The Abu Dhabi Tour was a men's

cycling stage race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

that took place in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, held annually between 2015 and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

. In 2019 The Abu Dhabi Tour merged with the

Dubai Tour The Dubai Tour is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Dubai, which began in 2014 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. History The race was classified as a 2.1. in 2014. The race is organized by the Dubai Sports Council in par ...

to become the

UAE Tour The UAE Tour ( ar, جولة الإمارات) is a road cycling stage race in the United Arab Emirates. It was first held in 2019 as part of the UCI World Tour. It was created as a result of the merging of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the Dubai Tour. ...

History

When inaugurated, it was part of the

UCI Asia Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, th ...

, 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 Tour of Beijing was an annual professional stage bicycle road race held in Beijing, China. History Its first edition took place in October 2011, as the penultimate event in the 2011 UCI World Tour. The tour was a partnership between the UCI a ...

. The event is organised by

RCS Sport RCS Sport is a sport and media company that operates mainly in Italy in the sports sector, as part of RCS MediaGroup. It organises some of Italy's biggest road cycling events, including the Giro d'Italia, Milan–San Remo and Tirreno–Adriatico, ...

, which also organises the Giro d'Italia and the nearby

. 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 The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...

. In 2016 the

Abu Dhabi Tour The Abu Dhabi Tour was a men's cycling stage race that took place in the United Arab Emirates, held annually between 2015 and 2018. In 2019 The Abu Dhabi Tour merged with the Dubai Tour to become the UAE Tour. History When inaugurated, it was p ...

started two days after the Cycling Gala in the week following the Road World Championships in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

. The third edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour was added to the

2017 UCI World Tour The 2017 UCI World Tour was a competition that included thirty-seven road cycling events throughout the 2017 men's cycling season. It was the ninth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The ...

and scheduled to be held at the beginning of the season, in February 2017. In 2019, the Abu Dhabi Tour was merged with the Dubai Tour to become the

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 Jabal Hafeet ( ar, جَبَل حَفِيْت, Jabal Ḥafīt, "Mount Hafeet"; variously transcribed Jabal, Jabel or Jebal and Hafit or Hafeet – literally "empty mountain") is a mountain in the region of Tawam, on the border of the United Arab ...

. The final stage is a circuit race around the Yas Marina motor-racing track which take place at

twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this i ...

, as does the

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ( ar, سباق جائزة أبوظبي الكبرى) is a Formula One motor racing event. It was announced in early 2007 at the Abu Dhabi F1 Festival in the United Arab Emirates. The first race took place on 1 November ...

Overall winners

References

External links

* {{UCI World Tour UCI World Tour races UCI Asia Tour races Cycle races in the United Arab Emirates Sport in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Recurring sporting events established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United Arab Emirates Defunct cycling races the United Arab Emirates Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in the United Arab Emirates