Quintana, Nibali and Aru line up for Abu Dhabi Tour

The Abu Dhabi Tour 2017 start list boasts a star-studded line-up of riders taking to the start line this Thursday, February 23

Despite the race only being in its third year, there are already three Grand Tour winners confirmed for the event in Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Fabio Aru (Astana).

Alongside the GC men, there is also a strong selection of sprinters, with Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), and Elia Viviani (Team Sky) all attracted by a race which features three flat stages over the four days.

However, it is the third stage with a summit finish at Jebel Hafeet that will likely decide the race, with Tanel Kangert and Esteban Chaves (the race’s two previous winners) both taking the stage win on the climb to set up their overall victories.

Stage 1, Thursday February 23 2017 - Madinat Zayed to Madinat Zayed - 188km Flat

The first stage runs entirely in the desert, with the first and last parts of about 45km on straight, wide roads. Once in Liwa, the riders will face the first Intermediate Sprint, followed by a section in the desert with constant undulations over dunes (adding up to a significant total elevation) which is ridden first in one direction, and then in the opposite direction. After the passage in Liwa comes the second Intermediate Sprint, then the course takes the riders to Madinat Zayed by reversing the route of the outward journey.

Last km - A city path with only three proper bends, one to the right and two to the left (the final bend being to the left). The last kms are on wide, straight boulevards, punctuated by wide-curved roundabouts. The final km is straight on asphalt.

Stage 2, Friday February 24 2017 - Al Maryah Island to Al Marina - 155 km Flat

The second stage runs mostly in the city of Abu Dhabi. After the start the race goes through Reem Island, then along the Abu Dhabi Corniche for the first time before turning south on wide, straight boulevards. Here the route passes close to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and reaches Shakhbout City – site of the first Intermediate Sprint, with several roundabouts on the course – before riding through Al Shahama and Al Bahya – for the second Intermediate Sprint – then returning to Yas Island. The final part of the stage is raced on the Sheikh bin Zayed Highway towards the Abu Dhabi Corniche and the finish line. The entire route is on wide boulevards with “cat’s eyes” road reflectors constantly dividing the lanes.

Last km - The final 5km are on increasingly large roads with large semi-curves leading to the straight finish on asphalt.

Stage 3, Saturday February 25 2017 - Al Ain to Jebel Hafeet - 186 km Mountain Finish

The third stage comprises both urban surroundings and mountains. The first part, inside Al Ain city, is all on wide roads with roundabouts and speed humps and is followed by a second part in the desert along wide and predominantly straight roads. At 15km to go, the route starts to rise slightly towards the final ascent, culminating in an uphill finish at an altitude of 1025m, following an 11km climb with slopes with an 11% gradient.

Last km - The final climb is on wide-ranging bends on a three-lane roadway. The gradient is mostly around 8-9% with a peak of 11% at 3km to go. There are short descents in the last kilometres before the final ramp with a straight finish on asphalt. 

Stage 4, Sunday February 26 2017 - Yas Marina Circuit to Yas Marina Circuit - 143 km

The final stage is entirely on Yas Island. There are 26 laps on the F1 Yas Marina circuit, each of 5.5km with three Intermediate Sprints as we count down to the finale. The first Intermediate Sprint is at lap 11, with 15 laps to go; the second at 10 laps to go and the last Intermediate Sprints with just five laps to go.

In 2015 during the Yas Island Stage, for the first time ever in a men's professional road race, live on-board bike camera footage was made available and used for live television race coverage.

Last km - On the perfect tarmac of a 5.5km Formula 1 circuit with wide roads and large, sweeping bends. The final 250 metres are on straight, flat asphalt. 

You can watch the all the action on our  2017 Abu Dhabi Tour Live Streaming Dashboard starting this Thursday.

Abu Dhabi Tour 2017 start list

Astana (KAZ)

1 KANGERT Tanel
2 ARU Fabio
3 BILBAO Pello
4 CATALDO Dario
5 CHERNETCKII Sergei
6 MINALI Riccardo
7 TIRALONGO Paolo
8 ZAKHAROV Artyom

Ag2r La Mondiale (FRA)

11 BARDET Romain
12 DOMONT Axel
13 ENGER Sondre Holst
14 FRANK Mathias
15 GASTAUER Ben
16 GAUTIER Cyril
17 POZZOVIVO Domenico
18 RIBLON Christophe

Bahrain-Merida (BRN)

21 NIBALI Vincenzo
22 AGNOLI Valerio
23 BOARO Manuele
24 BRAJKOVIC Janez
25 BONIFAZIO Niccolo
26 NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas
27 PELLIZOTTI Franco
28 SIUTSOU Kanstantsin

Bardiani – CSF (ITA)

