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Team Bahrain Victorious is set to take on the only WorldTour race in the GCC, the UAE Tour. A strong lineup is led by Pello Bilbao for the seven-stage race taking place from Monday to February 25.
Having narrowly missed out on the podium by a mere three seconds in the final stage of last year’s edition, Bilbao is more motivated than ever to make his step up to the podium in a race he has continually performed well in.
He said, “The last few years I’ve really enjoyed the UAE Tour. It’s changed my opinion about this race. My first experiences were not good with illness and crashes, so I was never feeling my best in that race. But in the last three editions, I’ve really started to understand the race, and it’s a really interesting and different race from what we are used to in Europe. I love the chance of echelons and this kind of racing.
“Last year, I was a bit disappointed on the last day, losing out on the podium by a few seconds after a really good race.
“This year, I’m in perfect shape with the goal of fighting for the podium and maybe even a stage. It would be a nice gift for my birthday.”
Bilbao will be supported by Torstein Træen, Cameron Scott, Johan Price-Pejtersen, and Rainer Kepplinger. Alongside them will also be the German duo of Nikias Arndt and sprinter Phil Bauhaus, who will lead the charge on the sprint stages.
Over the course of the 985.1km of racing, riders will face various challenges, including a demanding 12.1km Individual Time Trial (ITT) on stage 2. Meanwhile, the main battle for the General Classification (GC) contenders will be the iconic climbs of Jebel Jais and Jebel Hafeet on stages 3 and 7, respectively.
Sports director Neil Stephens said: “We are really looking forward to the UAE Tour as it’s the first WorldTour race for some of our riders, while some of them are coming here from Australia. This will be a great race with four flat stages, two mountain-top finishes and an ITT.”
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