UAE Tour

Ask a sprinter what their favourite race is, and they’ll probably give you two answers: the Tour de France and the UAE Tour.

Since its inception in 2019, the UAE Tour has established itself as an oasis for the fastmen. It’s short-sleeve racing in February, where four of the seven stages on offer are all but certain to finish in a bunch sprint.

One of those chasing victories this year will be Bora-Hansgrohe’s Sam Bennett.

Asked why the race attracts such a high-quality sprint field, the Irishman is quick to crack a joke. “The fancy hotels and food, I think,” he tells Cycling Weekly. In reality, the answer’s simple. “It’s fantastic to get the opportunity to do more sprints and fine-tune things in the train,” he says. “In the European races, there’s a lot more stress, a lot more road furniture. You’re not coming into a fivelane road with plenty of room to move.”

The wind-stricken desert highways, though, come with their own challenges. “On big, wide roads, it’s a lot more dangerous,” Bennett explains. “The speeds are higher, more people can come from the slipstream. It’s a lot more chaotic. I find it harder to get it right actually.”