The list of the 16 teams invited to the race the fourth edition of the Dubai Tour – scheduled from January 31st to February 4th 2017 – has been officially announced.
Ten UCI WorldTeams, four UCI Professional Continental Teams, one UCI Continental Team and a UAE National Selection team will be at the start of the five-stage professional cycling race organised by the Dubai Sports Council in collaboration with RCS Sport. Each team at the start of the Dubai Tour will consist of eight riders.
TEAMS
UCI WorldTeams
ASTANA PRO TEAM - KAZ: Astana is more than just a cycling team: it’s part of the Astana President’s Professional Sports Club that was created by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev in 2012, focused on several different sports including football, hockey, basketball, motorsports, rally-raid and boxing. Astana have shown great form racing in the Emirates, winning the 2016 Abu Dhabi Tour with the Estonian Tanel Kangert.
Astana’s palmares includes an Olympic gold medal (Alexander Vinokurov, Men’s Road Race, London 2012), eight Grand Tour victories (three Giro d’Italia with Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador, three Vuelta a España with Fabio Aru, Vinokurov and Alberto Contador, two Tour de France with Contador and Nibali), 37 Grand Tour stage wins, and 164 others victories.
BAHRAIN-MERIDA - BRN: Founded in 2016, Bahrain-Merida is the the first Middle Eastern team to achieve the WorldTour license – the highest level of professional cycling. The team is supported by a consortium of businesses and partners from the small island country of Bahrain and His Highness Sheikh Nasser. Under the General Manager Brent Copeland, the 2017 roster is composed of 28 riders from 12 different countries, including the Italians Vincenzo Nibali and Giovanni Visconti, the Lithuanian Ramūnas Navardauskas, the Spaniard Ion Izagirre, and the Australian Heinrich Haussler. For Dubai the roster could include Sonny Colbrelli, who may be in contention for any and all of the stages.
TEAM DIMENSION DATA - RSA: Founded in 2007, Dimension Data became the first ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. In the team’s palmares you can find a Milan-Sanremo victory (Gerald Ciolek in 2013), six Tour de France stages, one Vuelta stage victory, two Tour of Britain overall classification wins (Edvald Boasson Hagen, 2015; Steve Cummings, 2016), and 36 National Championships.
The team was originally known as MTN–Qhubeka: Qhubeka is an Nguni word meaning to carry on, progress, or move forward. Qhubeka is part of World Bicycle Relief, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing education, health and economic opportunities by providing simple, sustainable transportation through bicycles – since 2005, World Bicycle Relief has delivered over 275,000 bicycles to developing countries.
The 2017 roster has as its main character the Manxman Mark “Cav” Cavendish. The sprinter won the 2015 Dubai Tour and undoubtedly his goal is a double.
MOVISTAR TEAM - ESP: The world’s best team for four consecutive years, according to the UCI WorldTour ranking, Movistar is one of the most established squads. It was founded in 1980 as Reynolds (till 1989), then became very famous as Banesto thanks to the multiple victories of Miguel Indurain (1990-2004), then Caisse d’Epargne (2005, with Illes Baleares to 2010), becoming Movistar from 2011. In total, 852 various victories, 14 of them Grand Tours, with seven in the Tour de France, three in the Giro d’Italia, and four in the Vuelta a España. Next season look out for the Colombians Nairo Quintana and Carlos Betancourt and the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.
QUICK - STEP FLOORS - BEL: This WorldTour team, established in 2003, is based in Wevelgem, Belgium, a city that’s symbolic to Flemish cycling. Patrick Lefevere, one of the most victorious managers in the history of cycling, is in charge of Sports Management. Since its inception the team has recorded more than 500 victories, including 15 Monument Classics, four Road World Championships, five ITT World Championships, two TTT World Championships, two World Cups and an Olympic title. Current top riders for the team are sprinter Marcel Kittel (winner of eight stages at the Tour de France and the last Dubai Tour), Tom Boonen (four-time Paris-Roubaix winner), three-time UCI World TT Champion Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra (winner of Paris-Roubaix 2014), Dan Martin (winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2013 and Giro di Lombardia 2014) and the Luxembourg Champion Bob Jungels.
TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO - NED: This cycling team was founded for the 1984 season under the name Kwantum, anchored by Jan Raas, and from 2015 the head sponsor has been Lotto-Jumbo. For the Dubai Tour the probable roster will include Juan Antonio Lobato, who won the third stage of the 2016 Dubai Tour on the Hatta dam and was third in the overall classification in both 2015 and 2016.
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