Dubai Tour is set for a milestone with this year’s edition being its fifth and the race has attracted a galaxy of stars and teams including defending champion Marcel Kittel.
The German, who is the most successful rider of the Dubai Tour with two wins, has confirmed participation and the roster is sprinkled with an impressive line-up of top riders which include 2015 winner Mark Cavendish, multiple Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali.
The entry list for the Tour also includes Italians Elia Viviani and Giacomo Nizzolo, Nacer Bouhanni, Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff, the 2017 European Road Champion.
Sixteen teams, including two teams from the UAE, will take the start at the Skydive Dubai for the first of five stages. The five stages are the Nakheel Stage, Ras Al Khaimah Stage, Dubai Silicon Oasis Stage, Dubai Municipality Stage and the Meraas Stage and riders will traverse a distance of 841km.
Kittel, who has 86 victories to his name, and eight stages at the Dubai Tour and the last two years’ general classification and point classification, will make his debut for Katusha-Alpecin.
