DUBAI // Saeed Hareb, general secretary of the Dubai Sports Council, says the 2017 Dubai Tour will be a “special edition” with the addition of a fifth stage.
The 2017 Dubai Tour, to be held from January 31 to February 4, will be the first of a quartet of UCI Tour events to be held in the Middle East, all scheduled for February. The addition of a fifth stage will add 194 kilometres to the 2016 distance for a total of 865km.
“The 2017 Dubai Tour will be a very special edition because of the new additional competing day,” Hareb told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday night where details of the routes for all five stages and the 2017 jerseys were also unveiled.
“The extra stage allows us to better explore the surrounding territories. Lengthening the riders’ stay in Dubai keeps the media and the fans’ interest in the event alive for longer. These are keys to our strategy and the sponsors are rewarding this vision.”
The opening day of the 2017 Dubai Tour will be the 181km Nakheel Stage, which will take riders around Dubai landmarks such as the Al Qudra cycle track and some of the city’s top construction projects including the Jumeirah Golf Estates, Jumeirah Islands and Palm Jumeirah.
The second day will be the Ras Al Khaimah Stage (188km), which will pass through four emirates — Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Qaiwain and Ras Al Khaimah.
On the third day, the peloton will ride through the Dubai Silicon Oasis Stage (200km), a new route which runs from Dubai to Al Aqah in Fujairah.
The fourth stage, the Westin Stage (172km), will take the riders through the deserts of Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah to Hatta Dam.
The final stage, the Meraas Stage, will be a 124km parade through Dubai, passing along some of the city’s landmarks such as Meydan Racecourse, the historical parts of Deira, Port Rashid and Union Flag. The grand finale will take place in the heart of City Walk, with the Burj Khalifa as the backdrop.
The organisers also unveiled the jerseys for the Tour, which will come in four colours — blue, red, white and the one displaying the colours of the UAE flag. The overall winner will get to wear the blue jersey after the end of the five stages, while the red jersey will be worn by the fastest sprinter, who has obtained the best positions in each stage and intermediate sprint.
The white jersey will be worn by the best rider under the age of 25 in the overall classification, while the UAE flag jersey will be worn by the rider with the most intermediate sprint points.
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Date started: December 2015
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Sector: Technology and home services
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
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From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
Specs
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Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
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Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
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Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
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The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