31 PIRAZZI Stefano
32 ANDREETTA Simone
33 BOEM Nicola
34 MAESTRI Mirco
35 RUFFONI Nicola
36 TONELLI Alessandro
37 WACKERMANN Luca
38 ZARDINI Edoardo

BMC Racing (USA)

41 VAN GARDEREN Tejay
42 DE MARCHI Alessandro
43 QUINZIATO Manuel
44 ROCHE Nicolas
45 SÁNCHEZ Samuel
46 SENNI Manuel
47 TEUNS Dylan
48 VLIEGEN Loïc

Bora – Hansgrohe (GER)

51 MAJKA Rafa
52 BAŠKA Erik
53 BUCHMANN Emanuel
54 KONRAD Patrick
55 PELUCCHI Matteo
56 POLJANSKI Pawel
57 SAGAN Juraj
58 SELIG Rüdiger

Gazprom-RusVelo (RUS)

61 FIRSANOV Sergey
62 BRUTT Pavel
63 ERSHOV Artur
64 PORSEV Alexander
65 ROVNY Ivan
66 SAVITSKIY Ivan
67 SVESHNIKOV Kirill
68 TRUSOV Nikolay

Lotto Soudal (BEL)

71 GREIPEL André
72 BAK Lars Ytting
73 DE BIE Sean
74 HANSEN Adam
75 MONFORT Maxime
76 ARMÉE Sander
77 VALLS Rafael
78 VERVAEKE Louis

Movistar (ESP)

81 QUINTANA Nairo
82 BENNATI Daniele
83 DE LA PARTE Vi´ctor
84 DOWSETT Alex
85 FERNÁNDEZ Rubén
86 HERRADA Jesús
87 PEDRERO Antonio
88 SÜTTERLIN Jasha

Nippo – Vini Fantini (ITA)

91 ARREDONDO Julia´n David
92 CANOLA Marco
93 DE NEGRI Pier Paolo
94 FILOSI Iuri
95 GROSU Eduard Michael
96 KOISHI Yuma
97 KUBOKI Kazushige
98 MARANGONI Alan

Orica-Scott (AUS)

101 KREUZIGER Roman
102 EDMONDSON Alexander
103 EWAN Caleb
104 HAIG Jack
105 KLUGE Roger
106 MEZGEC Luka
107 POWER Robert
108 VERONA Carlos

Quick-Step Floors (BEL)

111 KITTEL Marcel
112 ALAPHILIPPE Julian
113 BAUER Jack
114 BRAMBILLA Gianluca
115 MARTINELLI Davide
116 SABATINI Fabio
117 SERRY Pieter
118 VAKOC Petr

Dimension Data (RSA)

121 CAVENDISH Mark
122 ANTON Igor
123 EISEL Bernhard
124 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt
125 KUDUS Merhawi
126 RENSHAW Mark
127 TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel
128 VAN ZYL Johann

Katusha – Alpecin (SUI)

131 BELKOV Maxim
132 KIŠERLOVSKI Robert
133 KOCHETKOV Pavel
134 LOSADA Alberto
135 RESTREPO Jhonatan
136 TAARAMÄE Rein
137 ZABEL Rick
138 ZAKARIN Ilnur

Team LottoNL-Jumbo (NED)

141 KRUIJSWIJK Steven
142 BATTAGLIN Enrico
143 BENNETT George
144 GESINK Robert
145 LINDEMAN Bert-Jan
146 LOBATO Juan José
147 MARTENS Paul
148 VERMEULEN Alexey

Team Novo Nordisk (USA)

151 CALABRIA Fabio
152 CLANCY Stephen
153 HENTTALA Joonas
154 LOZANO David
155 MEGIAS Javier
156 PERON Andrea
157 PLANET Charles
158 VERSCHOOR Martijn

Team Sunweb (GER)

161 DUMOULIN Tom
162 BAUHAUS Phil
163 HAMILTON Chris
164 HOFSTEDE Lennard
165 KÄMNA Lennard
166 LUNKE Sindre Skjøstad
167 TEN DAM Laurens
168 TIMMER Albert

Team Sky (GBR)

171 BOSWELL Ian
172 DIBBEN Jonathan
173 DEIGNAN Philip
174 DOULL Owain
175 ELISSONDE Kenny
176 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
177 KENNAUGH Peter

Trek – Segafredo (USA)

181 ALAFACI Eugenio
182 BEPPU Fumiyuki
183 BERNARD Julien
184 DIDIER Laurent
185 GOGL Michael
186 MOLLEMA Bauke
187 REIJNEN Kiel
188 STETINA Peter
189 CONTADOR Alberto

UAE Abu Dhabi (UAE)

191 GUARDINI Andrea
192 CONSONNI Simone
193 DURASEK Kristijan
194 COSTA Rui
195 MEINTJES Louis
196 MORI Manuele
197 SWIFT Ben
198 ULISSI Diego