Teams announced for Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman

Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), the institution behind the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman, announced the 18 teams that will start each of the Middle East races.

From Feb. 8 to 13, teams will ride the “pre-Spring Classic” in Qatar. Those teams include Orica-GreenEdge, Etixx-QuickStep, Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise, Cofidis, FDJ.fr, Bora-Argon 18, Sky Pro Cycling, Bardiani CSF, Lampre-Merida, Astana, Giant-Alpecin, Katusha, Tinkoff-Saxo, MTN-Qhubeka, Movistar, IAM Cycling, BMC Racing Team and Trek Factory Racing. The same teams will race from Feb. 17 to 22 around Muscat for the Tour of Oman.

Both events are part of the Asia Tour and are ranked 2.HC, the same level as the America Tour’s Tour of California.  In 2014, Canadians Svein Tuft and Hugo Houle competed in the Tour of Qatar. Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) has won the race four times, in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012. Last year, Boonen’s teammate Niki Terpstra took the GC.

While Qatar is more for the sprinters and Classics riders, the hillier Tour of Oman tends to feature more Grand Tour riders. In 2014, Chris Froome (Sky Pro Cycling) had is second overall victory in Oman. He faced Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep), who finished in third and later in the year finished second at the Giro d’Italia. Vincenzo Nibali came in 12th in Oman. He went on to win another race by ASO in July 2014, the Tour de France.