCI
Time Trial World Champion; Joaquim Rodríguez, two times winner of Il Lombardia;
Philippe Gilbert, former UCI Road World Champion and John Degenkolb, 10-time
winner of Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España stages amongst others.
The Teams
As a class 2.HC race,
16 teams (including 10 WorldTour teams) of 8 riders will race it:
AG2R LA
MONDIALE (FRA) – Bakelandts, Van Summeren
ASTANA PRO TEAM (KAZ) – Nibali,
Boom
BARDIANI CSF (ITA) – Battaglin, Pirazzi
BMC RACING TEAM (USA) –
Gilbert, Zabel
CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE (POL) – Bole, Szmyd
ETIXX–QUICK STEP
(BEL) – Cavendish, Martin
LAMPRE–MERIDA (ITA) – Pozzato, Xu
MOVISTAR TEAM
(ESP) – Valverde, Malori
SKYDIVE DUBAI PRO CYCLING TEAM (UAE) – Mancebo,
Gusev
TEAM GIANT-ALPECIN (GER) – Degenkolb, Mezgec
TEAM KATUSHA (RUS) –
Rodriguez, Porsev
TEAM NOVO NORDISK (USA) – Megias, Verschoor
TEAM SKY
(GBR) – Thomas, Swift
TINKOFF-SAXO (RUS) – Valgren, Kiserlovski
UAE
NATIONAL SELECTION – Badr Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhammadi, Mohammed Yousef
Ahmed Abdulla
UNITEDHEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM (USA) – Brajkovic
and Canola
The Race
The inaugural Dubai tour took
place in 2014, and has established itself on the international cycling calendar,
with the UCI upgrading it from a 2.1 to 2.HC class race for its second running.
Re-classing the race to the UCI’s second highest category allows a greater
number of the elite UCI WorldTeams to race at the event.
It also allows
for a longer, more exciting race, with the total distance raced increasing by
60% to 660km. In this second edition of the race no time trial stage will be
held, whilst a hill-climb finish has been added.
The four stages will
be:
Stage 1 – The Westin Dubai Stage (Dubai
– Dubai) 145km – sprint stage
Stage 2
– Nakheel Stage (Dubai – Jumeirah Palm) 187km – sprint stage
Stage 3 – Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority Stage
(Dubai-Hatta) 205km – with hill-climb finish
Stage 4 – The Burj Stage (Dubai – Burj Khalifa) 123km
– sprint stage
Press Conference
A press
conference will be held on February 3rd at
2.30 pm, one day before the start. This will take place at the events
headquarters, the Dubai International Marine Club, Dubai Marina.
Many of the
race’s top riders will participate, including Nibali, Valverde, Martin,
Rodriguez, Cavendish, Gilbert, Degenkolb, the Chinese rider Xu Gang and the
captain of the UAE National Selection Badr Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhammadi.
Quotes
Mark
Cavendish, commenting on the forthcoming Dubai Tour, says: “I’m looking
forward to riding Dubai Tour for a second straight year. It’s well organized and
it is an important early season race to prepare our leadout train. We’ll be
going with Mark Renshaw and also Fabio Sabatini, who is a new part of our
leadout. It will be the first time the three of us work together in a
competition.”
“I worked really well with Sabatini in the first race of
the season. He fits in really well. I think he will be great to position Renshaw
as the final leadout man, and to also keep the train smooth. We’ll be looking
for wins at this race just as we did at Tour de San Luis, and I’m looking
forward to seeing what we can do and further fine tuning our lead
out.”
Vincenzo Nibali said in November at the Dubai Tour
2015 presentation: “I’m convinced that Dubai represents a great opportunity for
cycling and vice versa. Dubai Tour, which I raced last year too, will be my
seasonal debut in 2015. The course is very interesting and the third stage, with
the final steep climb, it’s something very nice, [and] very hard to find in
these surroundings.”