New Abu Dhabi Tour is one for sprinters, but a climber will prevail

Rob Sturney October 7, 2015

RCS Sports, the organizers of the Giro d’Italia, will debut a new four-stage race this Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, the UCI 2.1-rated Abu Dhabi Tour. The race can perhaps fill the season-end, global-cycling hole left by the collapse of the Tour of Beijing. And though three of the four stages are flat and favour the fast men, the climb at the end of the third stage suggests the winner will be a climber or all-arounder.

It will be hot and windy; after all, it’s set in a desert. The riding will be similar to that of the Tour of Qatar, with sprinting battles set for Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi and Yas Marina. Marcel Kittel (Germany/Giant-Alpecin) will be desperate to salvage something out of a disappointing season of illness before heading off to Etixx-QuickStep. New World Champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo) will be showing off his all-white with rainbow bands kit. Orica-GreenEdge’s Michael Matthews will hope to continue his quietly impressively season. Other sprinters to watch are Sacha Modolo (Italy/Lampre) and Elia Viviani (Italy/Sky).

One sprinter who won’t be in the mix is the race’s spokesman, Mark Cavendish, who is recovering from shoulder surgery. Cavendish is off to Pro Continental outfit Dimension Data (MTN-Qhebeka) in 2016.

However, Saturday’s skirmishing on Stage 3’s climb up to Jebel Hafeet will determine the all-around winner of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) showed he is back to form by triumphing in Il Lombardia. His teammate and compatriot Fabio Aru cannot be discounted. Two-time WorldTour champion Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) will be looking to cap another fine season. Dutch Vuelta a España sensation Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) is in the UAE and seems excited about it.

#RideToAbuDhabi This place is insane! pic.twitter.com/KlgSkS3UDs

— Tom Dumoulin (@tom_dumoulin) October 7, 2015

Orica-GreenEdge’s Christian Meier is the lone Canadian.