DUBAI // The 2016 Dubai Tour starts Wednesday with the Dubai Silicon Oasis stage to Fujairah, and last year’s winner Mark Cavendish and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins will be seeking very different objectives over the next few days.
Cavendish has spent the winter focusing on track events and finished fourth at last month’s UCI Track World Cup omnium in Japan as he prepares for the Rio Olympics this summer. Still, he is hoping for a strong showing from his team on the road.
“I’ve been at the Dubai Tour the past two years and I’ve enjoyed them both times. It’s a great way to start the season,” Cavendish told reporters yesterday. “Normally I would have had a week’s racing under my belt before this race, so I’m not too sure of my form.”
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The 179-kilometre Silicon Oasis stage will start at Dubai Marine International Club (DIMC) at 11am and will run through Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.
It will touch the Silicon Oasis area and cut through long desert straights and dunes before ending at Fujairah where the riders will complete two laps of a 6.6km circuit.
Cavendish is confident that the Dubai Tour’s mostly flat roads will benefit him.
“I’m sprinting good and had a winter on the track, and the Dubai Tour lends itself to a majority of sprints,” he said. “I know the stage to Hatta Damn is a tough one, but I’m here with Dimension Data and we come here looking for strong result anyway.”
Wiggins, racing for the first time in Dubai and under the banner of his newly formed Team Wiggins, was in a relaxed mood and tempered any expectations fans might have.
“Don’t expect too much,” he said. “Unlike everyone else, I’m not actually hoping to do anything in this race.
“This is one of four road races I’m doing this year just to be here with my team. It’s nice to be here with the young guys.”
“The majority of the team are track riders. In particular Chris Latham is a young 20 year old who is quite fast. He rode in the Abu Dhabi Tour last year and he’s probably our best chance of a finish. Not to win but to be in the top 10.”
Wiggins said that he had always planned to start his own team to act as a launching pad for careers at bigger teams like Sky.
“I could have signed for another three years with another big team, took a lot of money each month as an ex-Tour winner and had an easy life,” he said. “But I always wanted to do something different when I finished with road racing and having a development team was always in the back of my mind.
“It’s an honour to have my own team.”
Marcel Kittel returns to Dubai with new team, Etixx–Quick-Step, and is hoping for a repeat performance of two years ago when he won three stages of the Dubai Tour.
“For me it’s good to start the new season with a new team,” he said. “I’m really happy with the time I’ve spent in training camps and in preparation for the new year, and now is the moment to show my motivation, to show that all the work we put together as a team will hopefully pay off.
Team Sky’s Elia Viviani won the Palm Jumeirah stage last year and is looking to add to that this week.
“I hope to win again here at Dubai Tour,” he said. “I won in Dubai, I won in Abu Dhabi – maybe it’s a lucky part of the world for me.”
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Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
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Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
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Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
