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Created as a result of the merging of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the Dubai Tour, it’s time for the only UCI WorldTour event in the Middle East as after the inaugural Women’s tour, UAE men’s tour, a seven-day UCI WorldTour stage race, is back for its fifth edition from Monday, February 20, 2023, to Sunday, February 26, 2023.
2023 UAE Tour Preview:
In the absence of Tadej Pogaćar, Remco Evenepoel is easily the biggest name in this Middle East’s only WorldTour race, given his recent form.
It’s worth mentioning that winner of the previous two editions, Tadej Pogačar, has decided to start its season from Spain and won’t participate in the UAE tour. That said, Adam Yates will make the headlines this time and would be looking forward to winning the race for the second time in his career.
Adam Yates won the 2020 edition while finished as runner-up in the previous two editions, behind Pogačar. That said, Adam Yates is the only player who could replace him well and will be playing for Pogačar’s squad. However, it remains to see how well he adapts to his new team.
With 34 Tour de France, stage wins (joint record with Eddy Merckx), and seven victories in previous five visits to UAE, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team), the reigning British champion and former world champion, has a unique history in the UAE. Last year, he won stage 2 after he edged past Jasper Philipsen on the Abu Dhabi Breakwater.
Another contender, Pello Bilbao returns after securing third place in the General Classification, behind eventual race winner Tadej Pogačar and runner-up Adam Yates.
Another player to look out for is Jay Vine, who is unstoppable now. Moreover, Sam Bennett and Caleb Ewan will also keep an eye on it. Furthermore, the Dutch Jayco Alula, five-time stage winner of the Tour de France and four stage wins in UAE, will also be looking for glory in this WorldTour race.
2023 UAE Tour Route:
Organised by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, this World Tour race includes opening flat stages in the desert and getting to its peak with onerous climbing days.
In stage one, cyclists will start from between Al Dhafra till Al Mirfa, which is an entirely flat road, starting from the interior to the coast through the desert.
Stage two will be the Khalifa pass which is an entirely flat route along the pass and is very favourable for specialists against the clock as this path doesn’t have complicated turns.
Stage three, with a distance of 185 kilometres, will lead the peloton to the first high finish in Jebel Jais. Stage four of this WorldTour race will see cyclists cover 174 kilometres on a flat path, mainly in the surroundings of Dubai.
The next day, the fifth stage will see cyclists reach Umm Al Quwain after covering a distance of 182 kilometres, and the sixth stage will be held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates. The last, seventh stage will take the riders to the finish in Jebel Hafeet after covering 153 kilometres.
2023 UAE Tour Past Winners:
Several high-profile cyclists have raced on the roads of UAE in the four-year history of this World Tour race. Primož Roglic won the inaugural race in 2019, Adam Yates won the second edition in 2020, and Tadej Pogacar won back-to-back races in 2021 and 2022.
