The seven-day UAE Tour starts on February 20th and features a star-studded field.

The race will feature four sprint stages, two climbing stages, one of which finishes up the fearsome Jebel Hafeet, and a 17.3km team time-trial. IPT’s leader, Jakob Fuglsang, will be starting off his season at the UAE Tour for the first time. Discussing how his preparation for the race has gone, Fuglsang wants to build on a strong off-season.

“This will be my first time taking on the UAE Tour and I’m really looking forward to starting out my 2023 season here. I have had a good winter at home and now I’m eager to get back to racing again.”

With the two climbing days and the team time-trial likely being the deciding stages for the general classification, Fuglsang is keen to put his TTT-specific training to use.

“In addition to the TTT, the two mountain top finishes are obviously the most crucial stages in this race so I’m curious to see what I can do there.”

With this being the first of a few team time trials in this year’s calendar, Sports Director Dror Pekatch is eager to put some training miles from camp in Alicante to good use.

“We’re always happy to go back to the UAE, and it’s an important race for us, being the first one back for a few of our guys. We’re going with a good team for both GC and stage wins, so it will be nice to see how we do. We had some special preparations for the TTT at our training camp in Alicante, both in terms of physical training and also testing our bikes with the best equipment we can. The team goes there in support of Jakob, and we’re focussed and excited to produce a result.”

The UAE Tour starts with a 151km flat stage which will favour the sprinters.

Israel — Premier Tech at the UAE Tour:

Riders:
Itamar Einhorn (ISR)
Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
Derek Gee (AUS)
Ben Hermans (BEL)
Matthew Riccitello (USA)
Mads Würtz Schmidt (DEN)
Taj Jones (AUS)

Sports Directors:
Dror Pekatch (ISR)
Sam Bewley (NZL)