UAE Tour 2020
Stage 1: The Pointe Palm Jumeirah - Dubai Silicon Oasis, 148km
Stage 2: Hatta - Hatta Dam, 168km
Stage 3: Al Qudra Cycle Track - Jebel Hafeet, 184km
Stage 4: Zabeel Park - Dubai City Walk, 173km
Stage 5: Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet, 162km
Stage 6: Al Ruwais - Al Mirfa, 158km
Stage 7: Al Maryah Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater, 127km
The UAE Tour has drawn some of cycling’s biggest names but all eyes at this year's race will be fixed on Chris Froome, who marks his return to action for the first time since suffering life-threatening injuries eight months ago.
The four-time Tour de France winner has been sidelined since a crash at the Criterium du Dauphine last June left him with a fractured thigh, elbow and vertebrae.
The Briton, 35, said he was “extremely happy" to be competing in the second edition of the UAE Tour.
“I was hoping to do this race last year but I didn’t make it,” the Team Ineos rider said at the pre-race conference in Dubai on Saturday.
“After the crash last June, I’ve been away from racing for eight months. It feels good to be racing again. I’m really excited to be here. I hope that I’m at the right level."
A seven-time Grand Tour winner, Kenyan-born Froome dampened any expectations that he would ride into Abu Dhabi at the end of Stage 7 as the UAE Tour's new champion.
“I’m certainly not gonna be winning this week! I’ve gone through really tough moments in the past eight months, but my goal was always to start this season relatively early and I’m super happy to be given the second chance to be back in the peloton.”
While Froome may not harbour thoughts of finishing on top of the podium, former UCI Road World Champion and last year's runner-up Alejandro Valverde said he hopes to get his season off to a winning start.
“I’m not in the shape I was in one year ago but it’s getting better and better,” Valverde, who rides for Movistar Team, said.
“I want to enjoy this beautiful race where I have great memories, since it was my first victory in the rainbow jersey. The UAE Tour is a good race to start the season.”
The seven-day UAE Tour will see 210 cyclists from 20 teams, including 18 of the 19 UCI World Teams flagged off in the opening 148-kilometre stage from The Pointe to Dubai Silicon Oasis.
The UAE Tour last year was flagged off in Abu Dhabi with the finish in Dubai and this time it is the other way around, the race concluding in the capital on February 29.
Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma won the General Classification last year but the Slovenian is not here to defend his crown.
In last year’s race, there were four sprint finishes. No rider managed a double win, with Fernando Gaviria, Caleb Ewan, Elia Viviani and Sam Bennett clinching one stage victory each.
“The season started as well as I had hoped, but I’ve not been racing since the Santos Tour Down Under,” Australian rider Ewan said.
“In training I feel good. To win here as a sprinter, you need to be in top shape against all these guys.”
Home hopes rest with the considerable talents of Tadej Pogacar, the young Slovenian who won Stage 4 of the 2019 UAE Tour.
“We are well prepared and expect good results in the sprints with Fernando [Gaviria],” said the UAE Team Emirates cyclist.
“I’ll try to do my best on Jabel Hafeet but I know it will be hard to repeat the success of my compatriot Primoz Roglic who won this race last year.”
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
THURSDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 10am:
Lucrezia Stefanini v Elena Rybakina (6)
Aryna Sabalenka (4) v Polona Hercog
Sofia Kenin (1) v Zhaoxuan Yan
Kristina Mladenovic v Garbine Muguruza (5)
Sorana Cirstea v Karolina Pliskova (3)
Jessica Pegula v Elina Svitolina (2)
Court 1
Starting at 10am:
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Nadia Podoroska
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
Elise Mertens (7) v Alize Cornet
Tamara Zidansek v Jennifer Brady (11)
Heather Watson v Jodie Burrage
Vera Zvonareva v Amandine Hesse
Court 2
Starting at 10am:
Arantxa Rus v Xiyu Wang
Maria Kostyuk v Lucie Hradecka
Karolina Muchova v Danka Kovinic
Cori Gauff v Ulrikke Eikeri
Mona Barthel v Anastasia Gasanova
Court 3
Starting at 10am:
Kateryna Bondarenko v Yafan Wang
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Anna Bondar
Bianca Turati v Yaroslava Shvedova
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
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UAE Tour 2020
Stage 1: The Pointe Palm Jumeirah - Dubai Silicon Oasis, 148km
Stage 2: Hatta - Hatta Dam, 168km
Stage 3: Al Qudra Cycle Track - Jebel Hafeet, 184km
Stage 4: Zabeel Park - Dubai City Walk, 173km
Stage 5: Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet, 162km
Stage 6: Al Ruwais - Al Mirfa, 158km
Stage 7: Al Maryah Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater, 127km
