Chris Froome chooses the UAE Tour for his return to racing
Team INEOS’s British rider announced his comeback race after his serious injury sustained last June will be the UAE Tour.
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United Arab Emirates, 22 January 2020 - Multiple Grand Tour winner Chris Froome announced this morning that he will be back racing at the UAE Tour, the one and only WorldTour race in the Middle East, organized by the Dubai Sports Council, the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and Sharjah Sports Council, in partnership with RCS Sport, and scheduled from 23rd to 29th February 2020.
Froome announced that he will be at the start of the second edition of the UAE Tour this February, following the crash of 12 June 2019 that kept the British rider out of competition for the remainder of 2019.
“I’m really excited about getting back to racing at the UAE Tour. I’ve come off a good block of training in Gran Canaria and look forward to taking the next step in my recovery and getting back to full strength,” said Chris Froome.
Photo Credit: Team INEOS
Froome’s name and palmares (which includes one Giro d’Italia, four Tour de France and two Vuelta a España) adds to the top class roster of riders who have already announced their participation: last year’s UAE Tour runner-up and 2018 UCI Road World Champion, Alejandro Valverde, also winner of the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour and two times stage winner atop Jebel Hafeet; two-times UCI Time Trial World Champion and stage winner at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Rohan Dennis; 2019 Giro d’Italia Maglia Azzurra (King of the Mountains) Giulio Ciccone, the young Slovenian Tadej PogaÄar, winner of the 2019 Tour of California, three stages and third overall at the 2019 Vuelta a España.
Alongside them are such famous names as the Italian road champion Davide Formolo, Adam Yates, Wout Poels (winner of the 2016 Liège-Bastogne-Liège), stage winner at both the Giro and the Tour, Ilnur Zakarin, and some of the best sprinters in the world, including: Fernando Gaviria, winner of five stages at the Giro, two at the Tour and winner of Stage 2 at last year’s UAE Tour; multiple stage winner in all three Grand Tours and winner of Stage 4 of 2019 UAE Tour atop Hatta Dam, Caleb Ewan; Dylan Groenewegen (four stages at the Tour de France); Sam Bennett (winner of three stage at the Giro, and two at La Vuelta), double stage winner and 2019 Giro d’Italia Maglia Ciclamino (Points Classification) Pascal Ackermann; Arnaud Démare (stage winner at the Giro and Le Tour, 2016 Milano-Sanremo) and Mark Cavendish, with 30 stages at the Tour de France, 15 at the Giro, 2011 Road World Champion and winner of the General Classification at the 2015 Dubai Tour.
THE STAGES
Stage 1: Marjan Island Stage (158km), Zabeel Park - Marjan Island
Stage 2: Dubai Municipality Stage (203km), The Pointe - Hatta Dam
Stage 3: Sharjah Stage (198km), Sharjah - Rafisah Dam
Stage 4: Dubai Stage (171km), Dubai Design District - Dubai City Walk
Stage 5: Al Ain Stage (162km), Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet
Stage 6: ADNOC Stage (158km), Al Ruwais - Al Mirfa
Stage 7: Abu Dhabi Stage (127km), Al Maryah Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater
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