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Star-Studded Line Up for Abu Dhabi Tour

The world’s top riders will be at the start: among them Nairo Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru, Steven Kruiswijk, Tejay Van Garderen, Romain Bardet as General Classification contenders and the sprinters Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Elia Viviani

16 UCI WorldTeams and four UCI Professional Continental Teams will start the Abu Dhabi Tour, scheduled from 23 to 26 February 2017 and organised by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council in collaboration with RCS Sport. The Abu Dhabi Tour is the only Middle Eastern race on the 2017 UCI WorldTour calendar. Each team will consist of eight riders.

Many of the best riders on the planet have confirmed their participation in the race, with names such as previous Giro d’Italia and last Vuelta winner Nairo Quintana, Tour de France runner up Romain Bardet, previous Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana winner Vincenzo Nibali, former Vuelta winner Fabio Aru and a number of other top-class contenders for the final General Classification victory. Among the sprinters we’ll see the very finest from the WorldTour peloton going shoulder to shoulder, wheel to wheel, including the Manxman Mark Cavendish, German duo Marcel Kittel and André Greipel and the new Australian sensation Caleb Ewan.

The race will take place between the 23rd and the 26th of February and features a route that resembles those of the first two editions. It will have four stages; three perfect for sprinters and one with medium mountain stage . The total length of the route is 672 kilometers that will take the riders to the desert, the sea, mountains and the city.

Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish attended the presentation of the race and showed his enthusiasm not only about being in the race, but in the country. "It’s not a secret: I love spending time here in Abu Dhabi. Riding for my team or on vacation with my family. I love the local atmosphere, the people, and the great places to have fun and relax."

"Regarding the race last year I won two stages and I closed the 2016 season in the best way I could. I hope to repeat that in 2017: there are WorldTour points up for grabs and it would be a great sign before moving to Europe. I'd like to win in Madinat Zayed to wear the red jersey again. It would be an honour."

16 UCI WorldTeams and four Professional Continental Teams will be part of the race.

  AG2R-La Mondiale
  Astana, Bahrain-Merida
  BMC
  Bora-hansgrohe
  Dimension Data
  Lotto Soudal
  Movistar
  Orica-SCOTT
  Quick-Step Floors
  Katusha-Alpecin
  Lotto NL.Jumbo
  SKY
  Sunweb
  UAE Abu-Dhabi
  Trek-Segafredo
  Bardiani CSF
  Novo Nordisk
  Gazprom-Rusvelo
  Nippo-Vini Fantini

Click here for our full coverage on our 2017 Abu Dhabi LIVE STREAMING dashboard.

Mark Cavendish won the fourth and final stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour in 2016 as Estonias Tanel Kangert claimed overall victory.