2023 UAE Tour Teams:
The following teams will be participating in the UAE Tour 2023:
AG2R Citroën
- Clément Berthet
- Geoffrey Bouchard
- Valentin Paret-Peintre
- Jaakko Hänninen
- Alex Baudin
- Paul Lapeira
- Larry Warbasse
Alpecin – Deceuninck
- Ramon Sinkeldam
- Jason Osborne
Astana Qazaqstan Team
- Alexey Lutsenko
- Mark Cavendish
- Cees Bol
- David de la Cruz
- Davide Martinelli
- Harold Tejada
- Javier Romo
Bahrain Victorious
- Pello Bilbao
- Wout Poels
- Nikias Arndt
- Phil Bauhaus
- Matevž Govekar
- Fran Miholjevic
- Johan Price-Pejtersen
BORA – hansgrohe
- Sam Bennett
- Emanuel Buchmann
- Danny van Poppel
EF Education – EasyPost
- Georg Steinhauser
Groupama – FDJ
- Arnaud Démare
- Michael Storer
- Laurence Pithie
- Clément Davy
- Bram Welten
- Ignatas Konovalovas
- Reuben Thompson
INEOS Grenadiers
- Elia Viviani
- Ben Swift
- Cameron Wurf
- Luke Plapp
- Joshua Tarling
- Brandon Smith Rivera
- Michael Leonard
Intermarché – Circus – Wanty
- Rein Taaramäe
- Tom Paquot
- Gerben Thijssen
Jumbo – Visma
- Sepp Kuss
- Olav Kooij
- Tosh Van der Sande
- Thomas Gloag
- Lennard Hofstede
- Timo Roosen
- Michel Hessman
Movistar Team
- Fernando Gaviria
- Einer Rubio
- Óscar Rodríguez
- Albert Torres
- Johan Jacobs
- Juri Hollmann
- Oier Lazkano
Soudal – QuickStep
- Remco Evenepoel
- Tim Merlier
- Louis Vervaeke
- Mauro Schmid
- Pieter Serry
- Josef Cerny
- Bert Van Lerberghe
Team Jayco – AlUla
- Dylan Groenewegen
- Michael Hepburn
- Eddie Dunbar
- Callum Scotson
- Elmar Reinders
- Blake Quick
- Jan Maas
- Luka Mezgec
Team DSM
- Harm Vanhoucke
- Andreas Leknessund
- Marco Brenner
- Tobias Lund Andresen
- Sam Welsford
Trek – Segafredo
- Antwan Tolhoek
- Marc Brustenga
- Antonio Tiberi
UAE Emirates
- Adam Yates
- Jay Vine
- Brandon McNulty
- Marc Soler
- Sebastián Molano
- Vegard Stake Laengen, Mikkel Bjerg
2023 UAE Tour Stages (with Schedule):
There are following seven stages of this WorldTour race:
Stage One (Flat, 151 km):
- Al Dhafra Castle – Al Mirfa (February 20, 2023)
- Start Time: 1:00 Local / 10:00 am CET / 4:00 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 4:30 Local / 1:30 pm CET / 7:30 am ET
Stage Two (TTT, 17.2 km):
- Khalifa Port – Khalifa Port (February 21, 2023)
- Start Time: 11:00 Local / 8:00 CET / 2:00 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 3:30 Local / 12:30 CET / 6:30 am ET
Stage Three (Mountain – 185 km):
- Umbrella Beach Al Fujairah – Jebel Jais (February 22, 2023)
- Start Time: 11:45 Local / 8:45 CET /2:45 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 4:30 Local / 13:30 CET / 7:30 am ET
Stage Four (Flat, 174 km):
- Al Shindagha – Dubai Harbour (February 23, 2023)
- Start Time: 12:30 Local / 9:30 CET / 3:30 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 16:30 Local / 13:30 CET / 7:30 am ET
Stage Five (Flat, 182 km):
- Al Marjan Island – Umm al Quwain (Flat, February 24, 2023)
- Start Time: 12:35 Local / 9:35 CET / 3:35 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 16:30 Local / 13:30 CET / 7:30 am ET
Stage Six (Mountain, 166 km):
- Abu Dhabi – Abu Dhabi Breakwater (February 25, 2023)
- Start Time: 12:40 pm Local / 9:40 CET / 3:40 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 16:30 local, 13:30 CET, 7:30 am ET
Stage Seven (153 km):
- Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium – Jebel Hafeet (February 26, 2023)
- Start Time: 12:45 pm Local / 9:45 CET / 3:45 am ET
- Finish Time (Approx): 16:30 Local / 13:30 CET / 7:30 am ET
How To Stream 2023 UAE Tour
Fans can live stream the race through below mentioned live streaming sites and TV channels:
* Eurosport 1
* Eurosport 2
* ITV 4
* RTBF
* Flobikes ($30 per month / $150 per year)
* GCN+ ($9 per month / $50 per year)
* fuboTV: Along with many other channels for other sports, fubo TV will provide Fubo Cycling and NBCSN for $77 per month, with seven days of free trial available.
