As of today, the stages of the first Dubai Tour, which will roll through the United Arab Emirates from February 5th to 8th, 2014, have been decided. The total length of the four-day stage trip is 418 kilometers. Sprint stars Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) will also tackle this.
"We look forward to the inaugural Dubai Tour, especially as it sheds a special light on Dubai as a venue for major international sporting events."
A total of 16 teams will be at the start of the Dubai Tour. These will include a total of eleven WorldTour and ProConti teams. The five remaining places go to the top three teams from the UCI Asia Tour 2013, as well as the newly formed Dubai Sky Dive Team and the United Arab Emirates national team.
After a ten-kilometer opening time trial in Dubai, the second stage will take 122 kilometers past the country's most important sporting venues and end on the famous Palm Island. The third leg of the day then takes the riders over 162 kilometers and undulating terrain to Hatta before the race ends with a sprint finale in Dubai. Each of the four stages starts in front of the Dubai World Trade Center.
The varied stages chosen by the race organizer RCS, which is also responsible for the Giro d'Italia, are broadcast daily on Eurosport and promise a lot of excitement. "We look forward to the inaugural Dubai Tour, especially as it sheds a special light on Dubai as a venue for major international sporting events.", said Saeed Hareb, the chairman of the Dubai tour committee.
As already mentioned, with Kittel and Cavendish two top-class athletes will be at the start and with them seven more of their teammates. It is quite possible that they will decide the sprint stages for themselves. However, the overall victory is more likely to go to Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) or Peter Sagan (Cannondale), who were also confirmed by the organizer.
//stages
Leg 1 - February 5, 2014: World Trade Center-World Trade Center, 10 kilometers
Stage 2 - February 6, 2014: Dubai-Palm Jumeirah, 121,6 kilometers
Stage 3 - February 7, 2014: Dubai-Hatta, 162,3 kilometers
Stage 4 – February 8, 2014: Dubai-Burj Khalifa, 124 kilometers