Michael Woods, Svein Tuft to start seasons at Abu Dhabi Tour
Dumoulin, Zakarin and Aru also to make season debuts
In one week, the second WorldTour stage race of the season kicks off in the United Arab Emirates, and lining up at Madinat Zaya for the first of three flat stages will be Canadians Michael Woods of EF-Drapac and Svein Tuft of Mitchelton-Scott. It will be Woods’ first step towards the Giro d’Italia in May and 40-year-old Tuft’s launch to his eighth season with the Australian squad.
2018 season starts up for me next week in Abu Dhabi. Stoked for my first trip to the middle east. https://t.co/RpGkir8ZNB
— Michael Woods (@rusty_woods) February 14, 2018
EF-Drapac’s sport director Tom Southam says, “I expect the entire team to be competitive. It’s still early season, but it’s not the 1980’s when everyone goes skiing for three months. They’ve all looked after themselves in the winter, and Mike, in particular, is a guy who is pretty quick off the mark because, frankly, he is just a machine.”
For the past two seasons, Woods began his calendar with the Santos Tour Down Under, wowing the cycling world with 5th in 2016 before earning 21st in the last campaign.
Giro champ Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Sunweb), last year’s Vuelta a España third place Ilnur Zakarin (Russia/Katusha) and Fabio Aru (Italy/UAE-Emirates) will also be making their season debuts at the Abu Dhabi Tour. Aru’s Portuguese teammate Rui Costa wears the number 1 as the reigning champion.
A flattish 11-km time trial follows the first three flat stages. The queen stage is the last one: 185-km of flatness leading to the 10.8-km, 6.6 per cent clamber up the Jebel Hafeet for a summit finish.
Woods is slated for WorldTour stage races Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in March and Pais Vasco in April before Classics Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège before the Giro.
