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UAE Team Emirates hunt third successive win on home soil

Adam Yates will be spearheading the charge for UAE Team Emirates

UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates said that the team will be on the hunt for third successive win on home soil when the UAE Tour begins from Monday.

The UAE Tour, the one and only World Tour Cycling event in the Middle East, returns to the UAE as UAE Team Emirates search for an unprecedented third straight victory in their home race.

UAE Team Emirates will be the team to beat heading into their home race, winning the previous two editions of the event with their Slovenian Superstar Tadej Pogacar showing his class and securing the Red Jersey. Such heroics from their talisman Pogacar won’t be replicated in this year’s event however, with the Slovenian opting for a different race schedule as he looks to hit peak performance at the Tour De France this summer.

Adam Yates, once Pogacar’s fiercest competitor in the UAE Tour, will be spearheading the charge for UAE Team Emirates alongside Spaniard Marc Soler and the experienced Columbian Sebastian Molano. Yates, winner of the 2020 edition of the UAE Tour for Orica-GreenEdge, is one of the newest additions to the UAE Team Emirates roster and will be looking to replicate fellow UAE Team Emirates debutant Jay Vine in winning his debut race for the team, following the Australian’s recent success at the Tour Down Under.

"Obviously, for our team the UAE Tour is a big objective," Yates said on Sunday.

"Personally, it has gone well for me here in the past few years. I’m happy to be back in the UAE. Every year I come, I see new bike paths, which is fantastic for the country, and for us. We have a super strong team and a few more riders who are also able to win the race, like Jay Vine, who already won the Tour Down Under, and Marc Soler," he added.

The 7 stage, 1,028km event, will kick off at Al Dhafra Castle before heading into Abu Dhabi and the wider Emirates. The world’s best riders will be tasked with a team time-trial, sprint stages potentially facing strong winds across the plains of the desert, and two mountainous stages including a steep 11% incline finish up Jebel Hafeet to the finish line.

The race finishes on February 26.