The 2016 edition of the Dubai Tour will return to the Hatta Dam, the 17 per cent uphill sprint where John Degenkolb took a memorable victory this year, as the race looks to consolidate on what it sees as a winning formula in terms of route planning.
The race, one in a series of early-season outings in the Middle East, celebrated its inaugural edition in 2014, won by Taylor Phinney, but organisers scrapped the time trial and increased the total distance across the four stages by 60 per cent this year. What resulted was a dramatic finale at Hatta Dam and a general classification contest that hung in the balance until the final day, whereupon Mark Cavendish came out on top thanks to the bonus seconds for sprint victories.
Organisers were keen to replicate that once again for the 2016 edition, which was unveiled at the Jumeirah Mina A’Salam on Sunday, and which will run from February 3-6. The overall distance will be almost identical to this year – 671 kilometres up from 663 – and Hatta Dam will again be the finish on day three, with the other stages set to culminate in more traditional bunch gallops. The bonus seconds system (10 for the stage winner, six for second place, four for third place) also remains unchanged.
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The main novelty for next year is that the race will venture out into Emirates beyond the confines of Dubai, with the first stage finishing in Fujairah, over on the Gulf of Oman, having first past through the Emirates of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah.
The Dubai Tour is the first in a triptych of early-season races on the Persian Gulf – along with the Tours of Qatar and Oman – which allow riders to get into the swing of things in the warmer climes. Dubai, run by RCS Sport, is actually set to outshine its ASO-run confreres next year with a line-up of 10 WorldTour teams, while the other two have seen their count slip from 13 to seven apiece.
“We are not interested in one-off events but in regular annual appointments and the Dubai Tour is part of this vision: thanks to the riders we’re going to show our beautiful territory to the World again,” said Dubai Sports Council General Secretary, H.E. Saeed Hareb.
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