Abu Dhabi Tour 2017: The Route

The 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour leaves on Thursday, 23 February, to arrive on Sunday, 26 February. The route of the four-day stage race takes in one mountain, which will possibly be decisive for the overall, and three flat stages. Check out the full route of the Abu Dhabi Tour at Cyclingstage.com.

The route of stage 1 in the Abu Dhabi Tour runs mostly on flat roads through the desert, while both start and finish are in Madinat Zayed. You could call this an Italian enclave as Nizzolo and Guardini sprinted to victory in the first two editions of the Abu Dhabi Tour.

Desert and sand dunes on day one, yet stage 2 brings something else. That is, as far as the scenery goes. On wide roads the riders race within the perimeters of Abu Dhabi city. In prior editions Cavendish and Viviani took the flowers in Abu Dhabi’s capital city.

In all likelihood, stage 3 is going to be decisive for the overall win in the Abu Dhabi Tour. The route takes in the only proper ascent of the four-day stage-race. The climb to the top of Jebel Hafeet is a 10.8 kilometres toil at 6.6% with ramps of up to 11%. Summit finish!

The last stage brings a criterium on the perfect tarmac of the F1 Yas Marina circuit. After 26 laps of 5.5 kilometres each, the Abu Dhabi Tour is set to close with a bunch sprint. The route is a perfect copy of last year’s closing stage when Cavendish outsprinted Nizzolo and Viviani.

All stages come with time bonuses. Every day, the first three riders on the line take 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while intermediate sprints account for 3, 2 and 1 seconds.

The inaugural 2015 edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour was won by Esteban Chaves and Tanel Kangert is title holder.