ALL SET FOR THE 7TH UAE TOUR

A total of 140 riders will line up tomorrow for the opening stage of the seventh edition of the UAE Tour, organized by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council. The one and only UCI WorldTour race in the Middle East will once again feature a star-studded field.

Among the many big names at the start, the most anticipated is Tadej Pogačar. The world champion, UCI ranking leader, and two-time UAE Tour winner (2021 and 2022) will make his season debut, facing off against defending champion Lennert Van Eetvelt, the breakout star of 2024 and winner on Jebel Hafeet. Other top contenders for the general classification include Pello Bilbao, Carlos Rodríguez, Alexey Lutsenko, Giulio Ciccone, and Einer Rubio.

There is also great excitement for the battle among the sprinters, as many of the world’s fastest finishers will compete in the multiple sprint opportunities throughout the race. Among them are Tim Merlier, the record holder with five stage wins, Jasper Philipsen and Dylan Groenewegen, both with two stage wins each, Olav Kooij, who claimed a stage victory in 2024, and Jonathan Milan, returning to the race after already securing a win early in the season. The list of top sprinters is completed by Fabio Jakobsen, Arvid De Kleijn, Phil Bauhaus, and Sam Welsford.

Tadej Pogacar: “It has always been a dream of mine to be the world champion. Finally I have the rainbow jersey, it feels unreal to ride every day with it and to come here in the home country of the team with this jersey is amazing. It’s great to be able to show it here. So far, I’ve started every single season with some doubts about my preparation. I hope my shape is good enough to compete at the highest level again. Fingers crossed that it’s like last year and the years before. As long as I’m eager and motivated to start the season, I’ll give my best. The time trial is important at the UAE Tour but I don’t think it’ll make a big difference, maybe a few seconds. It’s not long, so I believe the biggest gaps can open in echelons in the crosswinds”.

Lennert Van Eetvelt: “It’s a very nice feeling to come back and see name on the trophy as the defending champion. I have very good memory from winning the Jebel Hafeet stage and GC last year. It was awesome. It was a bit of a surprise and I’m glad to sit here alongside Tadej [Pogacar]. We never want to start a race for finishing second but when he starts, it’s hard to compete with him and being realistic, it’s a race for the second place”.

Tim Merlier: “It would be nice to make a hat trick with winning stage 1 once again. But the competition is very high with a lot of top sprinters on the start line. It looks from my first race that my legs are good and I’ll have some opportunities to try and win a stage here”.

Jasper Philipsen: “The UAE Tour is a really good race to start with because it lasts for one week and there’s a very competitive field of sprinters. This year in particular, it’s great to start here with a nice weather, one week before the opening weekend in Belgium. There won’t be many sprints before the first classics so it’s nice to test the sprinting legs here”.

Jonathan Milan: “The UAE Tour is an important race and a good one to start with. The level of the competitors is very high. I’ll be looking for a victory with the help of a strong team, I’m pretty confident”.

Pello Bilbao: “We all know the two classical climbs of the UAE Tour. They are single climbs at end of a stage. It’s kind of a test for all riders. This time around, we know how complicated it’ll be to fight for the victory but we’re here to give a good challenge. The only way to beat Tadej [Pogacar] would be to surprise him on a flat section but even that, we know it’ll be very difficult. Being short, the time trial might be important for the podium but not for the overall victory”.

THE OFFICIAL JERSEYS

The leader jerseys of the UAE Tour are provided by ALÉ, proud jersey partner of the leader jersey by ENIT and ITALIA.IT.

Red Jersey, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by International Holding Company: IHC

Green Jersey, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Mubadala

White Jersey, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Nakheel

Black Jersey, leader of the Intermediate Sprint Classification, sponsored by ALDAR

TV COVERAGE

Host broadcasters Abu Dhabi Sports and Dubai Sports will produce a full coverage live international feed for every stage, and also provide local cycling fans in the UAE and in the whole MENA region with full live coverage of the event.

The race will be broadcast live on Discovery+ and Eurosport in South Asia and Europe. Additionally, Staylive will provide live coverage in New Zealand, the MENA region, and Africa. In Latin America, the event will be broadcast on DirecTV, while in China and in Japan fans will be able to follow the race on Zhibo TV and J Sports, respectively.

VELON

The Velon rider data tracking system is being used again in the UAE Tour. Riders are carrying a small unit under their saddles which send real-time speed, power and cadence data to the live broadcast coverage. Highlights from the data are published on @veloncc and the race’s social media channels after each stage.

Velon is also producing onbike camera highlights throughout the race. The footage will be published on the same social media channels and Velon’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/veloncc.