Region Abu Dhabi Competition UCI Asia Tour Organiser RCS Sport | Discipline Road Type Stage race | |
Date October (2015 and 2016)
February (2017) | ||
The Abu Dhabi Tour is a men's cycling stage race that takes place in the United Arab Emirates, held annually since 2015. When inaugurated, it was part of the UCI Asia Tour, ranked as a category 2.HC event, the second tier of professional stage races. The race was initially scheduled for October, as one of the last races of the cycling season, occupying the calendar slot formerly held by the cancelled Tour of Beijing. The event is organised by RCS Sport, which also organises the Giro d'Italia and the nearby Dubai Tour.
In 2015 UCI organized the first International Cycling Gala on the evening of the final day of the Abu Dhabi Tour, to celebrate the end of the cycling season. The event's organizers expressed their hope that the race be included in the UCI World Tour. In 2016 the Abu Dhabi Tour started two days after the Cycling Gala in the week following the Road World Championships in Qatar.
The third edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour was added to the 2017 UCI World Tour and scheduled to be held at the beginning of the season, in February 2017.
Route
The first two editions of the race were made up of four stages; three of which flat and suited to the sprinters and one mountain-top finish at Jebel Hafeet. The final stage is a circuit race around the Yas Marina motor-racing track which take place at twilight, as does the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.